Jane Ferrier

What about us?

Have you heard that PwC recently announced a global investment of $3 billion in people development? They understand that the world in which they operate is moving at such a pace; they cannot hire fast enough to serve it. Upskilling every PwC employee is a commitment to ensuring not one staff member is left behind.

Globally experts have identified investing in people and leadership as a critical factor in the ability of the social sector to build sustainability and positive social and environmental change. Yet our sector steadfastly fails to nurture our NFP leaders. Why is this? Is it a lack of resources? Are we strapped for time? Or perhaps it’s a belief that we don’t deserve it. Or shouldn’t be seen investing in ourselves? That the ‘nice to haves’ are for our corporate peers.

NFP work is hard, and yet the Australian social sector continues to attract talented, thoughtful, passionate and experienced people at every level, including to its leadership ranks. We’re working to improve the most persistent and challenging issues facing the community; poverty, illness, environmental crises – the list goes on. A prosperous, sustainable society depends in large part on our organisations and the ability of our leaders to deliver on mission. But where is the support and investment in the NFP people who do this work?

Our NPA Members are amongst the lucky ones – or should I say the smart ones – who understand the immense value of surrounding themselves with peers who can help them realise their purpose, so much more effectively than doing it alone. And the Members who reap the greatest value are those that maximise every opportunity to tap into the brains trust, that is their NPA Leadership Hub.

As our community grows the level of support and collaborative bonds that we see building amongst our Members is heartening. When our recent survey saw 89% Members agree that “NPA provides professional and emotional support from my peers that I don’t get anywhere else” we are reassured that we are providing a vital service to our sector leaders.

Our community is for leaders like you. From CEOs through to Senior Managers, there is the monthly peer2peer NPA Leadership HUB program for senior executives and the NPA Coaching Program to support our aspiring NFP leaders of tomorrow.

You don’t have to go it alone. The NPA Community is here, ready to help you to invest in yourself and your organisation. Talk to us, or come along for a complimentary Discovery Day to experience the power of the NPA Leadership HUB for yourself.

Make 2020 the year you invest in yourself – and be loud and proud to announce it!

Listening to and acting on constructive feedback ensures that we continue to refine the HUB offering to deliver for our members’ needs. This year we surveyed the HUB membership to canvass their views on a range of issues from the design of the HUB program, to how the HUB benefitted them as leaders.

We’re delighted to share some incredible results with you.  Eighty-nine per cent of surveyed members agree that they are more knowledgeable about the sector because of their HUB membership, 95% value the chance to share in the confidential HUB setting and 92% agree that the HUB helps them to think through their leadership challenges.

Thank you to all our HUB members for taking part! We look forward to sharing continuing program enhancements, based on your feedback, in 2020.

We are delighted to share that our NPA Coaching Team is expanding and bringing a wealth and diversity of sector knowledge and experience with it.

Our Coaching Team includes NFP industry veterans Nicci Dent, Dr Astrid Perry, Georgina King and Adam Blatch.

Exclusively for senior managers and aspiring leaders, the NPA Coaching Program is a personalised learning and mentoring journey focused on developing the individual leadership skills and expertise of managers who want to move up in the sector. This program can be taken over 12 or 6 months, depending on your availability and requirements.

Download the NPA Coaching Kit 2019 to learn more.

Community Council Australia (CCA) is convening a roundtable at Parliament House on 25 October on electoral reform (including recent changes and the current Bill), and the eight reform recommendations of the recent Grattan Report, ‘Who’s in the Room – Access and Influence in Australian Politics’. 

Report author, Danielle Wood will be on hand to discuss the report findings and recommendations and CCA hopes that each of the major parties will join us to outline their positions.

The report’s call to ‘boost countervailing voices through more inclusive policy review processes and advocacy for under-represented groups to give politicians and public officials better information with which to adjudicate the public interest’ is consistent with positions that CCA and many in our sector have long advocated.

