Deloitte embarks on a third year of its increasingly successful Social Innovation Pioneers programme

• Deloitte has dedicated 5,000 hours to support social enterprises
• 70% say greatest impact comes from Deloitte’s strategic thinking
• Enterprises find significant value in Deloitte’s skills, expertise and networks

Deloitte will today begin its search for a new group of Social Innovation Pioneers*. This will add to the 46 organisations it has already supported since the first programme launched in 2012.

Deloitte will invest more than £1 million worth of employees’ time and skills, in the socially innovative businesses that are selected. It will provide a range of support to help them grow to scale and become investment-ready. Over the last two years, Deloitte employees have dedicated almost 5,000 hours of their time to help social businesses from a variety of industries across the UK.

A mid-year evaluation conducted in December 2013, highlighted the benefits that enterprises from the second year of the programme are noticing from their relationship with Deloitte. Almost 70% of respondents feel the strategic thinking from Deloitte’s employees has had the greatest impact. This comes in addition to over 50%, who recognised the value of Deloitte’s skills and expertise, and more than 45% said access to Deloitte employees’ networks and contacts was a highlight of the programme.

David Barnes, managing partner at Deloitte said: “It’s fantastic to see this programme continue to drive such success for some truly innovative organisations that deliver tangible benefits for society. We are proud to make use of the full spectrum of our firm’s capabilities to support the growth of these organisations and the social enterprise sector in the UK.”

“As we reflect on the Business Exchange announcement made by the Prime Minister on Monday, we are encouraged by the focus on big businesses supporting the growth of small enterprises. The Social Innovation Pioneers programme demonstrates Deloitte’s unequivocal support of such initiatives.”

Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd said: “Social enterprises are an important part of the economy bringing in £55 billion in revenue and employing two million people. I’m delighted to see Deloitte showing real leadership by investing more than £1 million worth of employees’ time and skills to help social enterprises grow to scale and become investment-ready.”

For more information on the Deloitte Social Innovation Pioneers programme, please visit: www.deloitte.co.uk/pioneers

My Support Broker - Case Study
My Support Broker provides a support planning service to local authorities providing social care. It helps people move from passive recipients of care service to active consumers with choice and control, creating employment for people with disabilities and improving the services they receive.

To date Deloitte has had more than 20 employees involved in the relationship through a direct support team and wider contacts. The clear focus of the activity has been on the broader strategy for  the organisation including support to develop a clear marketing proposition. My Support Broker has also been connected with our own health account team and has connected through the programme with Patients Know Best leading to the identification of potential joint ventures.

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Notes to editors
The Deloitte Social Innovation Pioneers programme supports socially innovative businesses, providing them with a package of support to help them grow to scale and become investment-ready.

Pioneers have access to a broad range of services within Deloitte, allowing a tailored support package to be developed matched with the individual organisation’s needs. The key elements of this support are as follows:

• Relationship team - Each Pioneer is assigned a designated relationship team to support their interaction with Deloitte over the lifetime of the programme
• Knowledge sharing - Deliotte runs four events a year which provide knowledge sharing in the form of bespoke one-to-one clinics with Deloitte subject matter experts
• Pro bono - Pioneer relationship teams work with the organisation to identify bespoke projects that will have a direct and tangible impact on their business
• Clients and networking - Deloitte encourages interaction between Pioneers and its clients. Through regular updates, event invitations and through the Deloitte relationship teams
• Supply chains and procurement - Where appropriate, Deloitte helps Pioneers find and implement supply chain and procurement opportunities within Deloitte and our clients’ companies
• PR and promotion - Pioneers receive numerous PR opportunities through their engagement in the programme.

The assessment criteria for enterprises looking to join Deloitte’s Social Innovation Pioneers programme is as follows:

• Clear and measurable social impact
• Businesses with an innovative idea/product/service
• Minimum of two years of trading accounts with year on year growth
• Clear business model with over 50% of revenue generated through delivery of services or sales
• Clear and realistic articulation from the business about the type of support and assistance they require from Deloitte
• Strong leadership that are willing to commit to the programme and are able to articulate how the organisation will support the programme and implement the advice and guidance provided
• The programme is specifically targeted at small and medium sized enterprises.

About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte LLP, which is among the country's leading professional services firms.

Deloitte LLP is the United Kingdom member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“DTTL”), a UK private company limited by guarantee, whose member firms are legally separate and independent entities. Please see www.deloitte.co.uk/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.
The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.