In pursuit of impact
Mission-led businesses
November 2016
Contents
Executive summary 1
Outline of methodology and headline gures 6
Exploring mission-led businesses: 10
How are businesses committing to mission?
Exploring mission-led businesses: 19
What are the key insights into mission-led businesses?
Conclusion: Looking ahead 27
Appendix A: Methodology: Sizing the mission-led business market 32
Appendix B: Methodology: Proling mission-led businesses 37
Appendix C: Example set of mission-led businesses 45
Executive summary
This research
was jointly
commissioned
by the Oce
for Civil Society
and Innovation
and Big Society
Capital to provide
a snapshot of
the volume and
characteristics
of mission-led
businesses in
the UK.
Notes: (1) OCSI formerly sat in the Cabinet
Oce, and is now part of the Department for
Culture, Media & Sport. (2) Deloitte Millennial
Survey 2016. (3) Deloitte Culture of Purpose
2014. (4) Edelman Global Barometer, 2016.
Purpose of the report
In March 2016, the Oce for Civil Society and Innovation (OCSI)
1
launched a
review of mission-led business in the UK. Mission-led businesses are for-prot
businesses which make a powerful commitment to social impact outside the
traditional social sector legal forms.
The review was launched in response to emerging business and market trends
that reect the growing role for mission-led businesses in the wider market.
Thesetrends include:
Increasing expectations for business to adopt a responsible role in
wider society. For example, nine out of ten millennials believe that the
success of a business should be measured by more than just its nancial
performance;
2
Employees becoming more optimistic about businesses that make
acommitment external to themselves. One survey indicates that workers
are twice as likely to be optimistic about businesses with a strong sense
of purpose. These businesses are considered more likely to be resilient to
future shocks and “able to stay ahead of industry disruptions”;
3
and,
The digital economy creating greater transparency, ensuring trust in
business becomes ever more important at a time when public trust in
business is at an all time low. In a global survey, only half the public “trust
institutions to do what’s right”.
4
This research was jointly commissioned by OSCI and Big Society Capital (BSC)
who both recognise the need for additional research to learn more about
those businesses that explicitly seek to make a wider impact on society, in
order to consider how best to support them. It seeks to build on a body of
existing literature, including the G8 Mission Alignment Group Report ‘Prot-with-
Purpose Businesses’, to develop new, independent, primary research that can
provide a snapshot of the volume and characteristics of mission-led business
in the UK. This research is intended to provide initial insights that can inform
policy makers, support BSC in their role as market builders, further the wider
conversation on social investment and provide a platform for future research
and study.
1
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Notes: (1) Prot-with-purpose businesses,
G8 Subject Paper of the Mission Alignment
Working Group, September 2014. (2) See Call
for Evidence:, Cabinet Oce, 2016.
Building a denition of mission-led business
We recognise that this is a complex and developing topic. Mission-led businesses
exist within a wide spectrum of businesses and social sector organisations.
Forthe purpose of this research, we have sought to dene mission-led
business in terms of their motivations and corporate form, in order to examine
the characteristics of these organisations and get a sense of the scale of this
movement. So, whilst many other organisations may be ‘mission-led’ (e.g.
community interest companies (CICs), charities) they are not the focus of this
particular report.
This report sets out an approach for dening and identifying businesses that
have no legal restrictions on their prot distribution but which have a genuine
commitment to wider social and environmental impact. As an emerging business
trend, it is too early to describe this as a clear ‘sector’ or ‘market’. It is better
described as a movement or an approach to business where social impact is
seen as a critical driver of value creation. The wider ‘social impact’ movement
goes beyond the denition of mission-led business used in this paper.
To identify and explore mission-led businesses, a set of denitional criteria were
developed with government ocials, Big Society Capital and an expert Deloitte
advisory panel. This denition of mission-led businesses is consistent with the
denition of ‘prot-with-purpose businesses’ in the G8 Social Impact Taskforce
paper
1
and as set out in the terms of the Mission-led Business Review.
2
The rst element of the identication approach was a clear ‘gateway’. To be
considered ‘mission-led’ a business must clearly declare its intent to be so.
Oncethrough this gateway, four critical questions were applied:
What is the strength of strategic commitment to a social or environmental
mission?
How central is the mission to the core business model – does it reect the
core commercial activity and shape prot distribution?
Does the way the business is governed and operated reect the mission?
Does the business publicly position itself as mission oriented?
It is acknowledged that this is “an” approach rather than “the” approach. Whilst
the research helps to progress our understanding of these business trends,
more can be done to rene the approach and build out the necessary data sets
to develop a more complete understanding of this movement.
This report sets
out an approach
for dening
and identifying
businesses that
have no legal
restrictions
on their prot
distribution
but which
have a genuine
commitment
to wider social
impact.
2
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
The approach we have taken
The research adopts two complementary approaches: (i) a statistical estimate
of the size and scale of mission-led businesses within the overall market and;
(ii) a review of key characteristics of an example set of businesses that meet
the criteria, extracted from a larger set of businesses identied as potentially
mission-led sourced from existing literature and expert interviews.
i. To capture a statistical estimate of the volume of mission-led businesses
within the overall market, a random sample of over 500 businesses was
drawn from a database of UK private sector businesses. The sample was
split to assess those businesses with nancial information and those
without. This enabled a more precise estimate of overall turnover and
workforce. The two samples were assessed against the criteria and brought
together to provide total estimates for mission-led business volume,
turnover and workforce. Whilst these estimates are statistically robust,
the size of the sample meant that this approach was limited in its ability to
generate more specic insights.
ii. A second, complementary approach was used to generate more detailed
insight on the characteristics of mission-led businesses. Insights were
generated through an analysis of an example set of 250 businesses that
were extracted from an examination of over 1,000 businesses that had
been identied as potentially mission-led from existing literature and expert
interviews. Over 30 interviews were also conducted in order to gain further,
detailed insight.
In both cases, each business was rst passed through an ‘assessment gateway’
to identify whether it declared a credible intent to contribute to a wider social or
environmental mission. Once through this gateway, the business was assessed
against a series of weighted criteria, associated with the key tests of a mission-
led business. These weightings were developed pragmatically. For example,
whilst reporting against mission would be a strong indicator of commitment,
many businesses assessed were too small or too young to have developed a
reporting capability, and thus, whilst important, the weighting of this criteria was
balanced with other core factors across the tests. Future research could ex
these weightings and assumptions to test how they impact outcomes.
3
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Notes: (1) Informed by BIS Business
Population Estimates 2015. (2) See page 23
Key ndings
Mission-led businesses cover a wide range of industries, sizes and social/
environmental focuses. The research suggests that they already account for
4.3% of turnover in the UK private sector. This is comparable to the size of the
SME market in the Transportation and Storage sector.
1
Whilst many mission-led businesses have been around for a long time, most
are youthful and this, together with the many trends driving the importance of
corporate purpose, suggests that these businesses are growing in volume.
Mission-led businesses, in general, exemplify comparatively strong diversity
ofleadership.
The research conrms evidence that had previously been anecdotal:
Mission-led businesses tend to be more prevalent in sectors which have
a more obvious relationship with socio-economic good.
This generally
enables closer committment to mission across the core business model and
operations and more closely aligns mission, growth incentives and investor
interests;
Older mission-led businesses tend to be larger organisations, often with an
international focus and strong impact reporting, but alignment between
mission and their core product or service may be more nuanced; and,
Younger mission-led businesses are more likely to use innovative
business models and to have a mission that is core to the business model,
commensurate with being ‘born mission-led’. These businesses also tend to
be smaller, locally-focused, have less mature reporting structures, and where
founder run tend to have limited succession planning.
A sixth of businesses in the example set articulatecommitmentto mission in key
governing documents, and the majority of businesses tended to have ‘atter’
leadership structures.
Mission-led businesses in the consumer sector tend to be larger than
inothersectors,which could suggest that consumer-facing companies are more
likely to ‘repurpose’ as mission-led.
There is growing evidence that the benets for businesses of committing to
positive social impact are wide-ranging and every business interviewed felt
that their mission had been a competitive advantage in terms ofattractingand
retaining employees and building relationships with clients.
Mission-led
businesses cover
a wide range
of industries,
sizes and social/
environmental
focuses. The
research
suggests that
they already
account for 4.3%
of turnover in the
UK private sector.
4
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Recommendations
This report examines the role of mission in catalysing mutual benets for both
business and society. Mission can drive scale and sustainability in business,
which in turn reinforces and extends the impact of mission.
There is a new and vital opportunity to support the growing inuence of mission.
Start-ups and existing businesses can be encouraged to adopt a mission.
Businesses can be supported to take forward impact reporting and make
quantiable mission-oriented commitments. Mission-led businesses can be
oered help to bolster their commercial expertise and manage competitive
challenges.
To make the most of this opportunity, there should be, in the short and medium
term, enhanced private or public provision of:
Access to advice and networks to share learning and support decision
making, both among mission-led businesses and between mission-led
businesses and inuential, less mission oriented businesses. This could help
foster ecosystems of mutually supportive businesses who are motivated in
similar ways; and help mission-led businesses better manage growth and
leadership transition;
More accessible and more standardised impact reporting, with access to
research, tools and resources to enable this; and
Some form of recognition for mission-led businesses that would support and
incentivise further growth.
Finally, this report sets out a range of areas for further research, including
further representative sampling, the changing role of mission over the business
life cycle and the importance of long-term planning in ensuring the sustainability
and success of mission-led businesses.
