Tying Grants to Growth

Queensland's Revenue-linked Social Enterprise Model

A quiet revolution is taking place in how governments fund social impact.

In Queensland, a new program is challenging the traditional rules of grantmaking, linking payments directly to revenue growth in a way that reflects the real-time momentum of the enterprise.

The Impact Revenue Investments program, launched by the Queensland Government, marks a significant shift: grants are no longer just upfront capital - they’re performance-linked rewards that scale with your trading income. In other words, if you grow, you get more. If you stall, so does the funding.

This model may just be a preview of what’s to come across the country.

The Formula: How It Works

At its core, the program offers two years of funding:

• Year 1:

  • $30,000 upfront payment

  • Then, for every $10 in trading revenue growth, the enterprise receives $4, up to a $100,000 cap (inclusive of the upfront)

• Year 2:

  • No upfront payment

  • For every $10 in trading revenue growth, the enterprise receives $2, again up to $100,000

Critically, funding can be used for capital or operating expenses, and there’s additional support baked in - mentorship, peer learning, and access to a community of practice.

The goal? To reward enterprises that demonstrate real growth and impact, not just strong applications.

What This Means for Founders

This model places a bold stake in the ground: social enterprises should be able to scale like businesses while still delivering impact like charities.

For founders, it signals a few key shifts:

• Trading revenue is now a funding lever. The more you grow, the more support you unlock. This favours scalable, revenue-positive models - even those still early in their journey.

• Sustainability is non-negotiable. Grantmakers aren’t just looking to seed good ideas - they want to back businesses that can stand on their own feet, with or without future rounds of funding.

• Impact must travel with income. Enterprises must demonstrate not just commercial viability, but also ongoing alignment with social purpose, equity goals, and Queensland-based outcomes.

This Is Not Your Usual Grant

Unlike many traditional grants - which are either milestone-based or reimbursement-driven - this one plays out in real time.

If your business doubles its trading revenue in Year 1, you’re rewarded. If it flatlines, so do the payments. It’s a model more closely aligned with revenue-based investing than grantmaking.

But here’s the twist: you don’t have to pay it back.

This approach offers the accountability of a revenue-linked instrument with the accessibility of a grant. That’s a big deal - especially for social enterprises that often sit between the cracks of commercial finance and philanthropic funding.

What’s the Catch?

For some founders, this program could be the perfect bridge between startup growth and sustainable scale. But it also raises important questions:

• What if impact precedes revenue?
  Not all social enterprises grow through sales. Many achieve impact through advocacy, systems change, or upstream interventions that aren’t immediately commercial.

• Will this approach bias funding toward fast-moving, commercially ready models?
  Possibly. And that’s part of the ongoing sector conversation, how to balance mission and market, and how to ensure early-stage, slower-burning impact models aren’t left behind.

• Are the data systems ready?
  To claim performance-based payments, enterprises will need robust systems to track and verify revenue growth in real time. For some, that may require capacity-building just to meet reporting expectations.

The Bigger Picture: Grants Are Changing

This isn’t just about Queensland. It’s about where the entire grant ecosystem is heading.

We’re seeing a national and global shift toward:

• Robust impact tracking

• Performance-linked payments

• Trust-based funding relationships

• Market readiness as a selection lens

The line between “grant” and “investment” is blurring. The funders of the future aren’t just looking to support good work, they’re looking to back good business.

And for social enterprises, this is both a challenge and an opportunity.

Final Thought: Funding That Follows the Founder

Here’s what I love about this model: it respects the founder.

It doesn’t ask for 50-page forecasts or polished Gantt charts. It says: show us the growth. Show us the traction. And we’ll back you.

That’s the kind of shift we need more of. Funding models that follow real outcomes, not just application form optimism.

So if you’re a Queensland-based social enterprise with a strong revenue model, this could be your chance to grow with the kind of funding that grows alongside you.

Because the future of funding? It’s not just about the money.
It’s about the model.