Certification and Verification

There are two main organisations that certify/verify social enterprises in Australia.

Social Traders is an Australian not-for-profit organisation, established in 2008, that provides certification of social enterprises and social procurement services and advice to government and corporate buyers. They have over 500 certified social enterprises in Australia. Certification costs approximately $700 but Social Traders offers the first year of certification for free to SECNA members.

Social Traders certification requires that social enterprises:

  1. Have a defined primary social, cultural or environmental purpose consistent with a public or community benefit, and

  2. Derive a substantial portion of their income from trade, and

  3. Invest efforts and resources into their purpose such that public/community benefit outweighs private benefit.

Learn more about certification with Social Traders

Explore the database of Social Traders Certified Enterprises

Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) is a global not-for-profit organisation that operates out of Scotland. Also established in 2008, they launched a global verification of social enterprises in 2023, called People and Planet First. They have more than 80 verified social enterprises in Australia. Verification costs approximately $120 (variable with currency fluctuations).

The People and Planet First verification requires social enterprises to meet the following five standards:

  1. Purpose: Exists to solve a social and/or environmental problem

  2. Operations: Prioritises purpose, people, and planet over profit in operational decisions

  3. Revenue: Has a self-sustaining revenue model

  4. Use of Surplus: Reinvests the majority of any surplus towards its purpose

  5. Structure: Chooses legal structures and financing that protect and lock-in purpose long term.

Learn more about verification with People and Planet First

Explore the database of People and Planet First Verified Enterprises

Certification vs Verification

There are some minor differences between certification and verification but for all intents and purposes they deliver the same benefit - third-party scrutiny of a social enterprise behind-the-scenes and a stamp of approval that it is a genuine social enterprise.

We encourage social enterprises in NSW and ACT to be certified and/or verified by one or both of these organisations, and we encourage governments and corporations to introduce weightings for certified/verified social enterprises in their procurement practices, to enable certified/verified social enterprises to apply for grants that might otherwise be restricted to not-for-profit organisations only (noting that some genuine social enterprises have for-profit legal structures but if certified/verified then we trust that they are reinvesting their profits in their purpose and/or distributing at least 50% of their profits to charity).

SECNA Membership

The SECNA Board look at every application for industry (social enterprise) membership and judge whether each one is a social enterprise, with reference to both Social Traders and People and Planet First standards, but we do not conduct the same robust checks that Social Traders and People and Planet First do. 

The benefit of being a SECNA member is to stay informed, to connect and engage with others in the social enterprise sector in NSW/ACT, and to be represented by SECNA in government advocacy, feedback to funders, and other forums where SECNA acts as a voice for social enterprises.

Other certifications and verifications for purposeful organisations

B Corp is a global certification of organisations that are being socially and environmentally responsible. 

Our CEO, Kylie Flament, often talks about how social enterprises do good (they exist specifically to make the world a better place) while B Corps be good (they are responsible in the way that they run their business). For example, Nespresso is B Corp certified which means we can trust that they are being good/responsible, but they would not be classed as a social enterprise as they are not doing good/making the world a better place. An organisation can also do both, which is even better. B Corp certification is managed in Australia and New Zealand by B Lab.

Supply Nation is a register of verified Indigenous businesses. They list registered Indigenous businesses based on business information, and also undertake certification of Indigenous businesses where they check behind the scenes in the same way that Social Traders and People and Planet First do for social enterprises. Many Indigenous businesses are also social enterprises. See the Supply Nation website for more information.

Fairtrade is a certification (with regular audits) that checks that farmers and producers in a product's supply chain are being paid and treated fairly. The largest Fairtrade certifier is FLOCERT.