In the evolving landscape of Australian business, underscored by frameworks like the State of Victoria's Social Procurement Framework, social benefit suppliers emerge as pivotal players in driving social and environmental change. Despite their potential, these suppliers face a labyrinth of challenges that can stymie their growth and impact.
The crux of sustainable advancement lies in harnessing the expertise of growth advisors specialised in social procurement and responsible sourcing. This article delves into why such partnerships are indispensable for social benefit suppliers aiming for impactful and enduring success within Australia's unique procurement ecosystem.
Communities of Practice (CoP) are groups of peers who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly (Goodhue & Seriamlu, 2021). Research suggests that learning is the main reason CoPs are established. Social learning and thinking together are key concepts in it. The collaborative learning process of ‘thinking together’ is one of the most meaningful elements of a CoP and what makes it work.
Social enterprises are businesses that aim to achieve social, environmental, or cultural goals while also making a profit. As mission-driven organisations, social enterprises are well-positioned to develop innovative solutions to pressing societal issues. This article examines ten key areas of social disadvantage in the contemporary Australian context, reflecting on opportunities where social enterprises could drive positive impact.
As we leave 2023 behind, several notable events impacted social enterprises and non-profits over the past year. Government funding fell 10% across the sector. However, donations from corporate partnerships and everyday Australians rose 15% compared to 2022, showing growing support. With economic uncertainty on the horizon in 2024, proper planning and strategy will be key to stability and meaningful impact.
Many business owners, boards, and stakeholders may not realise they are already operating as a social enterprise. Social enterprises aim to have a positive community impact, not just maximise profits. According to CSI Australia, a social enterprise has an underlying mission of creating social or environmental change. This differs from a traditional business focusing solely on making money.
A growing number of our organisations are investigating social impact measurement and consolidated measurement of social & sustainable procurement spend and impact in their supply chain.
I thought I would provide this general overview of social impact measurement.
#Socialprocurement provides an opportunity for communities to be strengthened by way of generating social value through our extensive supply chain. State governments and industry are increasingly investing into equipping the social enterprise sector with the resources to play an active role in Australia’s infrastructure and construction projects and other procurement activities where Government funding mandates a social procurement framework or local content or local jobs policies.
Globally, innovation is recognised as a key pathway to productivity, sustainability and effectiveness in both the public and private sectors. In order for Australia to remain internationally competitive, all areas of the economy need to be actively involved in innovation.
For over 50 years, April 22nd has served as Earth Day, the first being celebrated on April 22nd, 1970. It has grown into a worldwide celebration with national and international events held throughout the week in over 190 countries. More than a billion people every year take time to increase awareness of environmental concerns; with digital technology added to the mix, messages can spread globally. Earthday.org leads the coordination of events relating to Earth Week.
Recently One10 founder, Geoff Gourley, was invited to be interviewed by Ausbiz and Startup Daily on their “hour of power”? That’s how guests have described every weekday from 2-3pm on the Startup Daily show on ausbiz.com.au, when they cover the latest news in tech and startups.
In this interview Geoff talks about social impact, his impact investment fund and why impact investment is as much about strong financial returns as it is impact outcomes.
With the advent of new century, the world has witnessed a boom in the number of social enterprises across the globe. In US alone, more than half of social enterprises were institutionalized in 2006 or later and the trend is same elsewhere too. In India, around 89% social enterprises are just ten years old or younger. This signifies towards the novelty of social sector sphere, providing a colossal magnitude to budding entrepreneurs for innovation, ideation to experiment, refining or pivoting towards new ones, job creation while giving out million of dollars for maximizing social values through organizations, work and lives.
Imagine you are down with the flu. Yes, not particularly a pretty sight but we have all been there. Naturally, you decide to take the day off from class or work, so you can see a doctor and more importantly rest. But, instead of taking a nap in your own bed that you desperately need, you spend half your day looking for a good GP, booking an appointment and waiting an hour in queue before you can actually see a doctor.
Healthcare is one of the sectors that landed late into the digitisation phenomenon. Owing to the nature of healthcare, adoption of technology within the sector came much later. Patients concerned about privacy and providers worried about costs related to training of medical staff. The slow uptake of technology in healthcare left silos within departments and increased wait times.
Built to Last- Are #familyowned businesses an endangered species? According to National Geographic, a species is considered to be endangered if it suffers from a 50-70% population decline. In Australia, the rates of #business ownership continue to increase….but are the businesses being created today going to be owned and operated by future generations?
Green is the new black in investing as billions of dollars pour into ethical funds and a rush of financial products with environment and social themes targets mainstream investors.
Ethical fund assets grew 62 per cent in 2015 to $52 billion, shows the latest Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) Benchmark Report. The sector has doubled in two years as responsible investing redefines the investment landscape.
Impact Investment Ready, a new initiative to help for purpose businesses and not-for-profit organisations explore potential impact investing activities and opportunities has been launched by Impact Investing Australia and Philanthropy Australia.
The Victorian Government has released a Social Enterprise Strategy, announcing $5 million in funding to further increase the impact of and innovation in the state’s social enterprise sector, build business capacity and skills, and improve market access.
Social entrepreneurship is experiencing some exciting key trends to watch in 2017. What was once a difficult venture to pursue is becoming easier as access to valuable resources increases and as more consumers hold corporations socially responsible.
Right now, not-for-profits all over Australia are competing for Christmas donations and making preparations for the beginning of 2017. What are you going to do differently in 2017?
Social businesses and not-for-profits are coming up with innovative ways to tackle the SDG in anyway they can from finding different approaches to tackling these ingrained and complex issues.
