A group of Young Public Service Leaders were lucky enough to have a first look at Spacecubed mid construction and hear about some of the great organisations and individuals that will be working in the space. The group had a complete tour of the space, and were able to ask any questions to the SiiWA team, before heading to the Supreme Court Gardens to hear a presentation from Brodie McCulloch, ‘Deliberately Co-creating Western Australia’s Future’.

During the presentation, Brodie highlighted that Western Australia is experiencing rapid growth which provides enormous opportunity to position the State as a global leader in a range of industries and sectors. But, as a state, we need to understand what the vision for the future is, where we will get it from. How we want Western Australia to be recognised in 30 years time. The group were able to ask Brodie questions, and how Spacecubed will be able to allow for this vision to be realised and achieved.

“Community, Business, Not for Profit and Government need to be working to co-design, co-create and co-deliver the mechanisms, organisations and systems that are going to meet growing demands and deliberately build a Western Australia we want to see…let’s get started now.”  – Brodie McCulloch

After the presentation, the group were able to move on to Helvetica, for a chance to mingle and enjoy a drink and nibbles together. The event was organised by Institute of Public Administration Australia and we thank them for their hard work in making it happen.

Echoing Green is a New York based organisation that invests in standout social entrepreneurs and helps them to launch new organisations. They have invested neatly $30 million in seed funding to almost 500 social entrepreneurs and their organisations, and now are offering a fellowship to social start-ups, called the Echoing Green Fellowship. It provides up to $90 000 in capital for entrepreneurs to launch their start-ups and build capacity.

The fellowship provides a stipend of $80 000 for individuals and $90 000 for two-person partnerships, and will be paid in 4 equal instalments over two years. Recipients are invited to conferences led by organisational development experts, as well as receiving technical support and pro bono partnerships. Health insurance and a yearly professional development is also included in the fellowship. All applicants must attend training conferences throughout, with all costs covered by Echoing Green.

To apply, applicants can be a citizen of any nationality and their organisation can be based in any country, but cannot have been in operation more than two years.

“Applicants who have only worked on their organisation on a part-time basis or have yet to start the organisation are generally considered eligible,” Echoing Green says.

“Applicants must make a full-time commitment to the organisation’s development for the duration of the two-year fellowship.”

“It is expected that all selected fellows resign from their current employment to dedicate themselves fulltime to their initiatives.”

The process is highly competitive, and applicants progress through three stages, with eliminations after each phase. By the end of this process, the 2500 plus applicants will be narrowed down to between 12 and 20 applicants. The 2012 fellows will begin in July 2012.

Applications open online December 5 2011, and end January 9 2012.

The Australian Centre for Social Innovation has announced their latest project, Solved, which has been launched by South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill. Solved is a nationwide search for social solutions that are working. Maybe you noticed a scheme to help local kids eat a healthy breakfast in Broome, and someone in Newcastle is searching for a way to do just that. By sharing what works, we hope social solutions can help more people across Australia.

If anyone spots a solution, or has a brilliant idea, simply add it to the solved map to be in the running to win $5000 prize pack for the best social solution that is uploaded to the website. Anyone who enters can be in the running to win a $500 donation to a social solution of their choice.

Add your favourite social solution to www.solved.org.au and they could win up to $5000 in funding to keep doing good!

Tom Tolchard; SiiWA Project Director discussing his recent trip back to the UK and some observations about some of the changes taking place there. 

I recently headed back to the UK for a few weeks. I tend to have mixed emotions every time I go back. I’ve only headed home three times in the past ten years, I have to say that I wasn’t exactly in love with England when I left for Australia, it seemed too expensive, too aggressive, too little opportunity but each time I go back I notice all the great aspects life in the UK and inevitably find myself daydreaming about what life would be like if I returned. I imagine living in the leafy suburbs, playing village cricket at the weekends, drinking warm beer and complaining endlessly about, well anything really. This thought never lasts long but it was enough to start me thinking about the state of the UK and how it’s people and government are addressing the considerable social issues, which have arisen over recent years.

