philanthropyOz Blog

Philanthropy Australia now Tweeting

Philanthropy Australia has a new Twitter account for our Members, colleagues and international counterparts to keep up to date with noteworthy philanthropic sector news and happenings at Philanthropy Australia.

You can follow us on Twitter here:
http://twitter.com/PhilanthropyAus

As another avenue of communication, we’re hoping this will be useful for those who are time-poor and prefer brief updates, and also satisfy those who like frequent updates as they happen; including the Philanthropy Australia conference proceedings.

We’re sure you’ve heard of Twitter, but if you’re not certain how it works take a look at the Twitter Basics guide here.

The Telematics Trust - Funding opportunity open

Applications are now open for the Telematics Trust. The next closing date for applications is 13 August 2010

The Telematics Trust provides seed capital to support initiatives which are innovative, educationally driven and market oriented. Areas of interest to the Trust include the delivery of education or on-the-job training by means of electronic technology and distance learning. The Trust is a public charitable trust established by the Victorian Government in 1987.

The Trust generally provides grants of $30,000 or less; however, consideration will be given to larger grant requests where there are a number of funding partners involved and/or partnership funding is secured, or where the application forms a distinct part of a larger project. The trust can also provide equity and debt of up to $100,000.

Further information about the Telematics Trust and application forms can be obtained from www.telematics.org.au or the Secretariat, Level 18, 8 Exhibition Street, Melbourne or Telephone +61 3 9207 3035.

New Projects Pool launched for Members

Philanthropy Australia is delighted to announced that our Projects Pool is now live!

Designed as a tool for our Full Members to share information about projects, the Project Pool is a reservoir of recommended projects for which non-profits are currently seeking funding. Each project listed has been recommended by a Philanthropy Australia Full Member - usually one which a Member has received an application for, and assessed as outstanding, but cannot themselves fund.

Using the Projects Pool Members can:

• Recommend projects for funding
• Seek out projects which come recommended by other funders, having had initial due diligence undertaken.

The Projects Pool offers a convenient, discreet and secure way for our Members to share project recommendations.

To access the Projects Pool go to our homepage and click on the link under Membership, or go direct to www.philanthropy.org.au/projects.

We are looking forward to filling the Pool with great projects, furthering collaboration and growing philanthropy.

Position Vacant at Philanthropy Australia

Philanthropy Australia has a position for a Web and Communications Administrator in our Melbourne CBD office.

Description: Great opportunity for bright person keen to use their initiative, IT and admin skills to best advantage. Busy office, small team with lots of variety. Must have experience in html and, ideally, dreamweaver; excellent communication skills, both verbal and written; and be an organiser and team player. Hours 9.00 am – 5.30 pm. Salary dependent on experience

To register your interest please send your resume to the CEO Gina Anderson at g.anderson@philanthropy.org.au by 4 March 2009

New reports on the PhilanthropyWiki

‘Our Children, Our Future - Achieving Improved Primary and Secondary Education Outcomes for Indigenous Students’

A new report was launched recently, published by the AMP Foundation, Effective Philanthropy and Social Ventures Australia, offering an overview of philanthropic investment opportunities and approaches to improving outcomes for Indigenous students.

The report ‘Our Children, Our Future - Achieving Improved Primary and Secondary Education Outcomes for Indigenous Students’ provides an overview of current Indigenous education challenges and outcomes, and the impact these have on Indigenous students’ opportunities to access post-secondary qualifications and employment. It identifies the key underlying factors that contribute to this state of affairs, including the social, community and home contexts in which students participate, and their own personal life experience.

The authors, Louise Doyle and Regina Hill, provide a framework for making philanthropic investments that will produce sustainable outcomes, identifying 8 interventions. Case studies for each intervention category are provided, along with key success factors to assist philanthropic investors to assess the effectiveness of individual intervention programs.

Acting wikily: how networks are changing social change

For those wanting to understand how new technologies are contributing to social change efforts, ‘Acting wikily: how networks are changing social change’ is a great place to start. This article explores how new technologies are changing the way we communicate and connect, with particular emphasis on the what this might mean for not-for-profit organisations and philanthropic foundations.

Such fundamental practices as how groups get formed and work gets done are changing, as social media (also called Web 2.0) technologies offer “new networked ways of behaving - ways of acting wikily - that are characterized by principles of openness, transparency, decentralized decision-making, and distributed action.”

The authors question what impact this might have on social change movements and philanthropy, now that organisations are no longer the only way to organise effort; effectiveness is no longer equated with longevity but with mobilization; and the power balance between experts and amateurs is shifting.

On a reassuring note, human elements still matter, with trust and authentic relationships being essential elements of successful online networking.

