As part of the Australian Government’s election commitment for a stronger, more diverse and independent community sector, the Department of Social Services has been exploring opportunities to better support Australian communities through the design and administration of grants to the sector, including more meaningful working partnerships and options for greater innovation.

They published an issues paper, which aimed to reflect what the department has already heard from community sector organisations about current challenges and ideas for how the Australian Government could support a stronger, more diverse and independent community sector.

Using this issues paper as a guide, the department sought feedback between September and November 2023 to help inform a package of recommendations for government consideration, on innovative approaches to grant funding that will support both short and longer-term reform to the operation of grants.

Many thanks to the group of SIMNA’s Senior Impact Leaders who put together our submission.  We hope that this document also will be a useful resource for our network when talking to other funders about the importance of investing in social impact measurement. You can read our full submission here.