During my first week back in England the government released a frightening new statistic that made me consider just how important the need is for effective social innovation thinking. Having conducted a 6 month long, national survey the UK government we’re embarrassed to report that the number of children now living below the poverty line had increased from 1:5 to a staggering 1:4. That’s one in four school children in England going to school with no breakfast in their tummies, living in houses without adequate heating, wearing school clothes that don’t fit etc…. That was the same week the government rather quietly announced the need to down grade the UK economic forecast by an additional 7% (on top of the 5 % down grade three months prior). This wasn’t quite what I’d expected to find in my old country.

In a nut shell things were bad, as someone looking from the outside in, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of understanding from the people as to how the UK citizens are collectively going to address these social ills. Some may suggest that the recent rioting and the social unrest that we have witnessed to be a byproduct of this rather gloomy reality. I have very little insight these days into the social fabric of life in England but one thing that resonates for me is that many people believe that it is “the absence of hope for many young people in England” that is manifesting itself into dysfunctional and destructive behavior (or as my good friend put it to me recently “who’s country is full of convicts now Tom?”). How does a country build hope for hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised residents and do it in a way, which does not displace the happy folk, buggered if I know but I’d love to have a go at working out some solutions?

It was with these lofty questions and concerns in mind that I decided to go and find out what the Big Society mob were up to and how if at all they were planning on stopping the rot. For those who are new to Big Society I’ll provide a quick introduction. Big Society was launched by the UK government in 2010 to act as a think tank and ideas center for bringing about positive social change. “Our aim is to champion people and organisations that are part of social change. We are a catalyst creating partnerships for the wider society and are open to everyone” (www.thebigsociety.co.uk). The thing I like about Big Society is that it is thinking on a large scale, its see’s this social unrest as an opportunity to drive best practice in social enterprise, develop scalable, exportable models and their aim is to be regarded as global “best in show” at delivering innovative social capital but by their own admission they have one hell of a long journey ahead of them.

I caught up with a representative of Big Society in Manchester and asked her to explain some of the projects she was working on. One of the Big Society projects she showed me around focused on re-energising the high street and CBD retail strips.

The City of Manchester has initiated a project where it is subsidizing 50% of the rental costs of un-occupied, prime high street locations (mainly vacant due to the huge number of independent retails who have gone out of business over the past two years as well as the consolidation of many retail chains) for new start up social enterprises which encourage skills acquisition, training and employment opportunities for long term unemployed. This means that socially driven organisations, which seek to trade in order to sustain themselves, stand along side the likes of Tesco, Top Shop and Marks and Spencer but also ensure that property which has high trading potential is utilized rather that sitting vacant.

The high street has been seen as a social focal point for centuries and there is evidence linking the deterioration of high street communities to a direct correlation in dysfunctional behavior. By taking an empty retail space (which is a symbol of failure in the community) and turning it into a supported and subsidized social venture it becomes an asset to the community. This is just one example of how Big Society are throwing out the rule book and using social innovation create hope for people in England.

So what can we the residents of Western Australia learn from the Big Society initiative, a few suggestions I’ve been mulling over include the following. It would be benificial for all to create social welfare systems designed with and not for the disadvantaged people of Perth, empowering and including them as our primary stakeholder. Perth could also seek to use some of the hundreds of thousands of square meters of vacant prime CBD real estate to facilitate the rise of new social enterprise and hybrid models (a project that City of Perth has started to map vacant spaces in the CBD). I’d also like to champion the emergence of commercial social investment, in the USA the socially responsible investment market is now valued at $3.07 trillion. Its important for us to shift our thinking away from subsidiary or loss making social investment to a belief that social investment can produce positive returns both in economic and social measures.

Big Society thinking was reinforces the view that its often the guy on the street that is close to the real issues and who has huge value to add when designing social solutions. It’s also a great example of hand up not hand out where risk is shared but equally so are the rewards. For more info and a nosey through their work check out www.thebigsociety.co.uk

Perth – 23 November 2011 (6-7pm)

TACSI initiative Family by Family is a new model for family support, which links up families who’ve been through tough times with families still facing tough times who want life to get better.

This radically different model to support families in stress was co-designed with families in South Australia and is now spreading to more places in SA.

Family by Family director Carolyn Curtis is visiting Perth and will talk about the journey taken with these families, and what they can teach us about providing family support.

Venue: Ernst & Young Lecture Theatre, UWA Business School

RSVP by email to: sonia.nolan@uwa.edu.au.

