Belinda Morrissey On The Role Of Philanthropy & Social Enterprise To Tackle Complex, Systemic Problems
Belinda Morrissey is the CEO of the English Family Foundation, one of the few Australian foundations with a sole focus on driving transformational change through the growth and development of social entrepreneurs and social businesses.
For the past 7 years, Belinda has worked closely with social enterprises to develop and support their sustainable business models for delivering social outcomes. She has a particular interest in developing the concept of an engaged philanthropy model in Australia and in the role of the philanthropic sector in supporting the social enterprise sector to obtain the “right capital at the right time”.
She has spent the past decade in the philanthropic and for purpose sectors. Prior to this Belinda had an extensive career in investment management spanning three continents, she holds a BA in economics and has completed postgraduates in philanthropy, applied investment and in financial accounting. Belinda holds several not for profit board positions – she is currently on the Board of ActionAid Australia and on the Advisory Board of the Social Impact Hub.
Belinda gives strong insights into the philanthropic sector in Australia, providing thoughts on how to get the right capital at the right time, whilst reflecting on the criticality of social enterprises and how the sector has developed.
Highlights from the interview (listen to the podcast for full details)
[Tom Allen] - Could you please share a little bit about your background and what led you to your passion of philanthropy and social enterprise?
[Belinda Morrissey] - Thanks Tom. I was brought up in Adelaide fairly conventionally and I think that when I was at university, my generation was more interested in the high-scaling career than saving the world. That took me across to a number of countries, and I worked in Hong Kong, London and in Australia. But it didn't really sit very well with the strong values based approach that I was brought up with. When I was in London, I first came across the concept of community foundations. I was working with an asset manager and we gained the book of business for the Newcastle Community Foundation. The CEO of the Newcastle Community Foundation, this glorious guy called George Hepburn, just took me under his wing and taught me so much about the role of community foundations and it just made sense to me. He was a role model [that believed in a] give where you live, local model where donors got together and actually supported local, really deep social impact in that same community.
And it was a win-win model. I guess for me it really opened my eyes that whilst I wasn't as strong, (my skill set wasn't in social work for example, or something front-line), there were many ways to support the vulnerable in our communities and to create impact. Therefore my skill set, which was strong on business, negotiations and relationships, there was a way that I could put that to use, to better use really. I moved back to Australia and that was when I started studying philanthropy and learning more about that world, and I haven't looked back since!
And that led to your position as CEO of the English Family Foundation. So what sort of projects are you involved in now? How are you involved in the sector?
As you mentioned in the introduction, our vision and mission is really centred on the growth and development of social enterprises. Here in Australia particularly, but also within our closest neighbours. We like to take a different approach to philanthropy and about how we can add value to our grant partners in the pursuit of a shared vision for social outcomes.
We look at the role of philanthropy as being one of partnering for impact and there's many different ways to create impact, not just through dollars.
If I can explain that, we put it into three main streams.
One is the right capital at the right time. So that looks like grants or impact investments and it's pretty much where we know philanthropy sits and does it really well.
We also are mindful that our time and our skills are valuable as well. Not to say they are any better, but they're often different. So we spend a lot of time in this sector. Allan [English] does a lot of mentoring. I do a lot of work with our grant partners and other social enterprises who come to us to understand how to approach philanthropy or how do you look at these different issues. It's often the role of the sounding board of a different type of voice in those discussions.
The third area that we can add value is really around playing the role of an impact broker. In essence, so much of what we do is about connectivity. It is about relationships, and we have deep relationships in the sector. We sit in such a privileged position in philanthropy, sitting with a little helicopter view. Seeing so many different business models, so many different organisations and also having deep connections amongst other philanthropists. Therefore, by bringing that together and being an impact broker, is another way that we really feel that we can add value. An example of that; I have been working with Bec Scott on Moving Feast, an initiative that she's working on, and really trying to bring philanthropy together around her initiative, holding zoom calls and doing all sorts of updates and really bringing people together. That's not something that we necessarily have put a lot of grant funding into, but we've put an awful lot of time and a lot of our connections into, so there's some ways that we like to look at how we create impact.
Belinda Morrissey during the Impact-Led Breakfast Forum in 2019 with David LePage, Tom Allen, Emma-Kate Rose and David Brookes.
