A legacy of impact: Reflections and celebration with David Gonski AC and Professor Peter Shergold AC
When David Gonski thinks about the Centre for Social Impact’s future, he thinks big.
“The education that the Centre for Social Impact can provide would be wonderful for as many who can do it, because it will broaden their minds,” he says, reflecting as the Centre for Social Impact prepares to mark its 15th anniversary.
“For me, it would be fabulous to have not one thousand, but many thousands of students doing courses within the Centre for Social Impact – extending their minds to something not just in business but around business, helping them to work out what ethically is right, helping them to think through the systems (and about) those less fortunate.”
Today the Gonski name is inextricably tied to education as a result of the prominent business leader’s landmark review of school funding , but before that, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Mr Gonski played a critical role in realising the vision of the Centre for Social Impact and its purpose to create meaningful change.
The beginning of the Centre for Social Impact
“1999 is when we worked out where the problem was,” David Gonski recalls – reflecting on the lack of a research centre which brought together the best of academic, business and the for-purpose sector to drive forward the work of charities and not-for-profit organisations in Australia, based on the best evidence for what creates tangible impact.
The centre would be a place where not-for-profits could broaden their skill sets and university students would learn how to best create social impact across all sectors – strengthening the next generation of leaders.
After then Prime Minister John Howard committed to $12.5 million for the project to any university that could find matching funding, Mr Gonski successfully pursued Australia’s leading philanthropists and businesses to secure the necessary capital to get the Centre for Social Impact off the ground as a cross university institution.
“We found a group of individuals who each put in quite substantial sums of money, particularly in those days. There were some corporates there as well,” he says.
“I'm very proud that they did that. Matching is always something that's good in philanthropy, but they could see the vision that we had for the Centre.”
The vision for the Centre for Social Impact
David Gonski recalls the excitement and hope for an Australian research and education centre that could ignite positive change for a better world, collaborating across sectors and enabling others to achieve social impact.
“I think it's very important to have somebody, or indeed some organisation, that can rise above the day-to-day to look at the systems, to do intense research and not be motivated just by a result but rather to put the whole story together and give some guidance as to how to improve the story,” Mr Gonski says.
“We can have an enormous impact if we educate young business leaders – and indeed, people who are not doing business at all – to think more broadly, to think outside of the box and actually worry about systems, to think about what we can do for society rather than what it can do for us.
“I think now, as I did in 1999, that there is an enormous need in this area, and the Centre for Social Impact can fulfill it.”
Driving impact from coast to coast
From its earliest days, the Centre for Social Impact has grown its collaborative footprint across the country. The founding partners were UNSW, the University of Melbourne and Swinburne University of Technology . The Centre for Social Impact found its home within the business school of each university.
In 2009, The University of Western Australia joined the ranks, broadening the range of research expertise and significantly extending the Centre for Social Impact’s reach.
In 2022, Flinders University joined the Centre for Social Impact network as a new university partner, further deepening the knowledge base for community organisations and the opportunity to catalyse social change in South Australia and the Northern Territory.
The Centre for Social Impact continues to grow and evolve, celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2023 with its current university partners – UNSW, The University of Western Australia, Swinburne University of Technology and Flinders University.
Building the team to launch the Centre for Social Impact
The founding university partners worked together, slowly but surely, to pull together the essential ingredients that would take the Centre for Social Impact from vision to reality.
“Number one, we had to find the necessary money to be matched by the government, so we got the money,” Mr Gonski recalls.
“Number two, we got Peter Shergold . It needed a great leader to start it. And if I look at the big steps we took, that was the best.”
In 2007, Peter Shergold was preparing for the end of his five-year term as Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet when David Gonski and UNSW Vice-Chancellor Fred Hilmer met with him. The pair startled the top bureaucrat with their request for him to come on board as founding CEO of the Centre for Social Impact.
“It was too big an opportunity (to miss) because really there was nothing quite like it in Australia at that stage,” Professor Shergold says.
