Learning in action

Introduction

Understorey is a digital commons. It is an online resource, open to all and shaped by those who participate. We gather input from the platform. It helps us find insights to share with the sector.

We have identified themes and focus areas to inform our priorities. They will guide our learning, commissioning, and Understorey's development. We invite your input on these themes—have we missed anything? Depending on your role in the sector, what matters most to you? Your insights are vital. They will help us better meet the changing needs of the social enterprise sector.

Theme 1: First Nations and inclusive practices

This theme is about integrating First Nations practices in social enterprises. It aims to foster inclusive leadership and genuine relationships.

First Nations business practices: This area focuses on using First Nations business practices in the social enterprise sector. It emphasises inclusive leadership, reconciliation, and using Indigenous knowledge in sustainable practices.
Inclusive leadership: This area seeks to empower First Nations voices in social enterprises. It does this by building respectful partnerships with First Nations communities. Their leadership must be central to all activities.
Cultural competency with First Nations people: This area aims to improve skills when working with First Nations people. It seeks to foster understanding and collaboration across cultures.
Access to capital and financial inclusion: This area aims to help First Nations entrepreneurs get funding. It will explore new financial tools, like Indigenous-designed finance. It will also support systems to improve financial inclusion.
First Nations building: This area aims to boost the First Nations economy. It seeks to build financial and social capital in Indigenous communities. It supports initiatives that empower Indigenous-led social enterprises for sustainable growth and self-determination.

Theme 2: Business models and growth

This theme explores ways to balance profit with social impact. It aims to ensure social enterprises are viable and scalable in the long term.

Social enterprise business models: This area explores models that balance profit and social goals. It emphasises on creating case studies, templates, and revenue strategies for long-term viability.
Sustainable business practices: This area ensures business longevity and impact. It focuses on sustainable practices, business stability, and redesigning operations. It also seeks revenue strategies for long-term success.
Social procurement: This area aims to create responsible, sustainable supply chains. It covers social procurement, human rights, modern slavery, and ethics.
Scaling social enterprises: This area explores how to scale both commercial success and social impact. It will share insights from experienced leaders.
Funding and financial design: This area aims to diversify funding. It includes preparing for investment, raising capital, and exploring alternative options.
Building strategic partnerships: This area focuses on creating collaborations across sectors. It aims to build alliances among social enterprises, non-profits, governments, and private companies.
Networking and sales pitching: This area provides strategies for networking and sales pitching. It helps social enterprise leaders connect with, and attract, potential partners and investors.
Engaging the next generation: This area focuses on ways to engage and empower the next generation in the social enterprise sector. It empowers young people to shape the sector's development.

Theme 3: Leadership and organisational development

This theme aims to build values-based leadership. It also seeks to create effective practices that sustain progress and promote inclusive growth.

Values-based leadership: This area focuses on using values-based leadership to guide social enterprises as the sector matures. It emphasises building peer networks, sharing experiences, and fostering leadership beyond the Founder/CEO role.
Mindset and wellbeing: This area supports social enterprises in achieving their goals. It emphasizes team well-being and a constructive mindset.
Stakeholder relationships and conflict management: This area aims to create strategies for managing conflicts and relationships. Teams, members, and stakeholders in the social enterprise sector can apply this.
Diversity and inclusion: This area promotes diversity in social enterprises. It focuses on supporting culturally marginalised women, neurodiverse individuals, and people with disabilities. It also seeks to foster inclusive leadership.
Momentum and workflows: This area aims to create workflows, rhythms, and habits. They should sustain progress and impact in social enterprises.
Community-driven systems change: This area aims to use local knowledge and community-led innovation. It seeks to create impactful, place-based solutions. It emphasises building local ecosystems and fostering change through learning communities.

Theme 4: Governance, compliance, and legal structures

This theme focuses on understanding and navigating the legal frameworks and governance structures that support ethical and socially just enterprises.

Legal structures and compliance: This area focuses on understanding legal structures and regulatory requirements for social enterprises in Australia, with an emphasis on navigating compliance, governance, and ethical considerations. It also addresses the challenges of hybrid legal structures, offering tailored guidance and best practices for operational efficiency.
Governance for social justice: This area focuses on embedding social purpose into governance structures to ensure that social enterprises promote human rights and social justice. It emphasises the importance of involving people with lived experience in decision-making at all levels and aligning governance practices with broader social justice objectives.
Legal guidance and compliance support: This area focuses on providing tailored legal advice to help social enterprises navigate complex regulations and operate within legal frameworks while aligning with their social missions.

Theme 5: Impact measurement, learning and evaluation

This theme focuses on harnessing data and learning to measure, communicate, and continuously improve the impact of social enterprises.

Data-driven decisions: This area focuses on leveraging data to measure social impact, inform strategic decisions, and attract investment, emphasising the development of standardised methods and tools for accurate and reliable impact evaluations.
Communicating impact: This area focuses on improving the storytelling and presentation of impact data, including the development and effective communication of a theory of change. It emphasises training and resources to help social enterprises clearly articulate their value and success to stakeholders, funders, and the broader community.
Learning, evaluation and adapting to change: This area focuses on how actors within the social enterprise ecosystem can use what they learn from their work to improve and adapt their strategies. It highlights the need to understand changes at different levels—within teams, projects, organisations, and communities. The theme also encourages creating easy-to-use tools that help organisations reflect on their work, make informed decisions, and continuously improve their impact.

Theme 6: Funding and capital development

This theme focuses on diverse funding models and financial strategies to support the growth and sustainability of social enterprises.

Financial literacy: This area focuses on building financial literacy within social enterprises by offering online workshops and peer-led sessions. It provides hands-on experience in budgeting, financial forecasting, and investment analysis, all within a supportive, non-judgmental environment.
Hybrid/blended funding models: This area focuses on exploring strategies for combining diverse funding sources to enhance the financial sustainability and scalability of social enterprise.
Community-owned capital: This area focuses on investigating methods to build and sustain financial resources controlled by the community, ensuring that capital aligns with local priorities and needs.
Investment readiness: This area focuses on developing resources and mentorship programs to help social enterprises prepare for investment, covering aspects such as business planning and impact frameworks.
Growth capital: This area focuses on providing guidance on leveraging different types of capital, including debt, equity, and hybrid models, to support the growth of social enterprises.

Theme 7: Technology and future trends

This theme focuses on the potential to incorporate emerging technologies and anticipate future challenges to enhance operational efficiency and innovation.

Technology integration: This area focuses on incorporating new technology solutions into social enterprises to enhance operational efficiency and streamline processes.
Data governance and ethical AI: This area focuses on the critical aspects of data governance, including data ownership and protection, as well as the ethical application of AI in social innovation. It is often explored through online workshops and training sessions.
Exploring emerging trends and sector challenges: This area focuses on understanding future trends, challenges, and opportunities that social enterprises may face, encouraging proactive exploration of what lies ahead for the sector.