Steps towards sustainability ↓

Corryong Neighbourhood Centre has been a central community hub, supporting the small town of Corryong, Victoria for over 15 years. Not seeing the desired impact from government grants, the organisation decided to trial a social enterprise model to become more financially sustainable.

“While grants are lovely, they're not always a good funding source for a social enterprise. They don’t create an expectation of an ongoing sustainable business,” says Sara Jenkins, Co-ordinator of Corryong Neighbourhood Centre (CNC).

To take on this new venture, the organisation reached out to Sefa for funding and support. With Sefa’s help, CNC purchased a bakery next door to the Neighbourhood Centre, and a couple of years later, a mechanic workshop 50km away in Walwa.

Navigating the unexpected ↓

After a few successful years, Corryong was hit by the devastating 2019 bushfires. Though it caused some setbacks for the bakery, it was the garage that took a significant hit.

The garage’s bread and butter centred around maintaining farm equipment. When bushfires destroyed most farm vehicles in town, they were replaced with new equipment that didn’t require maintenance in the short term.

Then 2020 brought COVID. A drop in tourist numbers saw a significant decline in sales at the bakery. Meanwhile, the cost of goods continued to increase, negatively impacting the profits used to fund CNC’s community centre. The impact of bushfires and COVID also affected staff mental health, which has put pressure on staffing – one of the biggest challenges regional social enterprises face.

“We needed to change how we ran our business to keep it going. Staffing remains the biggest issue for both businesses as we’re a small town with a very low population. It’s tricky not only to get people but to get the right people,” Sara states.

But thanks to the right partner, Sara and her team have been able to weather the storm.

“Sefa has always been a huge supporter and advocate for improving our business practices. They have done the journey with us and helped us make important decisions.”

Finding resilience ↓

Running a social enterprise requires focus not only on its impact, but also on running a resilient business.

And Sefa has supported Corryong Neighbourhood Centre every step of the way – from setting it up for debt capital to developing ongoing financial discipline.

To secure the initial capital for CNC, Sefa developed detailed budgeting and financial reports. This has allowed CNC to make well-informed decisions and pick up red flags quickly – which has been incredibly valuable through challenging times. A two-year hiatus on loan repayments also gave CNC breathing room to focus on strategies to keep moving forward.

Based on valuable discussions with Sefa on how to improve operations, CNC has pivoted its business model. With lack of staff and community need, the garage now operates on-demand, serving customers by appointment only. This allows the team to focus on getting the bakery back to profitability. While bakery sales have returned to 2018 levels, more is needed to make up for the past few years.

CNC has also hired a manager to oversee the bakery’s operations. Someone who knows the organisation, its staff and specific challenges. And today, Sara is cautiously optimistic about the future.

“We’re in a good space to make informed, responsible decisions that will end with the best outcome. And none of this would have been possible without Sefa. The reason our operations have continued is because Sefa put their trust in us, and want to see us succeed.”