Accessibility on the Philanthropy Australia Website

The Philanthropy Australia Website was upgraded late last week to ensure it complies with accessibility guidelines established by the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3). The Victorian Government’s Accessibility Toolkit was also consulted during the process of ensuring accessibility.

Accessibility guidelines exist to ensure that websites are accessible to as many people as possible, including those with varying degrees of ability and available technologies. This includes (for example) people with vision impairment and people with slow internet connection speeds.

At Philanthropy Australia we recognise that this issue is an significant one when it comes to supporting the community. In some cases, web accessibility may be as important as (for example) wheelchair accessibility, in particular for those who are accessing information online from remote communities.

The final stages of the accessibility upgrade are still taking place, and we hope to roll out these accessibility standards over the rest of our online services in the near future. You can view the complete Website Accessibility Statement by clicking on the link in the footer on any page of the Philanthropy Australia Website.

Report on TAG and WINGS conferences on ICT - Nov 2007

I’ve just got back from 2 weeks in the United States, attending 2 conferences in my capacity as Manager, Communications & Knowledge at Philanthropy Australia, and generally steeping myself in philanthropy’s homeland. First up, in San Francisco, was the TAG (Technology Affinity Group) Conference. There were about 120 delegates at the TAG Conference, nearly all from foundations, but including people from the Council on Foundations and the Foundation Center. Most were dedicated IT staff (W.K. Kellogg Foundation has 15 people in their IT department!).

Following that was a fabulous WINGS (Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support) Peer Learning Event in Boston, held at Associated Grant Makers (AGM) in Boston, MA. There were 15 invited participants meeting on the theme of Communications Strategies for Grantmaker Associations, from the US and Canada, Brazil, Bermuda, Jamaica, the Philippines and Latvia. The discussions - exploring issues such as knowledge management and the use of technology for communications - were focused and intense, and very rewarding in terms of sharing knowledge and forging peer networks.

The 3 key learnings I took away from these meetings were:

1. Collaboration tools are big, and social networking tools are a part, but only one part, of the picture.

Some foundations, particularly community foundations, are looking to restructure their grant-making as their new donors, generally younger people, don’t relate to the old models of giving, and want more control over their philanthropy and more active involvement. A more collaborative and flexible approach is needed.

However, transition is can be problematic and meet with considerable resistance as grantseekers are so used to being competitive rather than collaborative when it comes to grantseeking from foundations.

Online collaboration tools are most useful for very specific and focused groups who are already working well together and have clear shared goals and an expressed need to share resources. For Philanthropy Australia, as a grantmaker support organisation, we have found some collaboration tools, such as our PhilanthropyOz Blog and the PhilanthropyWiki to be very successful, but they are not necessary tools that our Members all need to adopt wholesale for themselves.

The key purpose of social networking technologies (also known as Web 2.0 - eg. blogs, Facebook, MySpace etc.) is to get people engaged and active. They should be seen as an online enhancements to personal communications rather than as organisational tools. Web 2.0 technologies, in the philanthropy context, are really only useful where they address specific problems which an organisation is focusing on.

2. Data is all important!

We need to collect, analyse and publish data which shows what is happening now in philanthropy in order to obtain maximum support, influence and credibility. In doing so we need to be explicit, transparent and link to strategy.

We can’t rely on asking our users what they want. Henry Ford said “if I’d asked my customers what they wanted they’d have asked for a faster horse”! Rather learn from your users by what they do – monitor their behaviour, track websites statistics, track how many subscribers actually open the e-newsletter.

3. Knowledge Management underpins everything we do.

KM is not a project, but a practice which needs to be built into the culture and infrastructure of the organisation.

KM is traditionally thought of as ‘collecting and connecting’ tasks. Most of us in grantmaker support organisations spend too much time accumulating the knowledge asset, and not enough effort connecting it to others, and others together. In reality most of our members would spend 90% of their time connecting, rather than searching for knowledge. This challenges our assumptions about our role.

Pushing information out to our stakeholders is not enough. We need to adopt a ’You tell us’ strategy. Instead of us publishing what we think our Members and others want or need to hear, and hoping it will be read, we should ask our stakeholders to tell us their view, to engage in dialogue, and in the process two-way learning occurs.

Both these events proved to be valuable, targeted and practical professional development, reinvigorating my work energy, fuelling my ideas bank and networks. It’s always great to meet new colleagues with whom you share challenges and can exchange stories of what worked and what failed, tips and tricks, and useful resources. I look forward to putting some of my new insights into practice. If you would like to see a copy of my trip report please contact me at l.arkles@philanthropy.org.au

Doing IT Better - Social Justice Initiative

Posted: 10-09-2007
These days, electronic communications now underpin the operations of almost all organisations that NFPs deal with in their everyday work and personal lives.

