Melbourne Community Foundation Milestone
31 October 2005 at 12:10 pm
The Melbourne Community Foundation has celebrated another milestone in its young life – a 24% increase in its funds under management.
In 2004-05 MCF grew its corpus to more than $18m according to its annual report released in October. Since being formed in 1997 the foundation has distributed grants worth over $4 million.
Departing inaugural chairman, Hayden Raysmith says it is pleasing to hand over his final report having had a year of record growth.
He says handing over the reigns of MCF after 8 years was not easy but MCF is ready to take another step up and change of leadership is part of that step.
He says this also involves MCF taking a leadership role on strategic issues such as Youth at Risk, Active Ageing, Innovation in Primary Education and Macro Melbourne.
The new chair of MCF is founding board member Marion Webster who has described her new role as a challenge and a privilege.
She says outgoing chair, Hayden Raysmith has not only provided the vision that’s sustained MCF through its start-up phase, but he’s also ensured there’s a clear vision and strategy for the future.
Webster says that future clearly positions Melbourne Community Foundation as a significant force in philanthropy and community leadership.
In November 2004 as part of its succession planning, the MCF Board adopted a youth Board membership policy, setting aside two positions to allow young people to join the board for a one-year period.
The MCF has also adopted an overlap system whereby the outgoing youth board member supports the incoming member as a mentor.
Currently the two youth positions are held by Ully Merkel, a founding member of the Anna Wearne Fund and Kirsten Smith, an advisory board member of the youth-run EastWeb Fund.
To find out more about MCF go to http://www.communityfoundation.org.au.