CCA is convening this roundtable with a view to adopting all eight of the report’s recommendations as CCA policy positions and a starting point for the reforms to national policy making that Australia desperately needs.

The full report is available here

Read CCA CEO David Crosbie’s recent article in Pro Bono News, National Policy for Sale?  here 

The 2018 Impact Investment Summit Asia Pacific, 7-9 November at the InterContinental, Sydney has a stellar program lined up. 25+ international speakers, 80+ local speakers and panellists, 300+ Summiteers in one location, 3 x world cafes to build markets in strategic areas aligned to the National Strategy on Impact Investing, a mini-symposium on Climate & Carbon with international leading voices, 14 interactive panel discussions, and 7 plenary sessions.  

The Summit is the peak forum for the impact ecosystem in the region and this dynamic community will gather this year around the theme of Wisdom, Courage, Action. A unique opportunity to connect, share, learn and catalyse the sector to new frontiers, topics such as scale, measurement, systems change, structural inequality, deal flow, green finance, and many more will be explored. Streamed for both the advanced practitioners and for those new to impact investing, there is rich learning and connection for anyone with a passion for shifting capital for good. 

We’re proud to support this important convening – please book here and please use the Discount Code: NPA  for 10% off your registration. 

When it comes to navigating the maze of challenges our sector faces, knowing where to focus our efforts and how to prioritise our next move, can be daunting.

What lies ahead?
Where should we focus our attention?
What do we need to do differently?

As effective social sector leaders we keep abreast of the external forces at play – but we also look for expertise and advice – as we respond to the myriad of unexpected challenges and exciting developments that emerge, from new legislation, to increased regulation, to governance; philanthropy; and the role of peak bodies.

Our Annual Signature Event is taking place on Thursday 2 August and allows you the unique opportunity to network and learn with over 120 non for profit senior executives. In this session you will hear from the key influencers who have been leading and uniting us and hear, first-hand, their predictions on the current issues of critical importance for NFP leaders.

Join us for our annual Keynote Speaker panel, facilitated by journalist and broadcaster, Stephen Feneley. Our panel includes:
Sarah Davies, Philanthropy Australia
Phil Butler, Australian Institute of Company Directors
Kirsty Muir, The Centre for Social Impact
David Crosbie, Community Council for Australia

Register now as there are only limited seats available.

We are excited to announce that Dianne Speakman, Head of Communications and Corporate Affairs at SDN Children’s Services has been awarded The Myer Foundation NPA Leadership Hub Program scholarship for 2018.

Dianne is an experienced marketing communications specialist with more than 20 years’ experience in marketing communications and stakeholder management across the not-for-profit sector. As Head of Communications and Corporate Affairs at SDN Children’s Services, Dianne is a member of SDN’s Executive and is Assistant Company Secretary.

She is responsible for SDN’s strategic communications and brand, marketing and customer experience, and stakeholder relationship management, helping to ensure that SDN continues to offer quality services that meet the needs of families and enhance the wellbeing of children.

Dianne is thrilled to be part of the NPA’s Leadership Hub thanks to The Myer Foundation Scholarship, as this is an invaluable opportunity to be challenged and learn from the experience of others in the sector. Dianne joins our newly formed Hub 4 for the next 12 months.

This May, our NPA Leadership Hub 4 starts. Hear why Chair, Sturt Eastwood, is involved with this program.

“As you know, I am personally committed to the idea that excellence in leadership makes a material difference to the impact of organisations.

So, in addition to my current responsibilities with Diabetes NSW & ACT I am quite excited about the opportunity to support leadership development in the NFP sector.I recently joined the NonProfit Alliance (NPA) as a Leadership Hub Chair. We are establishing NPA Leadership HUB 4 in Sydney to actively support 12 social sector executives in a unique and powerful “peer to peer” advisory group. I am seeking a limited number of sector leaders that are interested in jointly developing and refining their leadership and performance capabilities to join me in the HUB 4 journey.

