“About people, always”

Kelly Bruce has worked in the NGO sector for two decades and through every role, carried her passion for people and positive impact. She is this week’s Changemaker.

Kelly Bruce got an early taste of how to adjust to and embrace new situations, cultures and environments as a child; her father was in the army so the family moved around a lot.

“Those early experiences taught me to be open to new opportunities, learn from those around me and to have an open mind to different ways of getting things done,” she recalled.

Bruce began her career in finance and accounting, but soon decided she wanted to work with organisations that prioritise their environmental, social and governance impacts, and took up a Master of Environmental Management.

Her two decades in the NGO sector includes stints at the Australian Council for International Development, the Australia Institute and the UnitingCare network, while also co-founding a consulting company that works with for-purpose organisations.

“I have worked across governance and leadership, strategy, policy and advocacy, project management and operations. Whilst I have enjoyed all these roles, I really love bringing it all together to use data and evidence to give life to a strategy and to effect positive change,” Bruce said.

And it’s this passion that has led to her latest role, as executive director of impact and engagement at The Benevolent Society.

Where does your passion for creating a better world come from?

Living in so many different places has provided me with a keen awareness of how fortunate I am, especially after living in a country like Cambodia. I’m also driven by all the experiences I’ve had and relationships I’ve developed working in the aid and development and community sectors, and as a consultant working with for-purpose organisations to manage the tricky balance of purpose, impact and sustainability.

I have been so lucky to have opportunities to be a part of some inspiring projects and organisations. Before joining The Benevolent Society, I was the co-convenor of the End Street Sleeping Collaboration, a collective impact initiative whose goal is to halve street sleeping across NSW by 2025 and work toward ending it by 2030. It is a collaboration between governments, non-government organisations, philanthropists, business, and the community who are committed to the vision that no person should sleep on the streets in NSW.

Experiences like this keep my passion alive.

What does your role at The Benevolent Society involve and what attracted you to it? What does a typical day look like?

My role is a new one, created to support our strategic priorities to influence social change and to grow for impact. An important aspect of this is working on collaborative projects either with sector colleagues, our internal teams or community partners. It is only through genuine partnerships that we will make lasting change and impact. This type of collaboration is great for recharging too – so many great people and ideas.

The greatest joy in my role is being the executive sponsor for our Reconciliation work. I am so humbled by the generosity of our First Nations staff and clients as we progress and prioritise our Reconciliation Action Plan and our partnerships with First Nations organisations.

I had always been impressed by The Benevolent Society’s commitment to leading social change. This is what attracted me to the organisation, along with the fact that I have worked with our CEO Lin Hatfield Dodds before, so I knew the organisation was being led by an experienced and brave social change advocate.

What challenges are facing your organisation and the sector more generally, and how do you plan to navigate through these?

The Benevolent Society has a deep commitment to improving the quality of life for all, particularly those who are missing out or who are vulnerable. Having this as our foundation helps guide us every day but, like everyone in the sector, challenges of tightening funding and the rising cost of delivering services means we must create new ways of working to achieve the best outcomes. 

We aim to become more innovative and led by the voice of our clients so that we are effective, efficient and person centred.

And like most organisations right now, our primary challenge is finding enough talent to support our services. We have a high quality and committed team but demand for most of our services well outstrips what our workforce can provide. 

We want people to choose to come to The Benevolent Society and so one of our strategic pillars is to be a “Thriving Organisation” – a great organisation that is an employer of choice, is easy to do business with, is innovative and digitally enabled, cares about sustainability and is a sector leader.

What makes The Benevolent Society different to other social change organisations and how do you drive change?

The Benevolent Society has been a disruptor and a change maker for more than 200 years, using its practice wisdom, influence and community connection to mobilise social movements to build a fairer society, advocate for people in need and create social change.

Free legal aid, age pensions, specialist maternity care and an end to child labour are just some of the changes we have helped to make in Australia.

With this history comes a fearlessness and a long-term view of change, never giving up and remaining persistent. We continue to use our expertise and partnerships to grow, influence policy, expand practice wisdom, influence systems, create change and have a positive impact in the lives of our clients, their carers and people living in Australia. We embrace and embed a human rights culture across the organisation and we prioritise the commitments made in our Reconciliation Action Plan.

The strength of our organisation’s vision and values also sets us apart. One of my favourite values is optimism – we are hopeful that even the most complex issues can be solved with our clients and their communities. I find this optimism influences so much of the way we drive change. We work from our own strengths and those of our clients, our communication is positive and forward looking, we know we can always do better and we strive to be brave and focus on the big picture.

What would you like to achieve in your role here? What do you want your legacy to be?

What I would most like to focus on in my role is to ensure that our work with First Nations staff, clients and communities continues to be prioritised, humble and meaningful. The Benevolent Society’s vision for reconciliation recognises and acknowledges the injustices inflicted on Australia’s First Nations Peoples as the original point of truth and foundation of all our reconciliation efforts.

We need to examine our part in this history and listen deeply to our First Nations communities to build the hope of creating a new future in partnership. The Benevolent Society is committed to a strong and inclusive Australian society based on equality that advances the economic, political and social inclusion of First Nations Peoples to achieve parity in life outcomes but we have a lot of work to do and a lot of learning.

We have an incredible team at The Benevolent Society, with an ambitious agenda. We know we can only achieve lasting change through collaboration and partnerships. So, if I was to hope for any legacy it would be one where we can say, “we did this together”.

What advice do you have for other changemakers – and do you remember a piece of advice that has been influential for you and your career?

Be tenacious. If you believe that what you’re doing is important and will have a great impact, then don’t give up. Keep listening and take advice. Be open to ideas from those who don’t necessarily agree with you – it is really important to understand why and to reflect on different views without being defensive.

Try to be gracious and kind. There is rarely a reason to be otherwise.

The best advice I have ever had in the sector is to always return to why we are here and why we do this work. It is always about people, always.

How do you wind down at the end of a busy week?

I love to cook and I love great restaurants so I try to plan a lovely meal after a long week. I also love to garden and am trying to create a place of calm and green to connect to and relax in.

My partner and I have five adult “kids” so there is a lot of travelling to spend time with them as they are spread out across the east coast of Australia.

I have a bit of an obsession with mid-century design and am always on the hunt for good finds. One of the benefits of travelling a lot is the chance to op shop far and wide.