What we do

We help Australia navigate complexity with imagination - bringing together lived expertise, research expertise and practice expertise to innovate for better lives.

We’re The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI), an independent, not-for-profit organisation working across Australia.

We partner with people, communities, philanthropy, communities, government, NGOs and businesses to help you build capability in social innovation, do social innovation and create the conditions for social innovation. 

We can work with you in different ways - as capability builders, consultants, long-term strategic partners or partners in knowledge creation.

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Commonwealth and State Government

We have deep and broad experience working with the constraints and opportunities of government. We create spaces that bring together sector expertise, research expertise and lived expertise to inform the development and implementation of new services, strategies and policies. We thrive on working  with the diversity of perspectives in the room, fostering creativity, supporting people to make informed trade-offs and getting to tangible action.

Our experience includes:

  • Working with Commonwealth Government departments to develop national policies including  Individualised Living Options Policy NDIS; NDIS Review (multiple strategies for participant experience); Australian Volunteers (DFAT) Innovation Strategy; and DSS Disability School Transport Strategy.

  • Working with the Victorian Government to co-design Aboriginal Justice Strategy  (with Koori Caucus) and Diverse Communities' Mental and Health Wellbeing Framework Strategy.

  • Working with the South Australian Government to co-design the state Statewide Ageing Strategy SA; Housing and Homelessness Strategy SA; Adult Safeguarding Strategy SA; DHS Peer Workforce Strategy SA.

  • Working with the NSW government to support the implementation of peer workers into gambling support services. 

  • Working with the Victorian government to develop the collaborative practice model for the 17 ‘Orange Door’ domestic and family violence support hubs.


 

We can work with you to:

  • Lead and support projects and initiatives, navigating the constraints of government in the process.

  • Build the capabilities of teams and sectors in co-design, systems innovation and other social innovation practices.

  • Partner on long-term strategic initiatives looking to foster innovative responses.

Talk to us or if you have an RFQ email us

Philanthropy

We partner with philanthropy on bold and future-focussed projects, initiatives and strategies that centre innovation, lived expertise and outcomes for future generations:

Our experience includes: 


 

We can partner with you to:

  • Support the development of granting programs 

  • Design and implement long-term systems change initiatives

  • Support innovative programs and projects 

  • Build grantee and sector capability in social innovation 

  • Partner in the creation of new knowledge

We are also seeking funding partners for initiatives that we believe will make a major contribution to Australia's capability to tackle complex social challenges including:

Talk to us or find out more about our Dream Initiatives.

Primary Healthcare Networks (PHNs)

We work as strategic partners with PHNs across Australia, bringing social innovation practices to every stage of the commissioning cycle, with the goal to improve local healthcare outcomes.

Our experience includes:

  • Developing and implementing the RRR (Recognise Respond Refer) model with Brisbane South, Adelaide PHN, Country SA PHN & Primary Health Tasmania as well as working with a group of nine additional PHNs to support the further scale.

  • Alongside Darling Downs & West Moreton PHN, we developed an integrated service hub approach to providing place-based mental health, suicide prevention, alcohol and other drugs experiences with a PHN, local community members and people with lived experience, all underpinned by a philosophy of care that cares for the whole person, whole community and whole place.

  • Supporting South East NSW PHN (COORDINAIRE) to help enable three Weavers implementation sites in the Illawarra, Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra (MCCI), Mission Australia and the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre.

 

We can partner with you to:

  • Facilitate the development of integrated health care models to bring together community, clinical, and primary health perspectives in co-design, informed by the needs and aspirations of priority populations. 

  • Collaboratively develop service models, and commission policies and practices to meet diverse needs.

  • Support the take-up of peer-to-peer models to support transitions between services and activate latent community capability, including across domestic and family violence, caring, addiction and bereavement.

  • Build capabilities within PHNs and local systems to embrace co-production at every stage of the commissioning cycle.


Talk to us or read more on our PHN hub page.

Not-for-profit organisations and service providers

We work alongside not-for-profit organisations - from ideas to implementation - to build the conditions for innovation and lived experience inclusion to thrive. 

Our experience includes 

  • Working with Junction Australia, Uniting Communities, SYC to develop award winning service models that attracted investment.

  • Developing innovation capability and strategy for The Australian Volunteers program (across 26 countries ) and EACH across Australia.

