Town Team Movement is a very social enterprise! We are building a movement of positive ‘doers’ focused on improving their own local area through a shared purpose and values, which we have summarised in the Town Team Charter.
Empowering people. Creating connected communities. Making better places. Supporting local volunteers. Plenty of people talk about these things. We’re living and breathing it every day. We’re making it happen!
Town Team Movement is a very social enterprise – a non-profit company on a mission. We are building a movement of positive ‘doers’.
We enable local communities and governments to connect, organise and act to regenerate the fabric of their neighbourhoods and to create better places.
A movement links together small groups focussed on improving their own local area through a shared purpose and values, which we have summarised in the Town Team Charter. Our ‘underarching’ roles are to inspire, support, connect and promote local Town Teams. We also work with many local governments on how they can create better places and more connected, empowered communities.
Our four key focus areas
Learn more about what we do
Where it all started
This has all grown from a simple, but powerful idea discussed by volunteers sitting around a kitchen table in 2016. The idea is to make it easier for local doers to create the positive change they want to see in their communities. Surprisingly simple!
Today, Town Team Movement is different, and possibly unique in Australia. We largely self-fund the growth of the movement by generating our own revenue via consulting, education and training and events, along with the fantastic support of aligned partners like RAC WA and Road Safety Commission.
We’re leading the change we want to see in the world!
What is a social enterprise?
A social enterprise is a business that:
- Trades intentionally to tackle social problems, improve communities, provide access to employment and training, or help the environment;
- Derives most of their income from trading, not donations or grants; and
- Uses at least 50 per cent of their profits on their social mission (TTM allocates 100% of any annual surplus to fulfilling our purpose)
Any operating surplus from our activities is directed to achieving our social purpose.
Our Vision and Purpose
An Underarching Approach
Our movement is based on the Town Team Charter. It summarises the ‘Town Team Way’.
As an ‘underarching’ organisation, we inspire, support, connect and promote Town Teams from underneath. We are not a peak body and do not have formal power nor control over the independent Town Teams.
Creating Positive Change in People and Places
We have all seen those places in decline. Places where people are (or already have) given up hope. We think it is possible to get things back on track, to create action. The diagram below shows how.
How do we fund our work?
Town Team Movement is different, and possibly unique in Australia. We largely self-fund the growth of the movement with the support of aligned partners like RAC WA. This graphic shows where the funding comes from and where it goes. It is based on our 2021/22 financial results and includes estimates of staff and contractor time per activity.
You can read the 2021/22 Annual Report on the link below.
Find out more about our story in the video below.
What guides our work?
What informs our approach? Many people and ideas have influenced our work. These are some of the most important ones.
- Placemaking – working with people to create places people love and feel connected to
- Asset-based community development – we focus on strengths and opportunities in places and people, rather than problems and deficits
- Civics – contributing to civic life and the public domain is not only good for the community, it is also a practical way to build confidence, skills and connections and being fulfilled as a person
- Community organising – creating change through collaboration and getting a Town Team organised
- Localism – empowerment and action at the local level
- Systems thinking – places and people are complex and networks, relationships, feedback loops and systems need to guide our approach. Traditional thinking and management approaches have limited effectiveness when faced with complex situations and problems
See Town Team Movement’s Theory of Change
We think that people have the ability to create positive change and take some responsibility for improving communities and the environment. Positive contributions help to build social, economic and environmental capital.
