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Social enterprise continues to be a small, bright beacon amid the economic gloom.

Among the few benefits of a recession are that people seem to become more altruistic, less selfish, better focused on what really matters. All of these modes favour social enterprise.

Last week researchers from Liverpool John Moores University published a management guide to running a social enterprise. There is also a new kitemark scheme to quality- assure social enterprise.

It would be easy to read these developments of signs of a movement running out of steam. Management books, particularly academic ones, usually appear on the down-slope of the growth curve. And do we really need a badge of certification to tell a real social enterprise from a fake?

If you have chosen a Fairtrade chocolate bar or jar of coffee you are proof of the power of social enterprise to change things, slowly and in a small way at first but fundamentally and inexorably as the movement grows.

The striking thing about social enterprise is not that it does good but that people feel good about it, too. Talk to any social entrepreneur and you will find it difficult not to be infected by their enthusiasm. The same contagion spreads to the rest of the organisation. People who work in social enterprises care about what they do. They also have high levels of motivation and above-average job satisfaction, all of which are a recipe for happiness and better health.

In an echo of the New Deal which pulled American out of the depression of the 1930s, the UK government is taking seriously the potential of social enterprise both for job creation and for addressing the problems of health and welfare that deepen during economic crises.

This policy would be more convincing if it were more proportionately funded. The recently announced £42 million injection of cash into the third sector, while very welcome, is small change compared with the Bank of England's £150 billion support package for the financial system.

We should hope not just that social enterprise helps get us out of the economic doldrums, but that the values it promotes take root. The term itself will go out of fashion but not because social enterprise is a fad but because it is bound for the mainstream.

NHS PCC is running an event for people with experience of running social enterprises in health and social care in London on 27 April. Further details will be available on http://www.pcc.nhs.uk/events on 27 March.

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