Resource library

ReGeneration Rising

Podcasts

The ReGeneration Rising podcast, by RSA Oceania, explores regenerative approaches to redesigning communities, cities, and economies, fostering a thriving planet. Hosted by Dr Daniel Christian Wahl, it features renowned guests across two insightful series.

Relationships

First Nations

Guides

First Nations

This resource from the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute (AIGI) examines the significance of relationships in First Nations governance. It covers cultural, community, and environmental connections, balancing roles, building trust, and fostering effective partnerships. The guide also explores allyship, network expansion, and practical strategies for creating balanced, respectful collaborations within Indigenous communities and beyond.

Remarkable Insights Podcast

Podcasts

The Remarkable Insights Podcast by Remarkable explores how disability drives innovation, featuring global pioneers in assistive tech and inclusive design. Hosted by Viv Mullan, each episode reveals how lived experience and creativity shape business, technology and social change

Riding the Tech Wave: How Charities Can Positively Engage with the Innovation Generation

Webinars

This article highlights how charities can connect with a new generation of tech founders who are becoming major donors in Australia. Drawing on the Australian Tech Giving Report, it explains how tech wealth is growing, why tech givers give differently, and how not-for-profits can adapt to engage them.

Roadmap to Social Impact - CSI

Guides

This thorough resource from Centre for Social Impact is a step by step guide to support you and your organisation through the process of outcomes measurement and evaluation.

Rural and Remote Funding to Deliver Social Impact

Webinars

Sefa Partnerships convened a webinar exploring how funding for social impact is designed, delivered and experienced across rural and remote Australia. Drawing on a peer learning community of funders and impact leaders, the session shared insights on obstacles and opportunities to increase the flow of funding across Australia’s diverse geographies.

SafeWork Australia

Other

SafeWork Australia offers resources for workplace health and safety, including psychosocial safety. Black Dog Institute supports mental health with free NSW training. Local SafeWork bodies, like SafeWork NSW, also provide helpful resources.

Seedkit

Platforms

Seedkit is a national project and online platform that helps social enterprises measure and share their impact. It allows organisations to track their work and results using simple dashboards and reports that can be customised to their needs.

Seed to Table

Podcasts

The Seed to Table podcast explores the stories of Australians working to revitalise our food and farming systems.

Self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

First Nations

Guides

First Nations

Self-determination is vital to the governance and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, enabling them to lead decision-making, exercise sovereignty, and build community-driven governance systems. This toolkit section outlines principles, pathways, and practical steps toward self-determination, including nation building, treaty processes, and sustainable development.

Service Design Tools: A Resource for Co-Creation and Innovation

Platforms

Service Design Tools is an open-access platform offering methods and templates for designing user-centered services. With tools spanning research, ideation, and implementation, it supports collaboration and co-creation across diverse contexts like healthcare, education, and social innovation. Suitable for both beginners and experienced designers, the platform provides resources to facilitate inclusive and impactful service development.

Seven Transformations of Leadership

Articles

This framework categorises leadership into seven stages, from Opportunist to Alchemist, reflecting increasing complexity and transformative impact. Each stage highlights unique approaches to challenges, relationships, and organisational goals. Leaders can progress through feedback, self-reflection, and embracing new responsibilities, with growth beyond the Achiever stage requiring deep self-awareness and the ability to challenge assumptions. Teams led by Strategists are most adaptable, benefiting from diverse perspectives and innovation to navigate complex challenges and drive organisational transformation effectively.

Shaping and Fuelling Change

Reports

Shaping and Fuelling Change is a new national report examining the role of philanthropy in social enterprise. It calls for a shift, towards longer-term and more flexible approaches that support systems change.

She Gives: Growing Women's Giving in Australia

Reports

This national research report from She Gives explores how women in Australia engage in giving and philanthropy. It highlights trends, motivations, barriers, and opportunities, offering insights for organisations seeking to better understand and engage women as donors and changemakers within the impact economy.

Silver Ball Social Innovations: Warrnambool

Podcasts

Silver Ball Social Innovations: Warrnambool is a new podcast commissioned by the Fletcher Jones Family Foundations. It spotlights six local social enterprises creating lasting community impact. Through uplifting and inspiring stories, the series showcases grassroots innovation, creativity and connection across Warrnambool’s social enterprise ecosystem.

Social enterprise guide

Guides

This guide from Justice Connect helps social enterprises understand their legal responsibilities. It covers choosing a legal structure, setting up governance, meeting compliance requirements, and managing day-to-day operations. The guide supports organisations at different stages of development to make informed legal decisions.

Social Enterprises: Unlocking life changing economic power

Reports

This booklet introduces social enterprise in a simple and practical way. It explains what social enterprises are, how they work, and why they matter. The resource also shares examples and guidance to help people understand how business can be used to create positive social impact.

