Community Launch Event for Council to Build Western Australia’s Inclusive Economy

2020 has seen disruption to ‘business-as-usual’ in a way that most of us haven’t experienced in our lifetimes.  At this time of unprecedented social and economic change, WASEC has been formed by leaders in Western Australia’s social enterprise sector to build a new economy that places community, employee and environmental impact outcomes on an equal footing with sustainable financial returns.

With the launch of WASEC following on from a landmark State Election the Council calls upon the McGowan government to recognise and  support the sector to build an inclusive and diverse economy.  Catalytic funding for social enterprise market development and supporting a sector certification framework are well recognised, high leverage ways in which the McGowan Government can support the private sector in building capacity within our communities and industries for regeneration, economic diversification and social impact jobs through social enterprise.

BOOK NOW FOR OUR WASEC COMMUNITY LAUNCH EVENT ON THURSDAY 22 APRIL FOR AN EVENING OF DRINKS, CANAPES AND SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS INCLUDING HON. PATRICK GORMAN MLA, MEMBER FOR PERTH.

Groundswell Impact Investment Program - Perth Round Now Open

National Impact Investment Peak Body Calls On Federal Govt To Drive Inclusive Recovery

Australian-first NFP Partnership for Social Enterprise & Impact Investment supported by Lotterywest

In Depth - Our Top Articles for this Edition

1. Looking for a podcast with an impact and regeneration focus, featuring global thought leaders, many amazing Western Australians, and a super-authentic, super-talented storyteller Perth host? Check out the RegenNarration by our friend Anthony James.  There are far too many episodes to highlight one, but the most recent featuring another WA legend, Gondwanalink's Keith Bradby OAM is a great starting point.
    
2. In his 2021 letter, Larry Fink, leader of $9T BlackRock, the world's most powerful investor, calls on all companies “to disclose a plan for how their business model will be compatible with a net-zero economy” which he defines as limiting global warming to no more than 2C above preindustrial averages and eliminating net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. He writes: “We expect you to disclose how this plan is incorporated into your long-term strategy and reviewed by your board of directors...questions of racial justice, economic inequality or community engagement are often classed as an S issue in E.S.G. conversations, but it is misguided to draw such stark lines between these categories. For example, climate change is already having a disproportionate impact on low-income communities around the world - is that an E or an S issue?"
   
   BlackRock’s size gives it enormous influence to oust directors and dump shares of companies that aren't performing. Last year, it voted against 69 companies and 64 directors for climate-related reasons, while putting 191 companies on notice. Critics suggest that Fink’s letters are just good marketing. But far more profoundly, his letters have consistently helped change the topic of conversation in corporate boardrooms"
    
3. Mobilizing all forms of capital for sustainable development "Where business and capital market ecosystems are weak, non-financial forms of capital may be more important than financial capital." In this piece, impact investment thought leader and pioneer Gillian Marcelle, PhD discusses a Triple B Framework where 'knowledge, political, social, cultural, network and relationship capital', and the ecosystem builders that support these elements of blended finance necessarily have to come before financial capital in building a market where supply of impact capital meets demand.  These 'catalysts and activators play critical roles to help align the supply and demand side of capital markets'.. 'efforts to strengthen ecosystem builders and support their efforts.. deserve much more attention'.
    
4. Business with purpose sparking social change: Great article on women in social enterprise featuring one of the leaders of our Australian social enterprise sector (no online link to paper article unfortunately): "We need to ensure the business sector as a whole, and indeed all sectors, are practising inclusion and also supporting social innovation. When we have a more diverse and inclusive economy, we're actually accessing the expertise, experience and knowledge of a wider group of the population, which makes our society more innovative and more resilient" (Jo Barraket)
    
5. Pro Bono Australia's Impact25 Awards have been announced: Australians at the forefront of tackling domestic violence, supporting people seeking asylum and changing the narrative around alcohol are among those voted as the sector’s most inspiring and influential leaders for 2021. From 400 nominations, to a shortlist of 150, this year’s Impact 25 winners have been voted.  These include WA's own Mark Fitzpatrick.  Congratulations Mark!
    
6. The climate crisis can't be solved by carbon accounting tricks: Carbon finance products have the potential to do for communities and planet what mortgage backed securities did for the property market and common wealth in the 2000's. Regulation, diversity and quality control for acquiring polluters/banks is the only way to real impact
    
7. How broadcast TV networks covered climate change in 2020: How much TV news time was dedicated to climate in 2020? 0.4% of morning, nightly, and Sunday morning news show minutes were about climate. That's 379 minutes all year, 53% less than 2019
    
8. The Next 10 Years of Impact Investment: "Improved standards of impact measurement and management have helped elevate the role of impact investing over the last decade, demonstrated by more and more mainstream asset managers incorporating the practice into their products. The increased attention has also brought a healthy dose of skepticism about “impact washing,” or attributing impact to investments when it isn't warranted. To grow impact investing over the next 10 years, we need more publicly listed investment vehicles and more improvements in measurement and standards to assuage investors' fears about the integrity of the field"
    
9. Sir Ronald Cohen on “How Impact Investment and Entrepreneurship Are Reshaping Capitalism”: The final piece of the puzzle, is the consumer. While plenty of good can come from shareholder advocacy, it’s just as important that we arrive at a place where negative social and environmental practices directly affect a firm’s financial bottom line. It’s not hard to imagine or even access quantitative data on the negative externalities of some sectors such as fossil fuels, but for most others the story is more opaque and will remain so without a radical reimagining of consumers’ right to transparency. “For example, Twinings Tea delivers more environmental damage than it does profit,”
    
10. A good synopsis and blog post on How to Avoid Impact Washing in Portfolios highlighting the GIIN guidelines:
    1. Setting clear goals and/or Theory of Value Creation (ToVC) as the basis for strategic planning and ongoing decision-making.
    2. Developing an effective impact framework that outlines how specific metrics are used across the entire impact measurement process.
    3. Efficient and effective data collection, storage, and validation (cross-check calculations and assumptions against known data sources and also provide an audit trail)
    4. Analyze data (comparable data analyses utilize standard, objective processes where possible in order to produce widely understood and actionable results)
    5. Evidence-based reporting that aligns with stakeholder expectations about the depth of information covered, presents information in a coherent manner and enables comparisons and decision-making.
    6. Data-driven investment management decisions via a review of investment results including an assessment of stakeholder feedback about reported data as well as recommendations for actions needed to address changes to the ToVC/investment thesis

Looking for more?