Much like commercial franchising, social franchising involves replicating a successful social business model into new environments.

This enables other people who want to achieve the same positive results in their own communities to do so without having to 'reinvent the wheel'.

Social enterprise franchise opportunities

If you consider that the social business model you’ve developed is worthy of replication, you have the opportunity to assist others in delivering social benefit. This will in turn massively increase the social impact of your own social enterprise.

You could also create a new product or set of products that are more easily replicable. These typically include business plans, procedure manuals and forms, branding, product designs, training and ongoing consultancy support.  

Franchising your social business is a major diversification strategy – use our planning  and  financing   guides to help you with the process. 

Models of franchising for social enterprise 

There are different models available for generating a revenue stream and profit contribution from this strategy, but it all hinges around the agreement between the franchisor’s social business and the franchisee’s social business.

In the best case scenario, the franchisee gets all they need to obtain the required investment and get into business. Meanwhile, the franchisor receives a regular income stream which provides a decent return on their investment in developing the original components of the franchise package.  

The main risk to your social business risk is the franchisee getting your brand wrong and impacting your reputation as an organisation. Make sure quality systems, some form of monitoring and the right to withdraw the franchise are in place when drawing up the agreement.