Last week I was at the Nonprofit Strategy
Forum in Brisbane which looked at some of the challenges facing nonprofits (I still prefer the term 'charity') but mostly not from a fundraising point of view. I was on a panel with two others challenging the current paradigm; one encouraging charities to not be scared to borrow money and another looking at how charities should not just look at income but also social capital - having impact beyond monetary things.
The idea was that we were meant to debate and be controversial but we kind of struggled to disagree with each other.
The borrowing money is a fascinating concept. Particularly for fundraising. From a commercial lenders point of view, in the scheme of things to invest in, professional fundraising is generally a pretty safe bet; failures are rare and returns are very good compared to other business ventures.
Many of the big international charities here got their foot into the fundraising market in Australia via a loan from their Paris or Geneva based 'parents', but other than that there are few others willing to borrow.
There are also people from the Myer Family Company, Vision Australia's board chair, the ACNC task force (new charity regulators) and someone from Opportunity International talking about microfinance options.
A great mini conference for CEOs, finance people and board members. Tickets still available, Sydney 12 June and Melbourne 15 June.
Oh - and if you are a subscriber to this blog, quote STPF12 to get a discount. Eg from $330 to $275 (+GST) on a single, small charity ticket. Call 02 9555 4203 and tell them you would like a discount.
More information here.
Sean
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