The inspiring impact of a diverse range of local and national Australian organisations was celebrated on 17 October at the 2019 SIMNA Awards Ceremony!

Hosted at the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre, the SIMNA Awards opened with a welcome from Luke Cordon from Deloitte Access Economics. This was followed by a Keynote address from Teena Blewitt, Group Manager of the Communities Group at the Australian Government, Department of Social Services. Attendees also heard from this year’s Finalists, who introduced their work and the real and measurable difference that this is making.

Check out the 2019 photo album here!

Winners were announced across four categories, as follows:

Excellence in Social Impact Measurement Award, sponsored by Think Impact

• Winner: YMCA of Brisbane, Impact Measurement Methodology
• Runner-Up: Love Mercy Foundation – Cents for Seeds Social Impact Report

Innovation in Social Impact Measurement Award, sponsored by Urbis

• Winner: City of Parramatta Council – Valuing Our Green Places
• Runner-Up: Sacred Heart Mission – Journey To Social Inclusion (J2SI)
• Runner-Up: Building communities: Dignity Studios

Outstanding Collaboration in Social Impact Measurement Award, sponsored by SVA Consulting

• Winner: Life Education Queensland – Healthy Eats Pilot Program
• Runner-Up: Connections Week (Adelaide Zero Project)

Effective Investment in Social Impact Measurement Award, sponsored by Our Community

• Winner: icare Foundation Social and Economic Impact Report
• Runner-Up: Creative Victoria’s Social Impact Program

The event was live-streamed on Facebook – catch up on the action here!

Simon Faivel, SIMNA Chair and Director of SVA Consulting said:

‘This is the 5th year that we have run the SIMNA Awards. We received the largest number of applications ever this year, across all categories. This is hugely positive. Applications were received from New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia.

This coincided with the introduction of a new judging process this year, with judges working in pairs in two distinct rounds of scoring. I’m delighted that we have once again been able to bring Australia’s social impact measurement sector together to recognise and celebrate these achievements. My thanks to those who travelled interstate to be there. Congratulations to all!’

Ross Wyatt, SIMNA Board member and Managing Director of Think Impact led a lively panel discussion. Sitting on the panel were Natasha Doherty, Partner, Deloitte Access Economics, Taimur Siddiqi, Managing Director, Incus Group, Jen Riley, Principal Consultant, Clear Horizons and Denis Moriarty, Founder and Group Managing Director, Our Community.

Of the 2019 Awards, Ross Wyatt said:

‘The 2019 SIMNA Awards reinforce what the Network exists to do – bring the people and organisations together that are tackling entrenched disadvantage to share their stories of measurable social change.

My thanks to our sponsors for making the SIMNA Awards possible, in particular the Australian Government, Department of Social Services, Deloitte Access Economics, SVA Consulting, Our Community, Urbis and Think Impact.’

For more information on the SIMNA Awards, please contact Lisa McGhee, Lead Doer and Connector at SIMNA on 0474 224 318 or email lisa@simna.com.au.

Notes

Organised annually by the Social Impact Measurement Network of Australia (SIMNA), the SIMNA Awards recognise the leaders in Australian social impact measurement.

In 2018, Mission Australia won the Excellence in Social Impact Measurement Award, The Salvation Army won the Social Impact Measurement Changemaker Award and the Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP) won the Outstanding Collaboration in Social Impact Measurement title. Further information is available here.

The full list of shortlisted 2019 Finalists is below:

Excellence in Social Impact Measurement

• icare Foundation Social and Economic Impact Report
• Love Mercy Foundation – Cents for Seeds Social Impact Report
• Skyline Education Foundation Australia – A Social Return on Investment Evaluation
• YMCA of Brisbane, Impact Measurement Methodology

Innovation in Social Impact Measurement 

• City of Parramatta Council – Valuing Our Green Places
• Dignity Ltd – Building communities: Dignity Studios
• Sacred Heart Mission – Journey To Social Inclusion (J2SI)

Outstanding Collaboration in Social Impact Measurement 

• Connecting Community for Kids – Collective Impact: Connecting Communities
• Connections Week (Adelaide Zero Project)
• Life Education Queensland – Healthy Eats Pilot Program

Effective investment in Social Impact Measurement 

• Creative Victoria’s Social Impact Program
• icare Foundation Social and Economic Impact Report
• Landcom – Skills Exchange

Ends