Back to: Westpac Foundation

The Westpac Foundation supports not for profit organisations with deductible gift recipient status throughout Australia, that seek to create and sustain social enterprises in disadvantaged communities.

"We define social enterprise as a not for profit entity .that combines an entrepreneurial approach to addressing social problems. Social enterprises may derive a proportion of their income from commercial or trading activities aligned with their social purpose and objectives". For example, an organisation may generate revenue through a training and employment program for at risk youth to build and sell recycled furniture.

Priority is given to programs that aim to create and sustain social enterprise in disadvantaged communities with particular emphasis on:

• Enabling life long learning and education leading to employment
• Encouraging youth leadership and empowerment
• Supporting youth and families at risk
• Promoting financial inclusion and responsible money management

• Innovative
• Preventative
• Collaborative
• Financially sustainable in the long term
• Scaleable and replicable
• Open to evaluation

• Significant grants of up to three years' duration to organisations and projects that are national or quasi national in scope (see recent examples)
• Grants of one and up to two years' duration as seed funding for new or relatively new programs or social enterprises (see recent examples)
• Capacity building grants to help strengthen the not for profit sector as a whole (see recent examples)