Social Enterprise News

Social Enterprise Australia, the new peak body for social enterprise arrives in Australia!

A social enterprise is a business, for good. They trade like any other business; but exist specifically to make the world a better place.

People across the Australian social enterprise sector have been working together towards a national strategy. This is needed to unlock the full potential of social enterprise to help people, places and the planet thrive.

Over 500 people across the sector have already helped shape it.

The launch of Social Enterprise Australia meets the need for an organisation to lead this work. 

Why is this such a big deal?

Social Enterprise Australia will connect the sector to plan, act and learn together. It will do this to have a shared national strategy and voice, and to develop new ways to build social and environmental wellbeing.

Now is also the right time.

We have a Federal Government building a wellbeing budget. Social enterprise should be seen and valued as a key tool in this agenda.

Meanwhile, the Social Enterprise World Forum is coming to Australia in September this year, hosted by White Box Enterprises. It is the key event for the global social enterprise community to connect, learn and be inspired.

Who’s involved?

Social Enterprise Australia will be co-owned and shaped by the sector itself.

Jess Moore, who has led this work, will continue to do this as the organisation’s CEO. Christina Chun joins the organisation as its COO.  The Advisory Council, which has guided the national strategy work, will continue to do this as the organisation’s Board. It includes: 

• Belinda Morrissey (Chair), CEO at the English Family Foundation
• Alex Hannant (Deputy Chair), Professor of Practice and Co-Director at the Yunus Centre, Griffith University
• David Brookes (Company Secretary), founding member at the Social Enterprise Network of Victoria and former CEO at Social Traders
• Adrian Appo, First Nations Lead at Yajilarra Trust
• Alexie Seller, Co-CEO at Enterprise Learning Projects and Convener at Impact North
• Matt Pfahlert, CEO at the Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise Academy Australia
• Tara Anderson, Executive Director, Strategy and Growth at Social Traders and Director at The Dragonfly Collective

The national strategy process and Social Enterprise Australia are incubated by the Yunus Centre at Griffith University. This work is backed by and only possible thanks to a growing philanthropic collaboration. It is anchored by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, and includes the English Family Foundation, Snow Foundation and Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation. MinterEllison and Day Four Projects provide pro bono support.

Check out the new website to find out more: socialenterpriseaustralia.org.au.

Social Traders awards are back!

The world has changed. So has business.

Some ideas are game changers and buying from social enterprise is one of them. This year our awards will showcase the pioneers demonstrating that social enterprise procurement is catching on. Let’s celebrate the innovative social enterprises, businesses and governments leading the charge in #Business4Good.

The theme: Social procurement game changers

This year the awards will showcase how social enterprise procurement is catching on around the country.

There will be four region based award winners:

• Social procurement game changer - VIC/TAS region
• Social procurement game changer - NSW/ACT region
• Social procurement game changer- NT/QLD region
• Social procurement game changer - SA/WA region

With one overall national winner:

• Social procurement trailblazer - National

Member applications now open

Awards are open to our pioneering members who are leading the charge for better business. We’re looking for joint applications from one or more certified social enterprise/s and one or more of our business and government member/s. Your application should show how you are leading the way in social enterprise procurement. Check out below for more details on our key selection criteria.

Finalists showcased at national and state celebration events

The award winners will be determined in collaboration with our partners at Australia's social enterprise state and territory networks. The four region winners will be announced at celebration events in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney, co-hosted with our sector partners.

All winners will be invited to join us at the Social Enterprise World Forum, where the national Social procurement trailblazer for 2022 will be announced. The national winner of the trailblazer award will be decided in collaboration with the Social Enterprise National Strategy team. This winner will have showcased the most innovative and impactful outcomes against the award criteria.

Want to be recognised as a game changer? Apply now!

The four Social procurement game changer region winners will receive a free ticket with expenses paid to join us at the Social Enterprise World Forum this September. The national winner will be invited to join us on the main stage for a panel discussion on best practice social procurement, to a global audience. All national winners will receive a digital promotion kit to showcase and celebrate their achievement.

Submissions close COB Friday, 22 July 2022. For details and to submit your entry see below.

Visit Social Traders website

Australia’s newest domain namespace has arrived with the launch of .au direct 24 March 2022. For the first time, Australians can now register domain names directly before the .au (e.g. getyour.au) through participating accredited registrars. 

