COTA on Volunteers

COTA LogoAustralian volunteers are essential to society and many charities would struggle to survive without them – but the benefits don’t only flow one-way.  Here are a few interesting points about volunteers from the Council of the Ageing (COTA):

  • Of the 600,000 Not-For-Profit organisations in Australia, only 60,000 have paid staff
  • Volunteers annually contribute $200 Billion to the Australian economy
  • The numbers of volunteers in Australia has doubled from 3.2 Million in 1995 to 6.1 Million in 2010
  • The rate of volunteering by young people in Australia has increased from 16% in 1995 to 27% in 2010
  • Volunteers are happier, healthier, live longer and sleep better than those who don’t volunteer.

So…what are you waiting for?

Sleep Health Foundation on Safe Driving

Dr David Hillman, the Chair of the Sleep Health Foundation, Australia’s leading national advocate for sleep health, has released his top tips for keeping drivers safe on the roads.

  • Make sure you’ve had at least seven hours sleep the night before a long drive
  • If you have to drive for long periods of time, try to take a short power nap after lunch
  • Share the driving with someone else and help keep each other awake
  • Have a break every two hours, get out of the car and walk around for a few minutes
  • Don’t drive between 1am and 6am
  • Don’t drive if you’ve been awake for more than 17 hours
  • Pull over if you regularly notice difficulty keeping your eyes open, or find yourself relying on loud music, energy drinks or fresh air to stay awake.

Sleep Health Foundation, March 2015

AICD on Business Continuity

aicdlogoFive key business continuity strategies from Matthew Sainsbury in “Company Director” [Vol 31, Iss 02, Mar/2015]

  1. Understand the threat landscape
    Likely and unlikely disasters will change on ayearly if not monthly basis.  It is important that all directors and executive management remain on top of what the current risks are and the most current strategies to mitigate them.
  2. Remain vigilant for both internal and external threats
    One of the most common mistakes that organisations make in disaster planning is ignoring the potential for a disgruntled employee to cause trouble.
  3. Be aware of personal safety and security
    Company directors are listed on the company websites by necessity but a committed hacker can gain information on that person from even that short blurb.  A director’s home and personal technology needs to be treated with the same need for security as their work devices.
  4. Redundancy is key
    Always have an alternative for every business process, supplier an dtechnology project and make sure that the alternative is located in an area that is geographically separate from the main location.  Have robust plans in place to automatically roll over as a backup in the event of a disaster.
  5. Have full disaster management and succession plans in place
    In a disaster, a chaotic environment can cause more mistakes and when that happens the impact of the event can be even greater.  Having clearly laid-out and pre-prepared strategies for managing disasters will minimise the impact.

Great News on World TB Day

results-logo24 March 2015 is World Tuberculosis Day.  Following a successful advocacy campaign involving RESULTS International (Australia), Julie Bishop has delivered a $30M funding boost to support late state clinical trials of new Tuberculosis treatments, the development of better Tuberculosis diagnostic tools and testing, and the development of anti-malarial drugs.

louie-zepeda-editedThe campaign included the personal story of a brave and remarkable woman from the Philippines – Ms Louie Zepeda – who lost her eyesight and a career in architecture during a two-year battle with the disease.  Not being one to take that lying down, she is now a married with a young daughter, a program associate at the Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP) for the ASEAN Region, and an international advocate for Tuberculosis Patients and the Sight Impaired.

TB ForumAs a Director of RESULTS, this is a very proud moment .  Thanks must go to Ms Bishop and her staff, but well done to RESULTS CEO Maree Nutt and her hard-working team, and the  advocacy campaigners who attended the launch of the TB Forum at Parliament House on Monday 23 March 2015.

International Day of Forests – 21/Mar/2015

International Day of Forests 2015.03.21The ACT-ABC-Hub has helped plant 231.0 native trees in Australian forests by supporting Greenfleet, one of Australia’s most trusted environmental charities.

