Major peak bodies could be doing more to inspire trust in donors

In the last month alone, the charity and not-for-profit sector has ended up in the media for all the wrong reasons. Financial mismanagement seems more prevalent than ever as major peak bodies’ attempt – but fail – to bring the sector back into positive light.

The latest scandal to hit the sector is the official charging of the ex-NSW RSL manager after a two-year investigation found he stole more than $238,000 in donations. Before that, The House of Hope Recovery Centre was stripped of its charity status following charges against its former General Manager for stealing more than $12,000.

Days before Christmas, a former Guide Dogs manager was found to have stolen more than $200,000 from the charity for home renovations – back in July, that same charity was awarded most trusted organisation by Australia’s Readers Digest.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), and its boss Dr Gary Johns, has been quoted in the media for months now, citing that the charity has done wrong but they cannot disclose anything due to privacy concerns – which is well and good until the charity’s wrongdoings gets splashed across front pages anyway.

Other than a column here and there, major peak bodies aren’t really doing much more to convince the public that there are still charities worth trusting. As more foundations end up in news articles for governance and financial mismanagement, people become more and more frustrated and dissociated with the Australian social sector, which in turn deters donors from supporting charities that haven’t done anything wrong.

Although updating governance standards – as done recently by the Australian Institute of Company Directors – could be a start, it isn’t enough to inspire donors to continue supporting the scandal-free organisations that are affected nonetheless.

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Charities welcome donation bill but warn advocacy is still compromised

Charities welcome the foreign political donation bill but said that they are still at risk of funding cuts for being critical of government

Charities have welcomed the passing of a bill to ban foreign political donations through the Senate, citing the prior bill would have stifled vital public advocacy.

The legislation for the Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform Bill cleared the upper house with parties making the issue a priority, paving the way for the ban to become law before the end of the year and freeing up public, political discussion.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) CEO, Kelly O’Shanassy, said: “The bill would have prevented many groups from receiving international philanthropy for important public interest work and would have had a chilling effect on charities and non-profits that hold governments to account and advocate for better polices.

“Silencing civil society would have disastrously weakened democracy in our country. [Thursday’s] bill is a significant improvement on the original proposal, addressing many of the concerns raised by charities and non-profits.”

O’Shanassy added that they particularly welcomed the change to the definition of ‘electoral matter’ as a substantial improvement on current legislation and will work to free charities from a significant red tape burden.

Government Senate Leader Mathais Cormann said changes to the electoral laws were needed in “good time” before the next federal election, as early as the first half of 2019.

“It’s a reform that seeks to ensure the electoral system in Australia is not subject to undue foreign interference,” Cormann told parliament, adding the “historic” bill would ensure all political actors were subject to disclosure and transparency requirements.

Donations of more than $100 to all “political actors”, which includes parties, individuals, candidates and significant political campaigners, from foreign governments and state-owned enterprises will be banned.

Charities will not be prevented from receiving foreign gifts but won’t be able to use foreign money for political spending. They will also not be prevented from using foreign donations to advocate for non-partisan issues.

The Human Rights Law Centre welcomed the electoral funding bill but warned that the bill “is not the end of the road on the democratic reform”.

The Centre’s Executive Director, Hugh de Krester, said: “The government must do more to address the influence large corporations have through election spending and lobbying. Further, charities across the country still face significant pressure from the threat of funding cuts in retaliation for advocacy critical of government policy.

“Charities and community groups do vital work building a better, healthier society. Our democracy is stronger when they are free to speak up.”

The Greens opposed the legislation, calling for a ban on all corporate donations. They cited that the foreign donations bill is not a real attempt at cleaning up democracy and warned that the bill may create a loophole for political parties to restructure their finances to avoid state developer donation bans, despite assurances from other MPs.

“The big money that is pouring into our parliament from vested interest is a fungating cancer on our democracy,” party leader, Richard Di Natale said.

O’Shanassy said that while the bill is an improvement, there is more work to do.

“A robust electoral finance and donations framework must do more to enhance transparency of donations to political parties and set caps on political donations and election spending.”

Written by: Naomi Neilson

Recently graduated with a Bachelor in Communications with a major in Journalism and Public Relations, Naomi Neilson has jumped straight into the world of media and press with Third Sector. She is motivated and passionate to explore the industry and thrives on creating an interactive and social platform for Third Sectors unique readers.

In her free time she can be found either watching the footy or designing her next big art piece around sourcing stories and engaging with new people.