“I was quite taken aback because I hadn't expected that conversation. I suspect that it took me about ten and a half minutes to think, ‘Oh, this would be a really interesting thing to do when I leave public service, something that would really attract me.’
“I'd spent the last 20 years in the public service, and over the last ten years I had increasingly realised the importance for good governance of bringing the public, private and community sectors together, both to design government policy and to deliver it.”
Turning the opportunity into reality
Peter Shergold was attracted to the unique prospect of a cross university collaboration that brought the brightest minds together from across academic to work with business and the for-purpose sector. This was something new for Australia.
“I could see that this was a real opportunity if we could get it right,” says Professor Shergold, who will step down from his current role as chair of the Centre for Social Impact at the end of 2023.
“I also liked the opportunity of bringing together a number of universities in a collaboration, to build an institution that had academic credibility, based on strong research, teaching and community engagement.” Professor Shergold saw the huge potential of applying academic rigour in the quest for better social outcomes, and orchestrating a ‘meeting of minds’ to facilitate innovative approaches to philanthropy and social investment.
“There are things that are unique with the Centre for Social Impact,” he says. “It is unique in the breadth and depth of its cross-university collaboration. It is unique in making sure that academic-based evidence can actually influence public policy.
“It's unique in tackling a wide range of important social and environmental problems with a business orientation, and trying to make sure that we're working with corporate Australia as well as community Australia and government Australia, almost as an intermediary to bring those sectors together.”
Looking forward to a future of further social impact
In a world with greater political and economic uncertainty, David Gonski and Peter Shergold see the Centre for Social Impact continuing to play a critical role.
“I increasingly think that democratic governance is under real challenge now,” Professor Shergold says.
“It seems to me that the sort of work that CSI does – trying to make sure that we can have more effective approaches to solving really profound, wicked, economic, social and environmental problems – has become significantly more, rather than less, important.
“What you can do from a university is to provide a credible evidence base for change (and) put that in a form that convinces governments to pilot and demonstrate new approaches. Translated research and high-quality teaching can help persuade corporate and philanthropic Australia to be willing to try bold and creative innovations.”
Mr Gonski agrees there is a strong need for the Centre for Social Impact’s continuing contributions.
“All countries and indeed most communities have problems within the way they run, in the way that the assets are distributed within the community and all sorts of other pressures and troubles,” he says.
“The Centre for Social Impact is a place where research can be done to improve how those matters are dealt with, where there can be a diagnosis, a treatment, and indeed even a statement of how to do it.
“I believe very strongly that these sorts of problems will continue, and I believe equally strongly that we need a centre such as the Centre for Social Impact to keep looking, to keep identifying, to keep educating, and I hope to assist in removing some of these problems as we go forward.”
As he prepares to step away as National CSI Board Chair, Professor Shergold reflects on the Centre’s work so far and the opportunity that still lies ahead.
“I'm very proud of the fact that I was there at the beginning and had a genuine influence on those early years. I hope that I helped to make David Gonski’s vision real,” Professor Shergold says.
“I look back with a real sense of pride at what the Centre for Social Impact has achieved, because of all the people who work in its four universities and as committed Board members.”
“Over 15 years, the environment for social impact has changed. I think there is now this opportunity for the Centre for Social Impact to keep being at the leading edge.”
Celebrating 15 years of the Centre for Social Impact
For 15 years the Centre for Social Impact has been a pioneer in driving meaningful social change, through transformative education, purpose-driven research and community engagement.
In this video, discover our mission, core values, and how our dedicated team is addressing pressing social issues across our four leading Australian universities.
The Professor Peter Shergold Social Impact Fund
In recognition of Professor Shergold’s lifelong dedication to social impact, the Professor Peter Shergold Social Impact Fund has been established to both honour and perpetuate his impact.
This fund will support social impact projects of national significance, enable rigorous research that informs best practice, support leading education to build capacity, and drive engagement initiatives to convene and inspire change makers across the social impact sectors.