School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE)

What School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) does

School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) is a UK registered charity (no. 1085465) and company limited by guarantee (no. 3900741), founded in 1997 and headquartered at 13-15 Dock Street, Whitechapel, London. SSE supports social entrepreneurs and community businesses across the UK through three integrated offerings: (i) application-based, longer-term learning programmes (e.g. Trading for Good and its regional variants in Bury, Stockport, Milton Keynes and Southwark, plus the Social Investment Gateway Programme and the London Growth and Resilience Programme funded by City Bridge Foundation); (ii) short, instantly bookable online workshops (e.g. Measuring Social Impact, Theory of Change, Marketing for Impact, Writing a Successful Funding Application) priced at £89–£249 with a 15% Early Bird discount, delivered in part via delivery partners such as Lime Green Consulting; and (iii) the proprietary Match Trading™ grant mechanism, which pairs matched funding with structured learning and was independently validated by a 2026 London School of Economics study.

Underlying the delivery is a WordPress-based public website (the-sse.org) and a gated SSE Community platform (community.the-sse.org) for fellows, students and alumni, sitting on a CRM and marketing stack of Salesforce and Mailchimp, with Stripe/Streamline for payments and SAGE/ADVO Payroll for finance. SSE monetises primarily via grants and commissioned partnerships from corporates (e.g. Lloyds Banking Group), trusts and foundations (Big Lottery Fund, Power to Change, City Bridge Foundation), and local councils; secondary revenue comes from individual workshop fees and individual donations. The go-to-market motion is community-led, with content marketing (a large 'How to…' guides and webinars library), organic social (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube), SEO, sector events (e.g. Good Finance Live, Mission Economy Summit) and a 'Find the right support' questionnaire funneling learners into self-serve workshop booking or application-based programme entry.

In 2024-2025 SSE reported supporting 1,381 leaders of social change, with those social entrepreneurs collectively helping 806,000 people and generating £59 million in traded income, while the SSE Community platform and ongoing Witness Session video series sustain a long-tenured UK-wide network of fellows, trustees (e.g. John Brown, Genevieve Dowokpor), alumni and corporate partners. No equity or debt funding rounds are disclosed; the only dated capital inflow in the source material is a 2017 grant of £3.27M from The National Lottery Community Fund, with operating capacity reflected in a headcount band of 11–50 staff plus freelancers, volunteers, trustees and local delivery teams.

Name

School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE)

Legal name

The School for Social Entrepreneurs (registered charity no. 1085465; company limited by guarantee no. 3900741)

Website

https://the-sse.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) is a UK registered charity that supports social entrepreneurs and community businesses through application-based learning programmes, paid online workshops, and the proprietary Match Trading™ matched-grant mechanism, serving founders across England alongside corporates, trusts and councils.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Programme grants and commissioned partnerships: SSE's primary revenue comes from grants and commissioned programmes funded by corporates (e.g. Lloyds Banking Group), trusts and foundations (Big Lottery Fund, Power to Change), councils (Bath and North East Somerset Council, Devon County Council, City Bridge Foundation), and individual donors. The data protection policy explicitly lists these funder categories, and the homepage references bespoke 'practical partnership packages you can commission from SSE'.
2. Workshop fees: Self-serve online workshops (e.g. Writing a Successful Funding Application) are sold individually at tiered prices of £89–£249 per attendee per session, with an Early Bird 15% discount available. This represents transactional, consumer-paid learning revenue.
3. Charitable donations and individual giving: SSE is a registered charity (1085465) and accepts individual donations; its Data Protection Policy references 'individual donors' as a category of data subject and supporter, and its Data Protection / Complaints pages support donation-related enquiries.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) delivers practical learning programmes, instant-book short online workshops, and its proprietary Match Trading™ grant mechanism to help social entrepreneurs and community businesses in the UK build skills, access matched grant funding, and grow sustainable trading income. It supplements these with a free public resource library (how-to guides, webinars, Witness Session videos) and a gated online SSE Community platform connecting fellows and alumni for ongoing peer support.

