Work Integration Social Enterprise (WISE)

Organisations supported through this round work alongside communities facing barriers to mainstream employment, including migrants and refugees, young people, women experiencing disadvantage, people with disability and First Nations communities, creating pathways into training, work experience and long-term employment.

Work Integration Social Enterprises play an important role in supporting people into employment while contributing to more inclusive local economies. This round responded to the changing operating environment facing many organisations across the sector, with funding designed to support enterprises to strengthen their business models alongside their employment pathways.

The WISE Grant 2025 round focused on supporting established organisations to build financial resilience, strengthen operating models and plan for their next phase of development, while continuing to deliver employment opportunities for the communities they work alongside.

This round was delivered through an invite-only process. Participating funding partners nominated organisations using a shared eligibility framework, allowing the collaboration to focus support where it could have the greatest impact in the current context and to build on existing partnerships across the sector.
 
2025 WISE Grant Recipients
The following organisations were supported through the WISE Grant 2025 round:

• Ability Enterprises

• Concern Australia

• Good Cycles

• Green Collect

• Green Connect Farm

• Hamlet

• Impact North

• Lighthouse Laundry Services

• Loop Foundation

• Merchant Road Events

• Mettle Women

• Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative

• SisterWorks

• Warrama-Li Group

• Wildflower Gardens for Good

The evaluation draws on interviews and reflections from partner organisations and examines how shared decision-making, coordination and stewardship supported the delivery of the initiative. It also reflects on how the collaboration responded to changing sector conditions, including increasing financial pressure on social enterprises and the need for more flexible and appropriately structured support.

Findings from this round of learning suggest that:

• the WISE collaboration demonstrated a mature and adaptive learning response, with partners deliberately refining the design of the second round to respond to increased financial pressure across the social enterprise sector

• strong stewardship and coordination played a critical role in sustaining trust and momentum across partners and enabling effective shared decision-making

• applicants reported positive experiences of a streamlined and proportionate process, with tools such as the Social Enterprise Stages Matrix helping frame organisational readiness and support needs

• the initiative demonstrates how coordinated philanthropic investment can reduce fragmentation and contribute to more aligned and responsive support for Work Integration Social Enterprises over time

• collaboration between funders contributes to stronger sector understanding and helps deepen learning about the operating realities of social enterprise whilst also informing future approaches to support

Together, these insights contribute to a growing evidence base about how philanthropy can work more effectively alongside Work Integration Social Enterprises and support stronger employment pathways for people facing barriers to work.

This report forms part of the WISE initiative’s ongoing commitment to learning with partners and the sector and will help inform future collaborative approaches to supporting social enterprise in Australia.