Social enterprise: Powered by trade and driven by purpose
The report, produced with support from the Paul Ramsay Foundation, paints a powerful picture of how trade revenue is growing, fuels impact and is key to resilience in the social enterprise sector.
Brunswick Industries
Key insights from the report
Trade revenue up 10%
Over a five-year period, Australian certified social enterprises grew their trade revenue by 10%, despite challenging economic times.
71% increased impact spend
Social enterprises that increased their trade revenue also increased their spending on impact.
Various ways to fund impact
36% fully through trade, 41% blended trade/non-trade, 23% through non-trade revenue.
Green Connect
What does the report cover?
This report focuses on a central question "What role does trade revenue play in enabling social enterprise impact and resilience?"
We analysed data from more than 750 certified social enterprises, alongside in-depth interviews with social enterprise leaders, to answer these four questions:
- Is social enterprise trade revenue growing over time?
- How does growth in trade revenue link to growth in impact?
- To what extent do social enterprises use trade revenue (versus grants/donations/other) to cover their impact costs?
- What are the characteristics of social enterprises that grow trade revenue, expand impact and remain profitable at the same time?
The report findings provide a clear picture of how trade revenue is growing, fuels impact and is key to resilience in the sector.
When social enterprises grow their trade revenue, they also grow their capacity to employ, to serve and to solve some of Australia’s most pressing challenges.
The report also shows there are many ways to run a resilient social enterprise that increases trade revenue and impact while being profitable.
Our recommendations
If we want to build a fairer and more inclusive economy, growing social enterprise trade revenue must be at the heart of policy and practice. We invite policymakers, funders, researchers, investors and business leaders to join us in enabling trade as the engine of the social enterprise sector.
Based on the report, the following are recommendations to fuel social enterprise resilience:
- Recognising social enterprise as a distinct part of the economy
- Investing in social enterprise trade capability
- Embedding social enterprise in procurement policy
- Encouraging revenue diversity
- Designing smarter funding
- Targeting growth pathways
- Continuing to track the data
Partner with us
If you would like to collaborate on social enterprise research, drop us an email.