Product overview

SSE delivers its offer through a portfolio of learning programmes, short workshops, Match Trading™ grants, and a digital community/resource library — best understood as a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core delivery surface is the SSE website (the-sse.org) supported by a separate SSE Community Hub (community.the-sse.org) for alumni/fellow networking. On top of this sit the named learning programmes (Trading for Good in its general, Community Business, Bury, Milton Keynes, Stockport and Southwark LAP variants, Social Investment Gateway Programme, and the London Growth and Resilience Programme), the short online workshops catalogue (e.g., Measuring Social Impact, Theory of Change, Marketing for Impact, Developing a Fundraising Strategy), the Match Trading™ grant mechanism, an evergreen "How to…" information & toolkits library, a videos & webinars catalogue (Witness Sessions, Good Finance Live, AI/Transceve webinar), and the Impact Reports evidence layer. Together these form a single integrated support journey for social entrepreneurs across the UK.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Match Trading: SSE's proprietary grant mechanism (Match Trading™) that matches trading income generated by social enterprises participating in SSE programmes.

Products and services

• Programmes (SSE Programmes) Application-based, longer-term support up to a year for social entrepreneurs, combining peer learning, expert tutors and access to Match Trading™ grants.
• Workshops (SSE Workshops) Instant-booking, short online skills-based sessions covering topics from social impact measurement and Theory of Change to marketing, fundraising, legal structures and social investment, priced £89–£249 per attendee with a 15% Early Bird discount.
• Match Trading™ SSE's flagship grant product that matches trading income generated by social entrepreneurs, designed to help funders back lasting impact and recently validated by a 2026 London School of Economics study.
• Trading for Good General Trading for Good programme running 30 November 2026 to 30 August 2027, focused on developing trading income streams for projects tackling social and environmental challenges.
• Trading for Good: Community Business Community-business variant of Trading for Good delivered in England from 1 October 2026 to 31 October 2027, bundling specialist support with a Match Trading™ Grant.
• Trading for Good: Bury Regional Bury / Greater Manchester variant of Trading for Good, focused on skills, funding and a network for community power.
• Trading for Good: Milton Keynes East-of-England variant of Trading for Good for the Milton Keynes area, focused on trading income and community power.
• Trading for Good: Stockport Stockport regional variant of Trading for Good.
• Southwark Local Access Partnership Trade Up Programme 2026 Southwark LAP regional programme for 2026 under the Trade Up umbrella.
• Social Investment Gateway Programme Over-a-year programme (11 November 2026 – 21 October 2027) supporting social ventures preparing for social investment.
• London Growth and Resilience Programme London-focused programme funded by City Bridge Foundation helping a new cohort of London organisations move from idea to income.
• Writing a Successful Funding Application (workshop) Live online workshop using the National Lottery Community Fund Awards for All form to teach grant-writing fundamentals, delivered in partnership with Lime Green Consulting; priced £89–£249 with 15% Early Bird discount.
• Measuring Social Impact (workshop) Short online workshop on understanding, planning and evidencing social impact, from outcomes and wellbeing measures to Theory of Change and SROI.
• Creating a Theory of Change (workshop) Workshop guiding participants in producing a Theory of Change for their social venture.
• Marketing for Impact (workshop) Workshop focused on marketing strategy tailored to impact-led organisations.
• Unlocking Social Investment (workshop) Workshop providing a practical introduction to social investment (repayable finance) and how it can support charities and social enterprises.
• Working with Corporates (workshop) Workshop on building successful corporate partnerships to boost a charity or social enterprise's social impact.
• SSE Community Hub / SSE Community Platform Separate online community platform hosted at community.the-sse.org where SSE students, fellows and alumni can create profiles, message, connect with groups and access ongoing peer support.
• Impact reports Annual impact reports and dashboards demonstrating outcomes of SSE programmes, used to evidence impact to funders and the public.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1,381 leaders of social change supported in 2024-2025
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Stir to ActionminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerNamed as a delivery partner in SSE's Data Protection Policy that supports programme delivery.
• New Prosperity FundminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerNamed as a delivery partner in SSE's Data Protection Policy that supports programme delivery.
• SparkminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerNamed as a delivery partner in SSE's Data Protection Policy that supports programme delivery.
• Somerset Social Enterprise NetworkminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerNamed as a delivery partner in SSE's Data Protection Policy that supports programme delivery.
• MailchimpcoreTechnology or IntegrationMarketing platform used for newsletter signups and email marketing; users acknowledge that their data is transferred to Mailchimp for processing when subscribing.
• SalesforcecoreTechnology or IntegrationNamed CRM/technology service provider used by SSE to manage applicant, student, funder and partner data.
• Bates Wells BraithwaiteminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerNamed professional services / legal advisor to SSE.
• Sayer VincentminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerNamed professional services advisor (charity audit/accountancy) to SSE.
• Busy Bees BenefitsminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerNamed professional services / HR/benefits provider to SSE.
• Good FinancecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-promoted sector event 'Good Finance Live' (returns 1 July 2026) bringing charity and social enterprise leaders together; also referenced in SSE's 'How to…find funding' resource as a key impartial guide and investor directory.
• London School of Economics (LSE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partner — a 2026 LSE study found Match Trading helps social ventures grow income, build stronger organisations and stay focused on their social purpose; covered as an SSE news item.
• TransceveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFeatured partner in SSE's 'AI – Unlocking social impact insights from everyday conversations' webinar; co-founder Damien Ribbans joined to discuss how AI transforms listening and learning for social purpose organisations.
• Studio RepublicminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerWebsite designer/developer credited in the footer of the-sse.org ('Website by Studio Republic').
• Lime Green ConsultingminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDelivers SSE's 'Writing a Successful Funding Application' workshop in partnership with SSE; trainers Mike Zywina and Ally Rea bring 15+ years of fundraising, bid-writing and strategy experience.
• Rocket LawyerminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSource of the document template that SSE adapted to create its terms and conditions (attribution disclosure).

