Resource library

Organising in Place and Working Across Altitudes

Webinars

Regen Labs and Regen Melbourne led an insightful webinar exploring how social enterprises can work across system layers, or "altitudes" to organise for place-based change. Using frameworks, real-world projects, and the concept of “altitude sickness,” the session offered practical tools to strengthen collaboration, coherence, and momentum in complex systems work.

'Outcomes Funds: Explained', Centre for Social Impact

Guides

This guide by CSI explains what an outcomes fund is - a financing mechanism that pools funding to support organisations addressing social issues, with payments tied to achieving specific measurable outcomes. This guide by CSI shares more detail on what and who are usually involved in setting up and managing an outcomes fund.

'Part Discount Grocer, Part Social Connection: Defining Elements of Social Supermarkets', Centre for Social Impact

Reports

This research paper by the Centre for Social Impact Flinders explores social supermarkets as an innovative model for addressing food insecurity. Combining affordable food access with social support, these supermarkets move beyond traditional food relief by integrating dignity, choice, and community connection. The paper highlights how social supermarkets offer a comprehensive approach, including financial, emotional, and skill-building services, fostering long-term independence and resilience for clients.

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

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.

'Payment by Outcomes: Measuring the Effectiveness of Jobs-Focused Social Enterprises', Centre for Social Impact

Reports

This report by CSI Swinburne evaluates the Australian Government’s Payment by Outcomes (PBO) trial, which funds jobs-focused social enterprises based on employment outcomes. It assesses the impact on individuals facing work barriers, including those with disabilities, and explores the trial’s systemic and policy implications for employment services.

People and Planet First (PPF)

Platforms

People and Planet First is a participatory verification and a global collective that’s helping accelerate the transition to an economy that puts people and the planet first.

Permaculture Australia: Sustainable Living Through Design

Platforms

Permaculture Australia promotes sustainable living and growing practices through the principles of permaculture, tailored to Australia’s unique climate and ecosystems. The organisation provides education, training, and certification in permaculture design, supports local projects focused on food security and regenerative agriculture, and advocates for ecological and social resilience. By fostering self-sufficient, sustainable communities, Permaculture Australia helps communities work in harmony with the environment.

‘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. 

Platform Cooperatives Toolkit

Platforms

The Platform Cooperatives Toolkit provides practical resources for building fair, worker-owned cooperatives in the digital economy. It includes step-by-step guides, case studies, and tools to promote equitable ownership and sustainable employment.

'Power Dynamics: A Systemic Inquiry', Anna Birney (School of System Change)

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.

Prepare for funding, SEFA

Reports

Created by SEFA, this guide outlines four key areas—Purpose, Plan, Profit, and Prudence—for social enterprises to focus on when preparing for funding.

'Problem Framing Canvas Workbook', Griffith Centre for System Innovation

Guides

This handbook helps you answer, ‘what problem are we really trying to solve with our social enterprise or project?’ Understanding this helps to find better solutions. This canvas and supporting guide offer a selection of tools to help you frame problems, recognise different types of problems, and open up opportunities for action.

Project Drawdown: The World’s Leading Resource for Climate Solutions

Reports

Project Drawdown is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to identifying and scaling science-based solutions to combat climate change. Focused on equitable, safe, and effective approaches, the organisation conducts research, engages stakeholders, and promotes solutions to drive meaningful action. Through storytelling and collaboration, Project Drawdown shifts the narrative on climate change from despair to possibility, offering practical pathways for individuals and organisations to contribute to impactful climate action.

'Radical Collaboration to Transform Social Systems', Adam Kahane

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.

Raise Finance, BCCM

Platforms

This guide offers essential insights into how social enterprises can expand funding beyond grants and donations by involving their community and members. This guide focusses on how you can achieve this by using a co-operative structure for your social enterprise.

Regen 101

Guides

Learn more about what regenerative agriculture is and how we can grow food in a way that gives back to people and the planet.

‘Relationships’, The Australian Indigenous Governance Institute (AIGI)

Guides

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

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

This resource is currently being developed. If you would like to be notified when it is published, please email team@understorey.org.au.

SafeWork Australia

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 nationwide project and platform that helps social enterprises measure and communicate their impact. Its self-managed reporting platform allows social enterprises to measure, track, and communicate operations and impacts via customised dashboards and reports.

Seed to Table

Podcasts

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

‘Self-determination section for the ‘Indigenous Governance Toolkit’, The Australian Indigenous Governance Institute (AIGI)

Guides

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', Harvard Business Review

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.

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: Legal issues to consider when setting up a social enterprise’, Justice Connect

Guides

Justice Connect’s guide helps social enterprises with legal needs, covering structures, governance, setup, compliance, and operational issues for all stages.

Social Investment Explained, Big Lottery Fund

Guides

"Social Investment Explained" was produced by the Big Lottery Fund and Social Enterprise UK. It aims to help community and social enterprises understand investment options and readiness requirements. While it’s UK-based it offers good questions for consideration for Australian organisations too.

'Social Investment Manual: An Introduction for Social Entrepreneurs', Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

E-books

This manual offers social entrepreneurs a practical guide to building relationships with social investors, covering the investment landscape, strategies for finding and approaching investors, and best practices for due diligence and negotiating lasting 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', Victorian Government

Reports

This web portal provides access to a library of documents related to Victoria's Social Procurement Framework, which governs how the Victorian Government undertakes social procurement when procuring goods, services and construction. It includes the framework itself, case studies, buyer guidance documents, and other resources. This information provides insight into how a government entity approaches social procurement. For social enterprises, it offers guidance on how to engage with government buyers, and demonstrates the types of social and sustainable outcomes a government is likely to be seeking to achieve through its procurement activities.

Social Procurement Fundamentals for Social Enterprises, Social Traders

Videos

This video tutorial covers what social procurement is, key drivers, how the Social Traders marketplace works, and what you need for your social enterprise to be ready for social procurement.​

Social Shifters

Platforms

Social Shifters is an international charity helping the next generation of young leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs to tackle the world’s most pressing social and environmental issues in new ways. Their website offers e-learning, videos and downloadable digital tools to support social enterprise startups.

Social Startup Studio

Platforms

Social Startup Studio is an initiative by Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. Its goal is to support and foster the development of social enterprises. The studio website offers a huge range of practical resources for social enterprise startups.

'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.

'Start Your Social Enterprise', Social Enterprise UK

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.

'Story Canvas', Digital Storytellers

Guides

Discover the Story Canvas—a practical tool to craft impactful, strategic stories tailored to your needs. Designed by Digital Storytellers, this downloadable canvas simplifies storytelling for nonprofits, social enterprises, and impact organisations. With step-by-step guidance and resources, it helps you create engaging stories that inspire action and advance your cause effectively.

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.

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.

'Systems Mindsets & Practice for Social Enterprise', Social Enterprise World Forum 2022

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.

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.

'The amazing world of our thriving co-operatives, especially in the regions’, The Fifth Estate

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’, Smaply

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 basics of stakeholder mapping’, Smaply

Articles

A stakeholder map captures the ecosystem surrounding a product or service from a specific perspective. This article explores what stakeholders are, the importance of stakeholder mapping, and the steps to create an effective map. It includes downloadable templates, a walkthrough video, and guidance on prioritising stakeholders, illustrating relationships, and analysing value exchanges.