Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

A business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose.

A non-profit business that is set up to improve a community in some way, such as by providing care and support services, often in a different way to the way they have been provided before. The business provides a service - such as helping disabled people get back to work - and receives payments. Any profits they make go back into improving the community. It is an alternative to the private sector and is different to a charity because it is not funded by grants or donations.