Meet the 2025 SIMNA Awards Winners and Runners Up
The winners of the 2025 SIMNA Awards were announced at the virtual ceremony on Friday 28 November 2025.
We extend our gratitude to everyone who entered the awards this year and our congratulations to all our winners, runners up and finalists!
The SIMNA Awards recognise and celebrate champions in the field of social impact measurement in Australia. We receive entries from organisations of all sizes and types each year, including not-for-profits, social enterprises, funders, B Corps, corporates, and government agencies.
You can meet all of our 2025 finalists here and read more about this year’s winners in this article by Matthew Schulz, journalist, SmartyGrants. You can also watch the recording of the ceremony, including the debate on ‘Artificial Intelligence is playing a transformative role in social impact measurement’.
Meet Our Winners and Runners Up
Winner: Global Sisters
Project: Solo Mums Parenting Payment Single (PPS) Demonstration Project: Welfare Reform for Self-Employment
The Solo Mums Parenting Payment Single (PPS) Demonstration Project is a three-year initiative by Global Sisters, helping 300 solo mothers on income support achieve financial independence through self-employment. Co-designed with OSII NSW and informed by ten years of impact data, the project addresses structural barriers that prevent women from fully participating in the economy. Funded by the AMP Foundation, Paul Ramsay Foundation, and OSII NSW, it aims to demonstrate that self-employment is a viable alternative to traditional job-seeking and to influence welfare reform. Social impact measurement is embedded through timebound milestones and verified outcomes, ensuring robust, quantifiable evidence to support policy change across Employment and Welfare systems, empowering solo mothers nationwide.
Runner Up: Hands Up Mallee
Project: Hands Up Mallee
Hands Up Mallee (HUM) is a place-based systems-change initiative in Mildura, Victoria, working with community, services, and government to co-design local solutions that help families and children thrive. Guided by its vision for a connected community, HUM integrates community voice, data and research to drive collective action. From 2020–2023, HUM and partners, including the Centre for Community Child Health, ARACY and Clear Horizon, developed a comprehensive Measurement, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) approach, featuring an overarching framework, age-specific models and project-level MEL plans. Using its “three-legged stool” model of research, data and community insights, HUM ensures transparent, collaborative evaluation. Building on its 2022 SIMNA Collaboration Award, HUM continues to strengthen social impact measurement and achieve lasting change across the Mildura region.
Winner: 15 Times Better
Project: 15xB Impact Assessment
15 Times Better (15xB), a First Nations-owned and led consultancy, has developed the 15xB Impact Assessment, an innovative online diagnostic tool that benchmarks how effectively organisations create First Nations impact. Drawing on over 50 years of combined experience, the tool measures readiness across seven key areas: strategy, employment, procurement, engagement, partnerships, governance and cultural respect. Using a structured logic model, it identifies gaps, quantifies risks and highlights pathways toward stronger, more sustainable impact. In partnership with global experts SoPact, 15xB enables ongoing impact measurement beyond a one-time assessment—an Australian first in the reconciliation sector. Already piloted by 20 organisations, including Bupa and IFM Investors, the tool is driving measurable transformation in First Nations employment, leadership and inclusion.
Runner Up: Brightwater Research Centre
Project: The Brightwater Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Toolkit
Brightwater Care Group, a leading aged care and disability service provider in Western Australia, has developed the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Toolkit to strengthen its ability to measure and demonstrate social impact. Created by the Brightwater Research Centre in collaboration with Curtin University and internal working groups, the Toolkit provides practical guidance on evaluation principles, stakeholder engagement, ethical data collection and outcome measurement. Rather than prescribing one approach, it promotes consistent, high-quality evaluation practice across Brightwater’s 22 communities, home-based services and research programs across Perth. By embedding evaluation into everyday work, the MEL Toolkit fosters continuous learning, evidence-based decision-making and improved client outcomes. Currently in its pilot phase, the Toolkit has strong potential to inform best practice across the broader aged care and disability sectors.
Runner Up: The BUSY Group
Project: From Framework to Fabric
The BUSY Group has expanded from its Australian roots into the UK and New Zealand, continuing its mission to improve lives through education, skills and employment. As the organisation grew globally, it recognised the need to embed impact thinking into its core strategy, moving from isolated examples of excellence to a unified, organisation-wide practice. This transformation began with the creation of a global Theory of Change, forming the foundation for BUSY’s new Impact Measurement Framework and supporting data systems. Together, these tools provide a shared language of impact, connecting teams and programs across borders. More than measuring outcomes, BUSY’s approach embeds continuous learning, evidence and purpose, turning its impact framework into part of the organisation’s fabric and driving lasting, meaningful change.
Winner: The Salvation Army Centre for Mission Impact
Project: Homelessness National Outcomes Measurement Pilot
The Homelessness National Outcomes Measurement Pilot, led by The Salvation Army (TSA), aims to evaluate the impact of its homelessness services across Australia. TSA supports adults and families through accommodation, case management, outreach, and financial assistance, delivering over 100 programs with 700+ staff. The project developed the National Homelessness Outcomes Measurement Framework in collaboration with homelessness specialists, frontline staff, lived experience representatives, and TSA’s data team. The framework balances standardised national indicators with flexibility for local contexts, using trauma-informed, strengths-based tools combining established instruments with TSA-specific questions. A 12-month pilot across 23 services refined the tools and framework, enhancing relevance and uptake. By amplifying client voices and informing decision-making, the pilot strengthens service improvement and prepares for national rollout in November 2025.
Runner Up: Milk Crate Theatre
Project: Creating Impact
Creating Impact, led by Milk Crate Theatre, is a sector-shaping initiative bringing together arts organisations, funders, and impact measurement experts to co-design and pilot a shared impact framework for community-engaged arts. Responding to challenges like siloed practices, unclear knowledge ownership, and limited benchmarking, the project convened a National Social Impact Roundtable to map sector strengths and needs. Structured in four phases, State of the Sector, Co-design, Pilot Implementation, and Analysis & Report, the initiative is currently testing the framework in real-world settings. Supported by Social Ventures Australia and Huber Social, Creating Impact aims to elevate the credibility, visibility, and sustainability of community-engaged arts, providing practical insights and a shared methodology for measuring and amplifying social impact across the sector.
Thank You!
Each year, the SIMNA Awards are made possible thanks to the generosity of our incredible supporters and partners.
The 2025 SIMNA Awards were supported by SmartyGrants, SVA Consulting, and Urbis’ Foresight, Strategy and Impact Unit.
Thank you to our wonderful judging panel for their time and expertise in assessing all of this year’s applications and determining our finalists, runners up and winners.