Capital Collaborations
We facilitate unique funding collaborations to enable finance for impact. Drawing on our strong networks in funding, philanthropy and impact investing, we increase the possibility of meaningful capital solutions. Using our expertise in investment readiness at SEFA, we provide solutions to those early-stage or stable organisations who face barriers to traditional capital.
Individual organisations are able to benefit from our legal status to receive funding allocations, or blending a philanthropic grant with capital from our social finance team.
Philanthropic or corporate partners who want to further their mission by supporting for-purpose organisations, are able to utilise us a giving vehicle, to further their nominated purpose.
How do we do this?
We facilitate unique funding collaborations to enable finance for impact. Drawing on our strong networks in funding, philanthropy and impact investing, we increase the possibility of meaningful capital solutions. Using our expertise in investment readiness at SEFA, we provide solutions to those early-stage or stable organisations who face barriers to traditional capital.
HOW WE DO
Funding Collaborations
We enter into a funding collaboration with your organisation.
We assist you to utilize our legal status in order to receive grant funding or philanthropic capital.
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As a specially listed Item 1 DGR entity with Public Benevolent Institution (PBI) status (see ATO endorsement), Sefa Partnerships is set up to facilitate tax deductible giving that enables funding to reach community groups, for-profit-for purpose businesses and not-for-profits . Most purpose-driven organisations in Australia don’t have DGR status and are unable to access philanthropic funding, making Sefa Partnership’s tax status and role as a connector of catalytic capital for unlocking social impact even more important.
For instance, a private ancillary fund (PAF) can only provide funds to a charity with DGR1 status, whereas Sefa Partnerships is able to donate funds to other institutions for benevolent purposes alongside support purpose-driven organisations’ capability beyond XXX.
How do we assess potential funding collaborations?
• Does it meet and contribute to our charitable objectives?
• Is philanthropy the best option? Is this the most appropriate type of capital?
• Why Sefa Partnerships? What else can we contribute to the collaboration?
HOW WE DO
Blended Finance
We enable you to access Blended Finance.
Many for-purpose organisations struggle to combine the opportunities or requirements for funding in a strategic and actionable way.
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We are in a unique position to offer a bespoke approach to financing the social outcomes sector, known as ‘blended finance.’ We offer this to support to established social enterprises and for-purpose organisations requiring a combination of financing to meet their needs.
Blended finance refers to our ability to meaningfully combine different types of finance: such as part debt, part equity and/or grants. Blended finance is a structuring approach that allows organizations with different objectives to invest alongside each other while achieving their own objectives (whether financial return, social impact, or a blend of both).
Often, impact investors and other financial institutions can only provide part of this financing. The main investment barriers for private investors addressed by blended finance are (i) high perceived and real risk and (ii) poor returns for the risk relative to comparable investments. Blended finance creates investable opportunities where traditional methods are facing barriers.
This is where SEFA Sefa Partnerships steps in. Rather than see opportunities lapse, causing a halt in the growth and sustainability of for-purpose organisations, SEFA Sefa Partnerships looks to bring diverse, cross-sector parties to the table to fulfil an organisation’s capital need.
We are very fortunate to work hand-in-hand with our Social Finance team at Sefa, who can work on deals that suit the for-purpose organization. This capability to blend emerges because we can receive and hold charitable funding and grants on behalf of organisations who do not have the legal structure to do so. This funding can be leveraged in combination with any low-interest capital obtained through Sefa’s social finance team, to increase the availability of funding to your organization.
“Sefa worked with us to ensure we had a sound business model and to develop a relationship with the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation. Sefa really believed in and backed our vision despite all of the challenges that we faced getting the project off the ground.”
— Jenny Briscoe-Hough, General Manager, Our Community Project Inc.
Sefa Partnerships and Tender Funerals
Jenny Briscoe-Hough had an idea to adopt a social enterprise business model to provide affordable funeral services. With the hope of “empowering people to take control of their dying, their deaths and their funerals”, Tender Funerals was born.
Tender’s vision is to reach a diverse range of cultures and beliefs, with a focus on working with disadvantaged and indigenous community members. It runs educational programs to explain how relatives can become more involved in the end-of-life process and to change the way communities think about dying.
Tender Funerals became a reality when Sefa Partnerships joined forces with the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation (VFFF) to create a deal that combined both debt and philanthropy. The Sefa Partnerships loan assisted with the purchase of Port Kembla’s former fire station and the grant from VFFF enabled the conversion of the building into a mortuary.
