This June, the Seer Data team is heading to Brisbane for the sold-out PLACE Impact Summit, and we couldn’t be more excited to connect with many of the place-based organisations, backbone teams, community leaders and partners we work alongside every day.
Hosted by PLACE (Partnerships for Local Action and Community Empowerment), the inaugural Place-Based Impact Summit brings together practitioners, communities, governments, funders and researchers from across Australia to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing place-based work: how we better understand, measure and communicate impact. The two-day event is designed as a practical, collaborative forum focused on building shared approaches to impact measurement that support meaningful local change.
For us, that conversation sits at the heart of what we do.
Joining the Impact Measurement Marketplace
One of the highlights of this year’s Summit is the Impact Measurement Marketplace, where attendees can explore tools, platforms and approaches that support impact measurement in place-based contexts.
We’re proud to be participating alongside three incredible place-based partners who are using data, storytelling and community-led measurement to drive local action:
- Gladstone Region engaging in action Together (GRT)
- Greater Shepparton Lighthouse Project
- Future Connect
Together, we’ll be sharing practical examples of how place-based initiatives are using data not simply to report on activity, but to create shared understanding, strengthen collaboration and support better decision-making.
GRT’s community-led collective impact approach demonstrates the importance of shared measurement frameworks, continuous learning and evidence-informed decision-making to improve wellbeing outcomes across the region. Their work shows how communities can use data as a tool for accountability, collaboration and momentum-building around a shared vision for change.
Similarly, the Greater Shepparton Lighthouse Project continues to be recognised nationally for bringing together community, education, business and government partners around a common agenda for improving outcomes for young people and families.
These partnerships highlight a growing movement across Australia: communities taking ownership of their data, building local capability, and using evidence to drive action where it matters most.
Future Connect: A New Chapter in Understanding Impact
We’re excited to be presenting alongside Future Connect, who recently launched their new Seer Data Impact Dashboard at their Annual General Meeting.
The dashboard brings together data, stories and insights from across Brimbank and Melton to create greater visibility of Future Connect’s work and the change happening in their communities. More than a reporting tool, the dashboard has been designed to help uncover emerging patterns, explore how change happens and deepen understanding of the factors that contribute to meaningful outcomes for young people and communities.
Future Connect view the dashboard not as an endpoint, but the beginning of a new chapter. They describe it as a living resource that will continue to evolve through learning, reflection and conversation with partners, stakeholders and community members. That philosophy closely aligns with how we think about impact measurement at Seer Data. The most valuable data assets are not static reports; they are tools that help communities learn together, ask better questions and build a shared understanding of what progress looks like.
We’re looking forward to sharing this journey with Future Connect at the Impact Measurement Marketplace and exploring how data, stories and community knowledge can work together to strengthen place-based decision making and long-term impact.
Building Data Capability for Place-Based Change
Another exciting milestone we’ll be celebrating at the Summit is the new NFP & Place-Based Data Training Modules, developed in partnership between PLACE Australia and Seer Data. The training has been designed to address a challenge we hear consistently across the sector: communities know data and evidence are critical to driving change, but many organisations need practical support to build confidence, capability and shared understanding.
Launching from 1 July, the free training program includes 18 modules across six learning streams, supporting learners from complete beginners through to experienced practitioners. The modules cover foundational topics such as data privacy, data governance and First Nations Data Sovereignty, before progressing through data discovery, community storytelling, shared measurement, systems thinking, evaluation and community-led decision making.
What makes this training unique is that it has been built specifically for the realities of place-based work. Rather than treating data as a technical exercise, the curriculum focuses on how communities can use data and evidence to strengthen collaboration, build shared understanding, support local leadership, and create lasting change. It follows the journey many place-based initiatives experience from understanding local context and building an evidence base, through to shared measurement, data storytelling, advocacy and community-led decision making.
The training reflects a shared commitment between PLACE Australia and Seer Data to strengthen data capability across the place-based sector. By making these resources freely available, we hope to help more communities confidently access, interpret and use data and evidence in ways that support local priorities, community authority and better outcomes for people and place.
Come and Say Hello
If you’re attending the PLACE Impact Summit, we’d love to connect.
Visit us at the Impact Measurement Marketplace to see how place-based initiatives are using Seer Data to bring together data, stories and community knowledge to better understand impact and support local decision-making.
