Not For Profit Summit
The 2011 Think Resources Summit
Nearly 300 Victorian not-for-profit (NFP) community organisations gathered in Bendigo on 18 October for the Office for the Community Sector’s third annual Summit.
The 2011 “Think Resources” Summit showcased a host of tools, ideas and strategies available to ensure the sustainability of Victoria’s NFP community sector.
The 2011 Summit focused primarily on efficient use of resources with presentations, workshops and exhibits on information technology, pro bono support, workforce and financial resources and better engagement with philanthropic organisations and business.
Deputy Premier Peter Ryan opened the Summit, launching:
- the new $75,000 Victorian Government funded Business Planning for NFP Organisations Program – offering six business planning workshops and one-on-one mentoring for up to 72 NFP organisations
- the Developing Conflict Resilient Workplaces guide – developed to help NFP organisations minimise conflict in the workplace.
Delegates also heard from Australian of the Year Simon McKeon, a prominent philanthropist, investment banker and long time supporter of a number of NFP organisations including World Vision Australia, MS Research Australia and Red Dust Role Models.
Over the past three years, the Office for the Community Sector has run annual Summits, to provide the opportunity for representatives of Victoria’s 120,000 NFP organisations to share ideas and learn about resources that will help the NFP sector be sustainable into the future.
More information on the 2011 Think Resources Summit will be made available on this page shortly.
The 2010 Think Innovation Summit
The Office for the Community Sector’s (OCS) 2010 Think Innovation Summit was held on 22 September 2010 at Docklands, Melbourne.Almost 300 representatives from Not-For-Profit (NFP) community organisations, philanthropy and local and state government attended the 2010 Think Innovation Summit. The Victorian Government’s Action Plan: Strengthening Community Organisations (the Action Plan) (PDF 178 kb) or (Word 243 kb), commits government to maintaining open dialogue with the sector with the purpose of discussing challenges and issues facing NFP community organisations. This year’s summit brought together a wide-range of community organisations, diverse in size, location and function.
Summit attendees were able to hear about the Victorian Government’s future commitments to the sector, including the development of a Common Funding Agreement across the whole of the Victorian Government.
Debra Allcock Tyler, CEO of the UK Directory of Social Change was the keynote speaker for the day, and gave attendees an insight into what challenges and issues the NFP sector in the UK face. Debra’s speech, titled ‘In Praise of Odd-Shaped Fruit’, celebrated the diversity of the NFP sector, and urged a return to focusing on the charitable core of NFP work, rather than a focus on competition and profits. Download Debra’s speech (PDF 67 kb) or (Word 54 kb).
A Panel of Victorian Innovators, comprising representatives from the NFP community sector, told the audience about how small, innovative changes to their organisation dramatically changed the way they operate.
An afternoon of mini-workshops brought summit attendees together in small groups to discuss current issues facing the sector. Throughout the day, attendees volunteered to chair a small group to discuss a nominated topic of their choice. Topics included ‘How should the community sector develop its people…can it be done in a more innovative way? And ‘We all share common interests - a strong, sustainable, healthy Victoria – are there better ways we can collaborate?’. More information on the Summit can be found in the 2010 Think Innovation Summit Report (PDF 670kb) or (Word 1.5Mb).
2010 Victorian Community Sector Awards
The winners of the inaugural Victorian Community Sector Awards were also announced at the Summit. The Awards showcased innovation in the NFP community sector, and were inspiring examples of the work that is achieved by community organisations. The award categories aimed to highlight creative ways of addressing challenges in four distinct areas:
New Approaches to Managing Administrative / Compliance Tasks
WINNER: Inner East Community Health Service & Melbourne City Mission
RUNNER-UP: Disability Knowledge Network (DK Net)
RUNNER-UP: Ausdance Vic Inc
New Approaches to Workforce Challenges
WINNER: Inner East Community Health Service
RUNNER-UP: Sandybeach Centre
RUNNER-UP: GippSport
New Approaches to Partnerships with Philanthropy and Business
WINNER: Eastern Disability Access Resource
RUNNER-UP: Women’s Health Victoria
RUNNER-UP: Gateway Community Health
Engagement with the Local Community
WINNER: Secondbite
RUNNER-UP: Footscray Community Arts Centre
RUNNER-UP: Mission Australia- Charcoal Lane
The 2009 Not For Profit Futures Summit
The 2009 Not For Profit Futures Summit was held on Saturday 19th September 2009, at the Arts Centre, ANZ Pavilion.Summit participants were presented with challenging facts about Victoria’s projected growth, and were encouraged to find new ways to think about the future. Read the 2009 Not for Profit Futures Summit Report (PDF 272 kb) or (Word 222 kb).
Guest speakers
The first guest speaker, Jeremy Reynolds, Manager, Demographic Research at the Department of Planning and Community Development, presented research about Victoria’s future demographic landscape. His presentation demonstrated challenging rates of growth for some parts of Victoria, and significantly declining populations in other parts of the state. He also showed changes to the profile of Victoria’s population – where areas will experience growth in different age brackets, and what this means for planning and infrastructure development. Jeremy’s presentation can be viewed in original PowerPoint format (Part 1) (PPT 1567 kb) and (Part 2) (PPT 1345 kb) or in Word: Slides 1–6 (Word 1205 kb), Slides 7–13 (Word 1363 kb), Slides 14–20 (Word 1154 kb), Slides 21–26 (Word 1159 kb), Slides 27–31 (Word 1609 kb).The second guest speaker, Jason Clarke, Mindworker from Minds at Work, encouraged participants to think differently about the future. He gave a stimulating presentation on different approaches to thinking strategically. Some of the highlights of his presentation were the ‘graph of amazingness over time’, demonstrating the difference between vision, strategic planning, and the here-and-now, and the block that prevents us from moving away from the here-and-now.
More information on the 2009 Summit, including what was discussed during the workshops and panel discussions, can be found in the 2009 Summit Report.
For more details contact Annalisa Corica at the Office for the Community Sector:
Email: communitysector@dpcd.vic.gov.au
Phone: (03) 9658 4621
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