ENFP – An Effective Face to Face Collaboration

Effective face to face collaboration, bringing leaders and team members in the Not for Profit sector together in a corporate partnership group initiated by HLB Mann Judd, is proving to be a success.

Many credible sources tell us that collaboration is working with others to do a task and to achieve shared goals. To foster meaningful connections in order to leverage our organisation’s competency – be it audience generation, subject matter expertise, or space. Interestingly, despite all of the resources available to us to collaborate through digital platforms, there is still a desire to connect in person, look into another person's eyes and work towards providing new and better solutions for whatever the task ahead.

In late 2010 representatives from HLB Mann Judd and the Commonwealth Bank scheduled a boardroom luncheon with 10 of their respective clients in the Not for Profit sector to discuss how they could add value to the NFP sector.

This meeting resulted in an overwhelming consensus that the concept of an effective face to face collaboration, bringing Leaders and members of their teams in the NFP sector together in an informal setting, discussing the issues and challenges they face on a day to day basis, and learning from each other – what worked and what didn’t work from their service providers, would be invaluable.

In 2011 HLB Mann Judd and Commonwealth Bank formed a strategic partnership and created a community, known as the “ENFP” – Exclusive Not for Profit group.

HLB’s Head of Business Development and Clients, Kim Kelloway, said “This strategic partnership provides relevant and valuable information and complimentary boardroom briefing program, provide news updates and cultivates the opportunity to network with like-minded individuals. This community will also provide the opportunity for members to access expertise in many areas, some of which include accounting and advisory, banking, legal and fundraising”.

Former Chair of Cerebral Palsy, Marelle Thornton, AM was one of the original delegates at our first  ENFP boardroom briefing and said “It is so very special to network with people working and volunteering in the Not for Profit sector, to meet like minds and to discuss common issues of interest and challenge. The individuals from the ENFP have come together to create a unique and valuable learning and sharing forum for the sector, and I hope that it continues to grow and add real dimension”.

We that work in the NFP sector know only too well that many of the smaller and less known Not for Profit’s can be under resourced and overwhelmed with the pressures of day to day activities, and this has been demonstrated in part by the recent release from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (“ACNC”) announcing that 7,000 charities have failed to deliver their 2014 Annual Information Statements within the deadline.

HLB’s, Head of NFPs, Darryl Swindells, said: “A number of NFPs see their whole role as providing benefit to the community for which they are set up. They are there to provide that benefits and that means that they may not have a lot of experience in financial reporting, especially in regards to recent legislation, such as “the ACNC Act”. These are the organisations that would significantly benefit from face to face collaboration.

Over the past four years the ENFP has presented an annual boardroom briefing program consisting of six events a year, hosted on a rotational basis at the offices of the strategic alliance partners, presenting topics ranging from measuring impact in the NFP sector, how good is your data through to talent and retention strategies. All of our guest speakers have offered their valuable time at no charge and we thank them for their contribution to our face to face collaboration.    

Today, our strategic alliance is a collaborative partnership of HLB Mann Judd, Commonwealth Bank, Holman Webb Lawyers and FAMS.

We have over 205 individual members in our online LinkedIn community and are very pleased to announce that at our first briefing for 2015, which is to be held the first week in March (briefing is now full), David Locke, Assistant Commissioner, ACNC will discuss the current operations of the ACNC and issues that the sector is experiencing and John Della-Bosca, National Campaign Director for Every Australian Counts, the political campaign behind the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, will provide an insight into the NDS, how it will operate and it's impact on the sector.

 For more information about the face to face collaboration of the ENFP contact HLB’s Head of Business Development and Clients Kim Kelloway on 02 9020 4285.