Enterprising Communities

Index by Content Type

Practical

• AIESEC
  - AIESEC is the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact on society. In addition to providing over 5,000 leadership positions and delivering over 350 conferences, AIESEC also runs an exchange program that enables over 4,000 students and recent graduates the opportunity to live and work in another country.
• Aboriginal Business Resources
  - The NSW Department of State and Regional Development assists Aboriginal people to start-up and stay in business through a range of services and programs delivered in Sydney and regional areas.
• Affordable Housing through Cooperative Ownership
  - A submission developed by Equilibrium Community Ecology Inc as an option for Gosford City Council's alternative housing strategy, November 2004.
• Australian Employee Ownership Association
  - The AEOA represents a broad spectrum of interests in employee share ownership and is committed to bipartisanship in its dealings with governments and political parties.
• Australian Geographic Magazine
  - This is an excellent resource for those interested in rural development. Always full of interesting articles, including specific community initiatives. Available by subscription.
• Australian Institute for Corporate Responsibility
  - Practical business partnership resources for small, medium and large businesses and community organisations.
• Building Community Capacity: Assessing Corporate Sustainability Report
  - This report presents the outcomes of a project in which the Total Environment Centre worked with partners to develop a “toolkit” designed to enhance the ability of community sector organisations and individuals, to better influence corporate sector progress towards real ecologically and socially sustainable development.
• Co-operative Organisations
  - This paper is from the The Registry of Co-operatives & Associations in the NSW Office of Fair Trading, which supports and develops the Co-operative Sector and its potential to assist regional and rural communities exploit their development opportunities.
• Community Economic Development Action Strategies
  - This article looks at sustainable economic development action strategies based on a framework of six broad and inter-related approaches to local business, local economy and community capacity building.
• Community Enterprise Connections
  - This website, from the Brotherhood of St Laurence, provides news, resources, links and points of contact designed to support and network people involved in the development and establishment of community enterprises.
• Community Enterprises through the Bendigo Bank
  - Community Enterprise™ is an initiative of Bendigo Bank which has been created to improve the prospects of communities and to minimise the capital drain they face from the purchase of essential services such as telecommunications and energy.
• Community Exchange System: 'Currency' without money
  - CES 'currency' is created by its users so it can never be in short supply. So long as you can offer something of value you can have from the community skills and services of like value. Join the growing community who have discovered a new way of 'doing' money, a healthy currency that will create a healthy society.
• Community Sector Banking
  - A joint venture between Bendigo Bank Ltd. and Community 21 Ltd (C21) has established Community Sector Banking to provide financial products and services to the community sector.
• Cooperative Childcare website (UK)
  - This website tells you all about the way in which the co-operative childcare service can help you.
• Corporate Responsibility Guide for Australian Directors
  - International law firm Baker and McKenzie has released a Corporate Responsibility Guide for Australian Directors.
• Corporate Responsibility Index
  - The Corporate Responsibility Index is a strategic management tool to enhance the capacity of businesses to develop, measure and communicate best practice in the field of corporate social responsibility.
• Corporate Social Responsibility
  - Definition and Links on Corporate Social Responsibility from the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnerships website
• Corporate Social Responsibility - Challenges and Opportunities for Government
  - "Corporate Social Responsibility is a concept whereby companies decide voluntarily to contribute to a better society and a cleaner environment." EU Green Paper: Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility.
• Corporate Social Responsibility - Web Sites
  - A list of useful web sites relating to Corporate Social Responsibility.
• Eco-friendly Communities - Promoting Sustainable Living and Working Resource Kit
  - This practical kit is a package of resources and suggestions for a structured but very flexible program to increase community understanding about living sustainably.
• Ecovillage Economics
  - Ecovillage economics is all about the process of developing a sustainable economic component to ecovillages and sustainable developments throughout the world.
• Effective economic development - What makes it happen?
  - Key ingredients against which all communities can evaluate themselves and prepare for economic development.
