In this lesson you are participating in sorting real Irish organisations into three forms of enterprise: for-profit, community and social. The labels sound neat. The organisations often are not. A credit union, a club shop and a charity outlet can all look like “good for the community” until you ask two questions: who owns it, and where does a surplus go? Those two questions are the test you will use for the rest of this unit.

Three forms of enterprise. Learn the labels, then use the ownership-and-surplus test in the next step to place real organisations.

Community enterprise emphasises community ownership or control and local reinvestment. Social enterprise emphasises a stated social, community or environmental mission advanced through trading. Overlap is real, which is why the test matters more than the neat label.

The transferable test for every card you meet today: who owns it, and where does a surplus go?

The sort is the main work of this lesson. Eight real Irish organisations are on the board. Several of them sit honestly in more than one bucket. Open the drag-sort and place every card where you would defend it. Use the same test each time: who owns it, and where does a surplus go?

When the room disagrees on a card, freeze that placement. Both sides say the ownership-and-surplus test out loud before the card stays. A credit union will split the room. So will a charity shop. That is the point.

When the board settles, open your required Digital Portfolio entry Enterprise Forms at S2.1/enterprise_forms (Strand 2.1 folder) and write:

• the two cards your class argued about longest
• where you finally placed each one
• the ownership-and-surplus test you used for each
• one real Irish example of a for-profit business, one community enterprise, and one social enterprise (these can be from the sort or from your own knowledge)

This entry is required unit evidence for the next two lessons on community enterprise and social enterprise. It is not an ALT submission in this lesson, but a clear placement now gives you something solid to compare when you go deeper on those forms next.

Talk these through with the person beside you, then decide whether anything in your Enterprise Forms entry needs a sharper sentence.

• Pick one organisation from today’s sort that still feels awkward in its bucket. Who owns it, and where would a surplus go? Does your answer still support the placement?
• Stretch only, not required portfolio evidence: if you finish early, add three lines under your existing Enterprise Forms entry at S2.1/enterprise_forms naming a local organisation near you and applying the same ownership-and-surplus test. Which form is it closest to, and what would change your mind?

Today you participated in sorting contested Irish examples into three forms of enterprise.

• For-profit, community and social enterprise as three distinct forms
• The test that settles a placement: who owns it, and where does a surplus go?
• Defending borderline cards instead of forcing a neat label
• Your required Enterprise Forms entry at S2.1/enterprise_forms: two contested cards, the test you used, and one Irish example of each form

The next two lessons in this unit dig into community enterprise and social enterprise in more depth, using the same test you practised today.