Australia’s wealthiest families have been asking what it will take to build a stronger, more innovative economy. There’s no question Australia needs to evolve, but as we focus on the future, we shouldn’t lose sight of what’s already working.
At Sefa, we’ve seen for years how finance can fuel innovation and social good at the same time.
Back in 2011, we saw a gap in the market. Too many impact organisations doing vital work on-the-ground couldn’t get the capital they needed to grow. The Commonwealth Government stepped in with $10 million, which we matched with another $10 million to start an evergreen fund connecting philanthropy and mainstream finance. With Sefa, we set out to prove that you can back purpose and performance together.
That seed funding has since unlocked more than $160 million for over 170 organisations - a 16x return on the government’s original outlay. We've proven that impact-first finance works.
We focus where mainstream finance doesn’t reach: places where communities are doing the heavy-lifting but capital is hard to come by. The issues are complex -affordable housing, meaningful employment, community-led enterprises - but the approach is simple. Help these organisations build stronger business models, give them the confidence to grow, then back them with the right capital at the right time.
Capital helps, but it's the culture that makes it work.
As Robyn Denholm said at the family office summit, cultural change is as important as capital. We see that in our work every day. We work with partners before, during and after investment to build the capability that keeps their impact going. Nearly 200 organisations have worked with Sefa in this way, and more than 75 have gone on to take investment and repay loans faster than expected.
We also know that progress takes persistence, and ultimately, if you can’t accept the status quo, you cannot be afraid of failure. We were the 35th lender that Nightingale Housing approached. After 34 others said no, we said yes. We backed Tender Funerals, a community-run service taking on a market dominated by big players. They’re now expanding through Australia’s first social franchise model.
Family offices are in a unique position to take bold, patient bets. Their appetite for innovation matches what we’ve been proving for more than a decade; that with the right mix of capital and capability, purpose and performance can reinforce each other.
We don’t need to start from scratch. The model is here, it works, and it’s ready to scale.
If family offices build on what’s already working, together we can unlock the next hundreds of millions of dollars that strengthen both the economy and the communities that power it.
Ready to do more good with Sefa? Join us.