5
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Outline of
methodology and
headline gures
6
Identifying mission-led businesses
Mission-led businesses have been identied using a gateway
and series of tests that seek to assess both the mission of the
business and the way in which the business is designed to
deliver on that mission
Key characteristics of a mission-led business
A number of denitions exist in the market for businesses with commitment to broader
impact. These range from ‘social enterprises’ to ‘for-benet companies’ to ‘purpose driven
businesses’, among others.
1
The core denition of a ‘mission-led business’, as expressed through the initial Mission-led
Business Review Call for Evidence,
2
refers to a business that:
• Can fully distribute its prots, with no legal restrictions on prot distribution either through
aprot lock or through legal form (e.g. CICs);
• Identies an intention to have a positive social or environmental impact as a central
purpose of its business;
• Makes a long-term or binding commitment to deliver on that intention through its business
and operations; and
• Reports on its social impact to its stakeholders.
To fully embody this denition, an exemplar mission-led business will have both a mission
that specically targets social or environmental impact and an organisation that is designed
to support this. This includes its strategy, governance, operations (including interaction
with key stakeholders e.g. employees, customers, suppliers, community, owners), investor
relations and reporting.
Challenges to identication
Mission-led businesses can be found across the market. However they are dicult to identify
given the lack of standardised identifying characteristics, the presence of many younger
mission-led businesses that may not have fully congured their organisation or developed
reporting, and the limited availability of external data that can be used to assess the smaller
and medium sized businesses.
Approach
Given these challenges, the approach chosen to identify mission-led business is highly
pragmatic, and relies on publicly available information for eciency. The criteria chosen build
on the criteria described in the Call for Evidence and the G8 subject paper.
3
The approach introduces an ‘assessment gateway’. This recognizes the central requirement
that to be ‘mission-led’ a business must declare an intention to contribute to a social or
environmental mission. Subsequently, four tests are applied to assess the quality of this
intent and the degree to which the business is aligned behind the intent.
Notes: (1) Existing denitions can be found
through Social Enterprise UK, GameChangers
500, Blueprint for Better Business, Deloitte
US Social Impact. (2) Mission-led Business
Review: Call for Evidence, May 2016 (3) Prot-
with-purpose businesses, G8 Subject Paper
of the Mission Alignment Working Group,
September 2014.
An exemplar
mission-led
business will
have both a
mission that
specically
targets social or
environmental
impact and an
organisation that
is designed to
support this.
7
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
For the purposes of this report, we have analysed an example
set of mission-led businesses across four areas: intent, business
model, governance and operations, and external perception.
The four tests used in the identication and assessment of mission-led businesses
The nature of the ‘commitment’ to mission has been assessed through four weighted tests,
developed from existing research and expert interviews, workshops and validation.
1
Those
passing a threshold level of commitment have been identied as mission-led businesses.
Intent
What is the
strength of
strategic
commitment to
a social or
environmental
mission?
Business Model
How central is the
mission to the core
business model
– does it reect the
core commercial
activity and shape
prot distribution?
Governance
and Operations
Does the way the
business is
governed and
operated and the
key stakeholders
engaged reect
the mission? Does
the business
report on impact?
External
Perception
Does the business
publicly position
itself as mission
oriented?
Mission-led business
denition
Notes: (1) See Appendix A for more details on
developing the denition, assessment criteria
and assessment approach.
8
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Market size
Mission-led businesses in the UK private sector are estimated
to constitute 2.7% of business volume, 4.3% of the economy
and 4.5% of the workforce.
Understanding mission-led businesses
Whilst many businesses will declare commitment to a ‘mission’ of some kind, these include
types of mission that are not socially or environmentally focused (e.g.customer service or
innovation), and many organisations that are not truly guided by their mission.
Some businesses, however, are genuinely guided by a social or environmental mission and
are suciently committed to be considered a mission-led business.
Random sampling of businesses in the UK, followed by application of the gateway criteria
andassessment against the four tests, provides an estimate of the size and scale of the
‘market’ of mission-led businesses (see Appendix A).
1
Notes: (1) Estimates for turnover informed
by BIS Business Population Estimates 2015.
Estimates for workforce informed by UK
Labour Market: August 2016, ONS Statistical
release. For further notes on methodology
and assumptions see Appendix A.
A random
sampling
approach
provided an
estimate for
the size and
scale of the
‘market’ of
mission-led
businesses in
the UK.
123,000 mission-led businesses
2.7% of business volume
£165 billion turnover
4.3% of the economy
1.4 million employees
4.5% of the workforce
9
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Exploring mission-
led businesses:
How are businesses
committing to
mission?
10
Exploring the characteristics
of mission-led businesses
The gateway criteria of a mission-led business have been
applied to a long list of candidate businesses to create an
example set. The four tests then have been used to examine
the mission-led business ‘market’.
Understanding the four tests
In this section, an example set of mission-
led businesses is explored through the four
tests using publicly available information.
Allbusinesses included pass the initial
gateway criteria: being for-prot companies
with a social or environmental intent.
The example set was developed from
acandidate list of over 1,000 companies.
The diagram on the right shows the
contribution of each test to the overall score
(out of 10). A company must score >5 to be
classied as a mission-led business. Tests
were dened for this report in consultation
with advisors as described in Appendix
B and are made up of sub-dimensions as
shown on the right.
The initial gateway is wider than the
G8 study which looks for long-term
commitment (e.g. through evidence in
articles) which may be less present in
established businesses looking to transition
to being mission-led.
The insights and trends explored using the
example set provide some insight into the
characteristics of the wider mission-led
business ‘market’. Further sample-based
research would be required to develop
statistically representative data.
Intent
• existence of a
central mission of
the organisation
integration into
overall business
strategy
• a long-term
commitment to the
mission
• mission
description*
• mission scale and
mission type*
Business Model
• use of core
operating assets to
further mission
• prot distribution
strategy
• alignment of
investor interests*
External Perception
• press reports and awards
• brand perception*
Governance
and Operations
• governance
structure
• mission integration
into operations
(including
stakeholder
engagement) and
ways of working
• alignment of impact
initiatives with
mission
• impact reporting
• female and minority
leadership*
• decision-making
processes*
Mission-led business
denition
1
100%
Notes: *captured as a sub-
dimension but did not contribute
to scoring as inappropriate or
due to lack of publicly available
information. (1) See Appendix B
for more details on developing the
denition.
40%
25%
20%
15%
11
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Intent:
Mission type and scale
Mission-led businesses in the example
set dier in mission type, with the
majority focusing on social issues and a
quarter focusing on environmental issues.
Intent is the most critical test in dening
and identifying a mission-led business and
features in the gateway for analysis; stated
intent to deliver a social or environmental
outcome as a core purpose is a necessary,
if not sucient, feature of amission-led
business.
1
Mission description
Mission-led businesses refer to their mission
in dierent ways, there is no common
taxonomy. Where Spacehive talk about
‘mission’, Unicorn Grocery oer ‘Principles of
Purpose’ and Mediae describe their ‘goals’.
Across these businesses each of these terms
establish a similar imperative for action.
Other mission-led businesses incorporate
mission into their description of themselves.
For example, “We at Happiness Works are
passionate about creating a better world of
work. We believe if more people genuinely
enjoyed their work then everyone would
benet, including employees, customers
and shareholders.”
Mission type
Mission-led businesses have ambitions
across a variety of areas. Of the example
set, 53% are explicitly focused on social
issues and 26% on the environment
andsustainability.
Mission scale
The majority of mission-led businesses
(72%) have a narrowly focused mission on
an issue limited to a particular beneciary
group or geography.
2
These organisations
are more likely to have educational and
community goals, often linked to specic
locations. For example, Settle Hydro is a
community-owned hydroelectric scheme
which aims to benet the local community
by providing green electricity and using
prots to support local projects.
Mission-led businesses with a broadly
focused mission are more likely to be
international and have a mission related to
the environment. Examples include Elstat
which is a refrigeration company aiming to
reduce energy consumption and carbon
emissions, and Seawater Greenhouse which
uses seawater and sunlight to provide
sustainable agriculture solutions in
inhospitable climates.
Notes: (1) Intent accounts for 40% of the
overall mission-led business score, broken
down into ‘Integration into Strategy’ (80%)
as measured by inclusion of mission
into strategic documents and degree to
which mission is integrated within the
overall business strategy, and ‘Long-term
commitment (20%) as dened through
strategy documentation. (2) Narrowly focused
missions refer to missions that are focused on
a more specic goal for a smaller community,
whereas broadly focused missions relate
to grander goals for larger populations.
(3)Growing the social impact market includes:
support for other social enterprises and
third sector organisations, and support
for businesses/public bodies to develop
social impact; Community support includes:
Housing, Support for vulnerable groups
e.g. children and the elderly, Improving the
local community; Environment includes:
Carbon reduction, Waste reduction/recycling,
Sustainable growth
If a business is
founded with a
mission inherent
to its identity,
that mission
is unlikely to
change. However,
some businesses
transition
to become
a mission-
led business
once they are
established.
Number of mission-led businesses
Intent type
1
0
20
40
60
80
Support small
businesses
Other
Employability
Education
Healthcare
Community
support
3
Growing the
social impact
market
Environment
65
53
36
26 26
21
15
8
12
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Intent:
Score range
Mission-led businesses in the example set identify and commit
to a social/environmental purpose. This purpose is typically
reected in their strategy and committed to through a long-
term target or goal.