Social Investment Explained

Guides

Social Investment Explained is a practical guide that helps community groups and social enterprises understand different types of investment. Produced by the Big Lottery Fund, Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) and Social Spider, it explains funding options, investment readiness, and key questions to consider when preparing to seek investment.

Social Investment Manual: An Introduction for Social Entrepreneurs

E-books

This manual provides practical advice for social entrepreneurs on working with social investors. It explains the investment landscape, how to find and approach investors and what to expect during due diligence. The guide also shares tips for building strong, long-term partnerships.

Social media marketing made easy - video lesson and planner

Videos

This 40 minute video uses real life examples to share how to build, launch and optimise a simple social media strategy. It is a pragmatic guide for small organisations with limited resources and time-poor people wearing multiple hats.

Social media templates, Hootsuite

Articles

It’s difficult to keep up with the latest trends in social media. Hootsuite regularly updates its advice and offers many free tools for planning and posting on social media. This page pulls together 35 different templates and while they won’t all be relevant to you there are some useful ones in there.

Social procurement document library

Reports

This portal provides access to documents about Victoria’s Social Procurement Framework. It includes the framework, case studies, and guidance for buyers. The resources explain how the Victorian Government uses procurement to achieve social and sustainable outcomes, and help social enterprises understand how to work with government buyers.

Social Procurement Fundamentals for Social Enterprises

Videos

This video tutorial explains social procurement and why it matters. It outlines the key drivers behind social procurement, how the Social Traders marketplace operates, and what social enterprises need to prepare in order to access contracts and opportunities through this growing market.

Social Shifters Learning

Platforms

Social Shifters is an international charity that supports young people to become leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs. It helps them tackle social and environmental problems in new ways. Their website offers online learning, videos, and downloadable tools to support people starting social enterprises.

Social Startup Studio

Platforms

Social Startup Studio is a program run by Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. It supports people who want to start and grow social enterprises. The website offers a wide range of practical resources to help social enterprise startups get started and develop their ideas.

'Space for Community: Strengthening our Social Infrastructure', Power to Change (2022)

Reports

This report by the British Academy and Power to Change examines how social infrastructure strengthens community resilience. It highlights key spaces, their role in fostering inclusivity, and policy recommendations for maintaining and enhancing social infrastructure.

Startup Secrets: Go to Market Strategies

Videos

This long-form lecture from Harvard Innovation Labs explains how to plan a strong go-to-market strategy. It outlines key steps for launching a product or service, understanding customers, and choosing the right channels. Although designed for start-ups, the framework is useful for any organisation entering a market.

Start Your Social Enterprise

Guides

While not specifically about pitching, this comprehensive guide serves as an excellent resource for preparing a social enterprise pitch. Use it as a valuable checklist and preparation tool, to help organise your thoughts and information in a way that resonates with investors, partners or supporters.

'Stories to save the world', Futerra

Reports

This resource explores the power of storytelling in addressing climate change - its underlying ideas can be applied to other areas of impact. It argues that while the science and technology for combating climate change exist, what's missing is the right story to motivate action.

Support for businesses in Australia

Platforms

This Australian Government website offers essential legal and governance info, covering business laws, risk management, health and safety, plus tools and templates.

Sustainability Training Institute (STI) - Online Sustainability Masterclasses

Online courses

The Sustainability Training Institute (STI), delivered by Strategy&Ops Consultancy, offers a range of practical, self-paced online masterclasses designed to help organisations strengthen their sustainability knowledge, capability and impact.

Sustainable Table Regenerative Agriculture Food & Farming Map

Platforms

Sustainable Table focuses on regenerating food and farming in Australia. This site shares a wealth of resources including Australia’s first Regenerative Food and Farming Map and ‘Regen 101’.

SVA's 'Employer Innovation Lab'

Platforms

The Employer Innovation Lab by Social Ventures Australia helps employers improve recruitment and retention by addressing barriers young people face in the workforce. Through a structured, collaborative program, businesses develop and scale inclusive employment strategies to create meaningful career pathways.

Systemic Venture Building - How to create social ventures that can achieve transformative change

Reports

Systemic Venture Building explains how new businesses can be designed to change entire systems, not just solve isolated problems. Developed by Metabolic, this approach focuses on creating multiple, connected ventures that work together to shift industries like energy, food and materials towards long-term social and environmental impact.

Systems Mindsets & Practice for Social Enterprise

Reports

This resource explores the importance of systems thinking in social enterprise, advocating for interconnected approaches to tackle complex challenges. It introduces key practices, including adopting pluralistic perspectives, fostering collaborative networks, and addressing systemic issues through targeted interventions. By focusing on relationships, complexity, and leverage points, social enterprises can drive meaningful change while balancing specific actions with broader systemic goals.

