A more selfish charities sector
17 January 2023 at 2:01 pm
David Crosbie argues that the charities sector’s new year resolution should be being more selfish.
This column is part of our #resolutions23 series.
When I was asked about writing some New Year resolutions or reflections on the year ahead, I wasn’t overly excited. In my limited experience, most New Year resolutions are well intentioned half-commitments, partly about expressing noble intent.
I thought about twisting the word resolution a little – maybe I could write about New Year revolutions? I can think of a few revolutions that would greatly assist the charities sector. We could get ASIC to stop pretending it keeps records on charities and have all charity records linked into the ACNC register. We could have state governments recognise the role of the ACNC and the ACCC, and end their duplicate regulatory constraints on charities. We could insist that all grants to charities are for at least three years and include payments to cover the real cost of service delivery including capital renewal, IT upgrades, staff training and development and evaluation.
Instead, I thought I would offer up a small supplication, more a New Year’s entreaty than a resolution. I want the charities sector to be more selfish.
For charities to thrive in 2023, and serve their communities more effectively, we will need to invest in ourselves more than we have ever done before. We will not get the staff we need, the technology we need, the data we need, the management, measurement and accountability systems we need, if we do not invest more in our organisational capacity.
And beyond our own organisations we need to invest more in our collective sector. How many people reading this article have signed their organisations up to support ProBono Australia? How many belong to peak bodies (not just CCA), or are part of the collective movements to make Australia better like the yes campaign on the Voice? If more of us invested in our collective strength, we would all be in a stronger position to survive and better serve our communities.
I look forward to a more selfish charities sector in 2023.
