The Women’s Trauma Recovery Centre’s business development and philanthropy officer Trish van Leeuwen, Illawarra Women’s Health Centre director Sally Stevenson and iAccelerate director Tamantha Stutchbury. Image: Robert Peet.
Why this Illawarra domestic violence centre has become a start-up
When you think of a start-up, a centre to help women and children escaping domestic violence isn’t usually what comes to mind.
But, together in a new partnership, University of Wollongong start-up incubator iAccelerate and the Australian-first Women’s Trauma Recovery Centre are hoping to find viable business model for the vital service.
The centre, which received five year’s worth of operational funding from the federal government earlier this year, has joined iAccelerate’s next cohort of start-up businesses.
Illawarra Women’s Health Centre director Sally Stevenson said this would help the recovery service exist well into the future.
“At the end of that five years, we have to find ongoing funding, and we expect the core of that to come from the NSW Government public health system, because this is a public health problem and its beholden on the government to support women to recover and heal,” she said.
“But as with any health service provision, there will be additional costs we need to cover, so we are looking at developing the business model now to respond to that problem.
“We’re not going to be able to be fully reliant on government, so we’re looking at developing independence and momentum to keep the service going.”
The centre is looking for innovative ways to do business in the not-for-profit sector, as well as ways to encourage “high wealth individuals” and corporate partners outside the domestic and family violence sector, who want to use their money to make a difference.
Its chief business development and philanthropy officer Trish van Leeuwen said she was excited to help develop a new business model that could be used in the not-for profit sector.
“It allows us to reframe the thinking we have… [so] not only are we transforming the healing and recovery services for domestic violence, we are looking to do that with the business model as well,” she said. “The sector as a whole and the community can benefit from that.”
She said iAccelerate was a “safe environment” to work with potential investors and develop a business pitch that was different to the usual process of asking for money through government grants or social services.
“We’ve identified new elements we need to address to put together a pitch to go to private investors, we’re trying to open up the corporate and community environments and the high wealth individuals who have money and would like to invest in big social challenges,” she said.
“We have to demonstrate that we know what to do with their money.”
iAccelerate director Tamantha Stutchbury said the business incubator was benefitting from the Illawarra Women’s Trauma Centre being located within the Innovation Campus community.
“We’re celebrating the fact that the Women’s Trauma Recovery Centre has completed the first part of the iAccelerate program and looking to continue with us into the future as they continue to build the model for the program to become sustainable into the future,” she said.
“We want to support all types of initiatives and business, and by collocating, them they all face the same challenges or problems but solve it in slightly different ways.
“Putting a tech startup next to a women’s trauma recovery centre will allow some tech to flow one way, and the social [impacts] to flow back in the other direction.
“Anything we can do to reduce domestic and family violence, we just all need to jump on board.”
Outside of the work being done at iAccelerate, Ms Stevenson said she was hopeful that the Women’s Trauma Recovery Centre would be able to start offering services from an interim site in 2023. “We are in positive discussions with the NSW Government in terms of finalising the land offering, and in securing funding for the design of the fit-for-purpose building that will be a centre of excellence,” she said.
“We are hopeful that in the new year we will be able to launch services in an interim site at the old Warilla Library.”
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7982242/why-this-illawarra-domestic-violence-centre-has-become-a-start-up/