New Zealand’s latest live crowdfunding event for charity raised more than $46,000 in half an hour for four very worthy organisations.

The Funding Network (TFN), described as the “Dragon’s Den for charities”, held its second event at AUT University in Auckland last night, where more than 100 generous Kiwis and the Macquarie Group Foundation pledged more than $46,400.

The charities to benefit this time were:

• Assistance Dogs New Zealand - helps enrich the lives of adults and children living with multiple disabilities by providing Assistance Dogs to promote independence, mobility, confidence and the ability to participate in their communities.
  
• The Crescendo Trust of Aotearoa - supports young people who are not responding well to traditional education by giving them training and mentoring in music, media and communication. This fosters their creativity and builds life skills.
  
• Fair Food - Auckland’s first food rescue charity which is both a social and environmental organisation. It rescues fit-to-consume food from retailers and producers that would otherwise go to landfill and redirects it to those most in need through various community groups.
  
• Young Carers NZ - a network for Kiwi children and young people who look after ill, elderly or disabled love ones. About 8% of young people up to the age of 24 are young carers and the charity provides them with information, support and advice.
  

Each group had six minutes to pitch their organisation and another six minutes to answer questions, after which the pledging from the crowd began. Donations came thick and fast, ranging from $50 to $1,000. All four charities quickly exceeded their $10,000 target.

“These four terrific organisations are all doing amazing work in their respective areas and will be able to extend their programmes even further, thanks to the generosity of philanthropic Aucklanders,” says Hilary Sumpter, CEO of Auckland Communities Foundation which helps run The Funding Network, with support from Philanthropy New Zealand, The Gift Trust, the AUT University Business School and Macquarie Group.

The Funding Network was launched in London in 2002 by philanthropist and art dealer Dr Frederick Mulder and has since spread around the world, with more than 150 TFN events held, 750 charities supported and at least NZD $13 million raised.

The Macquarie Group Foundation and Macquarie Private Wealth NZ were again key supporters of the Auckland event last night, with the Macquarie Group Foundation matching one-third of the funds pledged on the night.

“It is a privilege to support TFN NZ and help New Zealanders share in such a rewarding evening of giving generously to four very deserving, local charities,” says Laurence Fitzpatrick, Head of Macquarie Private Wealth NZ.

The Funding Network plans to hold a third event in Wellington later this year and then take the concept to other regional cities around the country.

ENDS

Scoop NZ

The New Zealand Law Society section representing in-house lawyers has changed its name to In-house Lawyers’ Association of New Zealand (ILANZ).

Previously known as Corporate Lawyers Association of New Zealand (CLANZ), the section’s new name recognises a change in the way lawyers working inside private and public sector organisations are referred to.

“People do not tend to refer to in-house lawyers as corporate lawyers any more, and 62% of New Zealand’s in-house lawyers work in the government, academic or not-for-profit sectors,” ILANZ President Katie Elkin says.

Dr Elkin says the name change was approved by members at the section’s AGM on 22 May and has now been ratified by the New Zealand Law Society Board.

ENDS - Scoop NZ

A charity wants the Government to pay for it to take over an Auckland motel for families who are living in caravan parks or doubling up in overcrowded houses.

Glen Eden-based VisionWest Community Trust was funded by the Government in March to take over a 19-unit motel in Christchurch for two years to house homeless families for up to eight weeks while social workers help them find permanent housing.

Trust chief executive Lisa Woolley says the initiative is working so well it should be extended to Auckland.

"The crisis that we have in Auckland is the same as in Christchurch.

"We definitely need to build more housing, but we need something that is an immediate solution right now."

At the end of March, 1066 applicants for social housing in Auckland, and 334 in Christchurch, were in priority A - described as "at risk and including households with a severe and persistent housing need that must be addressed immediately".

Monte Cecilia Housing Trust executive David Zussman said 14 agencies provided emergency housing in Auckland, but mainly for 237 individuals in hostels such as the Salvation Army's 100-bed Epsom Lodge.

There were only 35 units for families, including 13 at Monte Cecilia.

Salvation Army social policy director Major Campbell Roberts said it had submitted a proposal to build 10 to 12 new emergency units on church and council land around Auckland as part of a government tender for 300 new social housing units.

But Aneta Rangirangi of Te Roopu o Te Whanau Rangimarie o Tamaki Makaurau, which houses four families in a three-bedroom house and a sleepout in Mangere, said families usually had to stay longer than the official four weeks.

