Impact investment projects and social enterprises come in many shapes, sizes and structures, and as we receive many requests for support, we prioritise our focus in the following areas:
Key Criteria
Impact Seed works with projects that have a social or environmental mission front and centre. They must deliver direct and measurable outcomes in the following areas:
- Uplift out of poverty and social disadvantage through employment or transition support (eg. Aboriginal business, disability enterprise, homelessness), and/or;
- Primary health and educational outcomes for demonstrably socially and economically disadvantaged communities, and/or;
- Environmental and sustainability outcomes with a focus also on social inclusion, and;
- They must integrate a socially inclusive and sustainable value and supply chain as part of their mission.
Social Enterprise Structures
We believe that structure should serve mission, not the other way around, and so we are agnostic as to the legal structure startups take. However, we prioritise profit-for-purpose projects which are built around innovative shareholder/stakeholder structures – structures which support sustainable local economies, circular economies and incorporate significant employee/community shareholdings or ownership.
Value Creation
While investor returns are crucial, concentration of shareholders combined with scale-and exit strategies often lead to value-extraction as opposed to value-creation outcomes, which works against the above principles. We focus ventures that embed social impact throughout their value chain.
There’s a tonne of support within the ecosystem, and if we’re unable to support you, we may be able to refer you on to other fellow organisations that will be better able to assist your ongoing development journey.