Your support has been felt by the sector in Australia Belinda, and Allan English as well. So we're living in a difficult time, right? We've seen these huge changes around the world because of COVID-19, and that obviously affects the social enterprise sector and the world in general significantly. So, how do you believe that social enterprises can best tackle some of the critical social and environmental problems that we are experiencing? And importantly, what sort of support do you believe they critically need right now given our circumstances?
Look that's the $64 question, isn't it?
I think that over the course of the last few weeks and months, one issue that has become incredibly apparent in most conversations that I'm having is the criticality of social enterprises in creating health and welfare outcomes for Australians.
And particularly for those Australians who are most vulnerable. Those who are slipping through the various government stimulus packages for example. And those stimulus packages have been incredible, don't get me wrong.
Unfortunately there are still areas, short term casual workers, migrants on visas and others who are really still slipping through those cracks. And that's really the sweet spot for social enterprises.
There's so many that are particularly in that jobs-focused area who are actively employing and creating job opportunities so that people can continue and survive through this. And I think that's the really key issue, we need to get through COVID and re-frame how we look at the future.
I think, ‘what can social enterprises do through this particular pandemic?’ Firstly we need them to survive. We need them to really understand what makes them resilient and work really intently. We need their passion. We need their energy and their vision for a better world.
We're entering a period of potentially the greatest economic and employment challenges that we've ever had in our societies. I think that this crisis has brought home to all of us the criticality of how we survive as a society through this, but not only that, [but also] how we emerge to the other side with sustainable, just and inclusive systems. I think that's what we need to really focus on. Ensuring that social enterprises are able to thrive and continue to survive and be resilient. Whilst there has been an incredible disruption with COVID-19, I don't want to underestimate the negative impacts, but at the same time it's giving us a really unique opportunity to re-imagine, to redesign, and refocus.
What sort of support does social enterprise need? I think that there's a lot happening in the sector to really understand that, and to respond directly to needs. There's a number of initiatives that I've been working on with the sector, and with the likes of the Westpac Foundation and the Social Impact Hub, we put together a business mentoring opportunity whereby social enterprises can tap into pro-bono business support. That type of business skills in order to pivot, or even to survive are really needed at the moment. We need access to procurement contracts, to be able to trade through this and really continue that business side. But to do that we also need access to capital. I think capital is one of the biggest issues at the moment and the hardest one to secure.
So how have you seen philanthropy change over the last five years or so, but where do you now see it heading into the future?
I think that's a really interesting area and that's one thing that I'm quite passionate about within our role at the English Family Foundation. Philanthropy is definitely evolving. If you look at where we are now today versus where we were even a number of years ago, [even] five years ago, it's significantly different. What we're seeing is much deeper levels of collaboration than we ever have before. People wanting to move together to create systemic change at a systems re-engineering level or a place-based approach to solving social problems. We're seeing a much higher level of professionalisation of the sector. I, as a CEO of a foundation seven years ago, [found it] was a pretty lonely space. There really weren’t that many foundations that have paid staff. We're now seeing not the proliferation of that, but we're now seeing an increase in the professionalisation of the sector, which means that people are understanding the issues and wanting to do better.
I think that's really important because it's very easy to give money away, but it's very hard to do it well. There's a great deal of competition out there. I think that there's a great deal of demand for philanthropy.
Of course everybody is looking to obtain funding, but it's about how do you actually address systemic issues in our society in the most appropriate way.
And that's a really difficult question. It does take a really different approach. I think that philanthropy is really starting to find its voice in utilising mechanisms. Like the role of Philanthropy Australia, the peak body for philanthropy here in Australia, and the role of advocacy. Advocacy was something that philanthropy would never go near a decade ago. But we're now seeing more and more foundations really finding their voice and stepping up and advocating on behalf of issues that they're really passionate about.
Understanding and using the power imbalance if you like, but still the power of philanthropy and using that for good. And that's a significant change. I, for example, chair a funders network group through the Philanthropy Australia members and it's called Beyond Grant Making. And we established that to really explore the role of philanthropy, between grants and impact investment and looking at that right capital at the right time as I like to say. And looking at all the tools in your toolkit to really add strong values to your partners in achieving that shared value and shared vision. That would not have been possible five years ago. So I think that where philanthropy is right now has definitely evolved, and it is still evolving. And we certainly look to the U.S. And the U.K. and understand what's happening over there.
