Professor Danielle Logue joins the NSW Social Impact Investment Expert Advisory Group

Professor Danielle Logue, the Director of the Centre for Social Impact at UNSW Sydney (CSI UNSW), has been appointed to the NSW Social Impact Investment Expert Advisory Group (EAG) by the Office of Social Impact Investment (OSII) in NSW Treasury.

Alongside Professor Logue, Trish Oxford, General Manager of Indigenous Business and Community Engagement at Australian Unity, and Elyse Sainty, who served as Director of Impact Investing at Social Ventures Australia for over a decade also join the group of seven , which comprises specialists in social finance, philanthropy, and social services to provide independent advice and raise awareness about social impact investing.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Professor Logue and discuss her appointment.

Her extensive research portfolio which investigates how enterprises and markets engage in processes of social innovation, coupled with her passion for fostering a more sustainable and inclusive economy, positions her to provide invaluable insights that can further advance impact investing and create more meaningful societal outcomes.

Danielle, congratulations! Firstly, can you tell us what the NSW Office of Social Impact Investing is and what your appointment to the Expert Advisory Group means?

Thank you! The Office of Social Impact Investment (OSII) is a department in NSW Treasury that’s responsible for implementing the NSW Social Impact Investment Policy . They work with partners to build a more effective and equitable economy by facilitating the allocation of capital into initiatives that can achieve positive, measurable, social and environmental outcomes, alongside financial return.

It was established after early promise was shown with the trial of Australia’s first Social Impact Bond, Newpin , a partnership between The Department of Communities and Justice, Uniting and Social Ventures Australia. The innovative approach demonstrated the potential of collaboration between government and non-government sectors in addressing social issues while sharing financial risk with the private sector through outcome-linked payments.

Since then, we’ve definitely seen growth in impact investing in NSW. OSII has facilitated 10 or more investments across different issues like supporting children in out-of-home care and reducing youth unemployment and homelessness. The Federal Government is also supporting a number of different trials, including three payment by outcomes trials , and various state and territory partnership trials to support vulnerable groups.

But, there’s a long way to go to unlock the scale of change we need. Especially as we’re facing growing inequity, the cost-of-living crisis, and climate change.

Can you tell us a little bit about the impact investing priority areas in NSW, and the sort of advice you’ll be contributing?

For NSW, the most recent policy is focused on three priority areas, which are:

1. Strengthening and streamlining OSII’s approach to deliver more social impact investments
2. Enhancing sector capability to embed principles of social impact investment
3. Building a broader and more diverse impact investing ecosystem by fostering growth of the NSW social enterprise sector and growing the NSW Sustainability Bond Programme

The EAG plays a crucial role in achieving these policy goals. As independent advisors, we’ll provide insights and recommendations to OSII. For instance, we might offer guidance on market infrastructure needs, international comparative developments, optimising measurement and capacity building for enterprises and investors, or ensuring equitable access to impact capital.

In terms of impact investing broadly, are there any key areas/initiatives that you are particularly interested in or excited about?

At the UNSW Centre for Social Impact our team is rebuilding and transforming our Social Progress Index to show indicators at the community level, as well as State and Federal levels. It’s important work as it’s a piece of independent data infrastructure for the public good, that can provide contextual indicators to inform impact investing decisions and also help us measure and understand our progress towards a just transition.