Last week I was privileged to attend a Melbourne ‘pilot’ of The Funding Network. This organisation runs regular events at which interesting young charities present themselves, and everyday donors from all backgrounds contribute to furthering the missions of those charities.
Sponsored by the Australian Communities Foundation, the evening raised over $68,000 for the four groups that presented. It further served to remind me of the amazing amount of generosity that exists at all levels of our community.
It also caused me to reflect on what we envisaged when we set up Global Leadership Foundation in 2003, and where we are today in achieving this.
From the outset, Malcolm and I chose to include the word ‘Foundation’ in our name as we wanted our organisation to find ways of giving leaders from all walks of life more access to leadership development opportunities. We knew that for many leaders, particularly in the community and not-for-profit sectors, such opportunities were rare.
We agreed that we would set aside a portion of our time and all of our profit to put towards building these opportunities. We then began exploring how to best structure our new organisation to support this, given we were setting up a private company, not a charity or not-for-profit.
In what was to follow, we created a reasonably unique organisation structure, more like a ‘social enterprise’. This structure has enabled us to truly support the development of leaders in community.
Whilst we work with a diverse group of clients in the private, government, not-for-profit and community sectors, Global Leadership Foundation, through its Fellows, also provides significant pro bono support to a number of community programs, groups and non-profit organisations. We believe strongly in sharing our resources and knowledge – as volunteers, facilitators, mentors and more – with a diverse range of important projects and causes that have limited access to funding.
Twenty per cent of everything we earn from our ‘paid’ work is kept by the organisation and used to support our administration and website. Our profit is directed into a fund that is held and managed by Australian Communities Foundation.
Australian Communities Foundation is a highly regarded organisation that aims to “inspire and enable accessible philanthropy to build healthy resilient communities and positive social change”. Through this fund, we can select and generously contribute to community programs and non-profit organisations in a structured and secure manner.
In this way, the ‘Foundation’ aspect of Global Leadership has become integral to the way we work and critical to ensuring that our three guiding principles are realised.
We encourage our clients, colleagues and contacts with an interest in the philanthropic work we do to always consider a donation – just as The Funding Network asked of us all last week. Whilst it is easy to argue the financial advantage of making a tax-deductible donation when doing this, I am yet to hear anyone claiming this as the major benefit.
The benefit that truly stands out is making a difference to someone else’s life or community.
You can make a contribution at any time through our website or via the Australian Communities Foundation. If donating via the latter, please nominate the sub fund ‘Global Leadership Fund’ in the appropriate box.
Gayle
