Social procurement research

Social Traders is conducting a research project that seeks to explore developments in social procurement around the world and will examine the realities, challenges and potential futures of social procurement in Australia.

Social Traders is an independent company established to facilitate, support and advocate for the development of social enterprise in Australia.

The project is conducted with the Centre for Social Impact, Department of Planning and Community Development Victoria, Brisbane City Council, Parramatta City Council and Foresters Community Finance.

The research team is interested to hear of the experiences of social enterprises in seeking and securing social procurement opportunities. They aim to document the experiences of government bodies, corporations and non-profit organisations in offering procurement to these enterprises.

For more information see the Social Traders website or contact {encode=”ingrid@foresters.com.au” title=”Ingrid Burkett”}.

Performance and metrics in the not-for-profit sector

Scholars from Murdoch University are inviting interested stakeholders to participate in their PhD research on performance and metrics in the not-for-profit sector.

The aim of the project is to assist the development of a metrics framework that will enable not-for-profits, of any size and structure, to better evaluate their organisational outcomes and be able to enhance their performance to their constituents, funders and volunteers.

The researchers are interested in interviewing people for up to an hour in order to ascertain the barriers and enablers faced by not-for-profits. Participants will also be asked to fill in a questionnaire to identify any similarities between organisations due to their size, level of volunteers, and type of service provided. The researchers hope that participants may benefit from considering the interview topics in the context of their own organisations.

Participants will be able to read a summary of the findings and researchers are open to discussing the results of the study with participants. Interviews are to be completed by the end of April 2010.

For further information contact either {encode=”30384073@student.murdoch.edu.au” title=”Julia Zivanovic “}(PhD candidate) on 0419 841 309 or Dr David Holloway, Senior Lecturer, Murdoch Business School, Murdoch University on 08 9360 2704.