Ms Woolley said the Christchurch initiative was rehousing families faster.

A Social Development Ministry spokesman said families in the Christchurch motel did not pay rent because the programme was fully funded.

Outside Christchurch, the ministry paid to put families in motels in "some emergency situations".

Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett ordered a review of the sector due by July 31.

"As a part of the review, we will consider a number of solutions, including the innovative approach being taken in Christchurch," she said.

Motel Association chief executive Michael Baines said it was probably cheaper to buy a motel than a house in parts of Auckland.

Housing the needy

1066 Auckland households on priority A housing waiting list.

35 emergency housing units available.

10-12 new units proposed by Salvation Army.

20 proposed in motel by VisionWest.

- NZ Herald

Saturday, 6 June 2015, 11:21 am

Press Release: New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists

The New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists have teamed up with grassroots campaigning movement ActionStation to call on the Government to drop new experiments using ‘social bonds’ to fund the delivery of mental health services.

“Over the past week a number of our members asked us to launch a campaign calling for an end to this experimentation with mental health funding,” says Marianne Elliott, National Director of ActionStation. “They were concerned about the perverse incentives this approach could create in the delivery of essential services to vulnerable New Zealanders.”

The petition asks the Health Minister Jonathan Coleman to stop the use of ‘social bonds’ in the mental health sector and calls on him to commit to more government funding to mental health treatment and support directly.

The New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists share these concerns and have publicly backed the petition.

“As we talked to our members, and I spoke with members of the general public it became clear that a lot of people are really shocked and worried about the idea of this Government using an unproven funding model with some of our most vulnerable Mental Health consumers” says Kyle MacDonald, New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists Chair of Public Issues.

“We hope that people who share our concerns take the time to sign the petition and spread the word.” Says MacDonald “This just felt too important for us as a profession, and we felt we had to stand up and say stop. Our hope is that other professions feel the same way and join us in endorsing this action”

Petition: http://www.actionstation.org.nz/mentalhealth

Contact: NZPA Kyle MacDonald 021 708 689

Contact: Action Station Marianne Elliott 021 110 6086

More details:

ActionStation is a member-led campaigning group whose mission is to help more New Zealanders get involved in campaigns and actions to promote participatory democracy, and transparent and accountable politics in New Zealand. Launched in July 2014, ActionStation currently has over 80,000 active members.

The New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists is a professional organisation which sets, examines and maintains specific standards for the safe and ethical practice of psychotherapy in Aotearoa New Zealand.

ENDS

- Scoop NZ

Don’t count on your data to tell its own story. Craft a narrative around its insights and engage in data storytelling! Plus: The risks of recording your history in obsolete formats.

Let’s say your organisation has a brilliant new study that provides a bounty of insight about your area of expertise. So you prep a press release, line up some internal experts who are ready to field some interviews, and think that the ensuing press campaign would be a roaring success.

“But as someone who has worked the beat as a reporter and sat in an editor’s chair, I can say that most nonprofits (and businesses, too) have a difficult time pitching stories about their data and research,” Panepento Strategies principal Peter Panepento writes. “And as someone who has done a lot of storytelling with data, I can see why.”

In a guest post on Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog, Panepento makes the case for finding the narrative within the data you’ve collected and then pitching that to the media, instead of just overwhelming them with statistics.

“It all starts with asking the right questions. In the same way a reporter interviews a source or a detective interviews a witness, you need to interview your data—asking questions that will help draw the conclusions you need to go forward,” he writes.

For some specific examples of how organizations have succeeded by tying their data to a narrative, read Panepento’s full post here.

Sourced from Associations Now here.

Article by Oliver Garside sourced directly from LinkedIn here.

Many of us work for organisations which provide the opportunity and encouragement to pursue charitable endeavors via the donation of time, resources or expertise. Often it’s upon this foundation of support and encouragement that like-minded and talented groups of professionals can make amazing things happen!

I am fortunate to work for one such organisation. The desire to create economic opportunity for its members is deeply woven into LinkedIn's culture. Some people may question the authenticity of LinkedIn's vision statement but I can tell you it's very real and nothing symbolises this quite like the LinkedIn for Good Foundation (LIFG).

LIFG is LinkedIn's charitable foundation which provides opportunity for employees to pursue charitable endeavors. It's a global initiative which supports philanthropic ideas and passions and enables every employee to give time and expertise for causes which are often of deep personal significance.

