AP Benson is appointed by the Wales Cooperative Centre as a consultant on the Social Business Wales programme to support social enterprises including charities, community interest companies, cooperatives, and trusts set up to support local communities, cultural and sporting facilities, and charitable activities (collectively, "social enterprises").
The firm has generally assisted over 50 social enterprises, and prides itself on providing a commercially focussed but socially aware service. We support boards and management teams in planning growth and recovery strategies, addressing organisational difficulties, and managing change in a field where access to funding and managing costs whilst providing a much-needed service, cause constant tension.
AP Benson consultants bring personal experience from their own roles as charity trustees and from working with many social enterprise and third sector clients. We are sensitive to the ethos that lies behind these categories of organisation including the focus on delivery of benefits and social good.
AP Benson specialist solutions include business planning, financial modelling and budgeting, taxation advice, change management planning, and business systems and process efficiency advice. We bring a keen understanding of not only the issues that face social enterprises, but also their structure, for example a cooperative that might have its own taxation consequences. Advice and advice and planning is therefore customised to the specific situation of a social enterprise to provide the board with confidence in governance.
Dr. Tom Girn of AP Benson said "We're delighted to be working with colleagues at Wales Cooperative Centre and the other consultants appointed to deliver Social Business Wales. We've already engaged with an existing group of organisations that demonstrate the breadth of the social business sector in Wales, including sporting, community and heritage organisations. We look forward to meeting many more in the course of the programme!"
To read more about our work on Social Business Wales, see our extended article [here].
Evaluating Programmes and Projects 
