Sefa Partnerships: Rural and remote funding landscape

About the learning community

This learning community convened two groups:

1. Rural and remote social leaders who meet to discuss a specific issue.
2. A group of funders who consider the same issue separately.

The two groups then came together to explore the issue collaboratively. They engaged in deep listening in a space where diverse perspectives are welcomed and explored, not debated.

Together, they mapped opportunities to innovate in several areas, including:

• How funding is designed and delivered.
• The financial instruments available.
• The tools used to communicate risk, value, and impact.

The goal was to identify ways to increase the flow of funding and enhance impact in rural and remote Australia.

About the convenor

Sefa Partnerships and its sister organisation, Social Enterprise Finance Australia (Sefa), have a unique depth of experience in strengthening capability, capital, and innovation for social enterprises across Australia.

Their experience includes building capability and unlocking capital for social enterprises in regional areas throughout the country, from far north Queensland to regional NSW and Tasmania.

Sefa’s Engagement team provides services that support regional social entrepreneurs and understands their unique challenges and circumstances. Sefa’s Social Finance team provides capital in various forms and is experienced in delivering the right kind of finance to strengthen and grow social enterprises. Sefa Partnerships also works with philanthropic capital and grant funds, enabling blended deals.

Sefa Partnerships’ Program Lead, Jennifer Jones, will lead this deep experience learning community. Jennifer is a seasoned social innovator with over 20 years of experience turning big ideas into tangible realities. She has led community-driven programs across Australia and Southeast Asia, including launching Myanmar’s first NGO-guaranteed SME loans for women and co-founding a children’s foundation on the Thai-Burma border. At Sefa Partnerships, Jennifer now focuses on making a lasting impact in the social enterprise sector.

How did this learning community work?

This learning community brought together diverse participants to drive meaningful change:

• Rural and remote social leaders discussed how finance currently flows, identify barriers, and explored ways to influence change. It was a space for individuals with lived experience of rural and remote funding challenges to connect, share bold ideas, and collaborate on reshaping the system.
• Funders, investors, philanthropists, and organisations explored current funding models, identified barriers, and discussed new approaches to better support rural and remote communities. It was a space to generate solutions, share insights, and shift how funding flows to these areas.
• Six 90-minute sessions were held once every fortnight from mid-May to mid-August.

How to learn more

To learn more about this learning community contact Sefa Partnerships.

Participating organisations

The RW Collection