SEUK Awards: Vote for the Consumer Facing Social Enterprise of the Year

The Big Issue is delighted to once again partner with the UK Social Enterprise Awards.

The UK Social Enterprise Awards (backed by Michael Sheen, pictured above at Social Saturday) recognise businesses that give back, enrich communities and make a contribution to society, as well as those who lead them – the social entrepreneurs who use their business acumen to make a real difference, tackling social and environmental problems both in Britain and abroad.

The Consumer Facing Award is to recognise a successful, growing social enterprise with a clearly defined brand and social mission that delivers a product or service to the public.

And this year, many of the organisations shortlisted for the Consumer Facing Award feature products on The Big Issue Shop. Click here to view our UK Social Enterprise Awards Collection.

To vote, just click the name of the Social Enterprise below and submit your answer. You can vote for up to three Social Enterprises…

List of Social Enterprises

A ‘Business for Good’ with market disrupting products used by hundreds of thousands of consumers each year. They create meaningful employment for people with disabilities and with new brand CLARITYECO+ coming in January 2018, watch this space!

Cafédirect invests up to 50% of its profits into the Cafédirect Producers’ Foundation, a UK charity that is run by farmers, for farmers, taking leadership and developing innovative solutions to the challenges they face.

Every penny of profit from our ethically sourced baby gifts goes to abandoned children around the world. In safe, happy places, they can grow up in a loving family. We started this company to make a difference. And with every gift you buy, you are too.

Since 2010, homelessness has doubled in the UK. Now, over 4,000 people sleep rough every night. This is unacceptable. Change Please believes that the nation’s love of coffee is so strong – it could be just what we need to end homelessness once and for all.

Socks are the number one most requested item in homeless shelters, highly needed, rarely donated. Buy One Pair = Give One Pair. What if ‘socks’ could change the world? Yes, socks!

Divine Chocolate is the only Fairtrade chocolate company that is also owned by cocoa farmers. Each bar is made using the ‘best of the best’ cocoa from Ghana, where it is grown with pride by Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative of 85,000 smallholder farmers who own 44% of the Divine company.

Belu offers the most ethical choice in water service from bottled mineral water, to filtration systems with reusable carafes, and refillable bottles. We’re carbon neutral and give 100% profits to WaterAid. To date that’s over £2.2million.

Toast has launched a pint-sized fight to prove that the alternative to food waste is award-winning. They brew delicious craft beer with surplus fresh bread that would otherwise be wasted and gives all profits to charity to fight food waste.

The Alnwick Garden is an iconic visitor attraction, committed to improving the local community by creating hundreds of jobs, contributing £200million to the local economy and delivering an inspirational community programme.

Valleys Gymnastics Academy has become a vibrant and visible community hub across South East and Central Wales.  The organisation provides high-quality gymnastics and physical activity opportunities for pre-schoolers, children and young people in a wide variety of communities. VGA provide leadership and volunteering opportunities as well as routes into paid work.

Voting closes at midnight on Sunday, November 5.

You can get involved on social media with the official awards hashtag, #SocEntAwards17