Image: Circonomy

We’ve hit a new milestone: over 600 certified social enterprises!

The number of certified social enterprises continues to grow. Certification is critical to:

• Clearly define and elevate the social enterprise sector.

• Identify those businesses genuinely delivering impact through independent trade.

• Build business, consumer, and stakeholder confidence in the unique and innovative role social enterprises play in the economy.

New role to drive our strategy forward

Many of you will know Rebecca Green, and I’m happy to share that she is stepping into the new role of Head of Transformation. After a decade with us and 2.5 years as Head of Social Procurement Services, Rebecca will now spearhead our FY30 strategy. More on our refreshed strategy coming soon.

And let’s congratulate Lauren McAlister, our new leader for the Social Procurement Services Team! With 14 years of experience in the not-for-profit sector, Lauren is well-placed to ensure we deliver value to our 615 certified social enterprises and 160 business and government members.

I feel privileged every day to work with the fabulous people of Social Traders. Find out more about our team here.

Championing social enterprise in NSW

Last week I was at the Parliament of NSW, speaking at the inquiry into procurement practices of government agencies in New South Wales.

Our goal is to have certified social enterprises embedded in NSW Government procurement practices to create a more impactful and inclusive economy.

We recommended that the NSW Government:

1. Develop a Social Procurement Framework that includes mandates for certified social enterprises.

2. Use Social Traders certification to mitigate risks in social procurement and enable impact outcome reporting.

3. Implement robust monitoring mechanisms to assess economic and social returns.

4. Invest in the growth of the social enterprise sector and leverage certification data to understand the capabilities of NSW social enterprises.

Great to also see Social Enterprise Council of NSW & ACT (SECNA) contributing to the inquiry, and to collaborate as a shared voice for the sector.

Social Traders has been partnering with NSW Government procurement teams for four years. We look forward to seeing social procurement grow following this inquiry, to create a fairerand more sustainable economy in NSW.

New opportunities for social enterprises

Our latest Supplier Development Program (SDP) with Mirvac was a success! We worked with 4 amazing certified social enterprises—CommUnity Construction, Green Connect, Reground, and YMCA Rebuild—to prepare them for larger contracts.

We’ll be welcoming another cohort of certified social enterprises for our next SDP. Stay tuned for an Expression of Interest (EOI) coming soon!

Advancing diversity and inclusion

We recently collaborated with the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) to launch their new website. This platform offers research-based strategies to help organisations build a diverse workforce. We worked with QRC to build:

• A diagnostic platform for their members to assess and benchmark their Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DE&I) practices.

• Case studies demonstrating how social procurement can support DE&I targets.

• Practical tools to guide their members in enhancing their DE&I policies and programs.

If you’re looking for support with your Diversity, Equality and Inclusion work, reach out to Abigail Peak

Thank you for being part of the social enterprise and social procurement community. Together, we’re driving meaningful impact for a fairer, more equitable, and sustainable economy.

Warm regards,

Tara Anderson