Social Enterprise Design Challenge 2017

The Social Enterprise Design Challenge supports non-profit social enterprises to test and design new concepts for creating sustainable and transformational social change.

The English Family Foundation has teamed up with StartSomeGood to develop a matched funding program to enable your organisation to launch your social enterprise concept.

This challenge supports non-profit social enterprises to test and design new concepts for creating transformational social change. We are looking for ambitious leaders who are finding new and innovative solutions to tackle the most pressing issues within our communities, and who need a little help to achieve this.
 
Four organisations will be supported to run a crowdfunding campaign with the Foundation providing the first 50% of each of the four finalists’ tipping point goals, up to a total of $15,000 per organisation, which needs to be matched from the community. Three enterprises are currently crowdfunding, with one to come later.

Why Are We Doing This:

Our research at the English Family Foundation has shown us that this early stage can often be make or break for those incredible ideas which could potentially revolutionise our society. Support at this initial stage is crucial to future success. We want to foster your ability to pressure test your idea, analyse business models and really get to know your beneficiaries and market segmentations. We want to encourage innovation, experimentation and learning by supporting you in your ideas and to unleash your passion!

 
We believe strongly in the power of community based engagement and that by linking our giving to funds contributed by the community through crowdfunding we can ensure that our support goes to projects with a strong grounding in and enthusiasm from that community. We believe that by participating organisations will grow their supporter base and gain new fundraising skills. We know that by supporting a project an individual gets to cast a vote on where funding ultimately end up, which contributes to them having a greater sense of involvement and ownership. Win-win!
 
Note: This challenge is open to eligible tax-deductible Australian organisations. 
 
Get an alert next round
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Social Enterprise Design Challenge: Supporting visionary social enterprises to create trasformational change.

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If you run an Australian-based tax-deductible social enterprise, or charity looking to launch a social enterprise, and want to get an alert when the next round of the Social Enterprise Design Challenge opens, please submit your email address:
 
 

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What we are looking for (Criteria):

We are looking for non-profit social enterprises with a clear objective to to make a transformational, tangible and measureable difference to the quality of life and welfare of the individuals and communities involved.
 
We want to work with leaders who are aligned with our philosophy on depth and span. 
 
By Depth we mean what is the transformation from your project or enterprise? What impact is felt beyond the impact on the recipient/participant? This could be about the individual, family or a marginalised community.
 
Span defines the measurable wider impact on the community; it is the ability to leverage other stakeholders and to replicate and share the depth of the impact to maximise benefits across multiple communities and possibly generations.
 
Organisations may be working in any community sector/space at all, and in an Australian or international context. However when considering if you are eligible for this program please note you must meet the following eligibility criteria and be able to demonstrate that you are:
 
1. An Australian-based organisation with Item 1 DGR and TCC endorsement (Note organisations who are not Item 1 DGR and TCC cannot apply);
2. A new or existing stand alone social enterprise or a traditional charitable model who is proactively seeking to diversify their funding sources through the development of a social business;
3. A strong leader(s) who understand the needs of the communities in which you work;
4. Working to bring transformative change to the lives of those within communities, and you must be able to articulate clearly the level of transformation your concept will develop;
5. Creating change which has a strong depth across the community, and which is not constrained merely to the few individuals involved;
6. Interested in developing scalable, sustainable and measurable business models for delivering community benefit through social enterprises or social businesses;
7. Addressing a clearly identified gap in the market which your concept seeks to fill;
8. Ready and willing to run an energetic crowdfunding campaign in March/April 2017.

About the English Family Foundation

The English Family Foundation is passionate about supporting ambitious organisations that have the vision and drive to tackle major social issues. We are particularly interested in those that are offering innovative and scaleable ideas for change using sustainable business models. We believe that philanthropy should have an element of risk in it – and we seek to identify and support the future leaders of the sector and help produce successful outcomes that are driven by talented leadership.
 
We are interested in people and organisations creating change here within Australia or in those developing Asia Pacific countries who are our closest neighbours. We call these people “social changemakers”. We are passionate about driving transformational change in our world through supportive partnerships with these early stage social changemakers and the organisations behind them. 
 
Read more about The English Family Foundation or contact us to discuss.
 

About StartSomeGood

StartSomeGood is a crowdfunding platform for social enterprises, non-profits and community projects. We specialise in supporting world-changing projects and have helped over 700 ventures raise over $8 million AUD. We are proud to have the highest project success rate in cause crowdfunding at 53%, and we work hard to give every project on our site the advice and support they need to succeed.
 
If you have an idea to make a positive impact, we’d love to help you raise the funds you need to make it happen!
 
Find out more at www.startsomegood.com. Connect with StartSomeGood:
 

FAQs

Who is eligible to apply?
Please see the Eligibility Criteria above.
 
How do I apply?
Just register your interest via the button above and we'll send you a link to the application form.
 
If I am successful how much will I need to raise?
The success of your crowdfunding campaign will be largely up to you! The Foundation will fund the first 50% of each of the four finalists’ tipping points, up to a total of $15,000 per organisation. Whatever amount the Foundation provides you’ll need to crowdfund the same amount on StartSomeGood.. These funds will be provided during this current financial year.
 
How will the process work?
The Social Enterprise Design Challenge has the following stages:
1. December 7 2016: Launch of call for applications: eligible organisations have the opportunity to apply online and ask questions on any areas they feel further clarification is required.
2. February 10 2017: applications close and soon after four finalists are selected. All organisations who have applied will be notified as to whether your application has been successful by February 7.
3. February 10 - March 19 2017: Campaign Set-up: StartSomeGood works with you to help you launch a great crowdfundiing campaign
4. March 20-April 28 2017: Crowdfunding! Projects run crowdfunding campaigns to raise the second half of their goal.
 
When will I be expected to run a crowdfund campaign?
March 20-April 28 2017
 
What support will I receive to achieve this?
You will work with a member of StartSomeGood’s support team throughout your campaign building period and have free access to their online masterclass and all other materials. There will be a group call with the other finalists. Both StartSomeGood and English Family Foundation will be sharing participating campaigns through their email newsletters and social media.
 
Why do I need to be an Australian Item 1 DGR organisation?
The English Family Foundation is established as an Australian Private Ancillary Fund under Australian taxation regulations. These regulations restrict us to funding Australian Item 1 DGR organisations.
 
What does it take to succeed at Crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is about building a team around your idea and your project who want to help make it happen.
 
To do this you will need to tell a great story about the impact you are creating and why you need help, now. Crowdfunding is about community-building, and your campaign is an invitation to people to get involved and be part of creating a better future.
 
To get involved they need to know it’s happening though, so the second key element after story is outreach. You need to think carefully about the community you want to build and have an outreach plan to connect with the groups likely to care about the work you’re doing.
 
To learn more about crowdfunding check out the resources at StartSomeGood.
 
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SevGen Enterprises, Social Enterprise Design Challenge 2016 participant

Enterprises currently crowdfunding!

Check out the crowdfunding campaigns and help these enterprises successfully launch. You can make a difference.

1 Million Women, Social Enterprise Design Challenge 2016 participant

The Social Enterprise Design Challenge 2016

Last year four non-profit enterprises tested their ideas through crowdfunding with the help of the English Family Foundation and StartSomeGood. To our delight all four exceeded their fundaising goals. Together they raised over $130,000 from over 650 individual supporters. You can check out their campaigns via the links below.