Hi ,

Electioneering is stirring up our hopes again, from our local elections in Port Phillip to our State election in Queensland.

It is interesting to consider the commitments and arguments from aspiring candidates through the lens of our client’s work, and their direct links through to promising outcomes and solutions on key election issues like housing, homelessness, mental health, education, First Nations, health, arts, employment.

Their new ideas, approaches, programs, collaborations – many funded by philanthropy - provide glimpses into a future that uses and shares our abundant resources and talents in Australia more generously, and sustainably.  

I hope you enjoy the read, and that you get the opportunity to reflect and use your vote most wisely when given the chance!  

Kind regards,

Simon Lewis & the GoodWolf team 

• Congratulations to Orange Sky for its 10-year anniversary which is a milestone celebration of their service and contribution to connection and communities. 
  Well done to all the team, friends, volunteers and supporters who have been part of the journey. It's been pleasure working with them over the last 9 months on building out their Theory Of Change and Impact framework.

• Congratulations, Linda Thompson, for winning the inaugural Opera Australia Impact Award at the Australian Women in Music Awards AWMA Awards. With support from GoodWolf, Linda has been working tirelessly to grow the Australian Contemporary Opera Company, and launch a new opera festival to provide a platform for emerging artists and new Australian operas. 

• Tenants Victoria marked International Tenants Day on 7th October with the release of a fantastic video guide to help renters navigate the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). ‘Going to VCAT’ walks renters through the entire process – from gathering the necessary documents to understanding what happens during a hearing. The video makes what can be an overwhelming and intimidating process much more approachable. 

CLIENT SHOUTOUTS

Sharing Stories Foundation  

Sharing Stories Foundation was founded in 2012 so communities could have a culturally safe space and the resources to record their cultural knowledge and stories. Building on her two decades working collaboratively with communities to record and creatively interpret  this knowledge, the organisation that Liz Thompson founded now works across 23 communities in Australia. Its impressive library of stories, knowledge and resources is now available via its new ‘culture classroom’ called Jajoo Warrngara, an e-learning platform. 

We were invited in to help the organisations First Nations led Board and new CEO, Pitta Pitta woman Sharon Williams, ground its forward strategy into strategic revenue lines, including philanthropy, and help rebuild the supporting financial architecture to monitor and measure its progress. It’s been a pleasure to work with Sharon and the Sharing Stories team and learn about their work supporting continuity, resilience and growth of First Nations language and culture which goes to the very DNA of self-determination’ 

NCEC – youth co-op initiative and horizontally scale

Over the last few months we have been working with NCEC in Brisbane, on their early-stage Youth Co-operative. The team are now thinking deeply about the expansion of this business and what they call ‘horizontal scaling’ growing new participant led initiatives to create long-term employment opportunities for people with an intellectual disability. 

Despite a sector focused on ‘transitional’ employment opportunities (to the open market) we’d like to recognise the importance and value in social enterprises like NCEC who create long-term options for people with complex needs, within their business. Well done to the NCEC team for many years of leadership in this space.

Monet & Metaphors

Strategy 2028. What does this mean in revenue terms, and how will we get there?

Drawing on our work recently with a selection of charities and social enterprises, we have seen bold strategies with ambitious revenue growth plans. But what has emerged as a crucial missing piece has been the revenue diversification work and more detailed implementation planning to help Boards and management teams allocate their time and effort in the right places.  

A visualisation of revenue diversification, past and future, helps illustrate the changing mix of revenue and how these sources, together, help support the longer-term sustainability and growth of the organisation.

Feeding our GoodWolf

• Primary Health Networks (PHN) and Philanthropy Forum presented by PHN Cooperative - Claire Hanratty, Director of Impact and Evaluation at GoodWolf will give two keynote addresses at the PHN and Philanthropy as Partners Forum in Brisbane at the end of this month. On Day 1, Claire will present on the nature of philanthropy and opportunities for PHNs, and on Day 2 she’ll discuss impact measurement and its importance to philanthropists. There are many other fantastic speakers and topics on the agenda for this forum – look out in our LinkedIn for Claire’s wrap up of the event. 

• Global Leadership Development Series #3 – Sydney 22^nd October, on the eve of the ACFID Conference (Sydney). Established by ACFID and AIDN to help bridge the philanthropy and INGO sector, this series explores key themes and topics of mutual interest. Simon will be facilitating this workshop to unpack the development finance agenda of DFAT and the opportunity for philanthropy and private wealth to leverage into this program.

• GoodWolf team members continue to give their time and expertise pro-bono to a range of NFP and community organisations. Overall, our contribute around 300hrs per year, or 5% of our time to a range of organisations.  This last quarter Simon was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Social Purpose Centre at the Melbourne Business School.

• 'Breakfast With Interesting People!' 
  Building on our informal networking events in Brisbane, we hosted our first GoodWolf Breakfast in Melbourne on October 3^rd. Given the mix and diversity of our client base, we relish the opportunity to help link and connect impressive leaders across the for purpose sector. 

• Progressive Port Phillip
  In anticipation of the local elections, we supported the Progressive Port Phillip action group and facilitated a workshop in September with the aspiring councillors with a progressive agenda in the anticipation of the local elections in October  

• Launch of Cool.org’s Impact Report 
  Cool.org launched its new impact report at the ‘Reality of Teaching’ event at the State Library of Victoria. GoodWolf researched and developed the report – take a here. 

• Launch of ACF Impact Fund 2024 
  Now in its 8^th year, the Australian Community Foundation’s (ACF) Impact Fund curated four impressive ‘collaborations for justice’ that presented at the Malthouse Theatre on 10^th October. The Climate Justice Coalition and Common Threads spoke passionately about organising collective community action around climate and First Nations self-determination in anticipation of the next Federal Election in 2025, and the likely hosting of COP31 in Brisbane 2026. And Anika Legal, in collaboration with the Consumer Resource Policy Centre (CPRC) and Better Renting, presented their vision for ‘A Place to Call Home’ to reframe the rights and interests of a growing renting community. The Australian Democracy Network also presented a compelling case for investment in campaigners to tackle and inoculate the misinformation that is eating away at our democracy. ACF invites co-investment from other philanthropies. Find out more.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of The GoodWolf.  

Please reach out or share a comment with us at hello@goodwolf.com.au or contact one of the team directly. 

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