Put your money where your values are

A finalist from Brighton had made it into the top six and Brighton featured in his act.

He specifically talked about all the awesome ethical shopping options available here (I won’t spoil the punchline but it had me laughing!)

I saw a vision of Radio 4 listeners around the country picturing Brighton as a national progressive leader. I think this picture is well-deserved.

Generally speaking, we take care of ourselves and the environment in which we live. We nurture our communities.

The Bevy pub in Moulsecoomb and Bevendean is a great example of this caring culture and have just received national recognition in The Guardian for the fantastic work they’ve been doing in their community—check it out.

All over Brighton, ordinary people who have an idea are standing up and saying it’s not enough to just seek profit.

They are using their skills and passion to design a different way to do business, developing a business model that has social or environmental responsibility at its heart.

They are offering Brighton consumers a choice to literally buy-in to a better world.

This type of business is called a social enterprise, and as our Radio 4 comedian declared, we have a lot of these businesses in Brighton.

As a Brighton consumer, you are likely to care about where your money goes – does it go into the pocket of a far-removed CEO, or does it help fund programmes to get disadvantaged people into work, or to reduce plastic in our oceans?

Data shows that people across the UK are starting to care more about where their money ends up, and this trend is very exciting.

Social Enterprise UK is running a national campaign to encourage consumers to Buy Social – i.e. buy from social enterprises, those businesses that give back, driven by people who want to see a better world.

You can find an online marketplace of your local social enterprises by visiting www.buysocialdirectory.org.uk.

Why not take five minutes, look at the choices you have, decide what world you want to live in and invest in that world?

October 13 is a national day to shout about social enterprise, ‘Social Saturday’.

Businesses you know and love like HISBE, the Big Lemon and Team Dominica will be celebrated, as well as smaller enterprises you are yet to discover.

Go on, take a look, put your money where your values are and think global, #actlocal #buysocial.

Leila Simpson is a social enterprise project and campaigns coordinator at The Platform in Brighton.