Map for Impact was a ground-breaking study conducted in 2017 to identify and map Victoria’s social enterprises and explore their social and economic contributions and characteristics.
As part of the wider economy, Victorian social enterprises have historically played an important role in delivering services, fostering economic participation and contributing to social innovation. Australia has a strong history of enterprising third sector organisations – including not for profits, cooperatives and mutuals – delivering goods and services in response to community needs.
The Centre for Social Impact Swinburne (CSI) was commissioned by the Victorian Government in 2017 as part of its first Social Enterprise Strategy to further understand the role of social enterprises across Victoria; considering their size, characteristics and baseline impacts.
Map for Impact has been recognised as part of the Victorian Government’s Social Procurement Framework and played an important role in positioning Victoria’s social enterprises as national leaders in driving employment participation and inclusive economic growth.
After the publication of the research report and the launch of this website, the Victorian Government and CSI Swinburne operated Map for Impact as a ‘live map’ until May 2022. The map you see here is a snapshot representation of social enterprise activity in Victoria as at May 2022.
Give five years have passed since the original research study was undertaken, we are no longer taking applications for social enterprises to be listed on the map. The original research report and the final map at the conclusion of the project (above) are both available as point-in-time snapshots of Victoria’s social enterprise sector. If you would like your social enterprise to be listed on a publicly-accessible database, please see the following resources.
Further resources for social enterprises and social procurement
Government and business buyers seeking to increase impact through their procurement can access a network of certified social enterprises and specialist social procurement services from Social Traders. To find out more, please visit Social Traders.
Social enterprises seeking to win work from governments and businesses can access Social Traders expanding network of buyers by becoming certified and joining the growing community of social enterprise suppliers. To find out more, please visit Social Traders.
Victoria’s social enterprise network organisation SENVIC also has a database of members that people interested in buying from social enterprises can access. To be listed on this database and/or to find social enterprises to purchase from, please visit SENVIC.
