Activating the collaborative DNA of social enterprise to scale impact

As the name suggests social enterprises are social creatures. Although they trade like any other business, they exist to serve a social or environmental purpose. They are natural connectors and are capable of drawing in diverse people and partners to achieve common impact goals.

Collaboration is in their DNA. Yet this superpower is often undervalued and under-resourced despite it being key to scaling the impact of the sector.

To better understand the role of collaboration in scaling impact and creating systems change, I’m sharing some early findings and case studies in this article from my multi-year action research study currently underway with three of Australia’s leading Work Integrated Social Enterprises (WISEs) – STREAT , White Box Enterprises and Jigsaw .?

Social Enterprise Scaling - Organisational Growth v Ecosystem Growth

Too often we default to thinking of scale only in terms of “organisational growth”, by boosting individual social enterprises to serve a greater number of “beneficiaries” and a greater range of their needs.

But scaling impact to tackle complex social issues requires a broader approach and mindset.

My early research findings highlight that scaling through collaboration with other social enterprises and cross-sector partners holds greater potential to lead to systemic change.

These findings align closely with an ”ecosystem growth” strategy to scaling impact defined as “indirectly addressing targeted social problems on a large scale by growing and/or sustaining a supportive SE ecosystem”[1] . ?

It’s the concept that a rising tide lifts all boats.

The case studies in my research - STREAT, White Box Enterprises and Jigsaw – are all leading a range of activities considered to be part of an ecosystem growth strategy (see the diagram below for a sample of possible approaches).?

A common theme in these approaches is the role of systems-oriented social enterprises stepping up to lead collaborations, coalitions and alliances to drive change on a larger scale.

Infrastructure Work – The Purpose Precinct

The Purpose Precinct is a new retail marketplace for social enterprise products located at the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne.

Developed by leading social enterprises STREAT ?and?Good Cycles it is designed to help grow Victorian social enterprises and their impact. For Dr Kate Barrelle , the co-founder and Chief Impact Officer of STREAT, the Precinct has been years in the making and is part of their evolution and impact journey over the past 13 years.

“We know that you never can really achieve anything of scale as one small social enterprise. Our goal was first to build the demonstration WISE (STREAT) but then the real game is in working out how to do that so that we can then assist others to do the same.”

Social enterprise infrastructure projects like the Precinct are a major attribute of an effective SE ecosystem as it supports the development of other individual social enterprises and the broader social enterprise sector.

Building this infrastructure, in the case of a physical (and online) marketplace has drawn in 40 smaller and regional social enterprises so far, giving them access to new markets as well as opportunities to connect and learn from others.

Plans are also underway to showcase the power of their aggregated impact so that when you buy any product at the Precinct you’ll be able to see what impact you have helped create, including hours of training and/or employment for their beneficiaries.

By 2024, the Precinct will have sold products from up to 100 social enterprises and created jobs for 75 people, including 42 priority job seekers.

Coalition Work – The White Box Enterprises’ Payment by Outcomes Trial

The White Box Enterprises’ Payment by Outcomes Trial is a coalition convened by White Box Enterprises which involves 16 work integration social enterprises being paid outcome payments for job outcomes they create by the Department of Social Services.?

It is the first of its kind outcomes payment trial in Australia designed to recognise and demonstrate the effectiveness of WISEs in delivering long-term employment outcomes for people living with a disability.?

It is also game changing for participating WISEs and those that stand to benefit from further funding into outcome payments initiatives.

For Luke Terry , CEO of White Box Enterprises, the PBO Trial has been part of their strategy to address ecosystem barriers for WISEs to scale and for individual WISEs to get paid for the cost of the outcomes they create.

“Jobs-focused social enterprises have been creating incredible returns for individuals, their communities, and the economy for decades. Through the PBO Trial, we’re asking government to look more closely at social enterprise and the role it can play in the national employment services system.”

By building and supporting the coalition of WISEs in the PBO Trial, White Box is not only creating a strong evidence base for system change but also building the financial viability, capability and capacity of the 16 participating WISEs.

The potential for job creation is also magnified in this approach. Currently the trial can support up to 150 people living with disability. If expanded, the PBO model could support up to 10,000 individuals and save the government $183 million over five years.

Research and Advocacy Work – Jigsaw’s Disability Employment Research

Jigsaw has a broad vision for an Australia in which people with?disability are fully included in the workforce.

They operate a disability employment social enterprise that trains and transitions people with disability into award wage employment. They also advocate for change to address the systemic barriers facing people with disability in accessing mainstream employment.?

Australia has one of the highest unemployment rates for people living with disability, within the OECD.? It was no surprise then that when Jigsaw commissioned YouGov research it found that half of Australia’s managers and HR professionals have never hired or worked with a person with disability.

Positively, 71% said they needed more guidance and support in creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

The CEO of Jigsaw, Paul Brown has been advocating for the social enterprise model as a vehicle for change in preparing people with disability through real work settings, and assisting with sustainable transitions to mainstream employers.

“In a workforce as tight as we’re currently facing, it’s time for a seismic shift in how employers engage with the disability workforce, and how governments support them to do so.”

Since 2014, Jigsaw has supported close to 1,000 people with disability on their pathway to mainstream employment at award wage. Their advocacy work has the potential to reshape the disability employment landscape and hopefully unlock some of the ~$1 billion spent per annum on Disability Employment Services (DES) for social enterprise approaches.?

The Jigsaw model is achieving impressive results where ~70% of their graduates surpass 12 months in award wage employment compared to the DES outcomes where 70%[2] do not surpass 3 months.

Building the Collaborative Muscle of Social Enterprises

Taking the lead in these ecosystem growth strategies is invisible work for many WISEs despite the obvious impact.

It can take years and years of effort behind the scenes to build the infrastructure, coalitions and evidence base for these ground- breaking initiatives, yet it is hard to find funding to support their development.?

A further challenge is how to resource other smaller social enterprises to also collaborate when they lack bandwidth and resources.

The pre-work to collaborating among social enterprises is also building the trust, relationships and networks across the sector, which also takes time and energy.? However, an investment in building the collaborative muscle of social enterprise can have beneficial and far reaching impacts, according to co-founder and CEO of STREAT Bec Scott.

“When you start to move together as actors in the system, opportunities start to happen and then they create more opportunities.”

Stay tuned for my next article which will share insights on best practice funding approaches to nurture collaboration and ecosystem growth strategies. To read more about WISEs and their collaborative superpowers check out this article .

Sally McGeoch is a scholar-practitioner passionate about the role of Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISE) in creating a more inclusive and sustainable society.?She is a Senior Advisor at Westpac Foundation, a philanthropic organisation with a mission to help WISEs create 10,000 jobs for vulnerable Australians by 2030.

In the past few years, the Foundation has increasingly focused on not only funding WISEs to grow and scale but has also sought to build the collaborative capacity and evidence base within the sector to help address systems barriers to scale.?Sally is also a practice-based PhD candidate at the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne, researching the role of cross-sector collaboration in supporting WISEs to scale.?

She is presenting insights from her PhD research at the Social Enterprise World Forum’s Research and Education Day in Amsterdam on October 10.

[1] Islam, S. M. (2021). “Social impact scaling strategies in social enterprises: A systematic review and research agenda”, Australian Journal of Management https://doi.org/10.1177/03128962211014931

[2] Disability Employment Services - Outcome Rates by Disability Type, 2017. Available at: Disability Employment Services Outcome Rates by Disability ???????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????