Social enterprises in Australia are set to grow with an announcement of a innovative collaboration between the Australian Government and leading social impact investors, which will help the nation’s social enterprises to be more investment ready and financially sustainable.

SiiWA has begun conversations with the social impact investment organisations around Western Australian Social Enterprises getting access to this funding in order to grow their enterprises.

Full information from DEEWR

Minister for Employment Participation, Kate Ellis, and the Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development, Senator Mark Arbib, today announced the successful funds managers for the Social Enterprise Development and Investment Fund (SEDIF).

The Australian Government is providing seed funding to Social Enterprise Finance Australia (SEFA) and to Foresters Community Finance to offer tailored financial products and loans to meet the needs of social enterprises.

The two investment funds will have a total capitalisation of $32 million.

Ms Ellis said that SEFA and Foresters Community Finance will work to support those social enterprises nationwide which combine an innovative business model with a social or environmental mission.

Ms Ellis today visited Tasty Fresh Community Catering in Logan in Brisbane, a social enterprise which creates pathways into training and employment especially for carers of people with a disability.

“We want to ensure that more social enterprises, like Tasty Fresh Community Catering, are able to access appropriate finance at the right time to achieve positive social impacts in their communities,” Ms Ellis said.

“SEDIF offers a way for community organisations, investors and governments in Australia to work together to pool resources and skills to deliver financial returns and an even greater social impact.”

SEFA brings together a unique range of partners including Community Sector Banking, the Macquarie Group Foundation, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Australian Bush Heritage, the University of Sydney, and Triodos, one of the world’s leading social impact finance organisations.

SEFA has received $10 million in seed funding to establish the SEFA Loan Fund with a further $10 million being invested by individual and corporate investors.

SEFA comprises three sub-funds including the Aboriginal Community Enterprise Fund, Community Environment Fund and the Community Development Fund, plus an incubator fund to develop innovative new social enterprises.

Senator Arbib said the Aboriginal Community Enterprise Fund will provide loans and financial advice to eligible social enterprises delivering services in Indigenous communities or to organisations led by Indigenous Australians.

“Social enterprises play a vital role in creating sustainable training and employment opportunities in many Indigenous communities,” Senator Arbib said.

“This investment fund is a good example of the Australian Government’s commitment to supporting Indigenous Australians to get long term sustainable jobs, and to close the gap between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians.”

The Community Environment Fund will help social enterprises to develop innovative responses to environmental issues in the wake of climate change.

The Australian Government is also providing $6 million in seed funding to Foresters Community Finance, which is being matched by a further $6 million provided by the fund’s investment partner, Christian Super Fund.

Foresters Community Finance will manage two funds: the Community Finance Fund (CFF), which will provide a range of tailored financial products, such as a mortgage loans and enterprise loans, and the Social Enterprise Finance Fund (SEFF), which will provide similar loans to the CFF, but with a focus on incubating innovative and emerging social enterprises.

“Ensuring social enterprises have access to appropriate finance at the right time, combined with sound business and investment advice will help this industry to grow, to create jobs and deliver meaningful results for the community,” Ms Ellis said.

Further information on SEDIF and the funds is available at: www.deewr.gov.au/pages/sedif.aspx

(Registration at bottom of page)

One of the key issues many of the Social Entrepreneurs we meet in WA are having is obtaining a clear understanding of what makes them investment ready and the needs of Philanthropists when investing in Social Enterprises, Social Ventures and Social Projects. Access to this early stage advice and feedback on your social enterprise can mean saving you time, effort and resources.

Philanthropist Office Hours provide both traditional Philanthropists and Venture Philanthropists the opportunity to provide this early stage feedback and advice to Social Entrepreneurs and Change Makers. It also introduces them to a range of startup social enterprises in Western Australia that are geared for high social impact.

For Social Entrepreneurs it provides insight and feedback on their project and allows them to bounce ideas off experienced people who have been investing in Social Projects, Ventures and Enterprises. This feedback will provide a solid platform for the Entrepreneur to move their project forward.

The format of Philanthropist Office Hours is -

• 10 minutes for the Entrepreneur to ask questions and test assumptions
• 10 minutes for the Philanthropist to provide feedback and ask questions of their own
• 10 minutes to discuss options, potential and future directions

Some of Western Australia’s leading Philanthropists have registered (as well as many who do not promote their giving publicly) and are willing to provide their time, expertise and knowledge to providing that crucial guidance and feedback to Social Entrepreneurs. We will be conducting the office hours out of the Hub Perth once completed in November but will start the program in early October.

