Endowments for Impact Challenge wrap up, positive impact of SEDI Grants
Message from IIA CEO
In our latest news update, we’re proud to share the release of Mission Meets Capital, the State of the Sector Report from the Endowments for Impact Challenge. The Report provides new insights into how philanthropic trusts and foundations are embracing mission-aligned investing and the growing depth of advisory expertise.
We highlight the role of social enterprises in strengthening the impact investing ecosystem, including one of our SEDI Grant recipients who is creating jobs, training and meals for marginalised communities.
I’ve enjoyed helping shape the conversation around impact investing for institutional investors at the ASFA 2025 Summit, and on impact investing’s role in Australia’s productivity performance in our latest story for On Impact.
We also bring you insights from Giant Leap’s Impact Startup Benchmark Report, an upcoming FGII Market Information Day, and international developments on how blockchain is reshaping the future of impact investing.
We trust there’s plenty here to spark ideas and deepen engagement. As always, we welcome your feedback.
Best wishes,
David
David Hetherington, CEO
Impact Investing Australia
Mission Meets Capital: insights, trends and lessons in mission-aligned investing
The Endowments for Impact Challenge (EFIC) has reached a new milestone with the release of its inaugural State of the Sector Report, Mission Meets Capital. EFIC was Australia’s first open tender designed to connect philanthropic trusts and foundations with advisors who can support mission-aligned, responsible and impact investment strategies – and the Report captures the insights, trends and lessons that emerged through the process.
Following the grand finale in March, culminating in the announcement of joint winners Australian Impact Investments and Koda Capital, with Evans & Partners recognised as the People’s Choice, the Report offers the first-of-its-kind overview of Australia’s evolving mission-aligned investing landscape. Key findings include:
- Deepening engagement with complexity: Leading advisors demonstrated a willingness to engage with clients on thoughtful, values-aligned investment decisions, along with a sophisticated understanding of impact trade-offs.
- Advanced impact measurement: EFIC’s strongest applicants combined global standards with bespoke tools (such as the Impact Management Project’s five dimensions, the IRIS+ toolkit, and alignment with the UN SDGs), signalling growing maturity in how advisors help clients measure, manage and communicate impact.
- Tailored advice for a diverse sector: High-performing advisors showed strong contextual understanding, tailoring investment strategies to foundations of varying size, structure, stage of growth and mission.
- Insight into governance dynamics: EFIC applicants increasingly recognised the importance of internal alignment within foundations and demonstrated the ability to act as both technical experts and change facilitators.
- Market momentum: EFIC revealed a growing pool of capable advisors and rising demand for high-quality, mission-aligned, responsible and impact investment advice.
The Report also points to areas for further growth – from deeper integration of impact frameworks to stronger ecosystem-level engagement.
As project manager of EFIC, IIA was proud to contribute to advancing the practice of mission-aligned impact investing.
The Mission Meets Capital Report, the Report Annex highlighting the significant impact investment opportunities in emerging markets, and the EFIC Request for Proposal are available here.
Strengthening the impact investing ecosystem through social enterprise
Our CEO David Hetherington joined Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek and SEDI Grant recipient Shaun Christie-David of Plate it Forward, to see firsthand the impact of social enterprise in action. The Sydney social enterprise creates culinary and hospitality career pathways for marginalised community members. Each week, it donates more than 2,000 free restaurant-quality meals to locals in need.
At Kabul Social (a Plate It Forward restaurant run by Afghan refugees in Sydney’s CBD), David and Minister Plibersek heard compelling stories of how social enterprises change lives, and how the SEDI Grant will help Plate It Forward scale its business model and create more jobs and training opportunities for refugees, migrants and people facing disadvantage.
Plate It Forward is among the dozens of social enterprises that have received a SEDI Capability Building Grant since we launched the program in June 2024. These grants, funded by the Department of Social Services, open up new opportunities for some of the most marginalised communities across the country breaking cycles of disadvantage, including for First Nations people, women experiencing domestic violence and people with disability.
SEDI Grantees include:
- All Things Equal
- APY Art Centre Collective
- Bluegum Grounds Maintenance
- CareerSeekers New Australian Internship Program Limited
- Centre for Participation
- Chance Creators
- Coomaditchie United Artists Corporation
- Eleanor Duncan Aboriginal Services
- fiXit Social Enterprise
- Flying Fox Services Limited
- FutureTech Association Australia
- GOGO Foundation
- Good Cycles
- Hamlet Inc.
