Resource library

Aboriginal Economics

First Nations

Articles

First Nations

This article examines Indigenous perspectives on economics and self-determination in Australia, highlighting historical dispossession, economic exclusion, and alternative frameworks for wealth. It explores Indigenous values of communal wealth, economic sovereignty tied to land and spirit, and sustainable solutions.

Artificial Intelligence, Copyright and Indigenous Culture – The New Frontier

First Nations

Articles

First Nations

This article by Terri Janke and Company explores the impact of artificial intelligence on copyright law and Indigenous culture in Australia. It explains how AI technologies raise new risks for protecting Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property. The resource discusses ownership, consent, and the use of Indigenous art and knowledge in AI systems. It encourages readers to consider ethical and legal safeguards as digital tools expand.

Awqaf: A 1,000-year-old blueprint for modern impact investing

Articles

This article explains 'awqaf', an ancient Islamic endowment model that funds public good, and why it might help shape modern impact investing in Australia. It describes how awqaf protect the original donation, provide ongoing community benefits, and invest ethically, offering new ways to support lasting social impact.

B Corps Bring Purpose and Profit for Sustainable Business

Articles

Certified B Corporations (B Corps) are redefining business success by proving financial performance and social responsibility can coexist. A recent B Lab white paper highlights how B Corps outperformed traditional businesses during 2019–2021, demonstrating resilience, stronger revenue growth, and higher job retention. Their stakeholder governance model, which balances the interests of employees, communities, the environment, and shareholders, is key to their success. This article explores the impact and growing influence of B Corps in modern business.

#BeyondtheRules - Balanced governance and ‘behaving well’ everywhere, every day

Articles

This article explores the idea of “balanced governance” and why good behaviour in organisations is about more than just following rules. It encourages leaders to think beyond compliance and focus on values, culture, and everyday actions that shape how organisations behave and make decisions.

Co-Creating a More Equitable World: The Transformative Benefits of Participatory Design

Articles

This MIT D-Lab article introduces participatory design as a powerful approach to fostering equity and creating sustainable solutions by engaging end-users as co-creators. It explores the benefits of building skills, trust, and ownership while producing durable, context-specific outcomes. By tailoring methods to different challenges, participatory design promotes inclusivity and addresses systemic inequities.

Expanding Concepts of Scale

Articles

People often ask if a social enterprise can be scaled. In this blog, Gord Tulloch challenges the idea that scale only means growing bigger or reaching more people. He explains five different ways to create impact, including changing rules, beliefs, social norms, and the conditions that help people take action.

First Nations Systems Thinking – Common Ground

First Nations

Articles

First Nations

This article explains systems thinking from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. It shows how First Nations approaches view the world as connected relationships between people, land, culture and community. The resource introduces key ideas from Indigenous knowledge systems and compares them with Western problem solving methods. It helps readers understand why Indigenous ways of thinking are valuable for addressing complex Australian challenges.

How Social Entrepreneurs Make Change Happen

Articles

This article by Sally Osberg and Roger Martin examines how social entrepreneurs drive systemic change, highlighting Andrea and Barry Coleman’s Riders for Health. By addressing transportation gaps in African healthcare, the Colemans exemplify how leveraging expertise and engaging stakeholders can create sustainable impact. The authors argue that successful social entrepreneurs focus on specific needs while aligning broader ecosystems, enabling transformative change that goes beyond business-driven outcomes.

How to Be a Super Board Chair

Articles

This Stanford article shares nine practical strategies for strong board leadership in social enterprises. It explains how board chairs can build a positive culture, clarify roles, support executive leaders, plan for succession, recruit the right members, and address underperformance to create a respectful and effective board.

How To Have Challenging Conversations. Tips From Organisational Science

Articles

This resource, adapted from the teaching profession, provides social enterprise leaders with strategies for navigating challenging management conversations. It highlights the ineffectiveness of "hard sell" or "soft sell" approaches in driving change and maintaining relationships. Instead, it introduces the "Open to Learning" framework, emphasising validity, respect, and commitment. Leaders are guided to approach conversations with shared decision-making and an open mindset, offering a practical tool for addressing performance issues and implementing change in dynamic work environments.

Impact-led design 2.0

Articles

Impact-led design 2.0 is a way to create programs and projects that are built around the change we want to see, not just around funding or activity. It uses evidence, lived experience, co-design and systems thinking to make solutions stronger and more effective across sectors such as government, philanthropy, business and not-for-profits.