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Locality: UK membership body supporting community-led organisations including community businesses — comparable audience to SSE's regional Trading for Good community-business cohorts.
• Social Enterprise UK: The national membership body for social enterprises in the UK — operates broadly across policy, learning and convening in the same ecosystem SSE serves, with overlapping funder relationships.
• NPC (New Philanthropy Capital): Charity sector think tank and consultancy advising funders and charities on impact measurement — adjacent competitor in the social-impact measurement and advisory layer SSE teaches.

Direct peers

• Bethnal Green Ventures: Accelerator and pre-seed investor for tech-for-good startups in the UK; competes with SSE for early-stage social entrepreneur mindshare and grant funding pipelines.
• UnLtd: UK social-enterprise support charity offering grants, awards and development programmes to early-stage social entrepreneurs — the closest direct comparator to SSE's programmes + Match Trading™ model.
• The Young Foundation: UK charity developing and supporting social innovators and ventures through research, programmes and accelerators; overlaps with SSE's learning and community mission.
• Big Issue Invest: Social-investment arm of The Big Issue providing grants, loans and enterprise support to social enterprises and charities in the UK — comparable programme and funding mix to SSE.

Emerging players

• Hatch Enterprise: UK charity supporting under-represented founders and social entrepreneurs with programmes and mentorship — emerging direct competitor in early-stage social-enterprise learning.

Others

• Power to Change: Independent trust that funds community businesses in England — a current SSE funder/partner and a strategic counterpart in the community-business funding ecosystem.

Regional players

• School for Social Enterprises Australia: Australian affiliate of SSE operating under the same brand and methodology in a different geography — comparable model but does not directly compete in the UK.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC8p3RkE_EIahGJfwgG02RVQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/sseaustralia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/1122023
• Instagraminstagram.com/schsocent
• Xx.com/SSEAustralia

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE)