Adapting to evolving needs: the value of community consultation in the charity sector

More Australians are struggling than ever. As the make-up and needs of our communities evolve, charities and funders must be a-tune to their needs — and agile to adapt to them.

Yesterday's speech by the Hon Andrew Leigh MP at the Philanthropy Australia Conference, in response to the Future foundations for giving Inquiry report prompted me to reflect on the vital nature of Australia’s charity sector and the necessity of our support being driven by community needs.

Over my 20+ year career in the charity sector, I have seen the value, and in fact necessity, of collaboration and community consultation in creating meaningful impact. SSI has embedded into our organisational strategy and everyday practice

We shifted to an Impact Strategy from traditional non-profit business plan late last year. This ensures the work we do places people and our values at the centre of everything we do, rather than limiting the measurement of our success to financial outcomes.

Core to these overarching guidelines is for community consultation to be the foundation for which our services are to be built. To achieve this, we run regular consultation groups with the different demographics we support, whether that is people with disability, the Afghan community, or culturally and linguistically diverse women, to hear their feedback, challenges, and needs firsthand.

?A recent demonstration of the importance of approach, and the direct positive impact philanthropy can have on the lives of people experiencing vulnerability can be seen in SSI’s [JW1]?response to the arrival of Palestinians fleeing the crisis in Gaza demonstrated

Since the escalation of the bombardment Gaza increased late last year, more than 480 Gazans arrived in NSW on visitor visas. Landing in Sydney often with nothing but the clothes on their backs and ineligible for government services, families were finding themselves escaping war only to face the imminent threat of homelessness.

Through community and sector consultation, we identified housing as the most urgent need to address. In response, we launched a fundraising and media campaign to raise public awareness of the need and funds to go directly towards securing housing for families. Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of generous Australians and a philanthropist, we were able to raise more than $230, 000 to put rooves over the heads of Palestinian arrivals.

We then convened a working group with other charity organisations working to support new arrivals and peak bodies to identify how we could pool our resources and collaborate to have the greatest positive impact and ensure those experiencing the greatest vulnerability did not fall through the cracks.

Canada, a world leader in humanitarian settlement practices, have applied an agile, community-driven approach on a national scale.

Since 1979, they have delivered one of the most successful Community Sponsorship Programs in the world, resettling around 280,000 refugees through private sponsorship. This program has not only provided durable solutions for displaced people but has also strengthened social cohesion by bringing communities together to support newcomers.

The Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) is the national leadership organisation for Canada’s over 200 local community foundations. Together with these foundations, they help drive local solutions for national change on the issues that matter most to communities. By connecting community foundations, people, and partners, they aim to create a just, sustainable future. Their programming targets pressing social issues in Canada, including youth engagement, gender equality, support for entrepreneurship and social innovation, and community-level connections with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As pointed out by The Hon Andrew Leigh MP today, this approach is successful because it involves consulting and engaging regularly with community members and key stakeholders. This incorporates a diverse set of perspectives to inform locally driven decisions, and champion solutions for issues that matter most to their community.

The health and effectiveness of our charity sector is paramount to the health of our nation. It is heartening to see the national focus on championing community-driven approaches and boosting supports through philanthropy and individual giving. As an organisation, SSI remains committed to doing our part to collaborate with the sector, businesses and the people we support to create effective outcomes that bring about long-term positive change.