Tanya Egerton Interview – First Nations Enterprises and Cultural Heritage

First Nations

Podcasts

First Nations

This interview with Tanya Egerton explores how First Nations enterprises preserve heritage and culture for future generations. Tanya discusses the role of Indigenous-led businesses in protecting language, knowledge, art and connection to Country. The article highlights opportunities and challenges for Indigenous entrepreneurs and explains how cultural values guide economic activity. It helps readers understand why strong Indigenous enterprises support long-term community wellbeing.

Tendering and Applying with Confidence: Two-part workshop series | workshop 2

Webinars

QSEC and Gov Ready held an interactive webinar exploring how social enterprises can get procurement ready. They shared practical tools and strategies to help social enterprises prepare compelling applications, demonstrate value, and build long-term readiness for public sector opportunities.

T.E.S.T = Transformational Ethical Story Telling

Guides

Discover T.E.S.T., an anti-oppressive framework for ethical storytelling that prioritises the rights and needs of all individuals. T.E.S.T. empowers Story Holders to control their narratives while providing Story Caretakers with principles to ensure safe, ethical storytelling. Explore related resources, including guides and an ethical storytelling video, to deepen your understanding.

The amazing world of our thriving co-operatives, especially in the regions

Articles

Community-owned cooperatives are growing in regional Australia, particularly in Victoria, as innovative responses to market failures and threats to local businesses. By providing essential services and reinvesting profits locally, examples such as Yackandandah Community Development Company (YCDCo) and renewable energy projects demonstrate their impact. These models prioritise community ownership, resilience, and local economic benefits, yet are underrepresented in mainstream business education. The article examines their increasing adoption and potential to address community needs effectively.

The Announcement

Podcasts

The Announcement is a documentary podcast series hosted by Matt Barr that delves into Patagonia’s radical 2022 decision to make “Earth” its only shareholder, exploring legacy, purpose and capitalism’s evolving role.

The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI)

Platforms

TACSI is a social innovation lab that supports organisations and communities in designing impactful solutions to complex social challenges. Using human-centred design and co-design methods, it provides toolkits, case studies, and frameworks to transform services in areas like ageing, mental health, housing, and disability.

The basics of customer journey mapping

Articles

Discover the basics of customer journey mapping—an end-to-end visualisation of your customers' experience. This article explains how journey mapping helps you understand customer needs, improve design processes, and boost satisfaction and loyalty. Learn its benefits, how to create a map, and use insights for better customer experiences.

The Best Startup Investor Pitch Deck & How to Present to Angels & Venture Capitalist

Guides

This is a useful guide and template for creating effective investor presentations. It combines crowd-sourced input from top industry experts and the author’s personal experience. It also shares examples, practical design tips and strategies for addressing investor concerns.

The Brand Pyramid

Articles

This guide explains the Brand Pyramid, a simple model for building strong brands. It outlines five stages customers move through to develop loyalty: Presence, Relevance, Performance, Advantage, and Bonding. The model highlights the importance of understanding customer perceptions and creating positive brand experiences.

'The Collective Impact Toolkit', Tamarack Institute

E-books

The Collective Impact Toolkit by the Tamarack Institute provides practical resources to help communities and organisations tackle complex social challenges through collaboration. It offers frameworks, tools, and case studies to support systemic change.

'The Community Well', Benefolk Foundation

Platforms

The Community Well, also known as the Social Sector Wellbeing and Resilience Hub, is an online resource designed to support charities, not-for-profits, and social enterprises. Created to address stress and burnout in the social sector, it offers curated tools, practical strategies, and advocacy for systemic change, fostering sustainable mental health and resilience practices.

The Complexity Spectrum

Articles

Systems change offers a way to address complex social issues like poverty and homelessness by moving beyond traditional, linear problem-solving. This blog contrasts ‘clock’ problems, which are solvable with structured solutions, with ‘cloud’ problems, requiring ongoing adaptations. It emphasises the need to shift from quick fixes to fostering resilience, healing relationships, and supporting long-term system health to address deep-rooted challenges effectively.

The Cynefin Framework - A Leader's Framework for Decision Making and Action

Videos

The Cynefin Framework guides leaders in matching actions to context by distinguishing different domains. It enables sense-making, helping leaders identify true complexity and respond effectively to challenges.

The DIY Toolkit

Guides

Nesta is an independent charity in the United Kingdom that supports new and better ways of solving problems. They created this toolkit to help people develop, adapt, or improve ideas that create positive impact. The toolkit includes 30 simple and practical tools that are easy to use and apply in real situations.

The Field Guide to Human-Centred Design

E-books

IDEO is a global design agency that focuses on designing with people in mind. This Field Guide to Human-Centred Design explains how IDEO approaches design for social impact. It includes 57 easy-to-use design methods for beginners and experienced designers, along with real-world examples.