You clicked to read this for one of two reasons:
- You want ideas for what to do on Social Enterprise Day.
- You didn’t know there was a Social Enterprise Day and became curious.
Either way… Welcome!
Social Enterprise Day celebrates contributions of social good created by social enterprises, social entrepreneurs, and social impact advocates. Every contribution helps build a positive impact for communities in need or helps protect the planet. The day is meant to celebrate the people who amplify impact, but you can also participate in spreading awareness and learning about social enterprise.
Social Enterprise Day happens on the third Thursday in November. It’s part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.
This year: November 17, 2022
We have a list of activities you can do alone or with others so you can join the fun. On top of that, you can always change the ideas to fit your unique celebration of Social Enterprise Day. See if these options are something you can imagine:
Activities to do as an Individual
- Check nearby art districts for an exhibit or showcase about a social impact theme. Educating yourself on concerns that social enterprises support can give you more understanding of why they do the work they do.
- Shout Out 3-5 social enterprises you’re amazed by on your social media. This shines a light on their cause and their efforts. It also can help the people around you learn about the social enterprise doing amazing work in communities.
- Support or share a Kickstarter campaign by a social enterprise. Whether you become a participant or spread awareness, your contribution creates a positive ripple for the social entrepreneurs and community related to the campaign.
- Host or join a Zoom discussion about a cause or concern you have interest in. If you don’t feel like going out, you can connect with other social impact advocates virtually. This also means you could hop in on global discussions that are happening in different time zones.
- Host or join a free audio chat about social enterprise on a platform like Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, or Discord. The discussion can be casual and as long or short as you want. You can use the moment to check how others are engaging with social enterprises.
- Download and sign up for a charity app. There may be a campaign happening that you can support. Many of the apps depend on participation, so teams will be happy to see you come along.
- Share any social impact projects you helped with recently. Perhaps you have metrics from an app to show, or you could have pictures from an event you recently attended.
- Shout Out 3-5 social entrepreneurs doing work you admire by tagging them or using hashtags. Shine light on people you know or people you support from afar to give them some recognition and let them know people are paying attention.
- Give monetary support to a social enterprise. You can buy a gift or make a donation for yourself or a friend (which ultimately helps the community the social enterprise supports).
- Download and sign up for a climate-tracking app. If you have never paid much attention to your carbon footprint, Social Enterprise Day is as good a day as any to start.
Activities to do as a Team
1. Have everyone exchange their favorite social enterprises in a group chat. You can share with each other how you found social enterprises and discover new ones you may not know about yet. It can even include resources people use for social impact (like media profiles or blogs). If you need time, you can give everyone a heads-up so people can organize their favorite links to send to everyone.
- Gather friends and family to combine in-kind donations. Everyone can offer clothes or non-perishable goods to create a larger donation for a charity that needs extra resources.
- Put on a mini movie/ documentary marathon (try searching on YouTube or recommendations from recent film festivals). Invite a group of people over to watch media that inspires or educates everyone. You can even have snacks or food from social enterprises you admire (like we’d probably have Taza Chocolate or Hot Chicken Takeover).
- Plan a trip to volunteer at a local organization as a small group. Some organizations have programs that allow friends and family to come together as volunteers. A day bonding over social good could make great memories and impact.
- Have a family garage sale then donate the proceeds to a social enterprise or a nonprofit. As an inception-like alternative, you can use the profit to buy gifts from a social enterprise so one community gets support and then donate the items you buy to a charity so another community gets support. It’s a 2 for 1 ripple of impact!
- Have a group of friends or family challenge each other to make as much impact as they can in a week. Everyone can spend their week finding ways to make an impact inside and outside of their local community. At the end of the week, everyone gets together to share what impact they helped create that week. You can offer a prize to the person who made the most significant impact or simply share for fun.
- Host a game night using People Helping People’s Social Impact Starter Kit. The deck of 67 cards comes with ideas, tools, tips, and concepts to help you understand a social enterprise. You can scan the back of each card for an example of an organization, along with its mission and how they’re creating an impact in the world.
- Download and sign up for movement-based donation apps. These apps usually focus on walking, running, or exercising points that transfer into donations. Challenge your friends to see who can get the most points. As an alternative, use game-based apps that gain points for donations.
- Do a “Secret Santa” with a small group of friends within a set budget. Semi-obvious plot twist: All gifts must be from a social enterprise. You get to start gift-giving vibes early, which, funnily enough, shouldn’t be a problem since most people (and stores) start prepping for Christmas before November is over anyway.
- Host a dinner where you enjoy each other’s company and share your thoughts on what people can do for the community. Perhaps something like Civic Dinners.
Activities to do as a Company
- Have a Show and Tell session for social enterprise items. You encourage employees to bring a social enterprise purchase to work and share the story behind what they got, what it supports, and why they got it. You can give everyone a heads-up in case people who don’t have anything yet want to purchase something to bring to Show and Tell.
- Sponsor an event for a community in need. Let’s say the need is food security. You can gather donations from the company and employees to sponsor a Free All-you-can-eat Meal event. You team up with a social enterprise or organization to find people impacted by that concern and pay for a set of people to enjoy their meal.
- Host a food or clothing drive with your employees. It’s a classic choice that helps spread social good without too much pressure.
- Split employees into groups and have them come up with ideas for how the company can support social impact. Groups will have a set time to develop an idea, and all groups will present their idea (or send in a presentation). The team with the best idea gets a reward.
- Give employees a paid day off to go volunteer. Your company indirectly supports social good with money and skills by giving employees a paid day to contribute to a cause.
Keep a Record of the Day
Most importantly, save some piece of your day, week, or challenge as a record of your celebration. This can be pictures, a trinket, or even a ticket from somewhere. You want to keep a record organically while not being obsessed with staging the “perfect” memory.
The record is a reminder to yourself and something you can share to inspire more change. Who knows, one day, you might pull out the memory as a conversation starter or drive a point home. You can tell people all about your celebration of Social Enterprise Day.