However, many smaller community-sector organisations struggle with how to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) effectively in their work with clients or their relationships with other organisations.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that what is currently available in the market place or from their funding agencies does not support them and with new products and innovations appearing all the time, they feel that they are falling behind.

The Doing IT Better project in Victoria is set to address these issues. It’s a 3-year social justice initiative of the Centre for Community Networking Research, Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, and the Victorian Council of Social Service and funded by a private donor.

Doing IT Better will help NFPs draw out their own knowledge, build independent capacity, and develop long-term plans and support for a networked sector, having flow-on effects into areas such as criminal justice, family support, drug and alcohol services, disability, community education, and so on-all the areas in which community-sector organisations play such a vital part at the coalface.

The skills, knowledge, and relationships they develop will be shared around the sector and enable benefits to be passed onto clients through better services. The project will also allow such organisations to develop more effective relationships with IT vendors and funders.

Larry Stillman from Monash University says the project is also an opportunity for a university to build new grass-roots relationships to serve the needs of disadvantaged groups in the community and perhaps, ultimately, affect how students in many disciplines (law, social work, community development, health, information technology etc.), who work in or have relationships with the sector, learn about the place of ICTs in their work.

The Doing IT Better Initiative will be launched in Melbourne on Friday 5 October @ 11.30am-12.30pm by Fran Thorn, Secretary of the Department of Human Services, Victoria in conjunction with Cath Smith, Executive Officer of VCOSS, and Professor Richard Larkins, the Monash Vice-Chancellor.

Workers from a number of participating organisations will also talk about the value of the project to their work.

All Not for profit representatives are invited to attend.

WHERE: Travellers’ Aid City Centre, cnr Swanston and Bourke Streets,
(Second Floor), Melbourne

RSVP: Please use the following link to RSVP your attendance electronically: www.eventbrite.com/event/68573104

For more information contact Larry Stillman 03 9903 1801.

Source: Pro Bono Australia

Announcement: Philanthropy Australia’s KnowledgeBank

Over the past few years, Philanthropy Australia has been developing a model to bring together our information services to make them as extensive and accessible as possible.

Throughout this process, we have come to understand the immense value of making use of the information technology at hand. The resulting model is what we have called our “KnowledgeBank”.

The KnowledgeBank will be an extensive and user-friendly information service, created and maintained by Philanthropy Australia and made accessible to our Members, the nonprofit community and the general public through the internet.

It will expand the community sector’s knowledge base on philanthropy, promote and facilitate understanding and partnerships between funders and grantseekers, and provide a user-friendly and accessible ‘first port of call’ for anyone seeking information on philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.

The KnowledgeBank project has been most generously supported by Macquarie Bank Foundation, which has enabled us to take a holistic and inclusive approach to our knowledge management and information management across the board.

The KnowledgeBank encompasses several components of Philanthropy Australia’s online information services:

• KnowledgeBank Search
• Philanthropy Australia Website
• Philanthropy Australia Library Catalogue
• PhilanthropyWiki
• The Australian Directory of Philanthropy Online
• Philanthropic Grants Database
• Projects in the Pipeline Database

These components are in various stages of development, refinement and completion. We’ve set up a page on our Website where you can find out more about each of these components, as well as keep track of our progress on the KnowledgeBank project.

Using New Technology to Enhance Grantmaker Practices

Grantmaking 2.0: Using New Technology to Enhance Grantmaker Practices is an article by Amy Luckey (of Blueprint Research & Design in the USA) published by Grantmakers for Effective Organisations.

The piece, as Amy describes, “is meant as a quick introduction to inspire as well as provide constructive cautions for foundations just beginning to explore ways to integrate the use of Web 2.0 into their grantmaking practices.” It seems to come at a time when the discussion on how grantmaking organisations can use technology is increasing.

The piece outlines four instances to “illustrate a handful of the myriad ways grantmakers can use new technologies productively to help accomplish four common goals”. The goals Amy has outlined are:

1. Facilitate communication among grantees
2. Connect grantees with external experts
3. Serve as information resources to the wider community – not only grantees
4. Improve communication with grantees and increase transparency

This article is valuable reading for staff of grantmaking organisations in Australia who are considering (or want to start considering) the ways their organisation could benefit from better use of technology and the internet.

Here at Philanthropy Australia we are already working on utilising social media to fulfil a number of the goals listed above. Watch this space to learn more about our KnowledgeBank and PhilanthropyWiki projects in coming weeks.