Social Enterprise News

What does Northern Australia need to be thriving and well?
What can we learn from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders who have been practicing this approach to business and community for millennia?

Slow down, listen and learn from the heart of Northern Australia at this year’s digital Social Enterprise Summit for Northern Australia. Grab your ticket today!

Click here to access your tickets for just $20!

https://events.humanitix.com/sesna2021-beating-heart-social-enterprise?c=qsec

Applications for the Social Enterprise Growth Grants are now open. 

The Social Enterprise Growth Grants program will provide grants to eligible established Queensland social enterprises for capability and capacity building that supports the business to scale up or adapt.

The social enterprise must have potential within the next 2 years to grow the business including its social impact and increase employees.

Available funding

In 2021–22, $800,000 will be made available for the Social Enterprise Growth Grants.

Your social enterprise may be eligible for financial assistance of between $5,000 and $25,000 (excluding GST).

Eligibility criteria

Your business must be a Queensland social enterprise that can demonstrate it meets the program definition of a social enterprise (including the commercial trading and reinvesting benchmarks outlined in the funding guidelines), and has operated and traded in Queensland for at least 12 months.

Your social enterprise must have a mission or purpose aligned to Queensland Government priorities including, but not limited to:

• supporting jobs
• investing in skills
• growing regions
• protecting the environment
• safeguarding health.

Eligible activities

Grants will provide funding for activities, services or expenditure that build the skills, capability and capacity of the social enterprise. Funding requested must have a direct link to increasing business sustainability and/or employment.

Funding is available for the purchase of:

• production equipment
• digital equipment and systems
• consumables, resources or materials (specific to an identified growth opportunity)
• skills development and coaching programs
• business and strategic planning advice
• website development and upgrades
• marketing strategies.

Applications close 7 October! 

A Brisbane social enterprise and not-for-profit is tapping into the talent inside prisons to reskill inmates in graphic design and 3D animation, preparing them for employment opportunities on the outside.

Key points:

• The not-for-profit organisation facilitates training inside a local prison in graphic design and 3D animation
• The program is aimed at improving employment opportunities for inmates when they are released
• It is an Australian first and it is hoped it will be rolled out in more facilities

Graphic designers Kelly Willmott and Amanda Shepherd teamed up and launched Green Fox Studio in 2018, which operates a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates training inside a local prison in graphic design and 3D animation. 

"This company began with Amanda and myself, coming up with this grand plan to change the way we worked and to give people a second chance," Ms Willmott said.

Ms Shepherd said she wanted the way she lived and worked to set an example to her children.

"After 20 years of being a graphic designer, I had this kind of burning desire … to give back to the community and also to be able to show my children that you could actually do something you love that contributed back to society," Ms Shepherd said.

Ms Willmott and Ms Shepherd were not sure what to expect when they passed through the prison gates at the high security facility near Ipswich but what they discovered inside surprised them.

Minister for Employment and Small Business and Minister for Training and Skills Development
The Honourable Di Farmer

Established Queensland social enterprises can now start preparing applications for grants of up to $25,000, thanks to the Palaszczuk Government’s Social Enterprise Jobs Fund.

Minister for Employment and Small Business Di Farmer said enterprises could use the grants to purchase new equipment, increase their productivity, and help create more jobs.

“The Palaszczuk Government is committed to supporting our diverse social enterprise sector to grow in size and scale, which is why they’re part of our $14.2 billion COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan,” Minister Farmer said.

“Social enterprises deliver a diverse range of products and services, along with a community benefit that is substantially funded through their commercial operations.

“The Social Enterprise Growth Grants seek to grow businesses that trade intentionally to tackle social problems, improve communities, provide employment or help the environment.

“The grants will help scale up, extend or adapt current operations in Queensland, through new equipment, training or business coaching programs, strategic planning support, marketing support or website upgrades.

“Applications will open on 23 September and stay open until 5pm on October 7, but the eligibility criteria and guidelines are available now so social enterprises can start preparing.

“I have seen firsthand the differences social enterprises can make. Places like Substation 33 in Kingston, which recycles and upcycles a range of equipment for new purposes while providing employment and training opportunities for local people, or Australian Spatial Analytics, which employs people who are on the autism spectrum to develop geographic information systems.

“These grants will help social enterprises grow, so they can continue to play a vital role in our communities and in our small business sector.”

The Palaszczuk Government has been working closely with the Queensland Social Enterprise Council to ensure the support delivers the best outcomes for the sector and the wider economy.

Queensland Social Enterprise Council CEO Elise Parups said the Social Enterprise Growth Grants would be valuable to social enterprises looking to bounce back and scale their operations in response to COVID-19.