  • Supporting the development of  11 peer-to-peer initiatives across eight different social challenges including: gambling, family and domestic violence, ageing, mental health, palliative care, foster care and justice and across four countries: Australia, NZ, Wales, England

  • Writing about innovative practices and service models including peer-to-peer responses and Love meets Power.

 

We can work with you to: 

  • Building your teams innovation capability

  • Create the conditions for innovation in your organisation

  • Develop your lived experience involvement strategy

  • Develop organisational strategy through lived experience involvement 

  • Improve services and develop new ones 

  • Design and implement peer-to-peer services

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Communities

We support community members and community organisations to strengthen capability for influencing and leading local change.

Our experience includes:

  • Working with the Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal Corporation and community members in Cooper Pedy to shape a strategy to break cycles of disadvantage. 

  • Working with Hands Up Malle to develop a governance model to bring together community members with local institutional leaders. 

  • Strengthening the capability of 5 Town Teams in inclusive innovation and community led projects through the 10 year Our Town initiative.

  • Capability building in Community Innovation and Community Imagination.

 

We can work with you to: 

  • Strengthen your community’s innovation capability

  • Facilitate the development of plans and strategies by drawing on community expertise

  • Develop approaches to collaborative governance.

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Researchers

We partner to help build new evidence of impact and what works in social innovation as well as apply co-design to research.

Our experience includes

  • Partnering with the Social Research Centre (ANU) over 3 years to support the design and interpretation of large scale surveys through the inclusion of qualitative research. 

  • Partnering with the Carnegie Network and Vichealth research network to build the capability in taking a  co-design approach to research. 

  • Partnering with BetterStart (University of Adelaide) to conduct an innovative quasi-experimental randomised control trial of the Family by Family program - evidencing the effectiveness of Peer-to-Peer initiatives.

  • Partnering with Adelaide University and Monash University to produce insights into how care flows through participants experiencing Family by Family using both ethnographic and visual arts methods.

 

We can work with you to: 

  • Build co-design capability - for you, your team or your network.

  • Integrate qualitative research alongside, and as a compliment to, quantitative research 

  • Develop knowledge products, particularly knowledge products that build the evidence base for peer-to-peer responses, impact networks and social R&D.

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Interested in social innovation?

If you’re passionate or curious about social innovation, you can stay connected to developing practices and TACSI’s work and ideas through our monthly newsletter, our extensive collection of free social innovation resources and toolkits, and our social channels (Instagram and Linkedin). 

We can also build your social innovation capability through the TACSI Learning Hub. We offer a scholarship program for young people, First Nations people and people on a low income.

Why partner with TACSI

Our work and partnerships are supported by:

  • A commitment of allyship with First Nations people, and Indigenous Systems, Knowledges and Country. 

  • A deep respect and empathy for our partners' context,  ambitions, and constraints.

  • A focus on outcomes and a willingness to adapt our approach and outputs to get that outcome.

  • Our ability to change and adapt based on what we learn and encounter in the process of our work.

  • Relational ways of working, held by an experienced team with a strong commitment to social justice.

  • Learning and relationships from 15 years of hands-on social innovation experience (approaching 1000 projects).

  • Our relationships and regular learning exchanges with social innovation organisations around the world.

  • Social innovation practices localised for Australia over 100s of projects.

  • The cross-pollination of learning between the different levels of systems, between states and territories and internationally.

  • A sense of humor.

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ADELAIDE
Level 1, 279 Flinders St
Adelaide SA 5000

SYDNEY
1/145 Redfern Street

Redfern NSW 2016

MELBOURNE
Level 4, 454 Queen St
Melbourne 3000

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© 2025 TACSI
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians and Owners of the lands in which we work and live on across Australia. We pay our respects to Elders of the past, present and emerging. We are committed to collaboration that furthers self-determination and creates a better future for all. Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material.
At TACSI, diversity and inclusion is more than a statement; equality and accessibility are guiding principles embedded in everything we do. We strongly believe that it’s the collective sum of all our communities differences, life experiences, and knowledge that enables both ourselves and our partners to come together to tackle complex social issues. That’s why we’re committed to having a diverse team made up of people with diverse skills from all backgrounds, including First Nations peoples, LGBTIQ+, mature-age people, and people with visible and non-visible disabilities, regardless of sex, sexuality or gender identity.