Social enterprises exist to change the world for the better.
A social enterprise is a business that trades to tackle social problems, improve communities, people’s life chances, or the environment. Their main purpose is to promote, encourage, and make social change – in a financially sustainable way. Social Enterprises make and do things that earn money and make profits like any business.
It is how they work and what they do with their profits that is different: working to make a bigger difference, reinvesting the profits to do more good. It’s this combination of doing business and doing good that makes social enterprise one of the most impactful area of modern philanthropy.
Social enterprises are businesses that...
Are led by an economic, social, cultural, or environmental mission consistent with a public or community benefit
Derive a substantial portion of their income from trade.
Reinvest the majority of their profit/surplus in the fulfilment of their mission.
Investing in social enterprise
In June 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic the CI Philanthropy Committee approved its first round of grants to social enterprises working in the area of food security. One of those grants was to STREAT in support of the Moving Feast Initiative.
STREAT is a social enterprise helping homeless young people to have a stable self, stable job and stable home. Through its six hospitality businesses in Melbourne, STREAT provides young people with supported pathways to employment – including assistance finding stable housing, vocational skills, improved mental health and well-being.
In response to COVID –19 STREAT led the development of an alliance called Moving Feast and provided backbone coordinating support to over 200 participating food security social enterprises.
On Saturday 4 July 2020 in response to the spread of COVID-19, the Victoria government made the decision to close and contain nine public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne.
Moving Feast lived up to its name by quickly stepping in to provide culturally appropriate, nutritious and timely food deliveries to residents of the locked down public housing towers. In the first few days of the hard shut down, Moving Feast delivered 3,200 halal, vegetarian and culturally appropriate ready-made meals and continued to deliver about 1,500 more each day of the duration of these restrictions.
Additionally, Moving Feast worked to procure over 5 tonnes of produce that went into produce boxes delivered to residents based on the cultural preferences of the tower communities.
Since that time, the Moving Feast initiative has continued to enable those supported by food security social enterprises to retain their jobs and remain engaged in education and training during this time of uncertainty.
Mental Health Partnerships Fund
Experiences of mental ill-health will affect almost half of the population in Australia within their lifetime, with an estimated 20% of the population (over 4 million people) experiencing mental ill-health in any given year and is widely recognised as a serious health issue that is growing nationally.
Despite ongoing investment and attempts to reform the mental health and suicide prevention service systems, the current state of care is fragmented, uneven, costly, compromising to individuals’ human rights and has not lead to significant changes in national health outcomes. Prevention and early intervention strategies produce the greatest impact on people’s health and well-being. This is particularly true for youth mental health where prevention and early intervention are recognised as key elements for minimising the impact of any potentially serious condition.
Cooper Investors recognises mental health as the health challenge of a generation and we want to use our philanthropy funding to support world class research and programs to better the mental health of communities across the country.
Consistently, official reviews and inquiries have called for far greater investment in early intervention and prevention. This is why the CI Philanthropy Committee approved grant to support the work of Ocean Mind in September 2021. Ocean Mind is a charity that provides therapeutic surf programs for young people who are experiencing mental health challenges, social isolation and disabilities. Using a simple mix of surfing, mentoring and fun they create a therapeutic environment for young people to challenge themselves, learn new skills and flourish.
We have chosen to partner with Ocean Mind as they use an evidence-based model which has demonstrated outstanding results in helping young people who are experiencing difficulties to make them feel more accepted, positive and comfortable with their lives. All of Ocean Mind’s programs are evaluated and assessed to measure the impact on participants lives. As one of our newest partners, Ocean Mind’s future is bright as they strategically seek out opportunities for growth and renewal that are aligned with their values and deliver positive outcomes and benefits for the community and the environment.
Blue Dragon
Blue Dragon received one of the first donations from the CI Staff Fund in 2008 and we are still incredibly proud supporters 14 years later. Blue Dragon’s purpose is to provide exceptional care to Vietnamese children and families in crisis while creating long-term change for a better world.
Blue Dragon now serves the needs of over 10,000 highly disadvantaged children and families, including children and youth who have been trafficked; street children; and children with disabilities. Their mission is driven by a belief in development, not charity and the Blue Dragon team works to help children develop fully as they grow. They do this through providing a broad range of experiences and opportunities. Rather than simply providing a handout, they provide a hand-up for those who choose to better their circumstances and themselves.
Here are a couple of recent examples of Blue Dragon living their values by doing just this.
Hoa and Quan are just 2 of the 27 disadvantaged families Blue Dragon has helped to establish a small business this year!
Hoa has been struggling for years to have a regular income. A mother of two daughters, she knows how important it is to have a stable job. Today she finally has just that. With some financial training and seed funding, Hoa has set up a banh mi (sandwich) stall and is serving her happy customers every day.
Quan, a father of two boys, has a similar story. After many years of hardship, his new porridge stall is already earning enough money that the family no longer needs help to pay their rent. Hoa and Quan are just 2 of the 27 disadvantaged families Blue Dragon has helped to establish a small business this year!