Insights

As we wrap up 2025 we thought we’d share just a handful of the many meaningful projects we delivered with our clients this year.

Choosing from 74 projects across 59 clients was no small task. In the end, we selected a mix that reflects the breadth of our work – from social valuation to ESG strategy; from for-purpose organisations to corporates; and from local initiatives to projects overseas. And, of course, ones we’re able to share publicly!

What unites these projects is a shared commitment to making a difference and addressing some of today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

We’re grateful for the work we’ve done with all of our clients this year. We look forward to supporting, enabling and inspiring even greater impact in 2026.

Lendlease – $250 million social value target reached

In 2020, Lendlease set an ambitious goal to create $250 million of social value globally by 2025. By the end of FY25 they had created an incredible $284.6 million worth of social value – 13% over target!

Over the five years, Think Impact together with Social Impax worked with Lendlease, assisting them to measure the social value they created across their 50+ innovative shared value projects. This enabled Lendlease to regularly report on their progress.

Lendlease’s shared value initiatives span Australia, Asia, Europe and the USA. The initiatives encompass a range of sectors including health, employment creation, environment, education, housing, arts, leadership development and collective impact. Our impact evaluation and social valuation work for Lendlease has spanned all four regions and this diverse range of initiatives.

We are proud to have been a part of measuring this bold goal and contributing our social valuation expertise to the project. You can find out more about Lendlease creating social value here.

ShoreTrack – Social Impact Framework

We worked with ShoreTrack to develop their Social Impact Framework (SIF), supporting them to understand and communicate their impact, articulate the social value they create, and identify ways to enhance their impact. The SIF provides a clear link between the organisation’s activities and its end goal.

Key elements of the SIF included a strategy-on-a-page, theory of change, outcomes framework and implementation plan. We also worked with ShoreTrack to embed the impact measurement foundations into their day-to-day operations.

The SIF work bolstered ShoreTrack’s bid to establish a transformative trades-based special assistance school for Year 9 and 10 students which will open in 2026 – the first of its kind in Australia. Gumma Place School will continue ShoreTrack’s grassroots ethos by providing small class sizes, highly targeted support for students and practical trade-based learning in a real-world environment. We wish ShoreTrack and their learners every success as they kick off in the new school year!

The Glen for Men – Service expansion

The Glen for Men (The Glen) is an Aboriginal-led residential alcohol and other drug treatment service that puts connection and Culture at the heart of healing. The Glen engaged us to forecast the social value of much-needed expansion activities that will enable more men to engage with their highly sought-after services across treatment, housing and employment.

Figures from the social value model were used as the centrepiece for an impact prospectus that will serve as a key document to attract funding from government, philanthropy and private wealth. Think Impact led the social value modelling, developed the impact narrative and designed the prospectus inhouse.

We wish The Glen well as they launch their expansion campaign in the new year! You can find out more here.

University of Sydney Union – ESG Strategy

Another standout project this year was helping the University of Sydney Union (USU) shape its first ESG strategy – a project shaped not just by frameworks and assessments, but by the voices of the students and staff who make USU what it is. Through conversations across the USU community, we helped distil what matters most: inclusion, environmental responsibility, student wellbeing and strengthening USU’s role on campus.

These insights became a clear, practical strategy – now featured on the USU website – that genuinely reflects the values of the people it serves. And the best part? USU has already turned it into action. They’ve used the strategy to create an ESG action plan that’s guiding real steps forward and giving students confidence that their priorities are shaping USU’s sustainability journey.

A great reminder of the impact that emerges when organisations listen closely to their community and act with purpose.

Supply Nation – Understanding the value created by Indigenous businesses for Indigenous communities

Supply Nation is Australia’s leader in supplier diversity, connecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses with government and corporate procurement teams since 2009. As custodian of Indigenous Business Direct – the nation’s largest directory of verified Indigenous businesses – it supports members to adopt global best practice and strengthen Indigenous business participation.

Supply Nation engaged Think Impact to help them understand and quantify the value created by Indigenous businesses in addressing the Closing the Gap wellbeing targets. We conducted an extensive literature review and in-depth stakeholder engagement with a representative selection of more than 111 Indigenous business owners. These insights informed The sleeping giant rises report.

The report maps the outcomes created by business owners against the underlying drivers of Indigenous disadvantage. This gives Supply Nation with a clear narrative on how First Nations businesses make a significant contribution to meeting and exceeding the Closing the Gap targets.