What we're doing here in Australia is really important in creating that collaborative, collective ability for us as a society to unlock and solve these really wicked, complex problems.
It's not the only voice and it's not the only component, but I think it's a really key component to solving this.
That's really encouraging to hear how you have seen philanthropy develop over the years.
You've had a lot of experience with social entrepreneurs seeking philanthropy. Have you seen any areas where these entrepreneurs typically fall short, when looking for that sort of support?
Well obviously not every social enterprise can attract philanthropic grant funding. And obviously only those that are charitable can do that. So there's different approaches needed depending on the different type of support organisations are looking for, and social enterprises are looking for. But one of the key areas that I see is the lack of collaboration because really when I talked a bit about the evolution of philanthropy, we're really looking to systemic issues and solutions.
If you're tackling domestic violence for example, then that (to use Sharon Zivkovic's language) is a highly complex, wicked problem. And complexity theory teaches us that these causal issues are highly interconnected. So, if you're tackling domestic violence then that's fantastic, but what we really want to understand is where you fit in that complex web, and who you're collaborating with to actually achieve that. Because we know that no one organisation can achieve that single-handedly. Even at the base community level, which is where social enterprises in Australia have so often grown from and so often developed solutions for gaps in their local communities, is absolutely beautiful, but that complexity really starts to come into play.
It's about understanding where you fit and how that collaborative approach comes together. I see a lot of incredible social enterprises that I absolutely fall in love with and really get and understand what they're trying to do, but then I look at the next one and getting that connectivity is hard.
I feel that that's come to the forefront more now, because we're running out of time. If we look at climate change issues, we don't have time for everybody to have their pet project anymore.
What we need is we need to move together, forward together, as a society bringing in all the key stakeholders. That's where I think social enterprise actually has a sweet spot. I think that there is a really great strength. It's just about how we actually articulate and work collaboratively together, and I think that you will take more philanthropy on that journey with you if we have a stronger approach to that.
That's a great segue onto this next question, which is really about where you see these strong opportunities for the social enterprise sector in Australia and where you believe there is opportunity to build on the current momentum that Australia is experiencing? We've seen the rapid formation over the last 12 months of a variety of different state based social enterprise networks or councils. We are working towards a national strategy, but where are these further opportunities, Belinda?
One of my favourite quotes is, “change comes at the speed of trust”. And to me, that has really come to the forefront in so much of what I'm seeing at the moment, in that we've spent the last decade building that trust. Now we need to move, and move quickly.
This pandemic has touched everybody in a way that previous crisis in Australia haven’t. I live in Sydney and we came through the incredibly tough bush fire season, but I live here in the city. It impacted me through air quality and the inability to go to my favourite beach side holiday space. It didn't burn my property down, so it impacted me significantly different than those who were at the front line of it. But this epidemic is touching everybody in some way, in a deeper way.
I really strongly believe that now is the time for social enterprise in Australia.
We've all had a bit of time to contemplate our navels and our lives and I strongly feel that we need to move on that momentum and ensure that people don’t want to go back to the old normal, and that they want to create the new normal, and that's easily said but not easily done. And so what does that look like? What does that mean?
I think that there's an opportunity for social enterprises to be really vocal about how they create the incredible social benefits within their everyday model, within their DNA.
This is not an add on. This is what social enterprises do.
And I think now people are actually more open to understanding that. We have the evidence base. We have the incredible work of those like Jo Barraket and the body of social enterprise leaders. As you mentioned, we've seen such momentum in the sector over the last 12 months.
You look at the rise of the social enterprise state networks, that's phenomenal. You didn't have that 10 years ago. So we're starting to see the inclusivity of social enterprise into the Australian society. But what we're not seeing is the depth. So now we need to build out that demand. We need to really build stronger collaborative approaches across so that we can really deepen the social impact of social enterprises. And I think that I sometimes feel that there's a bit of an echo chamber and that we're all on the same page, but not necessarily everybody else's. So how do we develop the language to get out of that echo chamber so that it's more relatable to Australian businesses, to everyday Australians. You think back to the ‘buy Australian, buy local’ type of campaigns. We need in a way to be able to articulate the incredible benefits that we know the sector brings.
I think people are now wanting to do more with their consumer dollars and so this is beginning to happen, but I think that we've seen so much more momentum in the past 12 months than we have in the last few years put together.