Follow me on LinkedIn for information regarding future Akolade events as well as future blogs posts @ Naomi Neilson

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Indigenous youth mental health on the decline

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a report that finds one in three Indigenous youth are experiencing very high levels of psychological distress

A new report has found more than one in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are experiencing very high levels of psychological distress.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released its 2018 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Adolescent and Youth Health and Wellbeing report, which found that youth mental health is still a leading cause of death among young people.

Manager of headspace Cultural Practice and Diversity, Nathan Bramston, said: “There is a huge demand for social and emotional wellbeing and mental health support to meet the unique needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people.

“Twenty per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in rural areas with 49 per cent of that figure living in the Northern Territory and it is in these areas where there is a lack of mental health services for these young people.”

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that suicide is the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, accounting for more than 40 per cent of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth deaths.

In 2017-18, headspace reported that 7,084 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people visited a headspace centre – which is close to 1,000 more than 2016-17.

The report found almost two in three young Indigenous people aged 15-24 experienced one or more personal stressors. The most common stress was not being able to find employment, followed by a death of a close friend or family member and serious or mental illness.

Over one in three Indigenous young people also reported they were being treated unfairly both in and outside educational settings because they were Indigenous.

“Some of the challenges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people face when help-seeking can be attributed to the effects of intergenerational trauma from past policies and events,” Bramston said.

According to Bramston, there can also be a language barrier when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people try to seek help, as some remote communities speak English as a second or even third language.

Bramston said headspace was working to reduce the stigma around seeking mental health services and were trialing outreach programs where headspace workers visit troubled youth in their communities. The organisation is also implementing educational and employment programs for youth in Indigenous communities.

Still interested? Stay tuned for information on upcoming conferences and summits by following us on Facebook @ Akolade Aust 

Written by: Naomi Neilson

Recently graduated with a Bachelor in Communications with a major in Journalism and Public Relations, Naomi Neilson has jumped straight into the world of media and press with Third Sector. She is motivated and passionate to explore the industry and thrives on creating an interactive and social platform for Third Sectors unique readers.

In her free time she can be found either watching the footy or designing her next big art piece around sourcing stories and engaging with new people.

Follow me on LinkedIn for information regarding future Akolade events as well as future blog posts @ Naomi Neilson

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How the traditional skillsets for NFPs is changing

Not-for-profits will need to adopt a new skillset and expertise in order to compete in a highly complex and rapidly changing sector

Not-for-profits are increasingly needing to address rapid changes to the sector with investments in new skillsets and expertise becoming critical to sustainability.

As the market becomes significantly saturated with competing NFP bodies, and as government reforms and digital advancements bring huge variations to the sector, organisations will need to ‘future-proof’ their techniques to survive.

Third Sector spoke to Doxa CEO, Steve Clifford, who said that due to the complexity of the NFP sector, boards will need a variety of skills to address the changes.

“It’s important that you have a broad range of skills on an NFP board because of its complexity, and that means people who have corporate and finance and so on skills,” Clifford said. “Hopefully they’ve also got a strong sense of justice and a big heart.”

Clifford himself transitioned from the corporate world of international commercial law firm, Allens, to the NFP sector five years ago. He has since worked as Head of Australian Operations at Save the Children and Chief Operating Officer at Whitelion.

Clifford said his passion for working with disadvantaged children was the motivation behind the switch. Using corporate skills, he currently runs a successful cadetship and mentorship program aimed at supporting youths through their education.

“The corporate sector is very outcomes driven, it’s completely outcomes driven. The main outcome being profitability and revenue so I’m taking that drive towards outcomes, but it’s more sophisticated and a different sort of outcome.

“It’s not just dollars like you’re seeking to maximise profits in the corporate world, it’s not just satisfying the owners or shareholders of an organisation, it’s maximising the outcomes generally and also satisfying the NFP variety of stakeholders.”

According to the Australian Institute of Company Directors, directors do not need to be experts in financial reporting but should be applying appropriate expertise and ensuring due process is sound and all elements have been tested.

Directors of a board should have the financial literacy across the sector for effective use of limited resources. Ideally, this means staff are familiar across a number of fast emerging skills, such as data, communication, funding and law.

Clifford said there are skills from the for-profit sector – including corporate and legal – that can be transferred over and used to operate a successful NFP.

“Personally, I think the sorts of skills that I’m talking about are to be commercial and pragmatic, to be driven by outcomes, bringing the best out of people, communication and advocacy, thinking outside the square and energy.”

He adds that these skills are useful when focusing on the financial aspects of running an NFP. Strengthening the financial components of running an NFP is a key skill that organisations can use to ensure a long-term future.

“I’m not saying the sector doesn’t have a lot of strengths in that area but I think there is an increasing focus as the years tick by in order to achieve the outcomes and satisfy the funders,” Clifford said. “This means that there is an increasing scope for those kinds of corporate skills to bring to the sector.”

Liska Turner, Executive Consultant at Beaumont People – a recruitment specialist used by NFPs – said that with the move to a market style economy, NFPs cannot deliver the proper services if their staff aren’t adequately trained.

“An NFP CEO needs to understand that they are a business delivering on business outcomes,” Turner told Third Sector. “That’s not new, but I think there’s a little bit more finesse around how that is done.

“Then there’s that balance between growth for growth’s sake and understanding what you’re actually asking people to deliver.”

Clifford said that due to the complexity of the NFP sector, it’s important that NFPs have a board with a variety of skills than a corporate board.

“You need to have someone who understands, in our case, the education sectors importance, strategy importance, funding importance, the regulatory regime is important and the NFP sector,” Clifford said. “You basically need to have directors who are carrying all these areas.”

Infoxchange CEO, David Spriggs, told Third Sector about the importance of digital skills in an NFP, particularly from its board and executives, as “technology is no longer an option for not-for-profits” and “it’s more critical than ever.”

“One of the recommendations we often make is that not-for-profits get someone with technology experience onto their board,” Spriggs said.

“That’s not to get in the operation side of how to roll out technology solutions but it’s so you’ve got someone on your board who can ask the difficult questions about the use of technology and why it’s not being used if that’s the case.”

On top of adjusting to emerging skills, NFP leaders should also be prepared to invest in the mission of the organisation. Clifford said you need a “big heart” to lead.

“If you’re passionate about what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter that we’re perhaps not as well paid as the corporate world. But you need that passion.”

Still interested? Stay tuned for information on upcoming conferences and summits by following us on Facebook @ Akolade Aust 

Written by: Naomi Neilson

Recently graduated with a Bachelor in Communications with a major in Journalism and Public Relations, Naomi Neilson has jumped straight into the world of media and press with Third Sector. She is motivated and passionate to explore the industry and thrives on creating an interactive and social platform for Third Sectors unique readers.

In her free time she can be found either watching the footy or designing her next big art piece around sourcing stories and engaging with new people.

Follow me on LinkedIn for information regarding future Akolade events as well as future blogs posts @ Naomi Neilson

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Increasing need for trust and transparency in the NFP sector

There is an increasing need for improved trust and transparency among not-for-profits as sex scandals keep damaging the sector.

This comes after revelations that Oxfam UK used sex workers while on a relief mission following an earthquake in Haiti in 2010. There have also been revelations that sex workers from several aid charities have been sexually exploiting victims – including children – by exchanging food and aid for sex.

Unsurprisingly, many not-for-profits are feeling the impacts of the damaging news, not least Oxfam UK, who is expected to make £16 million cuts as a result of decreased financial support, according to documents obtained by the Guardian.

Oxfam UK said they were “devastated” by the scandal, adding it “means we now have less money to provide clean water, food and other support to people who need it.”

The phrase “just the tip of the iceberg” has been used to describe the sexual scandal headlines that have rocked the NFP sector, with boards on organisations everywhere put on high notice that this is fast becoming a sector-wide issue.

Organisations are needing to address transparency and accountability in order to build an evidence base. Being transparent and open with the community about finances, data and behaviour is an essential task in itself.

Controlling the message around an organisations finances, enhancing relationships with stakeholders and demonstrating good governance is crucial. Although aid organisations are under the most pressure now, all not-for-profit organisations should be prepared for scrutiny – transparency is now impossible to avoid.

Still interested? Stay tuned for information on upcoming conferences and summits by following us on Facebook @ Akolade Aust 

Written by: Naomi Neilson

Recently graduated with a Bachelor in Communications with a major in Journalism and Public Relations, Naomi Neilson has jumped straight into the world of media and press with Third Sector. She is motivated and passionate to explore the industry and thrives on creating an interactive and social platform for Third Sectors unique readers.

In her free time she can be found either watching the footy or designing her next big art piece around sourcing stories and engaging with new people.

Follow me on LinkedIn for information regarding future Akolade events as well as future blogs posts @ Naomi Neilson

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How the budget impacts the NFP sector

An in-depth look at how the 2018 federal budget affects the NFPs sector

Following Treasurer Scott Morrison’s announcement of the federal 2018-19 budget at Parliament House on Tuesday, it has become clear that the budget left little to the Not-for-Profit sector.

