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Message from Peter Shergold
 We are delighted to announce that CSI has been appointed by the NSW Government to formally advise on a pilot of Social Impact Bonds. We believe Social Impact Bonds are directly aligned with our mission and are a key strategic priority for scaling up social innovation and finding new ways of harnessing capital to fund community benefit.
The CSI team leading this initiative includes Director of Research Les Hems, Director of Social Business Cheryl Kernot, Social Investment Fellow Kylie Charlton, Research Fellow James Cutts, and UWA Business School researchers. We are working in collaboration with JBWere, and the program is set to commence early in the new year. We will keep you updated regarding progress of this exciting initiative. Read more.
This month we are also launching 'Social Procurement in Australia', a national paper commissioned by CSI. This builds on the Social Procurement Guide for Victorian Local Government which was launched in October.
We have been engaged again with our Advisory Councils in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. These discussions and debates really sharpen our focus on issues and opportunities for CSI and help inform the discussions we continue to have with not-for-profits, corporates and government. It is incredibly valuable to hear diverse perspectives. Thank you to our Advisory Council members who give up valuable time to share your knowledge and expertise.
As many of you know we conducted stakeholder interviews a few months ago, with the aim of understanding how you believe CSI is performing, and what we can do more of in order to create beneficial social impact. I wanted to let you know that we’ve listened, learned and acted. Please do take the time to read the summary document below. We will continue to integrate these learnings and insights into our strategy and plans. CSI is indebted to all those who participated in this study.
Peter Shergold,
Macquarie Group Foundation Professor
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In This Issue
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Recent Highlights
Your feedback – findings from CSI stakeholder study
 A number of focus groups and phone interviews were conducted in the middle of this year to understand what our stakeholders perceive CSI is doing well to date, and how we can better deliver to stakeholder needs and create social value. These interviews built on the findings from our online survey. You told us that CSI has established itself as a leader in the sector. Our point of difference is our independence, practical research and ability to advocate on behalf of all sectors to lead the debate. But you also told us we can do more to raise the profile of members of the CSI team, extend significantly our collaborative reach and networks, and provide more opportunities for two way engagement and dialogue.
Insights gained have been valuable in shaping our strategies, and will continue to be instrumental in our future planning process.
> Read our summary report.
CSI Research supports Woolworths Fresh Food Rescue Program
 Research conducted by the Centre for Social Impact in partnership with Woolworths suggests that more than three million Australians are at risk of, or experiencing food poverty. Woolworths has recently invested $2 million in developing the capacity of food rescue organisations to maximise their social impact. CSI's Director of Research, Les Hems, said the research has helped Woolworths deepen their understanding of food insecurity in Australia, identify regions that are at greatest risk and assess the capacity building needs of food rescue organisations.
The Woolworths Fresh Food Rescue Program has the combined aims of significantly reducing food waste and providing food for 2 million meals for Australians experiencing food insecurity.
> Read more about the CSI research project.
> Watch interview with Woolworth’s Greg Foran about the Fresh Food Rescue program.
Providing clean energy solutions for people in poverty
 The Social Business program discusses the latest in not-for-profit activity, corporate responsibility, social innovation and philanthropy. Topics for November included the launch of charitable bonds by Lifehouse at RPA, Westpac's $20 million additional capital investment in their Foundation, the 40th anniversary of the Ramaciotti Foundations which fund biomedical research, and the first Bootcamp for Social Innovators in Sydney.
Stewart Craine spoke about Barefoot Power's work to provide clean energy for poor families in developing countries, and Corinne Proske discussed the microfinance programs NAB provides to help financially excluded Australians. We heard from Sean Gordon from SchoolAid about a new campaign being run in conjunction with the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation to promote indigenous literacy.
> Read more and watch videos.
Internship demonstrates power and influence of civil society organisations in India
 Last month, PRIA scholarship winner Emma Weaver completed the PRIA International Internship Program based in Delhi, India. The focus of the three month internship was to understand participatory development and democratic governance and apply these theories in practice during two field placements. Emma says this has been an insightful experience, discovering first-hand the issues facing local communities in India, and how civil society organisations are working to facilitate change.
