Coronavirus Support and Resources for Social Enterprises

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April 2, 2020

Last updated on October 22, 2020

• Government

We recently conducted a survey of ST certified social enterprises to understand the impact of COVID-19 on your businesses. Thank you to those who responded. The survey was sent to 252 organisations (representing 346 social enterprises) and we received a 41% response rate. 

Overwhelmingly, you reported that the financial implications of the pandemic on your social enterprises are significant. Some relief may be found through the Government stimulus packages, summarised here (updated regularly).  

You also told us about your need for non-financial assistance. Below is a list of resources that go some way to addressing these needs, which we will be updating regularly.  

We are also working on developing other COVID-19 related support services, including webinars, pro-bono services and more, so stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, if you have specific support requirements that you would like to discuss, please email emma.joyce@socialtraders.com.au. 

Your people 

Remote working

• • ST Certified SE, GippsTech offers services to enable businesses to switch to remote work and remote service delivery. Read more on their blog, or book a free consultation via their website. 
  • SAP Litmos is offering the free Remote Readiness & Effectivity Academy, with ready-to-watch video-based courses that are designed to help establish best practices for remote work. 
  • Qualtrics’ Remote Work Pulse helps organizations understand how their employees are doing and what support they need as they adapt to new work environments. 
  • Infoxchange offer a free online course to get started using Microsoft Teams. Access their Teams 101 – Getting Started course here or their Teams 202 – Advanced Functions course here.

Workplace law: 

• • Fair Work Ombudsman – Coronavirus and Australian workplace law – Find out about your workplace entitlements and obligations if you’re affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, including information about stand downs from work, working arrangements impacted by school closures, and pay and sick leave entitlements. 
  • Webinar recording- COVID-19: Employment issues for not-for-profits –  by Not-for-Profit Law (scroll down to ‘Webinars on Demand’ to access the recording). 

Mental and emotional wellbeing: 

• • The federal government has announced several initiatives including support for mental health services, which may be relevant for your staff who have expressed employment related distress. https://www.pm.gov.au/media/11-billion-support-more-mental-health-medicare-and-domestic-violence-services-0  
  • Head to Health – The Government’s digital mental health portal which provides links to trusted Australian online and phone supports, resources and treatment options.  
  • Beyond Blue – dedicated coronavirus wellbeing support line is currently being developed. Existing phone and webchat support services are still available.  
  • Lifeline – phone, text and webchat support.  
  • Kids Helpline – phone, webchat or email support service for children.  
  • Socialsuite is donating its impact monitoring technology to organizations for the purpose of monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on your people.  

Staffing: 

• • Hatch Exchange – Connecting employers needing to scale up with staff who have been stood down – so those people can return to their original employers after COVID-19. 

Legal 

• Not-for-profit Law – COVID-19 response -The top issues facing not-for-profit organisations include cancelling events, managing contractual obligations, holding meetings and navigating employment challenges. NFL Law is developing resources in response to these issues, including fact sheets and webinars. 
• MinterEllison – COVID-19 Implications. Insights. Impact. Insights on a range of topics to assist your organisation to respond to and manage the impact of COVID-19 and mitigate the risks. 

Strategy, business planning, and innovating your business model 

• Business innovation consulting- ST Certified SE, GippsTech offers innovation consulting to help social enterprises pivot their business models and quickly develop and test new services that can succeed in the current market. It requires a time commitment of 1-1.5 days over the course of a week. Funding options are available to eligible SEs to cover all costs. Book a free consultation here. 
• Free webinar and toolbox – Resilience Planning, Navigating through COVID-19. This webinar covers strategy, risk, resilience & crisis planning for COVID-19 (Delivered by Sustainable Innovation Co.) 
• Free webinar – SkillGym: Prototyping, Adapting and Iterating. Explore the importance of rapid prototyping as businesses respond to the COVID-19 situation. (Delivered by Skills of the Modern Age.) 
• Free business advice – Social Ventures Australia (SVA) Upscaler is offering pro-bono business continuity and restructuring support to social enterprises in response to COVID-19. 
• Free business advice – The Difference Incubator (TDI) is offering social enterprises business continuity coaching and advice on prototyping a new idea. 
• Many social enterprises have already pivoted and changed their business model in response to COVID-19. We will be profiling case studies soon, so keep an eye out on Social Traders’ website and social media channels for inspiration and ideas.
• More resources coming soon… 

General social enterprise business support 

Institute of Community Directors 

• • Templates of the policies you’re most likely to need to cover a range of needs in the coming months 
  • Help sheets 
  • Other external resource links

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) 

• Information on their website re charity operations during COVID-19 
• Webinar – Charities, the ACNC and COVID-19 (video recording available on their website here), joint webinar with the ATO where they provide an overview of the Federal Government’s recently announced support for the charity and NFP sectors, as well as cover issues of charity regulation in a time impacted by COVID-19. 

Hospitality industry specific: 

• Hospitality resources for COVID-19 – by Dani Valent 
• Restaurant & Catering Coronavirus information hub 
• Websites for restaurants/cafes/bars: ST Certified SE Gippstech is offering a package to set up a website and start doing online bookings & delivery. Websites can be set up in 2 business days. Book a free consultation here. 

The following state–based organisations have a range of free resources, support and information for small businesses, including things like templates for rent relief request letters, business continuation plans, access to business advisors, etc: 

• Victorian Chamber of Commerce & Industry 
• New South Wales Government Small Business Commissioner 
• Queensland – Chamber of Commerce & Industry 
• South Australia – Business SA – Chamber of Commerce & Industry 

Funding (non-government) 

• The Funding Centre– financial advice and a summary of assistance available to not-for-profit organisations and community groups. 
• COVID-19 National Funding Platform – Australian Communities Foundation and Philanthropy Australia have partnered to provide a national funding platform to coordinate the philanthropic response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Non-profit organisations can register their funding needs as they relate to COVID-19 so that Australian philanthropic funders can connect with and support the important work underway to tackle the pandemic and protect our communities.