We’re a social enterprise with a mission to support other social enterprises. We do this through projects that build a stronger social economy.

The social economy is made up of all sorts of organisations, large and small. It’s also an idea that is gaining support globally.

Social economy organisations reinvest their profits, or focus their efforts, on creating a fairer world where everyone can flourish.

Our support to the social economy includes offering free advice to pre-startup and early stage social enterprises, running social economy development projects and joining networks that promote a fair, democratic and just social economy.

For over 15 years Shared Future has supported other social enterprises and built awareness of the role of the social economy within communities across the North West.

In 2024 we helped launch the new Manchester Social Economy Alliance and we sit on its steering group. We’ve recently received small scale funding from Ctrlshift to enable us to run workshops and events for this new alliance.

Find out more about the Manchester Social Economy Alliance in the short video below.

How we can help

We understand the social economy means different things to different people. Its diversity is its strength. It crosses over into all our other work, whether on participatory budgeting(PB) or climate change.

We link with many leading organisations also working on the social economy, like the Centre for Local Economic Studies. We’ve a track record in social enterprise support through our projects such as Latticeworks. We’ve been heavily involved in the Greater Manchester Social Enterprise Network over many years. And always been a member of Selnet, the award winning Lancashire-wide social enterprise support organisation. You can find out about our previous work on our reports and resources page.

Are you considering setting up a social economy project? We’d love to hear from you.

We undertake research, write blogs and run projects on how processes like participatory budgeting can build a stronger local economy. We support citizens take action on climate change after being part of our deliberative events. We recognise the importance of being local, connected and close to each other, and of building a regenerative economy that meets everyone’s needs.

Find out more

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