Franchising helps social and charitable organisations grow for the greater good

Whether it’s providing care for the country’s elderly or teaching children new and important life skills, plenty of UK franchises are improving the lives of many people around Britain. But commercial businesses aren’t the only ones using franchising as a way to replicate their success and change the lives of others: over the past few decades social franchising has enabled a growing number of organisations to have a positive social impact in Britain and across the world.

However, while the history of commercial franchising on these shores dates back to British breweries licensing their products to pubs in the 18th century, social franchising is a much more recent invention. One of the earliest mentions of the phrase dates back to the 1990s, when brands like Disney, Gap and Dunkin’ Donuts opened outlets in American inner cities. “I’m talking about poor neighbourhoods that people would drive through without stopping,” says Michael Seid, chair of the International Franchise Association‘s Social Sector Task Force and co-author of Franchising For Dummies. Opening stores in these areas served two purposes for the different brands: it enabled them to access an untapped customer base and to provide a social good for the people living around the new stores. “It brought jobs and opportunities into neighbourhoods where they had never existed,” says Seid.

Fast-forward to the modern day and the meaning of the phrase has changed slightly, even if the focus on helping others has remained. “Today social franchising means taking commercial franchising practices and using them in an NGO setting to help those less fortunate,” says Seid. By adopting the practices of big franchising networks like McDonald’s, social enterprises and non-profits can scale faster, cheaper and provide social good to more people than they would have been able to if they’d gone it alone. Even if the term is reasonably new, social franchising has not only enabled non-profits to deliver healthcare and fresh water to poverty-stricken parts of Africa but has also empowered charities and social enterprises in the UK. For instance, the Foodbank charity has provided meals to people who cannot afford food and Tatty Bumpkin, the baby yoga class franchise, has helped new mothers back to work. “Franchises are able to do things in a much more consistent, sustainable and replicable way,” says Seid.

But with such a wide range of organisations using the model to scale, it’s important to remember the one thing that unifies them all. “Ultimately we’re all interested in doing good for the community,” says Dan Berelowitz, chief executive and founder of the International Centre for Social Franchising (ICSF), the organisation supporting the growth of community-changing initiatives through franchising. And while there technically is no one single definition of what a social franchise is, the wish to do good in society is the overarching feature that distinguishes these initiatives from commercial franchises. “If they’re catering to shareholders and acting like a commercial business in every other way I’d say that they are less likely to be a social franchise,” he says. But prioritising impact over profit isn’t the only way in which social franchising differs from regular franchising.

Another key difference from commercial franchises is that social franchisees aren’t always necessarily people. “Sometimes local organisations that have their own local identity become franchisees,” says Nick Temple, deputy CEO at Social Enterprise UK. He explains that this has to do with the overall collaborative nature of social enterprises in general. “If there’s a great organisation in Liverpool that’s working in the same field, then most of us would wonder if we could work together instead of opening a competing brand down the street,” he says.