HeartKids Consolidates into National Organisation
2 November 2016 at 4:23 pm
Six individual, state-based not-for-profit organisations under the HeartKids banner have merged into one national organisation after more than 35 years supporting children with congenital heart disease.
The new organisation believes the milestone will allow it to grow and expand its current level of support and services nationally to children and their families.
HeartKids Australia, together with its state branches, has raised more than $3 million for research since it launched in 1981.
Caretaker CEO and current national chair Jayne Blake told Pro Bono Australia News that, with the changing charity landscape, it was imperative that the organisation evolved.
“Unifying HeartKids into one will help us deliver more funding and services across Australia,” Blake said.
“We have made some promises in our business case around specific additional supports we will be delivering and we estimated in year one that we would be at least half-a-million dollars more in support services provided to families.
“One way is by doing things smarter and diverting effort from producing six lots of financials to producing one and using that effort into supporting families. And the other way is six small organisations with six pots of money can’t afford to invest and we are taking a decision that we want to invest more in our families.
“We have to do a lot to reach more families and we have really strong growth aspirations.”
She said the potential savings were around the administration, finance and governance side of the organisation.
“It’s not about savings and headcount it’s about being able to deliver growth. All of our staff are moving across to the one organisation.”
She said the six separate boards have been formed into one board with national representation.
“There was also a CEO in each organisation and all of those CEOs are becoming state managers. We spent a long time planning this and made sure we consulted with all the staff and all the members and boards and kept our eye on the goal of supporting more families.”
Blake said she would continue on the national board.
Coinciding with the restructure, HeartKids has also announced a new board chair and CEO. Jan McClelland AM will take on the role of chair of HeartKids, and Mark Brooke has been appointed chief executive officer.
McClelland is an experienced chair and company director, chief executive officer and management consultant.
Brooke, who is based in Brisbane, said he would lead the organisation with a hands-on approach, using modern conferencing technology to ensure he is a familiar face in each of the state offices.