In 2013 I was made aware of a LIFG program called "Recruiting for Good" which is an idea brought to life by my ex colleague Bob Spoer.

Bob realised 2 things:

1. Not for Profit organisations often do not have the networks, time or financial resources to identify and attract  the best talent
2. LinkedIn is uniquely positioned to put it's technology, member network and internal resources to great use to help connect talent with opportunity in Not for Profit sector

And thus "Recruiting for Good" was born and continues today as one of the ways that LinkedIn is helping to drive social change through volunteerism and philanthropy.

So how does it work?

Recruiting for Good provides a recruiting service on a pro-bono basis for agreed upon positions. LinkedIn employees volunteer their time and use LinkedIn technology to help Not for Profit organisations identify talent for senior or board level positions. Once identified, interested candidates are then introduced to the Not for Profit organisation for a more detailed discussion and evaluation.

LinkedIn has partnered with organisations such as The Ashoka Foundation and Engineers without Borders Australia on Recruiting for Good initiatives.

We are currently looking for new partnership opportunities in Australia. If you work for a Not For Profit organisation and have an executive or board level position you are recruiting over the next few months (or you know someone who is) please share this post or contact me via LinkedIn to find out more .

Posted by Christina R. Green, Member Clicks

No one has time these days. We watch TV or sporting events with a device in hand; we reach for our phones to cover up even a moment of quiet.

So what makes you think your potential members will take a moment extra to figure out the membership application process?

They won’t.

You need to make it as easy as possible for them. Eliminate all of the friction and challenges involved in joining. Here are some things to consider:

Membership Information Front and Center

You must feature the reasons someone should join your association. Don’t present them as a list of benefits, although that seems like a quick way to do it. People tend to zone out when reading lists. However, if you present them as solutions you’re prompting action. Prospects will recognize a problem they have, that you have the solution to, and will become members in the hopes that you can solve it for them.

Some associations have turned to infographic displays because they get noticed. There are several free software platforms, like Piktochart, that help you create infographics in a few clicks.   

Join Now Button

This type of button on the homepage is a must. It should be prominently displayed as a button (or a first-level menu tab). Don’t make people hunt around for a way to join your association. Make it obvious.

Online Application

It’s important to remove all obstacles to joining. If you’re using only a paper application, that’s an obstacle. Sell your memberships online. People often make decisions after 5 p.m., and sometimes, on weekends. This also means allowing people to pay for their dues online.

While you’re making changes, ensure your online membership application form is mobile friendly as well.

Allow for Online Renewals

Just as you should take online applications, you should allow for online renewals as well. Let your members pay online so that they can renew when it is convenient for them.

Removing the obstacles to joining your association is one way to show you understand your members’ needs.

While it sounds like common sense, unless you’ve tried joining a group when no one is available to take your call, you may not be aware of the limitations and frustrations in doing so. Take a look at your site today. Are you making it hard for potential members to join?

Written by Jamie Notter, SocialFish

It’s a hot topic in both corporate AND association circles: engagement. The for-profit folks tend to talk more about employee engagement, though engaging customers gets attention over there as well. But in the association community, it’s almost exclusively about member engagement. Member engagement is some kind of magic elixir that will keep associations from losing ground in today’s ever-changing landscape. The more engaged your members are, the more they will renew, the more they will spend, and the more they will serve as ambassadors, bringing new members to you. Right?

Well, there’s certainly that potential, but it’s by no means easy. Member engagement is complicated, and if you don’t get clear on exactly WHAT you want to improve, you’re more likely to end up spinning your wheels. We recently helped one of our clients get clear on their strategy for improving member engagement, and in the process we outlined the different approaches to member engagement that we saw in today’s association environment:

Purchases. Frequently, member engagement has been framed around increasing the number of members (and customers) who buy something from the association (which can include membership). This is basically a customer relationship management (CRM) challenge. Can you use the data you have on your members, customers, and prospects to target your marketing and other efforts to get them to pull the trigger and buy more from you? Increased “engagement” equals increased revenue.

Customer Satisfaction. Other approaches to engagement focus on increasing positive sentiment among members/customers and generally improving the relationship they have with the association. In other words, make your members happier, and the results will follow. This approach often focuses on the Net Promoter Score–moving people from being neutral or negative into being more positive. The challenge here is that not all your members are the same. In fact, they are each unique, so this pushes associations to offer more customization, like tiered membership levels with different benefits, allowing more members to get just what they need.