.au direct is the biggest innovation in the .au domain in 20 years and provides:

• Greater choice of trusted, uniquely Australian domain names 
• Access to shorter, simpler website and email addresses
• Domain names that are easier to type and display on mobile devices
• A great option for new business ideas, marketing campaigns, one-off events, and personalised websites and email address.  

auDA CEO Rosemary Sinclair AM said, “.au direct provides a new and exciting digital address for Australians to call home. 

“It delivers greater choice of uniquely Australian domain names and, importantly, supports continued online innovation for Australians.

“.au direct is the culmination of extensive community consultation from 2015 to 2019 and collaboration across the Australian domain industry in the lead up to launch. Thank you to all those who have contributed. We are pleased to welcome the new namespace into the .au family.”

The launch marks the beginning of the six-month Priority Allocation Process, which provides priority access to the new .au direct domain names to existing registrants, which ends on 20 September 2022.

For all those interested, you can register a new .au direct domain name via an auDA accredited registrar.

Who is .auDa?

.au Domain Administration Limited (auDA) is a not-for-profit organisation established by the Australian Internet community. They work with a range of stakeholders including industry, government and the Australian and international community to administer a trusted .au for the benefit of all Australians, and champion an open, free, secure and global Internet.

The .au country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) is part of Australia’s critical infrastructure, and has been endorsed by the Commonwealth Government to ensure it is a secure, accessible and trusted Australian public asset for all Internet users. The core functions, as set out by the Terms of Endorsement from Government, are to:

• Ensure stable, secure and reliable operation of the .au domain, as part of Australia’s suite of critical infrastructure.
• Administer a licensing regime for .au domain names based in multi-stakeholder processes that is transparent, responsive, accountable, accessible and efficient.
• Advocate for, and actively participate in, multi-stakeholder Internet governance processes both domestically and internationally.

.auDa also represent Australia’s interests internationally and have an agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – the international body responsible for coordinating the Internet’s naming and numbering systems.

MORE DETAILS 

CCIQ has for over a decade been dedicated to working with all levels of government to not only highlight the impact that red tape has on business but to also identify opportunities for reform.

Since 2009, CCIQ has been conducting a Red Tape Survey to understand the impact of red tape on Queensland businesses and track changes to the burden of regulatory compliance. CCIQ shares the findings of the Red Tape Survey directly with key government agencies to influence change.

The most recent 2021 CCIQ Red Tape Survey confirms the burden of red tape has intensified and continues to adversely impact the performance of Queensland businesses.

Download the report for more information.

What's your experience? Email online@qsec.org.au with your thoughts. 

The Queensland Government’s Buy Queensland approach makes Queensland jobs the first priority and is increasing opportunities for Queensland SMEs to supply to the government.

From 1 July 2020, all agencies subject to theQueensland Procurement Policy (QPP) must contribute to a collective 25% target of government procurement spend by value from Queensland small and medium enterprises (SMEs) —businesses employing less than 200 people.

The target will increase to 30% by 30 June 2022.

Take part in QSEC's Procurement Panels made easy workshop 12 July 2022

Read more about the Qld initiative HERE 

The Queensland State Government brought down their budget this week and we have analysed the papers to bring you a couple of the highlights aligned with social enterprise activity.

More than 12,000 small-to-medium-sized Queensland businesses with payrolls under $10.4M will be eligible for payroll tax relief to support scaling operations to grow employment.

There has been $12.6M indicated to support small business grants and to bolster the Mentoring 4 Growth program. QSEC had successfully advocated for a social enterprise category on the application process to enable more access to social enterprise-friendly business mentors. 

With the Small Business Commissioner now a permanent feature through this budget, QSEC will be actively seeking social enterprise initiatives and support mechanisms. 

Women's Economic Security has been featured in this budget. Over $600M dedicated to further economic security, safety and wellbeing, and to improve work opportunities in regional Queensland. Women founders make up over 60% of founders within the QSEC membership, so we are particularly interested in seeing how this funding can support women's wellbeing in business. 

There are a range of Regional Actions Plans which outline key budget initiatives and projects announced for each region. Regional social enterprises should pay particular attention to initiatives in their areas including social housing and homelessness services, infrastructure and rebuild/renewal opportunities and specific local initiatives such as the film studios in FNQ or the Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) project in Wide Bay. Many of these large-scale projects can have flow-on impacts for local social enterprise development, particularly through social procurement. QSEC is continuing to work with Social Traders to help QSEC members become certified and tender-ready to be able to take advantage of these opportunities. 