• Employee Buyouts Guidebook - revised edition 2006
  - The Mercury Centre has revised and updated the "Employee Buyouts" Guidebook. The Guide sets out what an employee buy-out is, when a buy-out is appropriate and why a buy-out should be considered. It also deals with the forms of buy-outs and the steps in performing a buy-out.
• Employee Ownership Links and Resources
  - Employee Ownership is one way for business owners to plan for a smooth succession.
• Employee Ownership Options
  - Employee Ownership Options has been set up to provide information on how employee ownership can bring benefits to employees, business owners and trade unionists within the European Union.
• Employee Volunteering - A profitable venture for Business and Communities
  - Employee volunteering involves companies supporting and encouraging the involvement of their staff in the community, for mutual benefit.
• Fair Business: Making Business Fair for Everyone
  - Fair Business, a non profit organisation, is providing opportunities for a significant number of disadvantaged people to obtain and sustain employment, in a range of existing businesses and adapting them into sustainable integrated workplaces.
• Grow Sydney – helping communities grow their regions
  - GROW is a non-profit, community-based organisation which works with business, community and across the three sectors of government to take action that will help the growth of Sydney and its regions.
• Guide to the web's best free stuff
  - In this Sydney Morning Herald article, David Flynn provides advice on the best free software available on the internet.
• Income Management: new multilingual factsheets from Centrelink
  - New Centrelink factsheets available in Arabic, English, French, Somali and Swahili:
• Indigenous Stock Exchange
  - The ISX strategy was initiated in Canberra on May 21, 2003 on Ngunawal territory. The goal was to support the development of as many Indigenous businesses as possible in an effort to meet the urgent need for jobs for Indigenous young people especially in regional, remote and very remote Australia.
• Innovative Co-ops in the Social Services Sector: A research study to benefit people with developmental disabilities and mental illness
  - This Canadian Government funded report is on innovative social services delivery around the world (including one example in Australia - Nundah Community Enterprise Cooperative in Q'land) where cooperatives are used with the specific aim of empowering the participants through encouraging "ownership" of the programs directed at them. Participation in ownership and control of such programs seems to be successful in reducing dependency/increasing independence and producing superior outcomes for those involved.
• International Cooperative Alliance
  - Uniting, representing and serving cooperatives world wide.
• Joining Forces with Young People: A Practical Guide to Collaboration for Youth Employment
  - This report has been provided by the international Youth Employment Network to guide youth organisations to facilitate and motivate young people’s participation in youth employment policy making and implementation.
• Kit for seniors computing clubs
  - The Australian Seniors Computer Clubs Association (ASCCA) has developed a kit to assist those who want to see a Seniors Computer Club established in their area.
• Making Dollars and Sense out of Community Events - A Resource Kit
  - The Resource kit provides practical tools and tips to help businesses and events organisers work together to maximise the economic advantage of community events.
• Making it Personal - A report on self directed care for social service recipients
  - This report, written by Demos, a UK think tank, advocates a simple yet transformational approach to public services – self-directed services – which allocate people budgets so they can shape, with the advice of professionals, the support and services they need.
• Mutual Benefit: Community/Business Partnerships in the Disability Sector
  - Mutual Benefit is the report of research conducted by ACROD, the National Industry Association for Disability Services, into community and business partnerships in the disability sector.
• No Interest Loan Schemes (NILS)
  - A community-run program lending money to low income earners who have difficulty accessing affordable commercial credit.
• Preparing a business plan
  - A blueprint for starting, maintaining or expanding a small business, from the NSW Small Business website.
• Relationships matter: not-for-profit community organisations and corporate community investment
  - This report examines barriers to corporate community partnerships developing further in Australia, examines differences between not-for-profit organisations (NFPs) and corporations, identifies positive and negative factors at play in these partnerships, and focuses also on trends and developments. It looks also at how to best leverage the operations and activities of NFP organisations to enhance interactions with large businesses.
• Rural Small Towns Web Package
  - The package is designed to create a job for a person in each town, which is easy to use, and generates an income stream, along with the opportunity to promote the town under the rural communities banner Southern Cross Communities network.
• Securing Successful Partnerships: a Guide for Business and the Arts
  - This guide from the Australian Business Arts Foundation provides a framework to assist cultural organisations and business to develop partnerships.