Recognising the increased challenges and complexities faced by non-profit leaders, it’s often lonely at the top – and I believe the NPA provides leaders with the structured support that enables them to deal effectively with their myriad of challenges and thrive.

In a recent study by the Association for Talent Development in the US, leadership development has been shown to make a bigger impact on an organisation’s success than an organisation’s “culture of innovation”.

As a long-term peer-to-peer leadership program, NPA lets leaders collaborate, learn and share issues and opportunities and helps them achieve both organisational and personal success. Research* shows that allowing non-profit leaders to step back periodically from their day to day operational responsibilities and invest in their leadership development has systemic and positive effects that can increase organisational capacity and impact.

Click here to see what our current members have to say about the program.

At NPA we hold leaders accountable. Our structured Leadership Hub program provides personal insights, goal setting, mentoring, issue resolution and solution sharing, all in a supportive, secure and safe environment.

A recent cost-benefit analysis suggests that every $1 spent on leadership capacity building generated, on average, a positive return to the organisation of $6.

If you are an NFP leader and believe you might benefit from a program developed specifically to support leaders in the NFP space, please register today for a free, no obligation, Discovery Day.

If you are interested in learning more, or know an outstanding NFP executive or leader who would benefit from this program please get in touch with me at sturt@nonprofitalliance.com.au

*Learning for Purpose research, led by the Centre for Social Impact at the University of Western Australia Business School.

Want the opportunity to join Australia’s leading nonprofit leadership program?

Thanks to The Myer Foundation, The NonProfit Alliance is pleased to announce the introduction of a new scholarship for one social sector senior executive to join a NPA Leadership Hub for 12 months.

As a long-term peer-to-peer leadership program, The NonProfit Alliance lets you collaborate, learn and share your issues and opportunities, helping you to achieve organisational and personal success.

With few opportunities for non-profit leaders to step back from their day to day operational responsibilities and invest in yourself and your team, research* shows that investing in leadership development has systematic positive effects and can increase organisational capacity and impact.

The NonProfit Alliance’s Leadership Hub Program allows for real-time thinking – working on genuine issues and opportunities, harnessing extensive peer experience that allows for invaluable insights and creates change.

Applications close on 13 April 2018 so make sure you apply today.

Download the application form here NPA – TMF Application Form and send it to jane@nonprofitalliance.com.au 

*Learning for Purpose research, led by the Centre for Social Impact at the University of Western Australia Business School.

As a member organisation who works with nonprofit executives we believe in standing alongside our members and advocating for our sector. Currently there are a number of serious issues that are facing us, in particular the following two items that will have direct and significant impact on most, if not all, charities:

1. The Electoral Legislation Amendment Bill 2017 – Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform & The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill 2017; and
2. The ACNC’s submission to the review of 2012 ACNC Legislation.

The objections to the above two items have been widespread, with peak bodies and voices of influence in the sector imploring charities to speak loudly in opposition to their implementation.

• The Electoral Legislation Bill – There is a call for charities to be exempt from the above areas of this Bill which essentially treat charities the same as political parties. Many have warned that the Bill will impose a huge red tape burden for charities and strangle their attempts to advocate for policy change for the Australian community.

• The ACNC Submission – As part of the review of the 2012 ACNC Legislation, the ACNC seeks to add two new objects: one in regard to the effective use of resources and the other in regard to increased accountability of charities, to donors and the public. Both of these additional objects are regarded as complete overreach for the Regulator and it is predicted they will result in significant and unnecessary impact/restrictions on charities.

These are warnings that we need to listen to – and we need to act.

The NonProfit Alliance will be supporting the stand taken by the Community Council for Australia on both these issues:

https://www.communitycouncil.com.au/content/submission-jscem-inquiry-electoral-legislation-amendment-electoral-funding-and-disclosure 

https://www.communitycouncil.com.au/content/cca-news-summer-2018

We note and support the fact that the ACNC has also taken a strong stand for charities to be exempt from the Electoral Legislation Bill (Point 1). As have the FIA, Philanthropy Australia and many other reputable sector entities.