Legal Structures for Social Enterprises – a nationwide conversation on law reform

Articles

This article outlines a national conversation led by the Australian Law Reform Commission on legal structures for social enterprises. It explores whether current laws support purpose-driven business models and invites input on how legal reform could better enable social enterprises to grow and deliver impact.

Managing the Managers: Nine Tips to Help Social Enterprises Build Outstanding Management Teams

Articles

This article shares practical tips for managing a social enterprise effectively. It covers leadership, financial discipline, team management, and staying focused on mission while running a sustainable business. The advice is designed to help social entrepreneurs balance impact goals with strong operational performance.

Nature positive business models

Articles

This online resource by Wedgetail brings together multiple examples of nature-positive business models being explored around the world.

Now we are all measuring impact

Articles

A rich introduction to the history of measurement and how different drivers have informed how we think about, and practice, impact measurement and evaluation today. Also includes some useful graphics that help distinguish different terms and approaches from each other.

Participatory Budgeting: Meaning, Benefits & A Step-by-Step Guide

Articles

This article introduces participatory budgeting, a democratic process empowering citizens to influence public fund allocation. It covers its origins in Porto Alegre, Brazil, outlines key stages, and highlights benefits like transparency, trust, and community empowerment, making it an ideal resource for those exploring the concept.

‘Pitching and fundraising’, Acumen Academy

Articles

The Acumen Academy offers free online courses and resources for social entrepreneurs. Their blog series on fundraising and pitching social enterprises provides valuable insights for changemakers seeking to refine their pitching skills and increase their chances of securing support and funding. 

Power dynamics: A systemic inquiry

Articles

This blog delves into power through a systems change lens, emphasising its importance in tackling sustainability challenges. It redefines power as a relational dynamic rather than a static state, exploring shifts from “power over” to “power with” approaches. Key themes include privilege, systemic challenges like climate change and inequality, and the fractal nature of power across scales. Combining theoretical insights with practical strategies, it provides tools for minimising hierarchical power, fostering collaboration, and building capacity for transformative, inclusive decision-making.

Radical Collaboration to Transform Social Systems

Articles

This article by Adam Kahane introduces ‘radical collaboration’ as a transformative approach to tackling systemic challenges. By integrating love, power, and justice, it fosters empathy, empowerment, and fairness among diverse stakeholders. This method aims to align differing interests and capacities, enabling inclusive and impactful systems change while navigating inherent tensions in collaboration.

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.

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.

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 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 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 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 future of management is teal

Articles

Frederic Laloux's article explores Teal organisations, a progressive management model emphasising self-management, wholeness, and purpose. It outlines organisational paradigms, highlights successful examples, and offers insights for social enterprises to balance purpose and effectiveness, even with partial adoption.

What is Ethical Leadership and Why is it Important?

Articles

This blog introduces the concept of ethical leadership, where decisions prioritise integrity, societal impact, and the common good. It outlines six key principles—respect, accountability, service, honesty, justice, and community—that foster trust, equity, and collaboration in leadership practices.

‘What Is Psychological Safety?', McKinsey

Articles

Psychological safety is crucial for innovation, teamwork, and organisational success. This article highlights its role in fostering inclusive and high-performing cultures. It outlines leadership strategies to build trust, such as open dialogue, curiosity, and equitable participation. Learn how consultative, supportive, and challenging leadership styles enhance team resilience, creativity, and productivity, particularly in remote and hybrid work environments.

Why Inclusive Leaders Are Good for Organizations, and How to Become One

Articles

This article explores inclusive leadership, which fosters belonging, psychological safety, and respect within diverse teams. It highlights six traits—commitment, humility, bias awareness, curiosity, cultural intelligence, and collaboration—demonstrating how inclusive leaders drive team performance, decision-making, and collaboration through consistent behaviours.

Why the Lean Start-up Changes Everything

Articles

This article by entrepreneur and educator Steve Blank was published in the Harvard Business Review in 2013. It introduces the lean startup method, which focuses on testing ideas quickly, listening to customer feedback, and improving products step by step.

Your Guide to Making an Excellent Investor Pitch Deck

Articles

This short blog focuses on developing a pitch deck for ventures seeking funding. It shares practical tips, a template to structure your pitch as well as common questions. Since it’s from a conventional business perspective you’ll need to consider where your impact proposition should be included.