About Us

What we do

The Centre for Social Impact (CSI) brings together the business, government, philanthropic and social (not-for-profit) sectors, in a collaborative effort to build community capacity and facilitate social innovation. Our ambition is to help build an Australia which is renowned for its professionalism and competence in delivering community benefits and social innovation. We bring a sense of urgency to the task of building a civil society that is open, inclusive and sustainable. We are driven by our core commitments to collaboration, transparency through accountability and flexibility.

At CSI, we seek to respond to the rapidly evolving needs of the social sector, the emerging framework of social entrepreneurship and social investment, the creation of social value and its measurement and the developing challenges of a new era of corporate responsibility and accountability. We offer the unique Graduate Certificate in Social Impact. Our students include social entrepreneurs who bring leading edge learning to their peers.

We aim to deliver our mission in five key ways: 

• By promoting public debate and influencing public policy through our action based research

• By building collaborations and partnerships and developing strong national and international affiliations

• Through the creation and transfer of knowledge, promoting best practice and keeping participants abreast of trends and developments in the social sector

• Through our teaching program which is aimed at supporting the next generation of leaders, providing professional development, mentoring and networking opportunities

• Through the demonstration and measurement of social impact.

We recognise that the needs and expectations of an emerging leader in a social enterprise differ greatly from those of a volunteer in a governance role of a third sector organisation, or a sustainability manager in a large corporation. All have a pivotal role to play in creating an environment of social innovation and building an open, inclusive and sustainable society.

 We act in line with our values:

• We are driven by our core values of partnership and transparency.

• We are committed to accountability.

• We will retain our organisational flexibility.