Key terms

Funds that can be used for any purpose to further an organisation's objectives.

The process by which an organisation generates social, environmental, and economic benefits for its stakeholders, through its activities, products, or services.

A statement that explains the unique benefits or value a product or service offers to customers, and why it’s better than alternatives. It answers the question: "Why should a customer choose this over others?"

Expenses that may change from month to month depending on the organisation's activities, such as venue hire for workshops.

Verification is the process of confirming that an organisation is genuinely what it claims to be. In the context of social enterprise, it answers a straightforward but important question: Is this organisation truly a social enterprise, or is it simply using the label?

In practice, verification looks at an organisation as a whole. It examines the purpose the organisation exists to serve, how it makes decisions, how it generates revenue, and whether its structure genuinely prioritises people and planet over private profit. It is not a checklist of compliance requirements. It is a holistic assessment of whether the organisation's identity and behaviour are consistent with what a social enterprise is. The leading global framework for social enterprise verification is People and Planet First, which sets five clear minimum standards and is collectively owned by a global network rather than any single organisation. In Australia, all state and national social enterprise peak bodies, including Social Enterprise Australia, endorse the People and Planet First standards. Meeting those standards is also the basis for membership of Social Enterprise Australia.

Verification matters in Australia because there is no legal definition of a social enterprise. Any business can call itself a social enterprise without meeting any formal criteria. This creates a real risk of social washing, where organisations use the language of social purpose to attract customers, contracts, or funding without genuinely operating for public benefit. Verification provides a credible, independent way to separate genuine social enterprises from those trading on the term. For governments running social procurement programmes, for philanthropic funders, and for customers who want to spend their money with purpose-driven businesses, verification is a tool for trust.

It is worth understanding that verification is not a one-time badge. Organisations should expect to demonstrate their credentials over time, particularly as their structures, revenue models, or governance arrangements change. An organisation that was once genuinely mission-aligned can drift, and verification frameworks are most valuable when they reflect the ongoing reality of how an organisation operates, not just how it was set up.

A concise, aspirational description of what an organisation aims to achieve in the long-term, reflecting its core values and purpose.

An individual who offers their time, skills, and services to an organisation without receiving financial compensation, often driven by a desire to support the organisation's mission or cause.

Work Integration Social Enterprises, commonly known as WISEs, are businesses that exist to create jobs and employment pathways for people who face significant barriers to work. Their primary social mission is employment itself.

WISEs operate like any other trading business. They sell goods or services and aim to cover their costs through revenue. The difference is that they deliberately employ people who are often overlooked or excluded by mainstream employers. This includes people with disability, people experiencing mental ill-health, those with a history of homelessness, people leaving the justice system, young people disengaged from education and training, refugees and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and First Nations peoples facing the compounding effects of systemic disadvantage. Many WISEs also provide wrap-around support, meaning they offer additional services alongside employment, such as mentoring, counselling, skills training, or help with practical needs like housing and transport. The employment itself is the social intervention. It is not a side effect of the business; it is the point of it.

In Australia, WISEs operate across a wide range of industries, including hospitality, cleaning, landscaping, manufacturing, construction, retail, and food production. Well-known examples include STREAT in Melbourne, which supports young people experiencing homelessness through hospitality training and employment, and The Bread and Butter Project in Sydney, which employs refugees as professional bakers. Many WISEs work alongside or complement government programmes such as Disability Employment Services (DES) and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), though they are often not formally funded through these systems despite delivering comparable or better outcomes for participants. Social Traders, Australia's social enterprise certifier, reports that more than half of all certified social enterprises in Australia are primarily focused on employment or training as their key form of impact.

There are real and persistent challenges that WISEs face. Because they employ people who need additional support, they incur what are known as impact costs, which are costs above and beyond what a standard business would pay. These include the wages of support workers, additional supervision, slower production processes, accessible equipment, and other adjustments. Research by the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne, commissioned by Social Enterprise Australia, found that these costs can account for up to 30 per cent of a WISE's total running costs. Despite this, WISEs have historically had limited access to government employment service funding, which is more readily available to mainstream employment service providers. This funding gap has made financial sustainability a constant challenge and has constrained the ability of many strong organisations to grow. Advocacy through the WISE Hub, a sector collaboration, is pushing for systemic change to ensure that WISEs are properly recognised and funded for the public value they create.