Major Funding Boost for Social Enterprise

The Gillard Government has announced two new initiatives to provide support for social enterprise through increased funding and sharing expertise between enterprises and professional firms.

The Social Enterprise Development and Investment Fund will provide funding assistance for the start up and expansion of social enterprises, while the Professional Partnership Project will connect social enterprises that enable disadvantaged people find jobs and training with advice and expertise from key professional service firms.

The Social Enterprise Development and Investment Fund (SEDIF) will provide financial support for the start up and expansion of social enterprises in Australia.

The new approach will see the Government provide up to $20 million in one-off grants to qualified social enterprise investment funds which are able to prove they can match every dollar of Government funding.

Launching the initiative, Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, Senator Ursula Stephens, has called for public consultations on the SEDIF.

Senator Stephens says public consultations will ensure the corporate and philanthropic sectors have the opportunity to inform and shape the design and proposed structure of the fund.

She says the SEDIF will build partnerships between the finance, social and corporate sectors, as well as creating an independent financing mechanism for the start up and expansion of social enterprises.

The Professional Partnership Project will match corporate business assistance with social enterprises that aim to help disadvantaged Australians find training and jobs.

Deloitte, Ernst and Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers have already signed up to provide pro bono business expertise and support for up to 30 social enterprises funded under round one of the federal government’s $650 million jobs fund.

Senator Stephens says the project represents and important step in the development of long-term partnerships between the Government and the private sector to support highly disadvantages Australians.

For more information on the SEDIF (including the public consultation process) and the Professional Partnership Project, visit www.socialinclusion.gov.au