• Share Gift Australia
  - ShareGift Australia is a Not for Profit organisation set up to provide shareholders with a simple way to sell and donate small parcels of shares to charities.
• Social Enterprise in Australia: An Introductory Handbook
  - A guide and resource kit for social entrepreneurs published by UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide.
• Social Enterprise – definitions, examples, links and readings
  - Social enterprises are part of the growing "Social Economy" and are committed to commercial viability but their prime motivation is not money; it is building a better society.
• Standard Chart of Accounts Project
  - Matrix On Board is working with the NSW Department of Community Services to inform the Human Service government agencies and all the NGO funded services about the benefits of adopting a Standard Chart of Accounts.
• Steps to forming a Co-operative (NSW)
  - This information from the NSW Department of Fair Trading outlines the steps that need to be followed to form a co-operative in New South Wales.
• Strategic Planning for Economic Development
  - Through the planning process a community can choose priorities and allocate resources to work towards its preferred future.
• Support for Businesses in NSW
  - The New South Wales Department of State and Regional Development (DSRD) provides information and contacts to assist new businesses to establish in NSW.
• Sustainability Reporting Guidelines
  - The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a long-term, multi-stakeholder, international process whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
• Sustainability Reporting and Corporate Responsibility in Australia
  - The Australian Government has taken a number of important steps to encourage environmental and sustainability reporting among companies in this country.
• The Global Compact – Corporate Social Responsibility
  - The Global Compact is a direct initiative of the UN Secretary-General which invites companies, international labour and civil society organizations from all regions of the world to work together to advance ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.
• The Money Trail - Measuring Your Impact on the Local Economy.
  - The Money Trail is a DIY workbook to measure and prove how effectively different parts of your local economy are working, using a tool developed by the New Economics Foundation.
• The Role of Business in Community Capacity Building: An Alternative Approach
  - Business organisations keen to contribute to community well being as part of a social responsibility strategy should give consideration to involvement with Community Capacity Building
• University Network for Social Entrepreneurship
  - The University Network for Social Entrepreneurship aims to develop and legitimize Social Entrepreneurship as a vocation and a field of intellectual endeavor, and carry SE principles into other sectors.
• Unpacking Social Enterprise- A Discussion Paper for Reference
  - On 14 August 2007, Social Alchemy hosted a free public forum at Customs House Sydney to unpack ideas around social enterprise with a focus on youth, enterprise and Indigenous affairs. This entry contains the discussion paper used to support the forum which provides an up to date reference towards understanding social enterprise.
• Voluntary Treasurer's Handbook For Small Non-Profit Organisations
• Water Campaign™
  - The Water Campaign™ is a voluntary capacity building program that supports councils to address water resource management through a performance-based milestone framework. Water Campaign™ councils receive ongoing support and technical information to build their capacity to address water quality and water conservation issues in their daily operations, and in the community in the long-term.
• WorkVentures
  - WorkVentures exists to build a just, creative and sustainable society by providing quality economic and community development services, with special priority given to unemployed and disadvantaged people.
• Young Achievement Australia - Business Skills Program™ for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander participants
  - Through the support of Indigenous Business Australia (IBA), Young Achievement Australia are pleased to offer an opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to gain enterprise and employability skills by participating in the Business Skills Program™
• social innovation eXchange
  - SIX is a network that’s been set up by a group of organisations to help build the emerging field of social innovation. We believe that many of the big problems that the world faces – from climate change to the care needs of an ageing population - will only be solved by experiment, enterprise and innovation, and that innovation needs to tap into the creativity of every part of civil society, business and the public sector.

Case Studies

• Aspire Australia – Scenarios for Australia in 2025
  - The Business Council of Australia seeks to make a major contribution to national public policy debate by providing a framework for understanding what the future may hold for business, policy makers and Australians generally over the next 20 years.
• Australian Business Arts Foundation - case studies of successful partnerships
  - The following partnerships are presented as examples of good practice in partnerships between cultural organisations and business.
