Steps to Growth – what you need to know to scale well

The social sector is obsessed with scale, pushed by funders’ assumptions that in order to achieve large-scale change we need to replicate the projects that are achieving local change. Makes sense right? However, in a bid for funding and impact…

Why ‘Lifestyle disease’ is misleading

Individual choice as the primary driver of wellness is a central idea in the mythology of modern health[1]: we label non-communicable disease ‘lifestyle’ disease, and target our interventions at an individual’s behaviour like diet and…

Sugar Tax- The Stick AND the Carrot

By David Anderson   In the decades since we lost the Marlboro Man and Yul Brynner to lung cancer, governments like Australia’s have done their utmost to reduce the incidence of this disease.  Plain cigarette packaging, packaging…
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KNOWLEDGE POWERING CHANGE: EXOUSIA

Shifting their focus from abandoned children to training nurses has allowed this tiny Australian charity to leverage their impact in Myanmar by 300 times. This strategic change has been reflected in a new name: Exousia. Exousia is a Greek…

BUSTING NON-PROFIT MYTHS

  Over the years, non-profits have fallen victim to a host of myths that are both flawed and unfair. We unravel them here.  Myth #1: Capacity building is ambiguous and unnecessary. Often the term ‘capacity building’ is met with…

The Red Storm of Yesterday’s Logic

August 28, 2017 By David Anderson In business it is said that you cannot manage what you cannot measure, but you can neither measure nor manage that which you can’t even define. It is claimed that the industrial revolution had been under…

“The Edge” of Success – Refugees, Films and Fundraising

For Constance, having escaped conflict in Sudan for a new life in Australia, the recent postponement of a film premiere depicting her story would have seemed a minor irritation. In fact , the interruption wrought by ex cyclone Debbie…
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Powers and Pitfalls of Events for Fundraising

“Jeez Janine… We really need to find a way to raise some funds. I just don’t know how we’re going to be able to extend the program to help the baby seals off the cape like we planned if we don’t…” “I know Paulie, I know. I’ve…
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Indigenous-Run Health Retreat

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Transforming the World by Transforming the Social Sector

by Stephanie Clerc A recent meeting between three Australian social organisations has left me feeling more optimistic about the future of the social sector in Australia than I have since I was a bright-eyed uni student. I’m not just…