Measuring performance: A story of 'Closing the Gap' through indigenous social enterprise

Against a backdrop of government efforts to mainstream Indigenous economic participation for achieving Indigenous equality in Australia, examples of Indigenous entrepreneurial activities in rural and remote regions represent more flexible and culturally appropriate approaches. The question remains however as to what the medium or long-term impact of Indigenous entrepreneurial activities on families and the wider community are and whether it is possible to measure them? This paper tells the story of the local entrepreneurial activities of a nonprofit social enterprise in the town Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It analyses these activities against an integrated framework for performance management of nonprofit organizations to demonstrate the social effectiveness of an Indigenous social enterprise as a pathway for community engendered income, employment and social capital. We suggest that this example represents a successful community-based pathway to increasing economic participation on local Indigenous terms at a time when national Indigenous unemployment is high.