“We know that social enterprises provide social, cultural, economic and environmental returns well above a “business as usual” model. Queensland’s social enterprises deliver services and products to customers, create new jobs and return on average a 1:3 dollar return to the community they serve,” Ms Parups said.

This is the second social enterprise grant as part of the $8 million Social Enterprise Jobs Fund, after the Community Social Enterprise Development Grants closed on 15 July. Applications for those grants, aimed at non-profit social enterprises, are being assessed now and will be announced soon.

Guidelines available at: desbt.qld.gov.au/training/future-skills-fund/social-enterprise-grants

For more information on available support for social enterprises visit: desbt.qld.gov.au/training/future-skills-fund

Media Release

END

Media contact: Kate Talbot, 0439 803 211

Let's put social enterprises on the agenda!

The Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games will create a 20-year pipeline of opportunities for Queensland businesses to:

• take part in exciting projects
• create valuable new partnerships and supply chains
• develop their business capability.

Register for the Buy Queensland supplier newsletter to receive updates about how your business can be involved in the Games.

More details 

The Unconference findings are here, and we reckon you'll find them interesting.

Four Recommendations from the Australian Social Enterprise Unconference

1. Decolonise social enterprise
There is no shortage of exhortations to learn from First Nations perspectives, but what, as a sector, are we giving back? What does it look like to have a social enterprise sector that truly foregrounds social justice for First Nations people? What does this mean for the ways we organise our events, our peak bodies, and our enterprises?

2. Impact measurement and data – who, what, why?
Are individual social enterprises hoping to reduce the administrative and financial burden of measuring impact by using a common approach? Are intermediaries and other sector-builders hoping to use data to make the case for social enterprise support and investment? The lead-up to SEWF2022 is an opportunity to engage the sector in a conversation about these kinds of questions, with a view to convening targeted discussions and (perhaps) working groups around the topic at the conference.

3. Plan for systems innovation content and conversations
The need for masterclass-level content is clear! Subjects like complexity, systems innovation, adopting place-based impact models, and navigating the technicalities and market-shaping of impact investment were mentioned at the Unconference.

4. Social procurement... and beyond?
We need to determine what a small-medium enterprise-focused approach to social
procurement could look like. Social procurement remains skewed towards the interests of larger enterprises.

Access the full report here.

What's next?

The SEWF 2021 Handover Ceremony will be taking place on the 30th of September. This year's host, Common Good Solutions (Halifax, Nova Scotia), will be handing over the baton in a cross-continental live stream during the SEWF 2021 digital conference.  For those of you who have bought online tickets, make sure you come along!

For those who can't make it, Enterprising Stories will replay key moments from the handover ceremony in an online 'Community Pub' on Thursday afternoon (30th). You can register here! Make sure to bring a glass with you.

Here's Mikey in his Community Pub element to sign off another Road to SEWF 2022 newsletter.

 National Social Enterprise Strategy! 

January 2022

November 2021 Covid-19 in Queensland and what this means for Small Business As we prepare for the borders to open up, each business will need to adapt to the changing COVID environment. To fully prepare, please have a look at the current roadmap from the State Government, which is updated on their website regularly.  Here is the current border plan.  You can also attend the CCIQ webinar about COVID-19 Vaccination and your workplace. More information to come! September 2021 Peter Maddock from the Qld Small Business Commission addressed QSEC members at a recent event to take a look at the new QSBC handbook to help navigate avenues for support to help small businesses.  Link to Zoom meeting QSBC Slide Deck QSBC Handbook: Small Business Help and Support      Small Business Disaster Hub

DOWNLOAD QSEC COVID HANDBOOK

This free booklet is for entrepreneurs from Multicultural Backgrounds and those assisting them. It was written in conjunction with Nundah Co-ooperative, the Yunus Social Business Centre of Griffith University, and migrant entrepreneurs like the Mountain Mowing Men and with support from Brisbane City Council.

You can down load the booklet from the Nundah publications page
https://lnkd.in/gcHMnC_w

Please share 

ATT: Social enterprises interested in raising cash and telling your impact story!

The Funding Network Australia are accepting applications to pitch at TFN Virtual Live on Thursday 18 November. The live crowdfunding event will spotlight the impact of finalist social enterprises supporting Australians in need.

Three finalists will receive professional coaching and the opportunity to pitch at a virtual live crowdfunding event to raise an estimated $20,000 each.

Applications close Monday 13 September

https://www.thefundingnetwork.com.au/tfn.../apply-to-pitch/