Humans of Purpose 411 Michael Stuart: Why Impact Needs Evidence
My guest this week is Michael Stuart - Impact & Data Manager at Social Traders, and one of the leading voices pushing Australia’s social enterprise sector toward a more evidence-driven future.
Michael has spent more than a decade helping organisations make sense of their data, and today, he oversees how Social Traders captures, measures, and interprets impact across hundreds of enterprises. His work sits at the intersection of social purpose and hard numbers, ensuring decision-makers have the evidence they need to drive real, scalable change.
In this conversation, we unpack why the sector is “data starved,” how better insights can strengthen policy, funding, and procurement, and why accessible analysis is one of the most powerful tools for social impact.
Recorded live at Convene 2025, this episode comes with a little social enterprise sector chatter that refused to be silenced. We’ve mostly cleaned it up, but you might hear a few patches and some quirky voice distortion from noise cancellation - rustic audio, modern insights! Part of our Short Takes on Purpose series with Social Traders, spotlighting bold thinkers reshaping business for good.
🔗 Explore more from Michael's work here:
https://www.socialtraders.com.au/
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CREDITS
Music intro and outro on this podcast was written and performed by Keyo Rhodes, with Harrison McGregor on drums and percussion. Sound engineering and mastering by Lachlan McGregor.