We make winning work easier for social enterprises

In our experience, if all evidence is submitted, the review and clarifications can be done within two weeks of submission.

Social Traders certification team will review your application. While you’ll primarily be working with a Social Traders representative, more complex cases for certification are referred externally for third party review.

Social Traders certification attracts an annual fee of $500 per year. If your organisation runs multiple social enterprises, each additional application and profile in the social procurement portal attracts a discounted annual fee of $200 per year.

If you feel that you have been unfairly assessed, please contact us to discuss your options.

At this stage our certification process cannot cater for: - Sole Traders or Partnerships (get in touch with us once you have incorporated your businesses) - State Government Entities or Statutory Authorities that don’t operate independently of government or comply with competition policies - Private companies that are transitioning to a social enterprise without a clear model. We may suggest you take extra time to test and plan before seeking certification Note: There may be other instances where we can’t certify an organisation.

Social Traders explicitly certifies that an organisation is a social enterprise based on the social enterprise definition. Certification does not encompass other compliance matters including but not limited to verification of insurances, compliance with Australian laws, and business long-term viability. As a certified social enterprise, you may end up working with our government and business members who may ask you about other compliance matters.

As a certified social enterprise, your profile details are always available to business and government buyers in our social procurement portal. In some circumstances, Social Traders will create tailored lists of social enterprises in response to a specific requests. As a ST social enterprise, you will receive invites to exclusive networking events where you will meet buyer members and other certified social enterprises, you may also receive invitations to speak and highlight your social enterprise at our networking and social procurement training events.

We cannot guarantee you will win work – that’s down to how and when you engage with the business and government members, which includes completing a profile in the social procurement portal and attending social procurement networking events. What ST certification gives you is more than a foot in the door, our introductions significantly cut through your sales lead times. You will meet business and government buyers who are actively working with Social Traders to increase their social procurement spend. There is work out there for social enterprises. We’ve seen game changing work won with many of our facilities maintenance and catering social enterprises, we’ve also seen niche opportunities arise such as a deal to provide flu shots across Melbourne infrastructure projects. If your product or service can sell to a business, there’s potential for you to win work in applying for ST certification and meeting business and government buyers who are looking for traditional and innovate ways to include social enterprise in their supply chain.

We put you in front of our business and government buyer members, what work you agree to take on is up to you. You are responsible to bid for work you can deliver on. Once you are Social Traders certified you have access to a range of growth support and advice services (additional fees apply) with our industry experts, tailored to help you win and deliver on contracts. If you are interested in forming or joining a consortium, we can work with you to help understand the upcoming opportunities for work and parameters for working together.