1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
In your Community Enterprise Investigation (Strand 2.1) you investigated one real Irish community enterprise. Today you are participating in a side-by-side comparison: that organisation next to a social enterprise, on four questions that actually separate them.
If that investigation file is missing or thin, recover the organisation name and what it does in the next two minutes (or take a teacher-supplied name and three bullet facts) before the comparator opens. Definitions alone blur. A filled comparison makes the difference visible. By the end you will decide which of your two organisations is doing more for its community, and say on what basis you decided.
2 - Key Terms ~5 mins
These three terms unlock the comparison grid you are about to fill. Read each row so Column B and the four questions mean the same thing across the class.
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Social enterprise | An organisation that combines a social, community or environmental mission with real business activity. Your second column must be a named Irish social enterprise, not a charity that only fundraises. | FoodCloud trades logistics and surplus-food connections to cut waste and feed communities; the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun combines circular-economy trading with education and training |
| Mission | The social, community or environmental purpose the organisation exists to serve. Ask what problem it claims to tackle, and whether trading actually serves that claim. | Employing people far from work, or tackling a local environmental need through paid activity |
| Ownership | Who legally holds and controls the organisation. This is row one of your comparison: who owns it, and who that leaves out of control. | Members of a community enterprise; a board or other structure in a social enterprise |
3 - Four Rows That Separate Them ~40 mins
Open the comparator. Column A is the community enterprise from your Community Enterprise Investigation (Strand 2.1). Column B is a named Irish social enterprise you research now. Starter options if you need a legitimate trading-plus-mission body: FoodCloud, the Rediscovery Centre (Ballymun), or Speedpak. You may choose another Irish social enterprise instead. If you are stuck, ask your teacher for a pre-checked name. You still fill every cell from evidence yourself.
Fill every cell from evidence, not guesswork. Name where you found each fact (organisation site, annual report, local news, teacher-supplied material). If ownership or surplus is not stated publicly, write not stated publicly and note what that absence tells you; do not invent figures. The four rows are the questions that separate the forms:
- Who owns it?
- Where does a surplus go?
- Who decides?
- Who does it employ?
Rate each row and set how much each row matters to you. Watch how the readout shifts when you change a weight.
Then open a new document in your Strand 2.1 folder called Social Enterprise Investigation. Copy the completed four-row comparison into it. Underneath, write one required paragraph: which of your two organisations is doing more for its community, and on what basis you decided. Your basis must come from the rows, not from which name you liked more. This investigation sits in your Digital Portfolio under Strand 2.1 and can evidence enterprise comparison work for your Portfolio in Action AAC.
Community enterprise beside social enterprise
4 - Think About It ~5 mins
Talk this through with the person beside you, using your completed grid:
- If two classmates weighted the rows differently and got opposite winners, what does that say about the claim that one form of enterprise is always better?
Be ready to defend your winner from one row in a short whole-class contrast.
Optional extension note in Social Enterprise Investigation: if you were a local councillor deciding which organisation to support with a small grant, which single row would matter most and why? Many community enterprises sit on a spectrum with social enterprises; trading, surplus rules, and governance decide where a named body actually sits.
5 - What You Covered ~5 mins
Today you participated in a real comparison, not another definition paragraph.
- Social enterprise combines a social, community or environmental mission with real business activity
- You set your Community Enterprise Investigation organisation beside a named Irish social enterprise
- You compared them on ownership, surplus, decision-making and employment
- You judged which of your two organisations is doing more for its community and named the row-tied basis for that call
- Your four-row comparison and judgement paragraph are saved as Social Enterprise Investigation in Strand 2.1, ready to evidence enterprise comparison work in your Digital Portfolio and Portfolio in Action AAC
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