Introduction
In 2025, Social Traders national report, Social Enterprise: Powered by Trade and Driven by Purpose, revealed a defining factor contributing to the success of Australian social enterprises: trade revenue. The report identified a clear pattern. When trade revenue goes up, impact goes up too.
That insight confirmed long-standing assumptions about how social value is realised in social enterprises. The report also found that scale supports resilience, but there’s no single model for success. Thus, the report identified further research questions:
- What other factors (beyond trade revenue) are playing a role in increasing social enterprise impact?
- What other factors (beyond scale) are playing a role in social enterprise resilience?
This report seeks to answer these questions.
The headline finding
There's no single formula. Success depends on alignment across six dimensions: policy & strategy, markets, finance & resources, support, human capital, and culture & values.
Trade revenue matters, but it only drives impact when the foundations around it are intentionally built.
Social enterprise success depends on coordinated action
Shape the conditions for success through regulation, procurement and legitimacy.
Build resilience through patient, mission-aligned capital.
Reduce friction by coordinating actors, setting standards and enabling market access.
Convert these conditions into impact through strong execution, innovation and leadership.
Recommendations to fuel social enterprise impact, resilience and scale
- Recognise social enterprise as a distinct part of the economy and reward public benefit delivered through trade
- Activate demand through procurement, buyer education and credible standards
- Shift capital from short-term grants to capability-building, mission-aligned finance
- Invest in intermediaries as critical system infrastructure
- Strengthen execution and leadership capability
- Align action across policy, capital, markets and social enterprises to unlock scale