The Melbourne Social Equity Institute has launched the National Social Enterprise Research Project in partnership with the Australian Government's Department of Social Services. The initiative aims to create Australia's first comprehensive national dataset on social enterprises by combining publicly available information with Australian Bureau of Statistics data infrastructure.
The project addresses a longstanding challenge in the sector, where inconsistent definitions and fragmented data have limited understanding of organisations that contribute more than $21 billion annually to the Australian economy.
Led by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research, the Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership, and Melbourne Business School's Centre for Social Purpose Organisations is partnering with the Australian Government Department of Social Services and sector leaders to develop Australia's first comprehensive national dataset on social enterprises.
Using a novel methodology that combines publicly available information with the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment, the project will generate robust insights into social enterprises and the broader not-for-profit sector.
