Social Enterprise Development Initiative (SEDI)

Overview

The Social Enterprise Development Initiative (SEDI) was announced in the 2023-24 budget. SEDI is part of the Targeting Entrenched Disadvantage package. This commits $11.6 million to support the growth of the social enterprise sector.

SEDI aims to support social enterprises to be more efficient and effective. It helps them to deliver social benefits to vulnerable Australians.

The SEDI supports social enterprises by providing funding for:

  • grants of up to $120,000 to social enterprises to grow their business, scale their impact and further their mission to support Australians experiencing disadvantage
  • capability building across the broader social enterprise sector through an online resource available to all and shaped by all who choose to take part.

If you or your organisation would like to register for updates relating to the SEDI, please contact socialimpactinvesting@dss.gov.au.

Engaging with the sector

We worked with Social Enterprise Australia (SEA) to gather social enterprise sector views. SEA collected ideas and views through workshops and surveys. Read the summary of the views collected by SEA.

How SEDI works

The SEDI has been designed to provide capability building support to the social enterprise sector in different ways - from supporting individual social enterprises through grants, right through to support for a sector owned online space for all those in the sector to learn and exchange.

The Department has partnered with 2 organisations from the sector to deliver SEDI:

  • Impact Investing Australia (IIA), as the SEDI Capability Building Grants Administrator
  • Social Enterprise Australia (SEA), as the SEDI Education and Mentoring Coordinator. SEA will steward and coordinate Understorey  – a place to learn and exchange about social enterprise.

Working with these organisations means we can be more flexible and creative in how the SEDI works. It also helps embed SEDI in the sector.

The Department, SEA and IIA are working together to bring all the parts of SEDI together into one program. The interests of social enterprises, intermediaries and investors will all be represented in this SEDI team.

SEDI Grants Administrator

After an open, competitive grant round for the SEDI Grants Administrator, the Department chose Impact Investing Australia (IIA) for the role.

IIA has the experience and connections with the sector to administer capability-building grants.

As the Grant Administrators, IIA will provide up to $6 million in capability building grants to social enterprises. Each grant to a social enterprise will be up to $120,000 which can be used to buy capability building support, such as:

  • business planning
  • financial management
  • contract negotiation
  • legal support
  • outcomes measurement and evaluation
  • help to access finance such as investment loans or grants.

A focus for the SEDI is First Nations and regional and rural social enterprises and we strongly encourage applications from these groups.

Applying for a SEDI Capability Building Grant

Applications are now open for social enterprises to apply for a SEDI Capability Building Grant of up to $120,000. It is anticipated that over the life of the program, approximately 50 to 60 grants will be awarded through a series of competitive application and assessment rounds.   

Applications for a grant will remain open until December 2025. This cutoff date intends to allow those applying in late 2025 to have time to complete their grant activities by the end of the SEDI program in June 2026. The SEDI Grants Assessment Panels meet at regular intervals, every few months.    

SEDI Grants will help social enterprises purchase business and impact capability building services. These services can be from intermediaries and other businesses that support social enterprises to grow their business, scale their impact and further their mission to support Australians experiencing disadvantage.

Finding the right organisation to support individual capability building within each social enterprise is essential. If unsure about intermediaries who could assist, IIA provides a list of possible organisations to approach. This list is not exhaustive and social enterprises can apply with any intermediary or business they believe will assist in achieving the required grant outcomes. There is no approved list of intermediaries for the SEDI Grants.

Social enterprises are also encouraged to discuss the cost and contractual terms and conditions with any organisation they are considering working with and to only enter into an arrangement if comfortable that the cost is appropriate for the activity and the terms and conditions are fair. If you have any questions about the proposed contractual terms and conditions proposed by an organisation in relation to a SEDI Grant, we encourage to reach out to IIA for advice at enquiries@impactinvestingaustralia.com.

The initiative supports social enterprises across all states and territories and includes a focus on supporting those social enterprises in regional and remote locations, and First Nations social enterprises.

A full list of the eligibility criteria, and more information about the SEDI Grants and how to apply, can be found on IIA’s website.

Intermediaries can contact IIA directly if they would like to be included on the list of possible SEDI capability building support providers. Please note there are no SEDI accredited intermediaries.

We also note that workshops on the SEDI Grants are only considered to be official if organised by the Department, IIA or SEA.

SEDI Education and Mentoring Coordinator

The SEDI online education and mentoring activities will help develop and grow the sector. The activities have been designed to create whole of sector resources and support to sit alongside the individualised support the SEDI grants provide.

The Department has chosen SEA to be the SEDI Education and Mentoring Coordinator. We chose SEA because they were created by the sector to represent the interests of the sector. SEA's mission aligns with what we are trying to achieve with the SEDI Education and Mentoring activity. Partnering with SEA means the sector will have a voice in SEDI.

SEA will:

  • commission learning and peer mentoring communities
  • curate leading practice materials, tools, or training modules, or commission new ones where gaps exist
  • point to and bring these elements together in one site online - Understorey - and help people navigate the sector
  • ensure sector needs and input inform Understorey’s development; this will include rural and regional, First Nations, and culturally and linguistically marginalised voices.

Understorey will host, point to, and integrate with a range of quality resources about social enterprise.

Social Enterprise Australia will not re-invent what exists and works well to meet sector needs. It will identify and fill key gaps.

Working with the Social Enterprise Sector on the SEDI

In our engagement with the sector in 2023, we learnt that there needs to be a central place for the sector to learn, navigate and exchange to grow social enterprise impact.

The Department recognises that a range of tools and platforms across the social enterprise sector exist. These tools facilitate finding sector actors and information. On 30 June 2024, SEA launched Understorey – a place to learn and exchange about social enterprise. Understorey is a place for diverse input, ideas and voices - including marginalised voices. It hosts, points to, and integrates with a range of quality resources about social enterprise. It will change and grow over time.

The Department encourages sector actors to reach out to SEA for the SEDI if there are any ideas, platforms or feedback in the delivery of the SEDI. The sector can reach out to SEA at hello@socialenterpriseaustralia.

Also see SEA’s website for more info on opportunities for getting involved.

Scam Alert - SEDI

The Department of Social Services has received reports of an email scam where a scammer posing as a representative of the Department has emailed members of the public offering a $120,000 grant under the Social Enterprise Development Initiative program. The scammer requests the victim’s contact details, and then sends through a false ‘grant certificate’ to notify them they have been selected, which includes a falsified signature of a senior department officer. To gain access to the payment, victims are then told they need to pay a $250 fee to unlock a debit card.

What to do if you are contacted by a scam attempt

The Department does not contact members of the public through social media or email to offer grant opportunities. Legitimate grant opportunities are published on GrantConnect at www.grants.gov.au. Legitimate grants will never require the recipient to pay a fee to access the amounts, and debit cards are not used to disburse grant payments.

If you are contacted by one of these scam attempts, do not provide any personal or financial information. You can report it to the relevant government Department via contact details on their website. For the Department of Social Services, contact fraud@dss.gov.au.
Further advice on scams is available from the National Anti-Scam Centre: Scamwatch.

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