As we kick-start 2023, we're celebrating the progress we made as a sector last year. Tara Anderson, Social Traders CEO, shares her highlights from the year that was.

2022 was a year we raised the bar. The social enterprise sector ended the year a leap ahead from where we started it.

Through Pace22 and the Business for Good report, we know more about the scope and impact of social enterprise than ever before.

There are 12,000 social enterprises across Australia. They contribute $21 billion to the economy. They generate 71% of their income from trade and invest 29% of revenue in creating impact. Those are some exciting numbers.

The number of certified social enterprises is growing by an average of 29% every year.

Last year we certified the first holiday park and university, and first Northern Territory-based social enterprise. And social enterprises are growing too - 79% of certified social enterprises increased revenue between certifications.

Social procurement is catching on.

Our business and government members spent almost $400 million with certified social enterprises in the last four years. That’s supported almost 3,000 jobs, 550k hours of training, $6 million in charitable donations and $20 million in community services. And it’s some of the fastest social procurement growth globally.

Spend with certified social enterprises has grown by an average of 67% every year.

The most recent year was the biggest yet – our business and government members spent $171 million with certified social enterprises. And social procurement is sticking. Two thirds of businesses increased or maintained spend with social enterprise year on year. The biggest spender – John Holland – spent over $12 million with 57 different social enterprises.

Our business members supported social enterprises in different ways.

Just one example is SAP who funded seven social enterprises to complete the Social Traders Grow program and hosted us on the main stage at their Connect Conference.

The government is backing social enterprise in new ways.

We’ve been working with the Victorian Government to implement its social procurement framework and second social enterprise strategy. We’re working with the Queensland Government as part of their $8 million investment in sector development, including social procurement and certification. We’re working with NSW Government and having conversations about new social and sustainable procurement opportunities. The Federal Government issued $22 million in grants for social enterprises supporting refugees, using certification as a grant criteria.

Philanthropy is creating genuine partnerships with the sector to drive system-level change.

Leading philanthropists are collaborating in new networks to make sure sector funding has the greatest impact. There’s a fresh focus on developing the ecosystem as a whole. As part of that, we partnered with some of Australia’s leading funders to grow the social procurement marketplace.

There’s a new wave of collaboration.

We have a new peak body – Social Enterprise Australia – and have developed a shared vision, missions and values. We launched the first shared marketing campaign for the sector – Change the Game, alongside the Social Traders Catch On campaign. The marketing tools were used across the sector to help us talk as one. We’re starting to work in sync, so we can be greater than the sum of our parts.

We’re collaborating with our peers in the social procurement space in new ways too, so collectively we can grow the size of the pie for everyone. We’ve been working with JobsBank, ICN & ArcBlue. We spoke at conferences with WeConnect and Supply Nation, with the shared message that now is the time for all businesses to catch on to social procurement.

So, what can we look forward to in 2023? There's so much more to come …

Image courtesy of the team over at Social Change Central.