Following a highly successful inaugural program in 2020, Social Impact Hub have opened applications for this year's Reimagine Impact.

Running a social enterprise is crazy hard work, especially when you only have so much capacity and resources at your disposal. We get it. That is why finding the time to stay across what is happening can very difficult, even for the most seasoned, time-efficient changemaker. To make your life that bit easier, we have teamed up with Social Change Central to put together this bite-sized quarterly update filled with the most important developments and activities in the impact sector- it's all you need to stay informed and up-to-date.

We have announced the eight enterprises selected to participate in the 2021 Scaling Impact accelerator program. Funded by through Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs Program and the Sidney Myer Fund, together with support from Ernst & Young and the English Family Foundation, Scaling Impact will focus on addressing the needs of these social start-ups at a crucial point in their development – the inflexion point between building on a proven track record and preparing to take on impact investment.

Running a social enterprise is crazy hard work, especially when you only have so much capacity and resources at your disposal. We get it. That is why finding the time to stay across what is happening can very difficult, even for the most seasoned, time-efficient changemaker. To make your life that bit easier, we have teamed up with Social Change Central to put together this bite-sized quarterly update filled with the most important developments and activities in the impact sector- it's all you need to stay informed and up-to-date.

According to the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the global impact investment market is worth an estimated US$712 billion (GIIN, 2020), representing a sizable and growing market. The emergence of impact investing has challenged the perception that social and environmental issues should be funded solely through philanthropic and government avenues.

Impact investing is a novel idea gaining significant momentum and the industry is experiencing rapid growth. New research shows the global impact investing market is continuing to mature despite the COVID-19 crisis and is now worth more than $1 trillion. And it makes sense – if you could make money and do good simultaneously, why wouldn’t you?! But before an impact investor decides to hand over their money to a social enterprise, here are five critical things they look for.

Mike Tozer is the Founder and CEO of Xceptional, a company he started in 2017.  Mike describes Xceptional as, “a technology job platform linking autistic people to meaningful careers with tech companies, banks, government and start-ups and scale ups.” As Xceptional grew, it was clear additional capital would be needed to enhance various functional areas to meet market demand, and also to support the development of Xceptional’s technology platform.

Careseekers is an online platform developed by two sisters, Marissa and Lauren, to provide families a more affordable and flexible way of connecting with care support workers. With the help of the Social impact Hub, and a well-defined business strategy and process through which they could achieve scale, Careseekers was successful in building a pipeline of investors, and ultimately were successful in securing investment from a world leading healthcare group in the US.

Alan Schwartz AM is simultaneously a supporter and a critic of the Impact Investment movement. After all, his recent article in the Harvard Business Review was entitled “Impact Investing will not save capitalism”. Here is Alan’s excellent keynote address at the 2020 Australian Impact Investment Awards whereby he reframes his criticism into constructive advice for Impact investors.

The 2020 Australian Impact Investment Awards are an opportunity for organisations and individuals to showcase and be recognised for their expertise, commitment and outstanding activity in the Australian impact investing ecosystem. Today we announced the twenty individuals and organisations that have been shortlisted.

We have announced the eight enterprises selected to participate in the first cohort of the Scaling Impact accelerator program. Funded by through Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs Program and the Sidney Myer Fund, together with support from Ernst & Young and the English Family Foundation, Scaling Impact will focus on addressing the needs of social start-ups at a crucial point in their development – the inflexion point between building on a proven track record and preparing to take on impact investment.

There is a new emerging world order and social purpose organisations are on the frontline as they rapidly adapt their support, services and offerings. As crisis mode lifts in Australia and we begin to adjust, we have an opportunity to design a new world. To re-design and re-imagine how people: interact, work, play, connect, consume, explore or switch-off.

We have announced the eight enterprises selected to participate in the first cohort of the Scaling Impact accelerator program. Funded by through Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs Program and the Sidney Myer Fund, together with support from Ernst & Young and the English Family Foundation, Scaling Impact will focus on addressing the needs of social start-ups at a crucial point in their development – the inflexion point between building on a proven track record and preparing to take on impact investment.

Social enterprises impacted by the COVID-19 crisis can now leverage the skills of corporate Australia to help address their current business challenges, thanks to a new collaboration between Social Impact Hub, Westpac Foundation and Social Traders.

Social Impact Hub has received Federal Government funding for Scaling Impact, a new accelerator program for social start-ups focused on supporting their impact investment readiness. With matched funding provided by the Sidney Myer Fund together with support from Ernst & Young and the English Family Foundation, Scaling Impact will focus on addressing the needs of social start-ups at a crucial point in their development – the inflexion point between building on a proven track record and preparing to take on impact investment.

We are pleased to announce that our client, Xceptional, has successfully raised innovative debt and equity finance which will enable it to continue its growth offering skills-based technology employment for people on the autism spectrum.

Some of the best and brightest leaders in Australia’s impact investment sector were honoured at the annual Australian Impact Investment Awards last night. A collaboration between the Impact Investment Summit Asia Pacific and the Impact Investing Hub, the awards recognise outstanding activity and individuals in the Australian impact investing ecosystem.

Today we announced the ten organisations that will participate in the Paul Ramsay Foundation Peer Development program, Creating Partnerships for Potential - A Peer to Peer Program (CPP). This program follows the Solve It, Australia Masterclass where Rob McLean AM empowered social purpose organisations with the seven-step Bulletproof Problem Solving framework to help solve complex problems.

The Paul Ramsay Foundation, in collaboration with the Social Impact Hub and Philanthropy Australia, yesterday announced the launch of a groundbreaking $900,000 funding program that provides significant capacity building funds to five Australian organisations to develop solutions that address the root causes of disadvantage. The announcement was made at the Solve It, Australia masterclass in Sydney led by Rob McLean AM.

On November 7, five leaders in the impact investment sector in Australia were honoured at the inaugural Australian Impact Investment Awards. A collaboration between the Impact Investment Summit Asia Pacific and the Impact Investing Hub, the awards recognise outstanding activity and individuals in the Australian impact investing ecosystem.