Social enterprises should be heartened to see the potential partnerships being supported through the place-based approaches for community and neighbourhood centres through $21M set aside for operations, and $4m innovation fund for community and social services to address place-based issues. 

There is a $3M community innovation commitment to help young people from reoffending, which we would like to see bolstered. Some of our partners have noted the rising disengagement of young people is concerning, particularly in regional areas. Finding innovative and empowering ways to address this is a key area that social enterprises could to respond to. 

Manufacturing Hub programs have been included in the budget modelling, alongside innovation grants. These are areas of constant interest to many of our social enterprises. 

It was also good to see some solid support for mental health programs. 

With just over half of the 2020 $8M Social Enterprise Jobs Fund expended through the Department of Employment and Small Business to date, QSEC is looking forward to evaluating the complete program of work in 2023. We will be consulting with members as the full program comes to fruition to prepare a submission for the next round of funds. 

We have noted the incredible increase in regional activity across the state as we prepare for the Sector Development Grant programs and in the lead up the Social Enterprise World Forum in September 2022.

Overall, social enterprises should feel confident that the social impact support measures being undertaken at present is addressing many of the capacity issues the membership had identified through the co-designed 2020 submission. We are watching with concern at the growing economic pressures on communities and we know that there will be some additional impacts on social enterprises, fiscally and in the delivery of impact services. We also understand there is some way to go to fully support the growth and development of the sector, and we look forward to working with our partners to address these in due course. 

FULL QLD BUDGET PAPERS 

Good morning ,

The Public Records Act 2002 (the Act) is being reviewed by an independent panel, comprising Professor Bronwyn Fredericks, David Fricker CdOAL GAICD, Adjunct Professor Linda O’Brien, Dr Katie McConnel and, as Chair, the Honourable John H Byrne AO RFD.

You are invited to provide your feedback by completing a survey and/or a submission online at www.qld.gov.au/public-records-review by Thursday, 30 June 2022.

The panel is interested in ensuring a wide variety of stakeholders have the opportunity to share their views on the Act. The statute needs to reflect contemporary recordkeeping practices, technology and community expectations.

We would also appreciate it if you could promote the Review through your networks. Promotional materials have been included in an amplification pack for you to use and share.

For more information about the Review, and to become involved, visit www.qld.gov.au/public-records-review

Regards,

The Public Records Act Review

Getting started

Council is offering Brisbane-based social enterprises the opportunity to apply for a completely funded ticket to the SEWF via a bursary. Social enterprises are only eligible to apply for one package per business. Each package includes:

• 1 x general admission ticket to the SEWF
• 1x bus tour ticket

Businesses may choose to have one staff member attend both events, or may allocate the SEWF ticket (28-29 September) to one staff member, and the bus tour ticket (26 September) to another.

To be eligible to apply for a bursary package, your business must:

• be physically located in the Brisbane area
• have been trading for a minimum of 12 months
• be driven by a public or community purpose
• derive most of its income from trade, not donations or grants
• use a portion of its profits to work towards its social mission
• the Social Enterprise bus tour will take place on 26 September and the SEWF will run from 28 - 29 September 2022. Social enterprises applying for the program will be expected to attend all three days.

https://ofpm.brisbane.qld.gov.au/site/wss/form/sefw-bursary

Business Growth Fund grants program targets high-growth businesses who can accelerate growth, drive Queensland's economy and employ more Queenslanders. 

The program is administered by the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training (DESBT).

It provides funding for small and medium-sized high-growth businesses to buy specialized equipment, enabling them to unlock growth potential, increase production, expand their workforce, and maximise economic returns to move them to the next stage of growth.

For more information on the criteria and to apply, please Click Here

Applications for the last of the grants from the Qld Government's $8m Social Enterprise Jobs Fund - the Social Enterprise Development Grants are now open.

The Social Enterprise Development Grants program will provide grants for approved projects to support newly established or early stage Queensland social enterprises to build capability and capacity, and increase business resilience and confidence.

Funding of between $5,000 and $25,000 (excluding GST) may be provided for eligible applicants to purchase equipment and resources, or access business services, to support a solid business foundation for the social enterprise.

Applications, including all supporting documentation, must be submitted using the online application form 

Applications close at 5pm 30 June 2022.