SVA opened its 2017 program of Quarterly events with vigour last week facilitating a lively panel discussion on social sector trends led by CEOs from both the service delivery and funding spheres.

The two-part SVA Quarterly article ‘Sector trends: stories from the frontline’ was the starting point for a robust discussion among panellists at The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne which prompted a raft of thoughtful questions from the audience.

Panel members Emma King from the Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS); Andrew Bruun from Youth Support + Advocacy Service (YSAS); Sarah Davies from Philanthropy Australia; David Crosbie from Community Council for Australia (CCA) and Lina Caneva, editor at Pro Bono Australia News – which co-hosted the event, covered a wide range of subjects in their 45-minute discussion.

The audience’s engagement with the topics was evident, not only from the number and depth of questions but from the dynamic conversation that followed. With more than 100 guests in attendance, James Kirby, wealth editor at The Australian and panel moderator, was kept on his toes as questions moved from ‘How do we define “effectiveness” in the social sector?’ to ‘What conditions are required for place-based programs to work?’.

One topic of discussion that sparked a lively response from both the panel and the audience was the disruption of the sector by for-profit players. David Crosbie suggested that ‘a lot of growth in the sector is coming from private companies entering the social space’ as changes to service delivery models made operating in the social sector a more attractive option for commercial operators. Pro Bono’s Lina Caneva agreed citing the National Disability Insurance Scheme as an example.

Funding, its sources and the conditions attached to it were other major themes of the day. Discussion began around the growing impact investing market and how this might affect the funding environment and wider sector.

Sarah Davies from Philanthropy Australia offered her opinion that not one source of funding was better than the other – but rather, they should be seen as a menu of options that organisations should consider and assess in relation to their specific conditions.

“There are going to be demands for resources where the government money can do more than impact investment can”, she offered.

Sarah presented the strong relationship between philanthropy and innovation as a further instance of funding source being related to the type of outcome. She felt that as philanthropy ‘is one of the only sources of funds where the impact doesn’t need to be proven before investment’, it will remain crucial to allowing organisations to trial, experiment and improve.

While the panel concluded with 15 minutes of questions from the audience, the conversations did not stop there as attendees and panel members continued to debate these timely issues over lunch.

If you were unable to join this debate, there will be a similarly-themed panel discussion convened by SVA as part of Pro Bono’s Impact 25 Awards in Sydney on Monday March 6 which will be broadcast live as a webinar. If you would like to tune in, registrations are open now