- HoMie
- Hotel Etico
- House of Welcome Catering
- Humans of Purpose (formerly Scriibed)
- Kevin Heinze GROW
- Magabala Books Aboriginal Corporation
- Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation
- Nansen Digital Forensics
- Nundah Community Enterprise Cooperative
- One Culture Ltd
- Plate It Forward
- Regional Enterprise Development Institute Ltd
- See Me Please
- SisterWorks
- Strength Potential Incorporated
- The Community Grocer
- The Freedom Hub Ltd
- The Remote Op Shop Project
Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek, IIA CEO David Hetherington and Plate It Forward owner Shaun Christie-David
The contribution impact investing can make to shift Australia’s productivity performance
In our latest story for On Impact, David Hetherington explores how impact investing can boost productivity – from building human capital through employment initiatives to driving efficiencies, such as clean energy and waste reduction investments.
“Policy measures that increase the flow of capital to impact investments have productivity benefits: they make people more productive, and spread productivity improvements throughout the economy. There is no shortage of policy ideas out there – are we willing to grasp them?”
Shaping the future of investment: 2025 ASFA Summit
It was great to be in Brisbane last week to join industry leaders at the 2025 ASFA Investment Summit – a one-day forum exploring how investment teams can deliver success in an increasingly complex environment.
The Summit brought together senior voices from super funds, regulators and global asset managers to unpack the cultural, structural and strategic shifts shaping high-performance teams, including discussions on:
- leadership, global growth and building portfolio resilience
- sharpened oversight and expectations for investment and risk teams (considered by regulators from ASIC and APRA)
- AI’s role in streamlining investment processes
- navigating macroeconomic uncertainty
Our CEO, David Hetherington, contributed to the program, sharing perspectives on:
- approaches to incorporating externalities into investment decision-making
- a case study of how tenant-centred SDA can generate competitive, risk-adjusted returns (Enliven Housing)
- the fact that there is no unavoidable trade off between returns and impact
David’s remarks highlighted the importance of aligning investment strategies with long-term impact and resilience, themes that resonated throughout the day.
The Summit was a valuable opportunity to connect with peers, exchange insights and reinforce the growing role of impact investing within Australia’s broader financial ecosystem.
Read more about the ASFA Summit
David Hetherington and ASFA CEO, Mary Delahunty at last week’s ASFA Summit
Benchmarking Report for impact startups
Giant Leap – Australia’s first venture capital fund that is 100% dedicated to investing in impact startups – has launched its latest Impact Startup Benchmark Report. The report reveals key trends shaping the impact investing landscape with insights from thousands of impact deals across climate, health and people.
FGII Market Information Day
Philanthropic funders and foundations are invited to the next Foundations Group for Impact Investing (FGII) Market Information Day. The in-person (in Perth) and online event is an opportunity to learn more about the social impact investment landscape and opportunities from social impact funds, charities and social ventures.
Guest speakers include:
- Chris de Cuyper – Fremantle Seaweed
- Harikesh Pushpapathan – Stoic VC
- Dr Intan Oldakowska – EarFlo
- Joss Engebretsen – Barwon Disability Accommodation Fund (BDAF)
- Chuck Berger – Impact Seed (Market activity update)
When: 10:00am–12:30pm AWST (in person) or 12:00pm–1:30pm AEST (Virtual), Thursday 11 September
Where: Perth (in-person) and Virtual
Who: Philanthropic funders, foundations and FGII guests are welcome to attend.
More information about the FGII Market Information Day
International news
How blockchain is rewiring impact investing
The global impact investing market, worth US$87 billion in 2024, is projected to grow to over US$253 billion by 2030. Despite this growth, traditional barriers such as high entry minimums, slow processes and limited community voice remain, Forbes reports. Decentralised platforms using blockchain and tokenised governance are reshaping the sector by giving communities, NGOs and local stakeholders direct decision-making power alongside investors. This model, supported by the World Economic Forum since 2018, enhances transparency, trust and efficiency while aligning investment more closely with urgent social and environmental challenges.
