Social Ventures Australia is a non-profit organisation that identifies visionary social entrepreneurs and partners to achieve sustainable social change.  Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems.  They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change. Rather than leaving societal needs to Government or community alone, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies to take new leaps.  Our work combines the best practices of the business world with the passion of engaged philanthropy to support innovative solutions to issues in the areas of youth employment & education, ageing, indigenous communities, social inclusion and the environment.

We enable social entrepreneurs to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their non-profit ventures by providing:

• funds for scale and growth
•  mentoring for support of social venture planning, expansion and replication
•  business tools for understanding and articulating purpose and the social impact of programs. 

Why support Beacon?

 SVA has reviewed over 700 non-profit organisations (or ‘social ventures’) and currently support 22 nationally.  Before SVA supports a social venture, we conduct a detailed analysis to assess whether the organisation has: 

•  a credible social entrepreneur and team with well-balanced skills and a successful track record
•  the potential for real social impact that addresses the root cause of the social problem,not just the symptoms
•  measurable outcomes and the ability to scale and replicate their programs over time§          the prospect of a sustainable funding base.  Given this selection criteria, Beacon was an ideal fit to be part of the SVA portfolio and we are proud to represent and assist Beacon in their mission to develop a national model to assist in the elimination of unemployment among school leavers.   

How does SVA help?

 SVA provides Beacon financial resources, as well as specialist knowledge and services aimed at increasing their effectiveness and efficiency.  SVA has worked with Beacon to assist with the consolidation and replication of its programs, focusing on No Dole and Polish, and with sustainability and succession planning across the organisation.  Beacon’s CEO has worked with participants in SVA’s Community Mentor Program on a number of areas and counts SVA account manager Lisa Hagan as one of his key resources.   

What are the Benefits of being involved?