I’d recently become frustrated in Perth, you know how it is, things not moving fast enough, people saying yes but really meaning “yes if you’re lucky and then maybe slowly over the next 5 years” so I headed back to Melbourne to recharge and develop a few new SiiWA partnerships.

On my first day in Melbourne I purchased great coffees from two (different) social enterprises, attended a fashion show hosted by the amazing people at the Social Studio (a fashion and design business set up to support recently arrived refugees), dined at a restaurant collecting $2.00 on every bill to help Melbourne’s homeless, been taken on a tour of the social enterprise hubs being created in the street level of community housing towers in the uber trendy suburb of Fitzroy, witnessed the Commuters for Change, a cycle rally through Bourke Street to encourage public transport usage, immersed myself in two incredible street theater performances and…. wait for it … had the government call me to show case their latest thinking on maximizing social enterprise investment and support. That’s just within my first 7 hours. (continued below picture)

There is no doubt about it Melbourne is on fire right now, full of ideas, new ventures and a sense of optimism from young social minds. The thing that stands out as the biggest observation back east is that the social enterprise infrastructure is in part being driven by a genuine fusion of government, corporate and social enterprise partnerships. These partnerships are clearly on the front foot, not researching or compiling papers, nor are they conducting endless research, they are in the “doing process” of delivering social change.

I’m inspired by these actions and its great to see social enterprise as a living breathing animal. Its also amazing to see how the general public is reacting to this approach. They are using the power of ethical consumerism to create real social change. With willing and waiting consumers adopting an ethos of profit for purpose in their purchasing power there is a massive and scalable opportunity for creating positive social change.

I was also recently heartened to read that the city of Melbourne is now offering preferential rates to social enterprises who wish to use their existing street infrastructure for the establishment of businesses and “pop-up’ social enterprises. In fact, reading between the lines it would be almost impossible for a business which does not place its environmental or social outcomes at the heart of its venture to even get through the tendering process. “Good on you Melbourne” use your existing infrastructure to support social change, risk free, high return, partnership driven.

I hesitate as I write this but when I compare this sense of optimism and “doing” in the social sector and the level of deep understanding that many of the key stakeholders of the sector have to what I have witnessed here in Perth it makes me anxious.

There is so much to gain for all sectors by embracing the power of partnerships, delivering on well thought out social ventures. The make up of so many WA’s social entrepreneurs that I’ve met over the last year in Perth is that they are nimble, responsive and need to see their ideas realized. Without appropriate support infrastructure and a genuine sense of community their ideas often wither away.

I’d like for SiiWA to continue in its mission to deliver a genuine community and support networks for these individuals but also to campaign vigorously to bridge the gap between the sectors. When it comes to delivering social good, there is no “them and us” there is only “us” (I stole that from Obama!).

I still remain grounded in a sense of deep optimism for the future of social innovation in WA but come on Perth lets stop the chit-chat and get down to business. Lets start to develop partnerships, which see well thought out, robust, financially sustainable business models getting up and being supported. I think we’d all be better off for it, if you don’t believe me then ask Melbourne.

Tom Tolchard

Earlier this year, funds management industry stalwart Chris Cuffe, from Social Ventures Australia (SVA) helped launch the West Australian Private Ancillary Fund (PAF) Service. The event was co-hosted by Giving West. Non-profit organisation SVA designed the service, which is now available to Western Australian based philanthropists, when they found many wealthy Australians were unaware of the tax and personal benefits of structuring their giving, and how simple and rewarding establishing a private ancillary fund (PAF) can be.

A number of West Australians have already used the service to establish their own PAFs and avail themselves of the administration service. Following launch around the country, SVA is now administering PAFs for over thirty families and have worked with a number of other PAF holders to assist them their grant making decisions.

With the huge number of needy and worthy organisations requiring funding, sometimes making informed decisions about donating can be challenging. SVA can assist with this and they are often engaged to undertake research on non-profit organisations operating in the area of need that is of most interest to the philanthropist, helping to ensure funds are best directed.

Find out more at www.socialventures.com.au or Simone Eley on 043 777 3335