As we join the global community to celebrate the International Day of Forests on March 21, we are proud of our commitment to reduce our impact on climate change by offsetting our emissions with Greenfleet’s native forests.

2015IntlForestDay_Greenfleet_thanks to forests and treesForests and trees sustain and protect us in invaluable ways. They provide the clean air that we breathe, and the water that we drink. They host and safeguard the planet’s biodiversity and act as our natural defence against climate change.

Join the Hub and thousands of other individuals and organisations who take real climate action with Greenfleet and celebrate the International Day of Forests by donating to our environmental partner, Greenfleet.

Campaign for Australian Aid

In the last 20 years, humanity has made great progress in shaping a more just and equal world. Together, through Australian Aid, we have played a part in that story. We want Australians to celebrate our important contributions on the world stage, and ensure that as a nation we are for Australian Aid.

That is why Make Poverty History, together with Micah Challenge, have launched a new Campaign for Australian Aid.  The campaign is a coalition of over 50 aid and development organisations below.

CFAA - 2015

In recent years, Australia’s aid budget has suffered from successive cuts, and has lost the bi-partisan support it once held. These have dramatically set back our national contribution to the crucial progress of international development.

Now, more than ever, Australia needs strong support behind the life-changing work of aid.
Add your voice to the movement committed to a brighter future for Australian Aid.  Join the Campaign for Australian Aid.

Miller on For-Profits v Not-For-Profits

Clara MillerHere’s an interesting metaphor explaining the differences between For-Profit and Not-For-Profit Organisations taken largely from a presentation by Clara Miller from the F. B. Heron Foundation.

Let’s pretend you’re the owner of a restaurant.  Your customer comes to pay the bill but before she offers her credit card, she says, “I’m going to restrict my payment to the chef’s salary.  She’s great, and I just want to make sure I’m paying for the one thing that makes the real difference here.  I don’t want any of this payment to go towards your rent, your crockery, your air-conditioning, or your accountant.  They’re just not that important.  The chef is where you should be spending your money!”

The irony is that controlling costs actually undermines efficiency and program quality.  Over time, the inability of Not-For-Profits to invest in better staff learning & development, maintaining office amenities, introducing better IT systems, and developing innovative programs means that staff burn out, offices fall into disrepair, systems are not updated, and service improvement stalls.

In the same management situation, the difference between a For-Profit Manager and their Not-For-Profit counterpart is that the former instinctively overstaffs operations for growth, while the latter understaffs.

Our Community Board Builder Conference

icda-header

Had 1 fantastic jam-packed day of learning at the Our Community Institute of Community Directors’ Board Builder Conference (Moonee Valley Racetrack, 23/Feb/2015):

  • Some awesome presentations on NFP mergers, Crisis Management, Fundraising, Board Recruitment, ICT security, and People Management
  • Some fabulous opportunities to network with 400+ not-for-profit board members and CEOs
  • A challenging lunchtime presentation from one of Australia’s most prominent futurists, Dr Peter Ellyard
  • Several chances to pick the brains of a number of not-for-profit governance experts during 2 provocative panel sessions
  • Some great take-aways from the Commonwealth Bank and Moores Legal.

ACTGov on Recycling

Take your lids offYou need to take the lids off bottles and jars before you put them in the recycling bin.  Bottles and jars that still have their lids on can cause problems at the ACT recycling facility.  So, when you’ve finished with your bottles and jars, take the lids off – and then put the lot (bottles, jars, lids) in your recycling bin.

There are lots of other types of recyclable materials that you might not know about and might be incorrectly throwing in the garbage bin.  For example, rigid plastic take away food containers and toothpaste tubes can all be recycled.  Did you know toothpaste tubes and other semi-rigid plastics like sun cream tubes often become pencil cases after recycling!

You can check what can and can’t be recycled on the TAMS website A-Z Waste and Recycling Guide.