Content. In the digital age, many associations have realized that “consuming” content on the web (even though no money changes hand) can be just as valuable as purchases. David Gammel wrote about the “engagement acceleration curve” where members start by reading things free online, but that can lead to commenting or maybe even writing an article or two, which is often a gateway to further involvement, including contributing significant time and effort through volunteering. The trick here is pushing people along the curve–make sure that after they perform one small engagement task they are presented with opportunities to take the next step.

Volunteering. For many associations, volunteering (ultimately by serving on the Board) is the ultimate in engagement. These are the members that will renew forever and do almost anything to serve the association. We look at these dedicated volunteers, and think, “Why can’t more of our members be like them?” So we try to get more members to volunteer. And while not everyone can serve on the Board, getting members to volunteers is an attempt to move members from  being “regular” members to being more “embedded” in the association. The more they give, the deeper they are embedded.

Community. When you take this embedding concept to its fullest extent, you end up by focusing on community. This involves creating a context within which members and customers can build relationships, solve problems, and identify professionally. Obviously the hot topic of online communities comes into play here, as there has been evidence that active online communities are correlated with higher renewal rates (and, according to one study of for-profit companies, even higher stock prices).

So which of these is the right approach? All of them, of course. You’ll have to figure out which approach is going to give you the greatest return on the investment of your time, energy, and money. You can improve engagement along any of these lines, but will that really move the needle on the organizational results you’re seeking? Figuring out how to move the right needles is where the real work begins.

In May, the AACB Board of Directors held a two day strategic planning session to confirm progress made in relation to the 2012-15 strategic plan and outline a new three year strategy to build on AACB's previous success in the areas of raising industry profile and increasing influence.

The third goal has expanded from a staff education focus to encompass more broadly on stakeholder engagement and relevance to maximise member value.

The resulting strategies and actions will be implemented in a new 2015-18 strategic plan that will be finalised and adopted by the AACB Board prior to the Staff Conference in September. The following goals will drive the future direction of AACB:

• Raising Industry Profile to promote the economic contribution and social impact of Business Events to Australia.
• Increasing Influence to leverage our partnership with Government to drive positive policy and investment decisions for the Business Events sector.
• Member Value to drive sustainability through stakeholder engagement and relevance.

The Australian Salary Packaging Industry Association (ASPIA) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Re:think Tax Discussion Paper and to have input into the discussion the Government has initiated about the opportunities for reform of the Australian taxation system.

ASPIA was formed in 2007 to provide a forum for discussing the overarching legislative and taxation issues affecting organisations within the growing outsourced salary packaging industry and their corporate and individual employee clients.

Since then the Association has evolved to more broadly represent and promote the industry, particularly engaging with Government and regulators. It also performs an educative role, striving to build an understanding of the industry by publishing information about its impact and economic importance.

Furthermore the Association plays a role in setting and maintaining the standards of the industry, establishing minimum guidelines in relation to service and inter-provider engagement, as well as providing a complaints handling facility for member firms’ customers.

ASPIA currently represents more than 30 organisations involved in the salary packaging industry in Australia, and together they employ more than 1,500 people. The Association is run by a small, voluntary Board, who hold senior positions in companies that operate in the industry.

Our members service more than 6,200 organisations, ranging from corporations and government departments, to various Not-For-Profit (NFP) organisations, including Public Benevolent Institutions (PBIs), Health Promotion Charities and Public Hospitals. More than 1.5 million employees are eligible for benefits, with an estimated 50% of eligible employees taking advantage of their entitlement. ASPIA’s members administer at least $300 million in benefits each month.

The Re:think Tax Discussion Paper sets out to create a better tax system, one that delivers taxes which are lower, simpler and fairer. It needs to encourage higher economic growth and living standards, improve international competitiveness and be responsive to a changing economy and new opportunities.

The comments we provide support those tenets absolutely. We believe that this review is a timely opportunity to address some inequities that exist in the current system, and to make it simpler and more easily administered, at the same time as providing the framework to facilitate the next stage of growth in the Australian economy.

We welcome the opportunity to elaborate on any of our views and should you need further information, please contact Leigh Penberthy, Chairman by emailing leigh.penberthy@aspia.com.au or by calling 1300 766 064.

Australian Salary Packaging Industry Association (ASPIA)

PO BOX 7622

MELBOURNE VIC 3004

http://www.aspia.com.au

Please find the full discussion paper here.