Another area is to be able to demonstrate to government the criticality of the role of social enterprises. Governments are willing to listen, and we [need to] really ensure that we position it correctly, which we’re starting to do now.
State networks are doing great work with local and state governments and even the federal government is listening through the Social Impact Investment Taskforce for example. That really reiterated that it's all very well to say, "yes we need an impact investment marketplace", but guess what, that's not going to happen unless we have a strong ecosystem that underpins and supports that, which is what we within the English Family Foundation have been saying for the last number of years. I do feel that the echo chamber is starting to broaden but not enough.
I'd agree. And I think you've got some great points there, Belinda. I'm keen to hear then about a couple of really practical projects or initiatives that you've come across which are really creating that positive social change and doing something in that collaborative way that you talk about.
I think that there are so many out there at the moment, but you have asked me to look at a few. One of the ones that I have been looking at lately is an incredible collaborative project down in Melbourne called Moving Feast. A number of weeks ago, right at the very beginning of the pandemic lock down, Luke Terry of White Box Enterprises and myself called together a meeting of some of the social enterprise leaders in Australia to sort of say, “Where are the pain points? Where are we, and what do we need to do collectively to get through this?” And at that point, Bec Scott from Streat, who has been driving Streat for the last decade or more, at that point really articulated the opportunity to re-engineer and rejuvenate what we already have. And she's done that. What she's done is created Moving Feast, which is a collaborative project through SENVIC, the Social Enterprise Network of Victoria, which brings together food social enterprises to create a just, sustainable resilient, food response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At a basic level, it's looking at (from farmer to plate), how you involve social enterprises all the way through, in order to be getting cooked and fresh produce meals to those vulnerable Victorians who are struggling right now who don't have food, that really need assistance. They need food packages, if you like, of this very base level. So that's the basic level and that's wonderful, that's fantastic. But it's so much more, it actually has a recovery and rejuvenation component.
This concept of using social enterprises right across the food system is about how do we re-engineer our systems so that recovering rejuvenation phase, which will come, results in increased food security and resilience of households right across the state.
There's establishment of balcony and backyard gardens. There's more community gardens infrastructure around. And I think that the duality, the multiplicity of that approach that they've brought together is yes, it's an immediate COVID response and it really is providing thousands upon thousands of meals to vulnerable Victorians, which is absolutely needed and exciting. But it's using this as an opportunity to re-engineer, and that I think to me speaks volumes of the complexity and the sophistication of the sector and that level of sophistication is what I think we need to really be articulating across Australia.
This is a sophisticated sector that knows people, that understands social needs and issues and can create innovative solutions to make that happen.
This is not just an immediate food response, but something that is actually systemic and creates that better new normal that we really talk about. Another great example is I've been working with Luke Terry of White Box Enterprises around creating a capital vehicle that is looking for grants from philanthropy, but also loans. So the grants act as first loss capital. [It’s a] blended finance approach, which we've so desperately tried to get to in Australia but haven't really succeeded. This is it. This is actually a really nimble vehicle that will be providing working capital to social enterprises, job-focused social enterprises right now to give them the working capital to go out and buy the equipment to take advantage of a new contract. Or to even just be able to keep people in jobs. And that's what it's really about. It's how do we actually continue to keep people employed, keep the momentum, enable people to work their own way out rather than having a traditional charitable approach. Those kinds of concepts really excite me at the moment.
And there's a couple of great initiatives you've mentioned there, so to finish off then Belinda, I'd love to hear what books you'd recommend to our listeners.
Look, a very dear friend of mine, Lisa Cotton is on the board of the Stella Prize, and the Stella Prize was awarded I think last week or the week before. That's really Australia's preeminent literature award for female authors in Australia. And really interestingly this year, it was won by an incredible woman called Jess Hill. And it's not a work of fiction. It's very much a work of fact, and it's called "See What You Made Me Do." And it's taking the issue of domestic violence from the perpetrator's point of view as well. And really not looking at why women are victims, but more why men are perpetrators. As a woman, I think it's really important that we understand how this absolutely terrible issue in Australia, in a highly developed country like Australia, domestic violence, is still such a prominent and scary issue. And I think it's really important that we understand and that we have a greater sense of empathy for women and families who were in that situation. I know so many families that have been touched by this. I haven't finished the book yet, but I'm really excited by that, and I think it's a really important piece of work in Australia right now.
