About Us
We’re a social enterprise builder and systems-change organisation working hard to mainstream inclusive employment
We’re equal parts builder and innovator.
Whitebox is for-purpose organisation founded on a simple but ambitious idea that anyone who wants a job should have access to one.
We create jobs for people who are too often shut out of mainstream employment. We build and back jobs-focused social enterprises, test new ideas, and build the evidence for what works.
But creating the actual jobs alone, isn’t enough.
We use what we learn to change the systems holding social enterprises back – we advocate loudly, we influence policy, and we join with others to create the conditions that will make employment accessible for everyone.
OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
OUR VISION
We’re building an Australia where every individual who wants a job can access one.
OUR WHY
Employment changes lives. Today our country’s support systems and mainstream workplaces don’t effectively support people with complex barriers, in the way they need to be supported. Our goal is to change this.
OUR MISSION
To redefine employment in Australia through the lens of jobs-focused social enterprise.
1.
Build
We build and run jobs-focused social enterprises ourselves.
We use our learnings to support others through tailored programs, advice, and space activation to help more social enterprises succeed.
2.
Innovate
We tests ideas and build the evidence. We run pilots and programs with government and philanthropy to prove what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to inclusive employment.
3.
Amplify
We bring our peers together and advocate loudly to influence policy, funding and systems-change to help advance the jobs-focused social enterprise sector in Australia.
SUSTAIN
Looking inwards we’re focused on the ongoing financial and governance success of Whitebox.
Strengthen
Capability building – services and programs that strengthen the jobs-focused social enterprise sector.
Our Values
Moonshot
We choose bold ideas over safe ones, creating the kind of breakthroughs the sector can’t make on its own.
Figure-out-able
We stay inventive and unshakably determined, because real change requires practical problem-solving, not theory.
Better, together
We co-create solutions with communities, partners and employees because lasting change is always a shared effort.
Evidence matters
We back everything with data and lived experience, using proof to push systems further than advocacy alone ever could.
Best experience
We invest as much in the people doing the work as we do in the work itself, with clear expectations, room to grow and permission to be whole humans.
Get to know the extraordinary people behind our work.
OUR SUPPORTERS AND PARTNERS
Our work is only possible because of the people across government, philanthropy and the corporate sector who share our belief that a job can change everything.
SOME OF OUR FLAGSHIP PROJECTS
We learn through doing. We pursue projects that are going to influence change.
We’re not afraid to push the boundaries to build the evidence that will get us to our end goal sooner.
OUR SOCIAL ENTERPRISES
We build and run large-scale jobs-focused social enterprises to create jobs and stay connected.
PAYMENT BY OUTCOMES TRIAL
Landmark federal government trial proving the effectiveness of jobs-focused social enterprises.
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE LOAN FUND
Australia’s first loan fund designed for jobs-focused social enterprises.
Evolve Disability Enterprise Programs
Large-scale transformation projects reimagining inclusive employment for people with a disability.
Partner With Us
We love to collaborate. If you share in our belief that employment can change lives and the solution lies is jobs-focused social enterprise, get in touch.
NEED SUPPORT?
Looking to launch, diversify or scale a social enterprise? We can help. Our advice is grounded in real experience building jobs-focused social enterprises.