• Caring and Sharing: The co-owned route to better care
  - This Employee Ownership Association paper by Dave Wheatcroft is the story of award winning employee owned Sunderland Home Care Associates and how founder Margaret Elliott and co-owners have built a family of enterprises lifting care standards in the North of England. Published September 2007.
• Case Studies in Sustainability from Western Australia
  - These case studies document initiatives undertaken in Western Australia that have contributed to increased ecological, social and economic sustainability.
• Co-operatives making trades more profitable - Case study: Plumbers Supplies Co-operative
  - Joining forces to form a co-operative may be the way of the future for many modern small businesses.
• Community Business Partnerships
  - Mutually beneficial collaboration between business and community can provide more efficient and long-term solutions to community issues and build greater social cohesion.
• Creating Our Future - Youth Vision and Action for the NSW Central Coast
  - The Jigsaw Project (Central Coast Child and Youth Strategy) and the Futures Foundation partnered in a futuring process for young people which created a preferred vision for the Central Coast in 2020 and implemented three practical action plans to help achieve that future.
• Employee Share ownership: a win - win solution
  - How does a director and shareholder turn his equity into a retirement fund and ease out of a business to enjoy semi-retirement? For one Director, employee share ownership was the answer.
• Environmental Sustainability Initiatives in North America and Europe: Churchill Fellowship report by John Hepburn
  - This Churchill Fellowship focused on the creation of alternatives - exploring a small sample of local community environmental sustainability initiatives in the US and UK.
• Growing small communities – Coolamon’s success story
  - Liz Lawson’s contribution to the panel discussion at the NSW Department of State and Regional Development Community Economic Development Conference describing how Coolamon, a small town in the ‘shadow’ of Wagga Wagga has managed to attract tourism and new residents to the town, providing the catalyst for the local economy to grow and generate employment opportunities.
• Nimmitabel – Top of the Range: Building a better future
  - Marjory Kobold’s presentation at the NSW Department of State and Regional Development Community Economic Development Conference showcasing the history, achievements, products and business potential of Nimmitabel, NSW and surrounding districts.
• Our Future is Local
  - Our Future is Local is a Not-For-Profit Incorporated Association which has been formed by the passionate community members and business owners of Griffith.
• Sierakowo: From Desperation to Inspiration – A Creative Idea That Worked
  - This case study details how Sierakowo, a small village located in north-western Poland, broke out of marginalisation and poverty to create a local knowledge-based economy.
• The Body Shop - Business and Social Responsibility
  - A very thought provoking and practical paper, examining the issues and realities of the community sector forming partnerships with the business sector.
• The Sydney Energy Co-operative - A case study
  - Sydney Energy Co-operative was founded in June 2007 by a small group of enthusiastic students from the photovoltaic and renewable energy engineering program at the University of NSW.
• Three Social Enterprise Stories
  - Three stories recount the success of community involvement in positive change in the Sydney suburbs of Claymore, Minto and Campbelltown.
• Toy Share Story – a thriving community enterprise
  - Toy Share, Australia’s first community toy store in Wollongong NSW, restores and distributes toys and educational products to sick and disadvantaged children and their families.

Related Reading

• Employee Ownership - is it needed?
  - A paper on the role of employee ownership in local economic development by Alan Greig.
• Asset Development and the Youth Economy - A discussion paper by Cameron Neil
  - This discussion paper, written by Cameron Neil for Brisbane City Council, presents research, opinions and resources on asset development for young people and the importance of youth as consumers in local economies.
• Auckland Accord calls for strong local leadership
  - The General Meeting of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum on 29 March 2007 backed the Auckland Accord for strong local leadership to make local governance more effective and to deliver a strategic vision to improve local service delivery and support local development, and to respond to global challenges.
• Business & Social Entrepreneurs Need Partnerships
  - Business has a real opportunity to partner with social and environmental entrepreneurs to help solve global issues, according to a new study.
• Challenging How Knowledge is Created - a Presentation by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia
  - Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales' keynote presentation, 'Challenging how knowledge is created', delivered during his recent Australian tour, is available online in MP3.
