Stories

Finding Australia’s Social Enterprise Sector

Michelle Perl May 12, 2009

< 1 min read

Social enterprises use trade to create social, cultural and environmental value. The majority of social enterprises are not-for-profit or limited profit distributing businesses, although some take on a for-profit social business form.

“Despite growing interest in social enterprise, we know relatively little about the dimensions or impacts of Australia’s social enterprise sector,” said research leader Dr Jo Barraket (pictured).

“The purpose of the Finding Australia’s Social Enterprise Sector (FASES) project is to map the range and scope of social enterprises in Australia. The research will be used to determine the number of Australian social enterprises, the geographic and industry areas in which they operate, and their social and economic contributions,” she said.

This information will be used to advocate for the needs of Australia’s social enterprise sector, as well as to produce an online social enterprise directory that will promote the benefits, goods and services of the sector to the public, governments, business, and other NFPs.

FASES is being conducted by the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at Queensland University of Technology in conjunction with Social Traders, a not-for-profit development agency that exists to build the capacity of the Australian social enterprise sector.

“The project will only succeed with the involvement of a wide range of social enterprises,” said Dr Barraket. “We hope that you will consider contributing to this exciting project by providing us with the benefit of your knowledge of specific social enterprises across the country. ”

More information and an opportunity to provide input is available at the project website www.socialeconomy.net.au