Making corporates a force for good as social investing gathers pace

About 90 per cent of kids that go through Shakeshaft’s BackTrack program return to full-time education or find their way into employment, and with more than a thousand having completed the program, it’s become a successful model that they have replicated in seven other regional locations, including Dubbo, Broken Hill and Toowoomba.

Future Generation has provided BackTrack a consistent stream of funding, something it wasn’t always able to get through government grants, and it also generates about 60 per cent of its own income by giving the most un-employable kids a job and providing them with training.

Its success raises the question, should more companies adopt an investment model similar to Future Generation? And how would that model work alongside government responsibility?

Former NSW Premier Mike Baird AO, chairman of Future Generation, said that social investing shouldn’t replace the role of the government in providing funding to charities, but rather corporates and investors should take it upon themselves to give money back to social enterprises.

“I certainly think corporate Australia needs to step up and have a look at this model [Future Generation] because there are many ways you can make a difference, and I think there is an onus on corporate Australia to contribute,” Baird said.

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Veteran businessman and former chairman of ANZ Bank, David Gonski AC, said companies should invest in community groups, but it shouldn’t carry the word ‘philanthropy’.

“To me, philanthropy is more from the heart and the brain, and it basically comes [from] that you want to do good things, and basically the result of those really has nothing much to do with what reward you get. You may get a reward…but it’s not the aim,” Gonski said.

“I think a corporation should do good things in the community…but I think there has to be a purpose to that, and I think the purpose often comes from your stakeholders… So, I think there are plenty of reasons to do it, but I don’t actually think it’s philanthropy. Call it sponsorship, call it being involved in your community, but it is to build and improve one’s stakeholder relations.”

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