What is Social Franchising?

Social franchising is a method to replicate and scale a social enterprise that has proven to be successful in one geographical area and has the potential to be replicated in other areas to address the same social challenges using the methods of support and intervention that have already been developed and proven to work in the original area.

What is the goal of social franchising?

The primary goal of social franchising is to maximise social benefit, and this is what distinguishes it from the commercial use of franchising methods. Most social franchises need to be sustainable, and this can be achieved either from methods of income generation or from funding, but the core driver is social impact and benefits, not profit.

What is the difference between a franchise and a social franchise?

=The key difference between a franchise and a social franchise is that a commercial franchise is driven by profit whereas a social franchise is driven by social impact and change. Social franchising uses lots of the tools and techniques developed in the business franchise sector to deliver social impact on a scaled basis and cost-effectively and sustainably. Commercial franchises are normally owned and managed by individuals whereas social franchises are mainly developed and managed by social enterprises and/or social businesses.

What are the challenges of social franchising?

To be a successful social franchisor the operational model of the original enterprise must be sufficiently proven and developed before scaling is considered. To develop a social franchising model that has the potential for long-term sustainability a social franchisor will need to develop the right infrastructure and support systems to recruit the right partners to operate as the social franchisees and enable the social franchisee to replicate the model effectively in their local area. Social franchisees must share the same values as the original organisation and have the resources required to add the operations of the social franchise to their existing organisation.

What is social franchising and why is it important?

Social franchising is important because it enables a method of achieving social impact to be scaled effectively and sustainably using the operational model originally developed by the social franchisor. Funding agencies are embracing the concept of social franchising as a method of achieving this scaled social impact I'm providing them with a higher level of due diligence and feedback for the funding that is provided.

What is an example of a social franchise?

Trussell Trust Food Bank Franchise

A growing number of social enterprises are scaling using social franchising as the method and one example of this is the Food Bank Network operated by the Trussell Trust. The first food bank in this network was created in a garden shed and garage in Salisbury in 2000. Seeing how many people needed emergency food they carried out research into the UK-wide need for food banks and discovered that this was a nationwide problem. In 2004,  the Trussell Trust Foodbank Network was founded based on the successful Salisbury Foodbank model. Since then, they have partnered with churches and communities across the country to over 1300 food banks. All the food banks in the Trussell Trust network are created in partnership with local churches and community organisations that are best placed to understand local needs. As part of the Food Bank franchise, they are provided with the tools, training, and knowledge to start and operate a food bank in exchange for an up from fee and ongoing annual fees.

Invisible Cities Social Franchise

Invisible Cities started in Edinburgh in 2016. Invisible Cities trains people affected by homelessness to become walking tour guides of their city and offers these alternative tours to tourists and locals. The high-quality training provided as part of this empowers the guides to create, craft and deliver tours that are their own, highlighting monuments, people and places they have chosen themselves. Through the help and support that the guides receive as part of this process, they also acquire knowledge, skills and income that often enable them to live more independently within their local communities.

In 2018, they started the process of replicating Invisible Cities in other cities and worked closely with The Franchise Company as part of this process. In October 2019 Invisible Cities launched in Manchester, Glasgow in November 2018 and York in June 2019. Through international guests attending the tours and the subsequent media exposure, they received expressions of interest from across the UK and internationally and they now operate in a wide range of tourist locations across the UK and are considering international expansion.

In each city, they partner with another organisation involved in working with people who have experienced homelessness and work closely with the partner organisation to develop a team to make it a success.

Further details about Social Franchising can be found on our social franchising page https://www.franchisecompany.co.uk/social-franchising