Happy New (financial) Year!
Happy New (financial) Year!
This month, we have a range of news and resources, so grab a coffee and check out what's been happening at Greatest Good and in the social sector over the last month.We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Cris Parker to the Greatest Good Marketing and Business Development Advisory Board. Cris is the director of The Ethics Alliance and brings a wealth of knowledge and business ethics expertise. In particular, she will help monitor that the marketing and business development we do considers all stakeholders (as per our B Corp requirements) and is done with an ethical focus. Cris will be running a presentation on ethical marketing later in the year as part of our marketing and business development series.
We look forward to seeing you there! As always, we always welcome your feedback, so please reach out to us if you'd like to share your thoughts on how we can improve.
Inspiration from our members
- The energetic team at One Roof launch their new branding, look and feel
- Over $50K was raised by Dolphin Research Institute in their recent Future Generations Appeal
- SisterWorks features in a lengthy news feature on Channel 9 news in Melbourne on Saturday evening. They are also holding a free cultural festival in September as part of their 10th anniversary celebrations
- Creative Plus Business is on the hunt for a Partnerships Manager
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The team at Hotel Etico is starting to include property maintenance activities to the Hotel Etico Employment and Independence Program, which will see trainees getting involved in lots of additional tasks and training opportunities
- Carolyn Butler Madden from The Cause Effect is hosting the panel at next month's Fair Trade Freedom Evening
News and updates
Social Enterprise contribution to the Inquiry of the Commonwealth Government’s House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics
Social enterprise experts and representatives from Social Enterprise Australia, the state based social enterprise networks/councils, Social Traders, social enterprises STREAT and Yume and others presented submission to the federal Government Inquiry.
Bec from STREAT advised the following collective advocacy:
- Development of a national social enterprise strategy for the Commonwealth government (which is co-designed with the sector)
- Development of a Commonwealth government social procurement framework
- Access to affordable finance (including outcomes payments)
- Investment in the capability building of the sector.
You can read the full submissions here.
Other News
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Following on from the successful Social Enterprise Council of NSW & ACT (SECNA) inaugural Social Enterprise Festival, the Social Enterprise Council of SA (SASEC) has held its own social enterprise showcase to help educate SA state government public sector on partnering with social enterprises. Meanwhile, after extensive consultation with members and others, Western Australia Social Enterprise Council (WASEC) has decided not to run their event this year, citing budgeting and other resourcing issues.
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Social Enterprise Network Victoria (SENVIC) has appointed Clea Smith to replace Nick Verginis as CEO. Nick has taken on a role as Director of Systemic Change at Wicked Labs, in addition to his existing roles with the Victorian Government and Catalyst 2030. (SENVIC has partnered with Wicked Labs to strengthen Victoria's social enterprise sector).
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The Centre for Social Impact (CSI) has released their latest edition of the Social Progress Index, an excellent resource to track community wellbeing across a range of areas. You can check out how you state fares on a range of community basic human needs, wellbeing foundations and opportunity.
Regulatory updates (the sometimes boring, but always important stuff)
Lots of legislative changes have become effective
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Flexible work arrangements became effective 6th June 2023.
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There are lots of legislative changes that kicked in from 1 July, so we've summarised these in our June 2023 Regulatory update.
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For small businesses with less than 15 employees, a key change effective 1 August 2023, kicks in requiring them to provide 10 days of paid family and domestic leave. We've included more on this the regulatory update above.
Draft green guidelines Following the ACCC releasing a summary of it's greenwashing enforcement that we shared last month, they have now released draft 'green' guidelines which will impact organisations using common terms such as "green", "environmentally friendly", "net-zero" etc. You can read more about these guidelines in the article from MinterEllison.You can more on these items and other regulatory updates in our monthly regulatory updates and other updates posted on the Blog page (use the Regulatory Updates filter). We can't provide legal advice but you can find proposed and upcoming legislative changes to discuss with your legal advisers.
Grants, funding and free resources
GrantsWith many grants expiring at the end of June, there has been many grants announced from early July. We are updating the grants on a daily basis as these get announced to help you find the latest funding options. Community Engagement and Marketplace members can log in to access the grants directory and use the 60+ filters to find relevant grants in seconds.Support and free resourcesWe know it's tough out there. So, we have added a range of free resources to the Collaborate section of the ecosystem. These include a range of free mental health/wellness programs and support, small business support, as well as marketing and other playbooks to help support your organisation.
Greatest Good is a social enterprise that connects conscious consumers with for-purpose organisations.We are a directory, community, marketplace and ecosystem that helps consumers to find, engage with and support social enterprises, B Corps, charities and other not-for-profit organisations.