Foresters Vision

Foresters Community Finance Ltd (Foresters) works towards an Australia which has a strong and vibrant civil society in which local communities are independent, adaptable and innovative and can attract local resources to realise their aspirations.

Foresters has a mandate within this over-arching vision to be a strong Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) which achieves financial inclusion for:

• Non-profit organisations
• Social enterprises
• Individuals

Mission

Foresters works to:

• Help build strong and sustainable non-profit organisations
• Help to create sustainable social enterprises
• Create social and financial returns and benefits for individuals

Through:

• Developmental practice
• Community finance
• Social investment

Strategic Intent

Foresters has identified five key strategies that form the foundation of the focus of the companies over the next three years. These strategies are designed to frame the mission and to reach the vision.

The goals in realising this strategy will be to:

• Remain true to the mutual and cooperative history of the company
• Develop, articulate and disseminate that vision
• To create opportunities for peer based learning and information exchange
• Provide opportunities for members of the network to benefit from sharing their knowledge

2.  To increase the capacity of individuals, social enterprises and non-profit organisations to access finance and investment that contributes to social and economical inclusion.

The goals in realising this strategy will be to:

• Deepen Foresters’ understanding of and therefore the response to these excluded markets
• Build financial and social capability among target markets
• Create positive social and economic impacts across these markets

3.  To design and deliver social impact investment products that underpin the capacity building and social and economic inclusion strategies of Foresters.

The goals in realising this strategy will be to:

• Utilise the market intelligence of Foresters Community Finance Ltd and other key stakeholders to inform product development
• Design and develop Social Impact Investment Products attractive to the mainstream investment markets
• Provide high quality funds management services to investors

4.  To work in collaboration with the non-profit  and social enterprise sectors to deliver community investment products that mobilise the resources of the sectors for their benefit and for the benefit of their constituencies.

The goals in realising this strategy will be to:

• Provide a local and/or sector focused investment vehicle in the form of the Community Investment Fund
• To unlock underutilised resources in the sectors for the mutual benefit of the non-profit and social enterprise sector
• To extend the range of finance and investment products offered to the non-profit and social enterprise sector through this vehicle

5.  To position Foresters as a focus of knowledge and research on Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) and financial inclusion in Australia.

The goals in realising this strategy will be to:

• Increase knowledge and understanding in Australia of the role of CDFIs in addressing financial exclusion
• Place Foresters in a strong position to attract government, philanthropic and social investment funding to enable us to achieve its vision and mission

Principles

The core underlying principles for all activities of the Foresters group of companies is to deliver financial and social inclusion in informed and practical ways.

Foresters have identified five barriers to financial inclusion. These characteristics inform our principles and the work of Foresters:

• Availability A lack of financial services which are in demand but do not exist at all, or do not exist in the locality or a lack of physical access to financial services (geographical exclusion).

• Access A lack of access to particular kinds of financial services as a result of structural/organisational factors (for non-profits and social enterprises) or issues that people face such as bad credit record, language issues, physical or intellectual disability.

• Awareness A lack of awareness amongst non-profit organisations, social enterprises and individuals about financial products and services; a lack of access to technology to build awareness and knowledge about products and services in the market. For organisations may be self exclusion due to lack of knowledge around organisational capacity and overall risk of aversion of governing body.

• Appropriateness A lack of financial products and services appropriate to the needs of organisations and individuals. It is not always the price, sometimes it is about the conditions attached to financial products and services.

• Affordability A lack of affordable financial products and services.

Adapted from: I Burkett & G Sheean, From the margins to the mainstream. The challenges of microfinance in Australia. 2009; Pg 4.