In this article the theoretical study of the main aspects of social entrepreneurship is described, namely: there generalized views of scientists on its features, delineated the term "social enterprise", "socially responsible company", "charities", studied the experience of social entrepreneurship in Europe and the specifics of its legislative regulation, the basic model of the social entrepreneurship in accordance with international practice in this particular type of business, organizational and legal forms and scope. The basic problem of the formation of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine has been revealed and developed a roadmap for its further development.