• Communities, Livelihoods, and Natural Resources: Action Research and Policy Change in Asia
  - This book synthesizes results from a 7-year program of applied research on community-based approaches to natural resource management in Asia
• Community and Social Enterprise: What Role for Government? Paper prepared for the Department for Victorian Communities by Dr. Jo Barraket
  - The paper aims to provide a starting point for discussion about the nature of community and social enterprise in Victoria and the role that government can play in supporting this field of activity.
• Compacts Between Governments and the Voluntary Sector - Mark Lyons
  - Examples of treaties/accords between the third sector and the government in the United Kingdom and Canada
• Corporate Social Responsibility Report from the Australian Government 2006
  - The Report of the Australian Government's Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services' inquiry into Corporate Responsibility and Triple-Bottom-Line reporting.
• Employee Ownership and Social Inclusion
  - This article by the Australian Employee Ownership Association talks about the role that employee ownership will play in the newly elected Federal Government's developing social inclusion agenda.
• Employment, not microcredit, is the solution
  - This paper from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, published in January 2007, explores the limited benefits of microcredit schemes and its impact on alleviating poverty. It argues that creating employment and increasing productivity is the best solution to poverty and emphasises the Government's role in providing basic public services that have a direct and significant impact on productivity.
• First Peoples Worldwide
  - Assisting Indigenous People in claiming, controlling and utilizing their assets.
• HOT Employers - Australia's Directory of Good Employers™
  - HOT Employers promotes organisations through their own marketing material and the opinions of their employees. We support all organisations that are committed to being good employers. Good employee relations results in better services and products along with higher productivity and profits.
• Just & Sustainable Australia - A National Collaborative Report
  - The Australian Collaboration, a collection of seven peak national community organisations report on a major project to present a national vision for Australia.
• Public sector support for growth and sustainability in social enterprise activity
  - A report on how the public sector can support growth and sustainability in social enterprise activity based on a Fellowship study tour in the US, Canda and the UK by a Churchill Fellow.
• Readings on Sustainable Community Development
  - Online Readings, books and websites on the E-Dialogues for Sustainable Development website.
• Redefining Progress Website
  - Redefining Progress works with a broad array of partners to shift the economy and public policy towards sustainability.
• Social Entrepreneurship Monitor 2006 Report (UK)
  - The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor(GEM) has developed a measurement of early stage entrepreneurial activity by means of an adult population survey in each country.
• Social Entrepreneurship: Some Important Distinctions
  - A paper by Jerr Boschee and Jim McClurg argues that innovation is not the same as entrepreneurship and that unless a non-profit organisation is generating earned revenue, it is not acting in an entrepreneurial manner.
• South Australia Establishes Nation Centre for Social Inclusion
  - The South Australian Government has initiated discussions across Australia as part of a move to establish the nation's first Australian Centre for Social Innovation to developing effective remedies to key social issues.
• Stanford Social Innovation Review
  - Strategies, tools and ideas for nonprofits, foundations and socially responsible businesses.
• Sustainable Development in a Dynamic World - World Development Report 2003.
  - The 2003 World Bank World Development Report examines the relationship between competing policy objectives of reducing poverty, maintaining growth, improving social cohesion and protecting the environment.
• Teach a Man to Fish
  - Teach a Man to Fish aims to broaden access for the poor to a high quality education combining vocational training and entrepreneurship by supporting institutions working in this field to increase their financial self-sufficiency.
• The End of Charity: Time for Social Enterprise
  - An ABC interview with Nic Frances, author of the 2006 Iremonger Award winning book.
• Toward a Social Enterprise Strategy for Greater Sydney
  - GROW Sydney has developed a strategy to to assist in the growth of social enterprise in Sydney.
• What Works Best in Reducing Child Poverty: a Benefit or Work Strategy?
  - This paper assesses the extent to which child poverty is associated with the work status of parents.
• Why a Third Sector Roundtable?
  - Australians commonly divide the world of organisations into two: business and government. But there are hundreds of thousands of organisations that are neither part of government nor run to make a profit for their owners.