Salus: embracing a business model

Salus was founded in 2011 as a community interest company without charitable status. It primarily delivers support

to children, young people and families experiencing difficulties at school. Financing for this work comes largely from public bodies such as schools and colleges, and the main hurdles the organization faces is competition for contracts. Salus has embraced a business-oriented approach which permeates through the organization and has helped it to operate successfully. It has consciously sought to operate as a “player” in very demanding and competitive commissioning contexts and positioned itself as a “premium brand” in these situations. This has meant ensuring that “quality” is always present

within its portfolio of projects by only taking on services where both “high caliber” professionals were available and

where it would be able to provide evidence of impact by including an evaluative element.