The strength of Intent was assessed against
two sub-dimensions: the integration of
mission into business strategy and long-
term commitment to the mission.
Integration of mission into business
strategy
The majority of these mission-led
businesses (65%) are perceived to have
strong integration of mission into business
strategy.
Oomph! is one example of a business
with this strong level of integration. With
a mission to improve the health and well-
being of older adults, their strategy focuses
explicitly on improving training for care
sta in order to enable them to conduct
exercises and activities for elderly patients
in care homes.
In contrast, one hotel qualies as a mission-
led business but has a less direct alignment
between its mission and its strategy.
Their mission suggests a commitment
to sustainable development of the local
environment and community. Whilst this
mission forms a strong feature of their
business model and operations, the
strategic direction of the business is focused
on growing a chain of hotels.
Long-term commitment
The majority of mission-led businesses
have a long-term commitment to mission
reected in their public documents,
although only half (49%) make a specic
measurable commitment. For example,
ClimateCare commits to cutting 20 million
tonnes of CO
2
and improving the lives of 20
million people by 2020. Of the remainder,
most (49% of total) make commitments that
are less specic or short to medium term.
Intent scores
40% of mission-led businesses in the
example set achieved the maximum score
for Intent and gained top scores for both
sub-dimensions. For example, Traidcraft is a
leading fair trade organisation dedicated to
ghting poverty through trade.
As shown in the graph above, 27% of
qualifying mission-led businesses have a
weaker
1
Intent score with low scores across
this test. Despite getting a low score in the
most critical category, these businesses
still qualied as mission-led businesses by
scoring well in other tests and passing the
gateway criteria.
The majority of
these mission-led
businesses (65%)
are perceived
to have strong
integration
of mission
into business
strategy.
Notes: (1) Weaker Intent scores= 3.12 or
less, strong Business Model scores= 2 or
more, strong Governance and Operations
scores=1.5 or more and strong External
Perception scores=0.75
Number of mission-led businesses
Intent score (/4)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
43.63.523.23.123.042.722.64
Intent scoring
13
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Business model
The majority of mission-led businesses in the example set
accomplish their mission through the core commercial activity
of the company, particularly those within the healthcare and
energy sectors.
The business model is the second most
important test in determining whether or
not a company is a mission-led business
and considers the degree to which core
commercial activities support the mission.
1
Relationship of core commercial
activity to mission
The relationship of the core commercial
activity to the mission is determined by
considering the alignment of products
and services to the mission and how the
company uses core operating assets
to achieve the mission. The majority of
mission-led businesses (56%) in the example
set an aim to accomplish their mission
through use of core business operating
assets.
For example, MicroEnsure has a business
model that directly addresses its mission
to support people in emerging markets
through improved access to insurance. It
oers new forms of protection for its target
audience across micro-health, political
violence, crop and mobile insurance.
A working farm that we assessed, in
contrast, looks to achieve its mission
through activities adjacent to its core dairy
business. Alongside production and sales
of cheese and butter, the farm is dedicated
to a mission of sustainability, harnessing
natural resources to source electricity and
gas from solar and biogas, generated from
farm and dairy waste.
Mission-led businesses which use core
operating assets to deliver their mission
are more likely to be younger businesses,
incorporated in the past decade and in the
energy or healthcare sectors.
Other mission-led businesses look to
achieve their mission outside core business
activities and are more likely to be over
10years old.
They are also more likely to be in the business
services, TMT or consumer business sectors,
where the business model may not directly
lend itself to furthering a social mission.
Notes: (1) Business Model accounts for 25% of the overall mission-led business score, subdivided into
‘Core commercial activity/assets used for impact’ (60%), which assesses the use of core operating assets
as a proxy for the relationship of the core commercial activity to the mission and ‘Prot distribution
strategy’ (40%) as reported on company websites or annual reports. (2) Only sectors with 10 or more
mission-led businesses shown. Business services includes consulting, advisory, legal, marketing, and
other business support services.
Number of mission-led businesses
Business Model score (/2.5)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
2.52.0521.61.551.51.11.050.6
Business Model scoring
Mission-led businesses (%)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
EnergyHealthcare and
Life Sciences
Financial
services
EducationConsumer
business
TMTBusiness
services
Relationship of core operating assets to mission by sector
2
Independent
Integrated
Core
14
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Business model:
Prot and nance
Nearly a fth of mission-led businesses in the example set
publicise a commitment to use prots to further their mission,
either through reinvestment or distribution to philanthropic
organisations. Interviews highlight the importance of having
investors that support the social or environmental mission.
Prot distribution strategy
Whilst mission-led businesses are, by this
report’s denition, for-prot enterprises,
distributing their prot as a contribution to
a social or environmental mission can be an
indicator of the strength of their commitment
to mission.
The majority of businesses in the example
set don’t publicly describe the distribution of
their prots. However, 19% oered a public
commitment to either reinvest prots to
further serve their mission or to distribute
a proportion of prots to philanthropic
organisations.
For example, Mzuribeads is an ethical bead
company which aims to provide sustainable
income for the Ugandan community. It
invests prots to further its mission by
establishing training programmes for women
in the co-operative to become future leaders
of the business.
GiveMeTap strives for everyone to have access
to clean water. The company sells water
bottles and reports that 20% of revenue from
each bottle sold goes to the company’s water
project fund and gives ve years of clean
water to a person in Africa.
Some mission-led businesses (14%) have
an explicit aliation with a charitable
foundation. These may be external to the
company, for example, Olleco supports the
charity ‘Hospitality Action’ which helps people
in the hospitality industry. Other mission-led
businesses have their own charitable trusts,
for example, Recycling Lives and Talentino have
their own registered charities which support
their missions.
Alignment of investor interests
For 70% of businesses in the example set,
investor interests are clearly aligned with
mission interests in that increasing impact is
likely to go hand in hand with better nancial
returns.
In the remainder of cases, investors’ nancial
interests are only somewhat aligned with
mission interests. For example, if the
business donates a xed sum to charity each
year or carries out mission-related activities
that are independent of the core business,
growth is not necessarily commensurate with
a positive impact on the mission.
Mission-led businesses with aligned investor
interests achieve a greater average mission-
led business score overall (7.4) compared to
those without (6.5).
Those in the TMT sector are less likely to
have investor interests aligned with mission
interests, while those in Healthcare and
Lifesciences, and Financial Services are more
likely to be aligned.
“ Ensuring that
you have the
right investors
on board can
be key to the
success of an
organisation,
as the wrong
investors can
sometimes
compel a
business to
abandon or
deprioritise their
mission.”
Investment group working with
mission-led businesses
15
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Governance and operations
A sixth of businesses in the example set incorporate
commitment to mission in key governing documents and over
a third explicitly mention how the mission is embedded across
their operations.
A fth of the overall mission-led business
score depends on Governance and
Operations.
1
This test quanties how the
mission is integrated into both governance
structure and operations.
Governance structure
The extent to which mission has been
integrated into the governance structure
of a business has been assessed through
reference to publicly available governing
documents.
2
Of the example set of mission-
led businesses, 16% embed the mission into
their articles of association.
The articles of association of Unforgettable,
for example, state: “the company’s purpose
is the Social Mission, which is to improve the
quality of life of all those living with dementia
and other neurodegenerative diseases by
creating the world’s best marketplace for
dementia products and services”.
Integration of mission into operations
According to company websites, 36% of
mission-led businesses explicitly consider
their mission across operating layers,
including their back oce and supply
chain as well as customer service. For
example, Cafeology’s mission is to be
a 100% ethical business. They ensure
products they sell have Fairtrade, Soil
Association and Rainforest Alliance marks
and they have direct links with producers in
Central America and Africa. Suppliers and
subcontractors are selected, in part, on their
adherence to ethical purchasing principles.
For 56% of businesses in the example set
the mission is not explicitly mentioned in
relation to operations in publicly available
documents, but the company implies that
the mission is considered at all levels of the
business. For example, the set of mission-
led businesses includes a law rm which
provides advice to charities and social
enterprises. One of its pledges is to consider
the wider environmental and ethical
implications of actions at all times. This
promise implies some level of integration
into operations.
Notes: (1) Governance and Operations accounts
for 20% of the overall mission-led business score,
subdivided into ‘Governance structure’ (20%),
primarily assessed using articles of association,
‘Mission integration in operations and ways of
working’ (20%), ‘Impact activities integrated with
mission’ (30%) and ‘Impact measurement’ (5%
for any measure, 5% for quantitative measures)
all assessed using company websites. (2) Largely
through Companies House.
Number of mission-led businesses
Governance and Operations scoring (/2)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Governance and Operations scoring
0.56
0.74
0.84
0.94
1
1.04
1.16
1.2
1.26
1.3
1.34
1.38
1.42
1.48
1.52
1.58
1.62
1.7
1.8
1.9
16
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Governance and operations:
Impact reporting and leadership
Most businesses in the example set report on the extent to
which they have achieved mission-related impact, but less than
a third report this quantitatively.
Impact measurement
65% of mission-led businesses in the
example set report their social or
environmental impact publicly, whether
in an annual report or on a website. It is
less common to quantify social impact
(beyond nancial performance), with 32%
of all mission-led businesses reporting
quantitative measures.
For example, Enworks’ mission is to improve
the environment and economy by engaging
businesses in environmentally sustainable
business practice. They provide both
quantitative and qualitative measures of the
cumulative savings clients have achieved
with their help e.g. 13 million cubic meters
ofwater.
An example of a mission-led business that
does not quantify its social impact is one
which enables property guardianships
between landlords and people committed to
voluntary work, giving them a cheaper place
to live. Their website includes testimonials
and case studies but does not currently oer
a quantication of social impact.
Notes: (1) Contribution of women-led and MEG-
led businesses to the UK non-nancial economy,
2014, Department for Business, Innovation
andSkills.
Mission-led businesses that provide
quantitative reports are more likely to be
older and larger. Only 15% of mission-led
businesses that are less than three years old
report quantitatively compared to 56% of
mission-led businesses aged over 30 years.
Impact initiatives
The majority of mission-led businesses (62%)
in the example set conduct corporate social
responsibility activities (such as volunteering
or fundraising) that are directly aligned to
their mission.
Social Bite, a sandwich business which aims
to solve social problems, aligns all impact-
related activities to its mission to solve
these issues. Prots either go to charities
supporting homeless people or to feed 150
homeless people a day. Customers can
also buy food for a local homeless person
to collect later. The Social Bite Academy
provides support to homeless people who
want to nd employment.
Decision-making processes
The mission-led businesses interviewed
tend to have more informal hierarchies
within their organisations, with ‘atter’
leadership structures designed to make
sta accountable for the mission. Exemplar
mission-led businesses use impact reporting
not just to appeal to clients but as part
of their strategic and decision making
processes.
Leadership and equality
35% of mission-led businesses in the
example set are led by women or minority
ethnic groups. This can be compared to
levels in the broader SME market where 20%
of businesses are estimated to be majority
led by women and 6% minority ethnic group
led.
1
Furthermore, mission-led businesses
that are led by women or ethnic minorities
achieve a greater mission-led business score
than those that are not (7.3 vs 7.0).
Mission-led businesses
Age Age
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
31+21-3011-206-103-50-231+21-3011-206-103-50-2
Quantitative impact reporting Any impact reporting
No
Yes
17
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
External perceptions
Nearly half the businesses in the example set have been
recognised for their social or environmental impact through
awards or inclusion on sustainable business lists.
The nal test of a mission-led business is
the way it positions itself publicly and if it
portrays itself as ‘mission-led’. A proxy for
this is external perception and whether the
business is recognised as being socially or
environmentally driven.
Press reports and awards
Inclusion on a social award or impact list was
used as a proxy for consumer recognition
of the social or environmental impact made
by businesses. 51% of the example set of
mission-led businesses were included on one
or more lists such as the FTSE4Good UK 50,
GameChangers 500 or NatWest SE100.
Brand perception
In the case of some larger companies, the
mission is recognised as part of the brand
e.g. The Body Shop and Patagonia, measured
through social media reviews and other
customer inputs.
Mission-led businesses
interviewed indicated
that being identied
as mission-led had a
universally positive
impact on their
business in terms of
customer or client
perception.
Notes: (1) External Perceptions accounts
for 15% of the overall mission-led business
score and is made up of 10% for presence
on each of these lists: FTSE4Good UK 50,
GameChangers 500, Guardian Sustainable
Brands, NatWest SE100, Global 100 Most
Sustainable Companies, B-Corps; and 40% for
presence on any other list or award.
Examples of social and environmental impact awards
11% of mission-led businesses in the example set
e.g. Good Energy, Paramo, Winnow, Neighbourly
The Guardian
Sustainable Business
Awards 2016
4% of mission-led businesses in the example set e.g. Cause4,
Patients Know Best, Social Stock Exchange, Mustard Seed
2% of mission-led businesses in the example set
e.g. Developing Youth Practice, Policy in Practice
11% of mission-led businesses in the example set
e.g. Mazuma Mobile, Kiwi Power, Seawater Greenhouse
Number of mission-led businesses
External Perception score (/1.5)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1.50.90.750.60.450.30.150
External Perception scoring
18
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Exploring mission-
led businesses: What
are the key insights
into mission-led
businesses?
19
Size and mission-led
scores
The majority of businesses in the
example set are small businesses; small
businesses typically have a greater
commitment to mission than the larger
businesses proled.
Mission-led businesses were classied
according to size by the BEIS denition,
i.e. small businesses have <50 employees,
medium businesses 50-249 and large
businesses 250+ employees. The small
businesses gure also includes companies
that do not report employee data, which is
not a requirement for this classication.
Behaviour of smaller mission-led
businesses
There are a large number of small businesses
in the example set. Smaller mission-led
businesses tend to have a higher score in the
mission-led business assessment, suggesting
that a smaller business is better able to
maintain a focus on mission.
Smaller mission-led businesses are also likely
to have the following characteristics:
• Adoption of a local or national focus for
their mission, while larger mission-led
businesses are more likely to have a broad
international focus;
• Be younger companies, less than 5 years
of age, while the majority of large and
medium mission-led businesses were over
10 years old; and
• Have a mission that is core to their
commercial activities, while larger
businesses are more likely to have
mission-oriented activities which are
adjacent to their core business model.
1
This may be because larger, older
businesses have transitioned into
mission-led businesses while smaller
businesses in the set are more likely
to have been founded as mission-led
businesses.
Smaller
mission-led
businesses
tend to have a
higher score in
the mission-led
business
assessment,
suggesting that a
smaller business
is better able to
maintain a focus
on mission.
Notes: (1) For example, a water and waste
management company aims to work in
a sustainable manner and support local
community and environment
Number of mission-led businesses
Average (RHS)
Mission-led business score
0
50
100
150
200
250
LargeMediumSmall
Mission-led business numbers and score by size
6.80
6.85
6.90
6.95
7.00
7.05
7.10
7.15
208
19
23
20
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Leading sectors
Key sectors represented across the example
set of mission-led businesses include:
• Business services;
• Technology; and
• Consumer Business.
The highest proportion of mission-led
businesses in the example set is in business
services. This implies a close relationship
between providing support to other
institutions and to wider society. This trend
may also reect the business development
incentive for businesses in this sector to be
a part of mission-led business networks and
promote themselves publicly.
Mission-led businesses in some sectors are
likely to have related missions.
For example, 70% of mission-led businesses
in the Healthcare and Lifesciences sector
have a Healthcare related mission, and
85% of Energy businesses have an
environmental mission. Where a sector has
a natural relationship with socio-economic
good, mission-led business scores tend to
be higher.
A higher proportion of the mission-led
businesses analysed from Consumer
Business or Energy sectors were larger
businesses compared to those in other
sectors. This suggests that established
businesses in these sectors may nd it
easier to transition to become mission-led.
For example, Seacourt is a printing company
that was established in 1946 but fty years
later realised the signicant environmental
damage the traditional printing industry
caused. It is now a green printing company
that uses waterless printing technology.
Leadership by a woman or ethnic minority
is more common in mission-led businesses
in some sectors, such as the Education and
Healthcare and Life Sciences sectors. This
reects trends in the wider SME market.
1
The highest
proportion of
mission-led
businesses in
the example set
is in business
services.
Sector and mission-led scores
Mission-led businesses can be found in a wide range of sectors.
The most commonly represented in the example set are
business services, technology and consumer business.
Notes: Business proportions by sector are not
intended to be statistically representative of
the larger economy, as gures above refer to
proled businesses and are not statistically
representative of the population. (1) Small
Business Survey, Department for Business
Innovation & Skills, 2014. (2) Business
services includes consulting, advisory, legal,
marketing, and other business support
services e.g.
Futerra
, a change consultancy
and
Policy in Practice
, a consultancy that
aims to make government policy simple to
understand
Number of mission-led businesses
Mission-led business score
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Agriculture
Transport
and Logistics
Construction
Arts and
Creative
Retail
Tourism
and Leisure
Other
Manufacturing
Real estate
Energy
Healthcare and
Life Sciences
Financial
services
Education
Consumer
business
TMT
Business
services
2
Mission-led business numbers and score by sector
4.0
4.5
5.0
5.5
6.0
6.5
7.0
7.5
8.0
Average (RHS)
21
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Age and mission-led
scores
The majority of businesses in the
example set have been incorporated
since 2010, with only a small minority
having been incorporated over
30yearsago.
Younger mission-led businesses
The majority of businesses in the example
set entered the market over the last 15
years, with the majority of those proled
launched between 2010 and 2015. Potential
reasons for this development are broad,
ranging from increased awareness and
cultural recognition of ‘mission’ to increased
support from government.
Interviews suggest that there may be a
point of ‘peak maturity’ for mission-led
businesses, after which it is harder to
maintain focus on mission and original goals
as investors and leadership change.
This is indicated by high scores for
businesses between 21-30 years old and
low scores for businesses over 30 years old.
Interviews also suggest founders typically
neglect succession planning which may
contribute to this dynamic.
Younger mission-led businesses have
arange of particular characteristics:
• Younger mission-led businesses are more
likely to be smaller businesses, while
businesses over 20 years old are more
likely to be medium and large businesses;
• Younger mission-led businesses are less
likely to report quantitatively on impact
(see page 17). Interviews suggest that this
is because they are challenged in terms of
both capital and capacity; and,
• Younger mission-led businesses are more
likely to have a mission that is core to the
business model. This implies that they
are established as mission-led businesses
and are structured to focus on the mission
(see page 20).
“ As time goes
by, it becomes
harder for
mission-led
businesses to
retain long-
term mission
and original
governance
structure,
particularly
with changes in
ownership and
investors.”
Consultant to a large mission-led
business
Number of mission-led businesses
Age
Mission-led business score
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
31+21-3011-206-103-50-2
Mission-led business size and scores by years since incorporation date
6.6
6.7
6.8
6.9
7.0
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
Small
Medium
Large
Average (RHS)
22
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Geographical focus
andmission-led scores
Nearly 70% of businesses in the example
set operate at a national level and a fth
have an international focus.
Geographic breakdown
The majority of the example set of mission-
led businesses proled have a national focus
(68%). Proled businesses operate across all
areas of the UK although interviews indicate
that networks tend to be London-centric.
A signicant proportion have an
international focus (20%), often distributing
prots to mission-oriented activities abroad,
for example Falcon Coees supports coee
farmers in rural communities across the
world and Climate KIC supports innovation in
dealing with climate change in Europe.
A smaller group of mission-led businesses
have a regional or a local focus, engaging
a local population in their mission through
business activities.
Businesses with a local focus are more likely
to have:
• Slightly stronger commitment to mission
than those with a broad remit across
national and international markets. This
may indicate that businesses nd it easier
to commit to a mission if it is narrower in
geographical scope; and
• A mission dedicated to educational and
community goals. Regional businesses
are similar in mission motivation to local
businesses, but are also more likely to
support small businesses. Internationally-
focused businesses are more likely to have
an environmental goal as their mission.
“ The share of
conversation
around
networks and
policy-making
is very London-
centric. As a
business based
outside London,
we were
denitely at a
disadvantage
as the network
for social
organisations is
patchy outside
of London.”
Mission-led business based in
Birmingham
Notes: The stated geographical operating
area of businesses was used to categorise
their geographic footprint. Local refers to
mission-led businesses that operate on a
city or town level (or below) e.g. Leeds, while
regional refers to rms operating in a larger
area but not on a national level e.g. South
ofEngland
Mission-led business footprint (by volume)
Local
Regional
National International
4% 8% 68% 20%
23
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Corporate form
Mission-led businesses can take any
legal form that enables prot distribution
and often choose to be private limited
companies in order to have more control
over their business.
Legal type
The majority of the example set of mission-
led businesses proled are private limited
companies (82%). A small proportion
are public limited companies (PLCs; 5%).
PLCsare more likely to have a mission with
an international focus than private limited
companies.
The 12 public limited companies span
a range of sectors such as Consumer
Business (e.g. The Body Shop), Energy
(e.g.ITM Power) and Financial Services
(e.g.Unity Trust Bank).
Other corporate forms include
co-operatives (e.g. The Southern
Co‑operative), limited liability partnerships
(e.g.Empower Community Management
LLP), and unincorporated associations
(e.g.Vandanamu Ethical Cottons).
Exclusions to legal type
As enterprises with the freedom to make
and distribute prot, mission-led businesses
are by this report’s denition organisations
with legal structures that are not charities,
CICs or CLGs.
This is not to say that companies with these
legal structures do not have a mission or
that it does not lead their actions, indeed in
most cases, they are “mission-led”, but they
are not the particular focus of this report or
the broader Mission-led Business Review.
“ We chose to
be a private
limited company
because we
want to create a
drive for change
and enable
people to help
themselves
while doing
business,
instead of just
giving them
resources with a
more charitable
model.”
‘Other’ includes co-operatives, limited liability
partnerships, partnerships, unincorporated
associations, unknown.
Private limited Public limited Other
82%
of mission-led
businesses are
private limited
companies
24
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Innovation
Mission-led businesses incorporated
in the last three years tend to have
innovative business models.
Of the example set of mission-led
businesses, 34% have an innovative
business model, dened in this context
as one that behaves in a fundamentally
dierent way to other businesses operating
in their sector.
For example, 2JEvents is a venue and events
management company that proactively
supports local schools by facilitating hire of
school facilities.
Use of an innovative business model
is much more prevalent in younger
organisations, and ranges from 55% in those
under three years old to 6% in those over
30years old.
A higher proportion of mission-led
businesses in Energy (69%), TMT (55%)
and Healthcare and Life Sciences (55%)
sectors have innovative business models.
Similarly, ahigher proportion of mission-
led businesses with a Healthcare related
mission are innovative (54%).
1
Mission-led businesses have dierent goals
from the broad swathe of their competitors,
encouraging if not demanding creative and
innovative approaches to the market.
“ We aim not
just to have a
mission but
to be actively
disruptive in the
space with our
solutions for the
issues we are
trying to tackle.”
Award-winning mission-led business
Notes: (1) Healthcare related missions include
Healthcare and Improving physical and
mental wellbeing
Proportion of mission-led businesses
with innovative business models
34%
with innovative
business model
Mission-led businesses
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
31+21-3011-206-103-50-2
Mission-led businesses with innovative business models by age
Age
Yes
No
25
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Developing a mission
Businesses take dierent paths to becoming mission-led.
Somebegin with mission as a core objective, while others
transition to adopt a mission at a later stage.
Mission-led business
at incorporation
Businesses that set
up with the purpose
of achieving social or
environmental impact.
Transitioning into a
mission-led business
Businesses that develop
a social or environmental
mission some time after
formation.
Fully realised
mission-led business
Businesses functioning
successfully along multiple
tests – e.g. balancing
nancial goals, impact
reporting, long-term focus.
“ The mission can and
should evolve as the
organisation grows.”
Law rm working
towards social impact
“ Many organisations
nd impact
reporting particularly
challenging, but agree
it is necessary to
measure success.”
Multiple sources,
e.g. investment
group for mission-
led businesses and
equivalents
“ It can be dicult
for organisations
to maintain their
long-term mission,
particularly with
changes in ownership
and investment.”
Multiple sources,
e.g. Chambers of
Commerce
“ Better access to advice
and networks of similar
organisations can be key for
business success.”
Multiple sources,
e.g.funding group for
mission-led businesses
andequivalents
“ Businesses can
nd a diculty with
short-term trade-os
when running the
business.”
Network for
mission-led
businesses
andequivalents
“ Employees and leadership
are key in driving a business
to be more mission-led.”
Network for mission-led
businesses and equivalents
26
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Conclusion: Looking
ahead
27
Mission as virtuous circle
Benets of mission
The benets of business commitment to
mission are deep and wide ranging.
• Business support can be transformational,
for the environment, local communities
or wider society. For example, Neighbourly
has facilitated the pledging of nearly £4m
to social organisations and causes.
• Mission can also drive business success.
Every business interviewed said they felt
their mission had been a competitive
advantage, in terms of attracting and
retaining high-quality employees, and
dierentiation to clients. Mission can thus
also contribute to success by reducing risk
and increasing sustainability. Mission-led
businesses appear to be at least as large
on average as other businesses, and a
growing body of literature points to the
tangible impact of mission for business
growth.
1
• Today’s economy rewards businesses
which have a holistic look at their role
in society. Where companies exist not
just to make a prot, but to add value
to customers, partners, shareholders,
employees, and suppliers, they are able
toscale and achieve sustainability.
In turn, as mission-led businesses grow as
businesses, their ability to have a greater
impact grows too.
Key policy challenges
Policy makers are looking to encourage
more businesses to make a commitment to
social and environmental impact and to help
sustain and scale mission-led businesses.
Insights generated from proling and
interviews with mission-led businesses
point to a range of critical challenges for the
future in three broad stages of the business
life-cycle:
1. Creation: How can we support new
start-ups to commit to a social or
environmental mission? What support
is required?
2. Sustaining: How can we help mission-led
businesses retain their commitment
tomission?
3. Scaling: How can we support mission-
led businesses to grow in a fast-moving
business environment?
Where
companies
exist not just to
make a prot,
but to add value
to customers,
partners,
shareholders,
employees, and
suppliers, they
are able toscale
and achieve
sustainability.
Notes: (1) 22 Research studies proving the ROI of
sustainability, Sustainable Brands, 2016
Commitment to a mission can drive both
social/environmental impact and growth
of the business. In turn, these benets
reinforce the mission which continues to
drive benets, forming a virtuous circle.
Drives
Reinforces
Mission Success (Scale &
Sustainability)
28
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Key challenges faced by mission-led
businesses
Notes: (1) The Public Services (Social Value) Act requires people who commission public services to think about how
they can also secure wider social, economic and environmental benets. (2) The Scale-Up Report on UK Economic
Growth, Sherry Coutu CBE, 2014
The creation, sustaining, and scaling of mission-led businesses
in the UK is important to further develop the virtuous circle, but
businesses face a number of challenges at these stages.
• Creating new mission-led businesses: Businesses that did not have access to quality advice often
chose their legal structure randomly. Almost universally, businesses interviewed felt that being located
outside London was a disadvantage to gaining advice critical at these early stages.
• Existing businesses wishing to adopt a mission: Those familiar with the sector suggested that
leadership and employee sentiment were the most inuential factors in whether a business was able
totransition into being mission-led, and many large companies struggled with this transition.
• Monitoring and reporting impact: Mission-led businesses described impact reporting as a challenge
in interviews, particularly for smaller and newer businesses. This was reected in the proling where
only 32% reported quantitative measures of impact and younger businesses were even less likely
toreport quantitatively, (15% of those <3 years old).
• Maintaining a long-term strategic commitment to mission: Not all mission-led businesses think
about their long-term goals and sustainability, and advisors warned that ‘mission-drift’ was a major risk
many mission-led businesses faced. Only half of the mission-led businesses in the denitional analysis
publicised a specic long-term commitment to mission.
• Improving the eciency, and eectiveness of mission-led businesses, particularly in terms of
nancial sustainability: Mission-led businesses can struggle with nancial sustainability. Financial
challenges can be contributed to if the business turns down opportunities that do not t the company
mission or values. Some mission-led business founders also stated that they come from a public sector
or charity background and did not necessarily have the right nancial or business experience, which
can be particularly disadvantageous when a business is trying to grow.
• Dierentiating mission-led businesses from non-mission-led businesses to customers:
Aidingmission-led businesses in building public awareness of their model and their support
requirements is important, as mission-led businesses (particularly those in more conservative sectors)
have faced signicant challenges on this front. The scale of the sized mission-led business ‘market’
suggests that there is huge potential for increased recognition. The Social Value Act
1
is seen to be
good in theory, but mission-led businesses often face challenges in application. Many suggested that
commissioners continue to choose their preferred suppliers and nd ‘work-arounds’.
• Supporting scale-ups: A subset of mission-led businesses are scaling rapidly and require specic
support such as accessing talent, developing leadership, increasing customer sales, accessing nance
and accessing infrastructure. This support may come from ecosystems being set up by the Scale-Up
Institute around the country.
2
Creation
Sustaining
Scaling
29
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Possible responses
In order to address the challenges faced by mission-led
businesses, a number of possible solutions would be helpful to
businesses across specic support, advice, tools andregulation.
Source: All content drawn from interview inputs
and example set analysis
Support and advice
Good advice and access to networks are
invaluable to a mission-led business’s
success, particularly at the early stages.
Providing this access to businesses outside
of London is necessary to bridge the current
information gap. Areas that these networks
and advice must address are:
• Good nancial advice: This is necessary
to help mission-led businesses nd
investors aligned to their mission goals.
Analysis shows that those mission-led
businesses with aligned investor interests
tend to score higher, suggesting they
are more nancially successful. Training
and advice on nancial planning is also
important, as a number of mission-led
business founders have no prior business
experience. Advice about the implications
of choice of corporate form was also
considered to berequired.
• Development networks and advisors:
Mission-led businesses felt that access
to networks of mission-led businesses
similar in mission or size was the most
helpful in tackling business challenges.
Alternatively, pairing smaller mission-led
businesses with those that are larger
could aid them in specic scaling
challenges and impact reporting. Being
part of incubators, accelerators, or
receiving advice from larger rms (e.g.
the Deloitte Social Pioneers Programme)
was also rated as highly valuable to the
development of a mission-led business.
We also heard from businesses like Rubies
in the Rubble that sector networks can be
more helpful than mission-led business
networks.
• Long-term sustainability: Mission-led
businesses that are most successful in
thinking about long-term sustainability are
exible in their operations, continuing to
evolve and adapt their approach to issues
based on the needs of the market, while
being true to the spirit of the mission.
Advice on sustainability should cover
succession planning for founders.
The prevailing view is that it is easier for
well established businesses to gain access
to advice and networks. This may suggest
mentorship programmes and alliances
between large and smaller businesses could
be eective and could provide advantages
to both.
Tools and regulation
Interviews and incorporation dates of
mission-led businesses suggest that trends
in the market are changing, both in terms
of consumers and employees recognising
mission-led businesses and wanting to be
associated with them. Several mission-led
businesses such as Reason Digital, Cause4
and Pop Up Business School said that despite
turning down opportunities not matching
their mission and reducing the potential
short term revenues, they felt that abiding
by the mission had been advantageous in
the longer term.
Interviews with mission-led businesses
suggest that they feel existing regulation is
sucient in meeting their needs, and that
adding anything further would only ‘box
businesses in’. Useful tools and applications
of regulation would include:
• Standardising impact reporting: Several
impact reporting frameworks are being
developed in order to help businesses
have more standardised ways of reporting
their impact, particularly by using real-time
data. Organisations such as Neighbourly,
Social Value UK, Reason Digital and others
have worked on this. Whilst complex,
standardising and increasing access to
these tools for all mission-led businesses
is critical.
• Online resources available nationwide:
Some businesses suggested that online
access to tools and advice could be useful
in bridging the network gap for businesses
outside London.
• Applying the Social Value Act:
Stronger application of the Social Value
Act by commissioners would help
give mission-led businesses a greater
competitive advantage, and help the act
achieve its intentions to increase social
and environmental impact.
30
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Areas for further research
This report characterises the mission-led business market
and provides a foundation for further research into this area,
particularly in quantifying sub-segments of the market and
investigating challenges that mission-led businesses face.
Impact reporting
Mission-led businesses vary widely in the
degree to which they report their impact,
and quantitative reporting is particularly
rare for younger businesses. Interviewed
mission-led businesses highlight logistical
and nancial diculties in establishing
reporting mechanisms, particularly in early
stages. Certain tools and frameworks have
already been developed to assist businesses
with these, but determining where they are
available is the rst step in standardising
the process and making it accessible to
allbusinesses.
Transitions to mission-led businesses
Some businesses transitioned to become
mission-led businesses once they were
already established, rather than being
incorporated with the mission already
in mind. A sub-set of these businesses
could be identied and studied to explore
the reasons behind the transition, the
challenges faced and how it has aected the
business. It may be that more businesses
would consider transitioning to become
mission-led businesses if there is particular
support available, or if the benets of doing
so are clear.
Mission sustainability and mission drift
Interviews and examination of the example
set suggest that as mission-led businesses
grow they risk losing focus on their mission
(see page 22), experiencing “mission drift’.
Further research is required to determine
whether this is a common problem and
what type of support might mitigate this risk.
Other businesses
Many businesses have material social
impact but don’t meet our criteria for
mission-led business. These could be
investigated further and characterised.
Itmay be that these companies are more
likely to transition to mission-led businesses
in the long term.
Representative sample of mission-led
businesses
The denitional characteristics of mission-
led businesses were explored using an
example set of mission-led businesses
which were compiled using a variety of
sources. While there is no inherent bias to
this list, it is not a statistically representative
sample and results can only be considered
to be indicative of the wider market of
mission-led businesses. A random sampling
approach (similar to that used to size the
mission-led business market) could be
used to make conclusions about detailed
characteristics of mission-led businesses.
Some of the areas of interest are:
• Sector: Preliminary analysis suggests that
business services, TMT and consumer
business make up the largest proportion
of mission-led businesses and that those
in consumer business are larger than in
other sectors. It may be that this is the
case because consumer-facing companies
are more likely to transition into mission-
led businesses.
• Size: Analysis of the example set of
mission-led businesses indicated that
smaller mission-led businesses are more
likely to have a mission that is core to the
central business activity.
• Geography: Geographical spread of
mission-led businesses throughout
the UK should be explored and used to
inform future decisions about location of
support groups and advice networks, as
well as drawing lessons from international
practice.
• Leadership: It appears that mission-led
businesses are more likely to have women
or minority leadership than the wider
SME population. This may be due other
factors such as sector composition;
themission-led business market may be
weighted in favour of sectors which have
a greater representation of women and
minority leadership. If it is not a product
of the composition of the market, this
may be explored further with women
andminority business leadership groups.
31
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Appendix A:
Methodology: Sizing
the mission-led
business market
32
Methodological approach
& challenges
The size and scale of the mission-led
business market was assessed using
arandom sampling approach.
Market sizing approach
A sampling method which gave a
pre-specied level of condence in the
estimates of volume, revenue and workforce
of mission-led businesses was used.
• An initial database of ~4.56m private
sector businesses in the UK was compiled.
The database was split into two segments
broadly reective of business size:
1
businesses with reported turnover
or nancial information (~1.08m) and
businesses with no reported turnover or
nancial information (~3.47m).
• To be 95% condent that estimates
would be within +/-7% of the result,
then(sample) was backwards inducted
from the N (population), giving c.300
businesses
• Random samples of businesses were
drawn from each segment, representative
of sector (see page 36). 300 businesses
were sampled from the segment with
nancial information. 200 businesses
were sampled from the segment without
nancial information.
• Each sample was screened along an
assessment gateway to identify whether
it declared intent to contribute to a wider
social or environmental mission and was
suitable for further analysis. Businesses
that passed the gateway were then tested
along nine agreed denitional criteria
which were weighted to deliver a nal
score out of 10.0. Organisations that
scored greater than 5.0/10.0 qualied as
‘mission-led businesses’. Analysis of these
businesses was then conducted through
in-depth review of publicly available
information on company websites and on
CompaniesHouse.
• Alongside the volume of mission-led
businesses, information on revenue and
employee size were captured to enable
overall market estimates.
Exclusions and replacements
Businesses whose legal status was that of
a CIC, charity or CLG were not considered
mission-led businesses as they have
regulatory constraints on how they
distribute their prots (e.g. an asset or
protlock).
Inactive businesses, businesses in the
process of being dissolved or going into
administration, and businesses with no
publicly available information were all
replaced in the sample with other randomly
selected businesses from the same sector.
Key challenges and limitations to this
approach
Accuracy of assessment reects the public
availability of information on the business
(e.g. company website or Companies House).
This includes nancial reporting, legal
status, number of employees and sector
information. As many of the companies
tend to be smaller in size, this information
islimited.
The sample of businesses with nancial
information is sucient to provide
statistically condent estimates of mission-
led business market share in terms of
revenue. However the sample size is too
small to infer statistically relevant ndings
for other segmental attributes e.g. sector
or size.
The sample
of businesses
with nancial
information
is sucient
to provide
statistically
condent
estimates of
mission-led
business market
share in terms of
revenue.
Note: (1) Companies meeting two of the
following criteria do not have to report their
turnover, although they may still choose to
do so: (i) Turnover <£6.5 million, (ii) Balance
sheet <£3.26 million, (iii) Employees <50.
33
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Understanding market statistics
Sampling techniques provided an overall estimate of
mission-led business market volume, revenue and workforce.
Volume of mission-led businesses
Of the 1.08m businesses with reported
turnover or nancial information,
3.4%qualied as mission-led businesses.
This was extrapolated to indicate a total
of 36,720 mission-led businesses. There
is 95% condence in this gure with
+/-5.6%accuracy.
Of the 3.47m businesses with no reported
turnover or nancial information,
2.5%qualied as mission-led businesses,
implying a total 86,750 mission-led
businesses. There is 95% condence in this
gure with +/- 6.9% accuracy.
The two gures added together established
the estimated overall number of mission-led
businesses at 123,470 (2.7%). Considering
the statistical condence of the gures, the
estimated range of the number mission-led
businesses in the market is 115k-132k.
Mission-led business revenue
BIS Business Population Estimates
2015 indicates a total revenue in the UK
private sector of £3.83tn. That is split
by 67%revenue for large and medium
businesses and 33% for small businesses.
Mission-led businesses made up 4.7% of the
revenue of companies that report nancial
information, implying mission-led business
revenue is £120bn. To estimate the revenue
of mission-led businesses that do not report
nancial information, we assume that the
ratio of the revenue of those reporting
nancial information to those that do not is
the same as for the volume, and infer that
revenue of this segment is £43.7bn.
Adjusting for the smaller proportion of
mission-led businesses in the sample of
businesses that did not report nancial
information, mission-led business revenue
made up 3.5% of the segment total. The sum
of the two revenue gures established the
estimated overall revenue of mission-led
businesses as £164bn (4.3%). Statistical
condence in this gure relies on the
assumption that mission-led businesses
behave similarly whether they report
nancial information or not and that
the segments map closely to the split in
business size and revenue as set out in the
BIS Business Population Estimates 2015.
Mission-led business workforce
UK Labour Market, August 2016 statistics
from the ONS indicate that the total
workforce in the UK private sector is 31.6m.
This is split by 52% within large and medium
businesses and 48% in small businesses.
Mission-led business made up 5.1% of
the segment total workforce within the
sample of businesses reporting nancial
information. This implies a mission-led
business workforce within the segment of
837,873. Adjusting for the smaller proportion
of mission-led businesses in the sample
of businesses that did not report nancial
information, mission-led businesses made
up 3.8% of the segment total workforce.
This implies mission-led business workforce
within the segment of 568,693.
The two gures added together established
the estimated overall mission-led business
workforce at 1.41m (4.5%). Statistical
condence in this gure relies on the
assumption that mission-led businesses
behave similarly whether they report
nancial information or not and that
the segments map closely to the split in
business size and workforce as set out in the
UK Labour Market August 2016 statistics.
34
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Qualifying mission-led businesses
A random sample of businesses included a number of
qualifying mission-led businesses.
Explaining our sample
• The majority of businesses (89%)
were prot-focused with no
indicated commitment to a social
orenvironmentalgoal.
• A number of mission-oriented businesses
were excluded (8%) as they did not
enact their stated mission through their
activities. For example, one organisation
championed sustainability, but did not
commit to sustainable business practices
themselves. Other organisations were
excluded because they were charities,
Community Interest Companies (CICs),
orlimited by guarantee (CLG).
• The remaining businesses were
mission-led businesses.
Distribution of mission-led business
scores
A range of dierent kinds of companies
selected in the random sample qualied
asmission-led businesses. For example:
• Health Partners International and Suma
Foods scored strongly, as businesses
with a clear and focused mission, that
integrate it into almost all aspects of
the organisation, including day-to-day
activities; and
• Organisations scoring lower on the criteria
tended to have a mission integrated into
strategy, but scored weaker on areas
around impact reporting and integration
with business activities.
Organisations sampled (500)
{Not MLB’s}
Profit focused
Mission but did not qualify
MLB
{89%} {8%}
3%
Source: Deloitte analysis
Number of mission-led businesses
Total score
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
7-105-74-53-40-3
Borderline mission-led
businesses further
analysed
35
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Sector representation
Reecting the market
To enable a fair statistical estimate the sample of businesses assessed was structured to reect the sector breakdown of the wider market.
* Note: Percentages do not add up to 100 as some company information is missing
Source: Business Register and Employment Survey, ONS, 2014
Size of business
(turnover)
% of
database
<£50k 79.0%
£50-£100k 4.8%
£100k-£500k 9.4%
£500k-£1m 2.2%
£1m-£10m 3.5%
>£10m 1.2%
Size of business
(employees)
National
%
% of
database
0 76% 77.9 %
1-49 (small business) 23.3% 20.4%
50-249 0.6% 1.3%
250+ 0.13% 0.4%
Sector National Database
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 3% 1.5%
Mining and Quarrying, and Utilities 1% 0.6%
Manufacturing 5% 3.8%
Construction 19% 7.8%
Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles
andMotorcycles
10% 9.3%
Transportation and Storage 5% 2.1%
Accommodation and Food Service Activities 4% 4.7%
Information and Communication 6% 6.3%
Financial and Insurance Activities 2% 2.0%
Real Estate Activities 3% 4.0%
Professional, Scientic and Technical Activities 15% 10.0%
Administrative and Support Service Activities 8% 7.3%
Education 5% 2.3%
Human Health and Social Work Activities 7% 5.0%
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation 5% 2.4%
Other Service Activities 6% 5.1%
Missing – 24.1%
Location* National
%
% of
database
England and Wales 93.3% 86.2%
Scotland 5.2% 8.1%
Northern Ireland 1.4% 1.6%
36
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Appendix B:
Methodology:
Proling mission-led
businesses
37
Methodological approach & challenges
The prole of the mission-led business market was assessed
using an example set of known mission-led businesses.
Proling known mission-led businesses
A number of companies known to share
many characteristics of a mission-led
business were gathered from a wide variety
of sources. These included recipients of
various awards designed to recognise the
social impact of a business, investment
and funding networks likely to include
mission-led businesses, OSCI contacts,
Deloitte internal contacts and programmes,
businesses self-identifying as having a social
purpose, and various other sources.
This list originally consisted of nearly
1000organisations. All businesses included
in the example set passed the assessment
gateway and were not CICs, charities or
CLGs and had an environmental or social
mission that is considered in the business
strategy. This left approximately 350
organisations that were tested using the
detailed metrics in order to determine
qualifying mission-led businesses, leaving
250 businesses.
These businesses were examined
qualitatively on a number of measures in
order to gain detailed information about the
prole of the mission-led business market.
Key limitations
As many of the mission-led businesses
are smaller in size, they are not required
to report their nancial information to any
public bodies. They may still choose to do
so, but many do not.
As a result information and analysis relating
to protability and growth are inferred
from available data and do not reect
astatistically condent view of the entire
market.
38
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Criteria weighting
Tests
In conducting an assessment, criteria relating to each test are weighted by relative importance, with intent the key determinant of whether a
company is a mission-led business. The approach is designed to be exible.
Description Weighting Sub-dimension Sub-weighting
Strength
of strategic
commitment
to a social or
environmental
mission
40%
1. Central ambition
2. Long-term commitment
80%
20%
Centrality of
mission in core
business activity
and prot
distribution
25%
3. Core commercial activity
4. Prot distribution
60%
40%
Integration of
mission across
governance,
business
operations and
ways of working
20%
5. Governance structure
6. Mission integrated in operations
andways of working
7. Impact-related activities integrated
with mission
8. Impact reporting
20%
40%
30%
10%
Public recognition
for business
commitment to
mission
15% 9. Press reports and awards 100%
39
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Intent
Quantitative Research Methodology
This test measures the degree to which social impact is integrated into the company’s overall strategy and long-term mission.
Total
Weight
Sub-Dimension Sub-Dimension
Weight
Metric Response
Score
Assessment
method
Example of high-scoring
mission-led business
40%
1. Social
Impact
Integration
in Global
Strategy
80%
Inclusion of social
or environmental
impact as central
purpose in mission
statement or
elsewhere
Yes (10)
No (0)
Company website,
especially ‘Home’
and ‘About us’
section. If available,
use annual report
All companies which
meet the denition of a
mission-led business score
the maximum
Perception of
integration of
mission into overall
business strategy
based on annual
report/website
Core (10)
Integrated (7)
Independent (4)
Nonexistent (0)
Company website,
especially ‘Home’
and ‘About us’
section. If available,
use annual report.
Assess how
business strategy
relates to the stated
mission
Oomph!
Mission is to improve the
health and well-being of
older adults
The business strategy is
to do this through training
support care sta to deliver
exercise and activity sessions
2. Long-term
Strategy
20% Long-term
commitments made
to mission
Specic (10)
Somewhat (5)
No (0)
Company website. If
the mission is core
to the business and
the only business
activity the company
undertakes,
then this is also
determined to be a
specic long-term
commitment
ClimateCare
Mission is to tackle
sustainability challenges
such as climate change and
poverty
Commits to cutting 20 million
tonnes of CO
2
and improving
the lives of 20 million people
by 2020
40
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Business Model
Quantitative Research Methodology
This test measures the extent to which a mission is central to core business activity and prot distribution.
Total
Weight
Sub-Dimension Sub-Dimension
Weight
Metric Response
Score
Assessment
method
Example of high-scoring
mission-led business
25%
3. Core
business
operating
assets used
for impact
60% Assessment of
extent of which
core commercial
activity (i.e. what
the business does
to make money)/
assets used in order
to create impact/
achieve mission
Core (10)
Integrated (7)
Independent (4)
Nonexistent (0)
Company website,
to assess the use
of core operating
assets as a proxy for
the relationship of
the core commercial
activity to the
mission
Give Vision
Mission is to help those with
varying levels of sight loss to
help them to see the world
better
Company does this through
developing and delivering
new wearable technology
4. Prot
Distribution
40% Means and purpose
of distribution of
prots (if any)
Impact-led (10)
Not
mentioned (5)
Largely for
investors (0)
Company website
and annual report
(if available). Search
for whether prots
are reinvested
in company to
increase impact
of mission or a
proportion of prots
are distributed to
divisions or charities
that carry out the
mission
GiveMeTap
Mission is for everyone to
have clean water. Up to 20%
of revenue from each bottle
sold goes to the company’s
water project fund and gives
ve years of clean water to a
person in Africa
Investor
Interests
N/A Alignment of
investor interests
with business
interests (how
growth of the
business ties into
growth of impact)
Unable to score Not included as part
of the scoring criteria
due to diculty
determining
alignment using
publicly available
documents
N/A
41
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Governance and Operations
Quantitative Research Methodology
This test quanties the mission priorities of a given organisation through the company’s governance, activities, the degree to which existing
capabilities are utilized as well as the level of overall integration.
Total
Weight
Sub-Dimension Sub-Dimension
Weight
Metric Response
Score
Assessment
method
Example of high-scoring
mission-led business
20%
5. Governance
structure/
articles of
association
20% Extent to which
mission is
embedded in
key governing
document (e.g.
governance
structure, articles of
association)
Yes (10)
Somewhat (5)
No (0)
Check whether
Articles of
Association (in
Companies House)
embed the mission
in the Objects of the
company
Company website or
annual report also
used if governance
structure is available
Unforgettable
The Articles of Association
state: “the company’s
purpose is the Social Mission,
which is to improve the
quality of life of all those living
with dementia and other
neurodegenerative diseases
by creating the world’s best
marketplace for dementia
products and services”
6. Mission
integrated in
operations
and ways of
working
40% Perception of the
level of integration
of mission into
business model
across operations/
divisions/products/
supply chain
etc. based on
organisational
structure
Core (10)
Integrated (7)
Independent (4)
Nonexistent (0)
Company website,
to determine
whether mission is
considered across
operations. If this
is not explicitly
mentioned, the
company cannot
score >7 even if
the website implies
the mission is
considered across
the business
Cafeology
Mission is to be a 100%
ethical business. They
ensure products sold have
Fairtrade, Soil Association
and Rainforest Alliance
marks. The company has
direct links with producers
in Central America and
Africa. Suppliers and
subcontractors are
selected, in part, on their
adherence to ethical
purchasing principles
42
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Governance and Operations
(continued)
Quantitative Research Methodology
This test quanties the mission priorities of a given organisation through the company’s governance, activities, the degree to which existing
capabilities are utilized as well as the level of overall integration.
Total
Weight
Sub-Dimension Sub-Dimension
Weight
Metric Response
Score
Assessment
method
Example of high-scoring
mission-led business
20%
7. Impact
activities
integrated
with mission
30% Extent to which
impact-related
business activities
(e.g. donations/
volunteering)
are carried out,
and how they are
aligned to the
mission goals and
help advance it
Core (10)
Integrated (7)
Independent (4)
Nonexistent (0)
Company website,
to determine how
activities align
with mission,
and then assess
eectiveness.
If social impact
activities do not
directly tie into
mission, a company
cannot score >7
even if they create a
lot of impact
Ecotricity
Vision is for a Green Britain
Energy company which
sources all its energy from
renewable sources and
uses prots to fund the
building of new sources of
green energy
8. Impact
Measurement
5% Existence of
quantitative
measures
to quantify
social impact
(beyond nancial
performance)
Yes (5)
No (0)
Company website
and annual report
(if available) used to
determine whether
quantitative
or qualitative
measures of social
impact are reported
to the public
Enworks
Mission to improve
environment and economy
by engaging businesses in
environmentally sustainable
business practice
Company website includes
both quantitative and
qualitative measures of
cumulative savings clients
have achieved e.g. 13m
cubic meters of water
5% Existence of
reporting of
social impact
across company
communications to
investors/website
Integration of
mission into
decision-making
N/A Unable to score Would like to include,
but unable to assess
through publicly‑
available information
N/A
43
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
External perceptions
Quantitative Research Methodology
This test measures the public recognition for commitment to mission.
Total
Weight
Sub-Dimension Sub-Dimension
Weight
Metric Response
Score
Assessment
method
Example of high-scoring
mission-led business
15%
9. Press
Reports/
awards*
100%
FTSE4Good UK 50 Yes (1)
No (0)
Companies present in
the list score ‘Yes’
N/A
GameChangers 500 Yes (1)
No (0)
Guardian
Sustainable Brands
Yes (1)
No (0)
SE100 Yes (1)
No (0)
Global 100 Most
Sustainable
Companies
Yes (1)
No (0)
B-Corps Yes (1)
No (0)
Other awards/lists Yes (4)
No (0)
Companies with other
sustainability/social/
environmental awards
listed on their website
score ‘Yes’
Neighbourly
Social platform that
connects local projects with
people and organisations
who want to help
A 2016 Tech4Good Award
winner
Brand
perception
N/A Perception of brand
image by customers,
and extent to which
mission is recognized
as part of brand
Unable to
score
Unable to assess
through publicly‑
available information
as a large proportion of
mission‑led businesses
are small and have low
media presence
N/A
44
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Appendix C:
Example set
of mission-led
businesses
45
Example set of mission-led businesses
The example set of 250 mission-led businesses used to prole
the market is summarised below:
Sector
Business Services 23.6%
TMT 15.2%
Consumer Business 14.0%
Education 9.6%
Financial Services 8.8%
Healthcare and Life Sciences 8.0%
Energy 4.8%
Real Estate 3.2%
Other 3.2%
Manufacturing 2.8%
Tourism and Leisure 2.0%
Arts and Creative 1.2%
Retail 1.2%
Agriculture 0.8%
Transport and Logistics 0.8%
Construction 0.8%
Mission Type
Sustainable growth 13.6%
Support other social enterprises
and third sector organisations
12.8%
Education 10.4%
Carbon reduction 8.4%
Employability 8.4%
Support businesses/public bodies
develop social impact
8.4%
Support vulnerable groups (e.g.
children, elderly)
7.6%
Healthcare 5.2%
Improving physical and mental
well-being
5.2%
Improving local community 5.2%
Waste reduction/recycling 4.0%
Support small businesses 3.2%
Housing 1.6%
Other 6.0%
Transport and logistics 0.8%
Construction 0.8%
Age (years since incorporation date)
0-2 16%
3-5 30%
6-10 19%
11-20 16%
21-30 8%
31+ 6%
Unknown 5%
Size of business (employees)
0-49 (Small business) 83.2%
50-249 (Medium business) 7.6%
250+ (Large Business) 9.2%
46
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Mission-led business scores of example
set of mission-led businesses
Businesses which scored less than 5 did not qualify as
mission-led businesses. Of the example set, scores ranged
from 5 to 9.25 and the mean score was 7.1.
Mission-led business score
Number of mission-led businesses
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
9.9-10.0
9.2-9.3
8.8-8.9
8.7-8.8
8.6-8.7
8.5-8.6
8.4-8.5
8.3-8.4
8.2-8.3
8.1-8.2
8.0-8.1
7.9-8.0
7.8-7.9
7.7-7.8
7.6-7.7
7.5-7.6
7.4-7.5
7.3-7.4
7.2-7.3
7.1-7.2
7.0-7.1
6.9-7.0
6.8-6.9
6.7-6.8
6.6-6.7
6.5-6.6
6.4-6.5
6.3-6.4
6.2-6.3
6.1-6.2
6.0-6.1
5.9-6.0
5.8-5.9
5.7-5.8
5.6-5.7
5.5-5.6
5.4-5.5
5.3-5.4
5-5.1
47
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
Interviews
In the rst stage of interviews, 16 businesses and networks
were interviewed to understand the sector landscape and
inform our denition, while the second phase involved detailed
proling interviews of seven selected businesses to gain insight
on the inner workings of a mission-led business.
• Anthony Collins LLP
• Belu Water
• B Lab UK
• Co-operatives UK
• Cause4
• Destria Partners
• Neighbourly
• Oomph!
• PopUp Business School
• Power to Change
• Recruit for Spouses
• Social Value UK
• Social Finance
• Staordshire Chambers of Commerce
• The SWEET Project
• UnLtd
48
In pursuit of impact | Mission-led businesses
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