Accessing capital for social change
Working alongside social enterprises at Sefa Partnerships, we’ve seen first-hand the incredible impact that many organisations have. Regardless of how your business is structured, if you are delivering outcomes that alleviate disadvantage in Australia, talk to us about how we can work together to access the funding you need to sustain, grow, scale or innovate.
If you are a philanthropic organisation wanting to test the bounds of traditional funding, talk to us about how collaborations can help you bridge gaps and get finance flowing so that together we can make positive change in new ways.
How does Sefa Partnerships do this?
Funding Collaborations
We work with social purpose organisations that deliver impact to alleviate disadvantage in Australia. We know that looks different for organisations at different stages working within communities and in certain geographic locations, so our first step is always getting to know each other better to make sure we are mission-aligned and moving in the same direction.
We pursue funding collaborations with social purpose organisations delivering social impact in Australia. Our partners include social enterprises, not-for-profits, charities, philanthropies, and businesses.
We assist our partners to utilise our legal status in order to receive grant funding or philanthropic capital. Specifically, as a specially listed Item 1 DGR entity with Public Benevolent Institution (PBI) status (see ATO endorsement), Sefa Partnerships is set up to facilitate tax deductible giving that enables funding to reach community groups, for-profit-for purpose businesses and not-for-profits. Most purpose-driven organisations in Australia do not have DGR status and are unable to access philanthropic funding, which enables Sefa Partnership’s tax status to provide catalytic capital for unlocking social impact even more important.
For instance, a private ancillary fund (PAF) can only provide funds to a charity with DGR1 status, whereas Sefa Partnerships is able to donate funds to other institutions for benevolent purposes through our collaborative partnerships.
Funding collaboration criteria
To assess funding collaborations, we have set the following criteria, which we work through with potential partners:
Does your organisation meet and contribute to our charitable objectives?
Is philanthropy the best option? Is this the most appropriate type of capital?
Why Sefa Partnerships? What else can we contribute to the collaboration?
Blended Finance
Working with the Sefa Social Finance team, we can also provide social purpose organisations with access to blended finance.
Blended finance refers to our ability to meaningfully combine different types of finance: which may include grant, debt, and/or equity funding. Blended finance is a structured approach that allows organizations with different objectives to invest alongside each other while achieving their own objectives (whether financial return, social impact, or a blend of both).
Often, impact investors and other financial institutions can only provide part of this financing. The main investment barriers for private investors addressed by blended finance are (i) high perceived and real risk; (ii) poor returns for the risk relative to comparable investments; and (iii) inability to access philanthropic capital due to DGR requirements. Blended finance creates investable opportunities where traditional methods are facing barriers.
We are in a unique position to offer a bespoke approach to financing the social outcomes sector. We offer this to support to established social enterprises and for-purpose organisations requiring a combination of financing to meet their needs.
Are you struggling to access funding opportunities?
Explore the possibilities of collaboration with Sefa Partnerships