Our People

Dr Andrew Curtis

Co-Founder & Director

Andrew has 30 years of experience in the academic and human services not-for-profit sectors ranging from hands-one service delivery to executive leadership and Board membership. He is passionate about justice and human rights, and has devoted his career to achieving equity for people at risk of social exclusion.

He is also passionate about academic enquiry with particular interest in critical theory and the analysis of systemic forms of injustice and truth claims. He sees his life purpose as a privileged member of society, as being the provision of opportunities for people living with disadvantage and discrimination by questioning the status quo and generating meaningful change.

Andrew has hands on experience in initiating, designing and delivering social change models in new and innovative ways. He is the Founder of Hope Street in NSW, an organisation established to empower the most marginalised people in the inner city of Sydney to achieve a full and meaningful life, and he was the CEO for 11 years. In London Andrew designed and delivered SEIDs, a social enterprise hub for marginalised groups with a social enterprise idea. At Baptcare Andrew established Sanctuary, a program providing transitional supported housing for asylum seekers living lawfully in Melbourne with no access to shelter, food, income or medical care – the first collaborative project of its kind in Australia. At Work Ventures Andrew co-designed Neighbourhood Technology Centres on public housing estates to provide residents with access to computers and the internet.

Tara Anderson

Co-Founder & Director

Tara is a for-purpose sector Executive Director and Board member specialising in strategy, business development, marketing and multi-partner collaboration. Her experience spans small and large charities and social enterprises in Australia, the UK and Europe. She is particularly interested in the intersection between business and social change through for-purpose business models. She is passionate about catalysing large-scale collaborations that focus on creating systems change.

Tara is the Executive Director of Strategy & Growth at Social Traders in Australia, and a Founding Board member at Social Enterprise Australia. She has worked as the Director of Strategy, Business Development and Engagement at England’s membership network for 750 local social enterprises and Board Member at a European leadership organisation encouraging career transitions from the corporate to the social sector. She was the Head of Marketing at the UK’s largest early years social enterprise, and was the Director of Marketing and Fundraising for a large charity in Australia. Alongside these roles Tara has lectured on for-purpose business models and collective impact at universities in London, Mexico and Australia.

Tara has an MBA from Bayes Business School in the UK, a Masters in Social Innovation from Danube University in Austria, and a degree in Media and Communications from Melbourne University in Australia.