She says “My time in India has proved to me that civil society organisations such as PRIA can hold governing institutions accountable to their stated commitments and help set the priorities. They are also able to facilitate greater participation of the community and marginalised groups in decision-making processes."
> Read more about Emma’s experience.
Christian Bason on Co-Creation
 How can governments implement improved ideas to deliver social impact better and cheaper? This is the question addressed by Christian Bason in his public lecture “Co-creating for social impact”. A Director of MindLab - a cross-ministerial innovation unit in Denmark, Christian argues that the mode of creating new solutions in government should shift from an internally driven, closed, linear and often random process, to a more open, iterative and systematic design-based approach.
Christian explored a different process he calls co-creation to reach a different outcome - a systematic process of creating new solutions with citizens and not for them. He proposes that co-creation can help develop more ideas, faster and can rehearse the future to strengthen implementation to deliver social impact.
His latest book, 'Leading Public Sector Innovation', is available at direct.orders@marston.co.uk. The lecture was one of our Social Innovator Dialogues series, run in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.
> Click here to download PowerPoint presentation of Christian’s lecture.
ANZTSR conference discusses identity, role and influence of third sector
 The 10th biennial Australia New Zealand Third Sector Research Conference was held in Sydney on Nov 15 & 16. CSI hosted a free public forum. Facilitated by Julie McCrossin, it was highly thought provoking and raised important issues about the role and effectiveness of civil society and how the sector can increase in power and influence over the next decade. The conference was an opportunity for researchers to share learnings and discuss the future direction of research and practice in the sector.
Video and papers of the conference will be available shortly.
Coming Up at CSI
Launch of Social Procurement report- Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane
 Building on the CSI commissioned Social Procurement Guide for Victorian Local Government launched in October, 'Social Procurement Australia' provides an over-arching framework for social procurement Nationally. It was also commissioned with funding support from Social Traders, Brisbane City Council and Parramatta City Council.
Launch events will be held in Melbourne on Dec 7, Brisbane on Dec 8 and Sydney on Dec 14. They will be an opportunity to:
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Hear how to add the ‘social’ dimension to sustainable procurement practices so that procurement can truly reflect ‘triple-bottom line’ thinking
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Meet some social enterprises who offer ways to achieve that
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Join in a discussion about examples of past and possible future social procurement strategies.
If you are involved in this area and would like to attend an event, please email csi@unsw.edu.au. Places are limited.
Graduate Certificate in Social Impact –new scholarships available
 In addition to scholarships for those working in the community sector, a number of scholarships are available for indigenous students and those working in the Arts.
Yulgibar Indigenous scholarship:
The Yulgibar Social Impact Scholarship, valued at $15,000 is open to Indigenous students enrolled in (but not yet commenced) the Graduate Certificate in Social Impact at Swinburne University of Technology. Apply now.
KPMG Indigenous scholarship:
KPMG is offering a scholarship of $5,000 for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander student to undertake the Certificate.
> Download application form
Shark Island Foundation Arts scholarship:
Shark Island Foundation is offering a scholarship of $5,000 for an in individual working in the Arts.
> Download application form
Read more about other scholarships available and application criteria.
Staff News
Welcome to new CSI Staff
 Sarah Uther is leading an evaluation of our digital communications capabilities. She comes to us with extensive experience in advertising and marketing, having worked for global advertising agencies and large Australian corporates. Sarah is currently completing a double masters in development studies and international relations at UNSW.
Andrew Kos is our part-time online communications assistant. He is has a background in web development and is studying social work and development studies at UNSW.
Saida Sultana is a UNSW student intern helping to prepare our 2010 Annual report. She is from Bangladesh and is currently working as the Financial Controller at the Grameen Foundation Australia. She is also the president of UNSW Grameen Society. Saida has just completed a double masters in finance and financial analysis from UNSW.
Congratulations Danielle Begg
Our warm congratulations to Danielle Begg who left CSI last year to study for a Masters in Social Policy at Oxford University. Danielle graduates this month.
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