Whilst it appears that sectors, such as mental health and aged care, will benefit from the new budget, organisations in other sectors working for the greater good are now left to fill in some of the financial gaps.

“A responsible budget would strengthen the revenue base so that the government can do its job, especially to provide the essential services people need and protect from poverty,” said ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie. “Unfortunately, this budget does the opposite, and the budget mistakes of the 2000s are being repeated.”

With the escalating housing crisis, the sector expected to hear of budget plans to address the almost 200 people who are homeless on any given night and a plan to overcome unaffordable housing as fewer people are able to afford a home.

Furthermore, disability funding and the Newstart and Youth Allowances were virtually ignored, despite calls from the sector for reforms and improvements.

However, in one of the few measures aimed at Not-for-Profits, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission will receive funding from the 2018 federal budget for anticipated litigation as the sector seeks to pursue a regulatory enforcement role.

This promised funding came on the back of the 2017 federal budget’s commitment to the NFP sector, with the $3 million going towards increasing accessibility to the Annual Information Statements and Charity Register, an updated IT system and web design, and an implementation of a customer relationship management system.

A spokesperson from the ACNC told Third Sector that “ahead of the 2018 Federal Budget, the ACNC informed the Government that we were not appropriately resourced for litigation should issues arise in the course of charity regulation. The Government allocated an additional $1 million to the ACNC for litigation for the 2018-19 financial year.

“The ACNC is now properly resourced, should it be necessary to clarify any questions of charity law or regulation through appeals.”

With the rising social inequality, the 2018 budget proposed a further $1 million for ACNC under the increasing demand for a longer-term strategy and further funding to social infrastructure to address the escalating social issues.

With this additional funding and an overall “have” and “have not” across the Not-for-Profit industry, here’s what the sector can expect from the 2018 budget:

Aged Care

The federal budget demonstrated commitment to the future of aged care with NFP services receiving substantial funding to improve care services but did little to improve long term issues, like staffing shortages.

Dementia Australia welcomed a $5 billion federal government funding for aged care, which will increase the quality and the overall ageing for Australians.

“This funding will go towards helping thousands of Australians who are on the waiting list to receive home care packages, with some people waiting more than 12 months to receive support,” said Dementia Australia CEO Maree McCabe.

Mental Health

Mental health has become one of the nations’ top priorities with the federal budget announcing substantial investment over the next four years to strengthen suicide prevention programs, provide advice and achieve better support for consumers.

The Commission’s CEO, Dr Peggy Brown AO, said the annual budget increase will strengthen the sector’s ability to understand what does and doesn’t work.

“This includes monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan and aspects of the National Disability Insurance Scheme relating to psychological disability.”

NDIS

The Turnbull Government confirmed its commitment to the NDIS with $43 billion funding secured. Chief Executive of the NDIS, Dr Ken Baker, said the sector relies on all sides of politics for a plan for long-term funding.

“Any future Treasurer should be clear that the NDIS is not a political football,” Dr Baker said. “It is a source of security for people with disability and their families who have enough uncertainty in their lives. Long-term certainty for the NDIS is imperative.”

Indigenous Australia

In response to the budget, Oxfam called out the lack of funding commitments to address the worsening health and disadvantage, poverty, and discrimination faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Chief Executive Dr Helen Szoke said that while the Government proposed $550 million for rural health services, it failed to recognise Aboriginal people in remote Australia.

The Government is continuing with the Community Development Program with minor changes and has effectively abandoned the National Partnership for Remote Indigenous Housing. The Budget also failed to recognise funding commitments for Western Australia, Queensland, and South Australia.

“Oxfam Australia shares the widespread concerns of Australia’s Indigenous leaders and peak groups,” said Dr Szoke. “This Budget has been yet another squandered opportunity to work in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People to drive the solutions to the challenges they face.”

Although the budget welcomed some improvements to the Indigenous sector, organistions working for a more inclusive society and an overall healthier life for Australia’s first people, can expect to wait longer for financial support.

Tax reform

Low and middle-income earners received substantial relief in this year’s budget with plans to implement tax cuts and introduce a flat tax rate with earners standing to gain a tax offset of approximately $200 to $530.

ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie pointed out that more tax cuts were coming at the wrong time, leaving low income earners vulnerable to the changes.

“There is a seven-year plan for tax cuts, but where’s the seven-year plan for reducing poverty among adults and children, guaranteeing growth funding for health care, and closing the gaps in essential services such as mental and dental health and affordable housing?” asked Dr Goldie.

This relief comes as rising costs and stagnating wages in the economy continue to cripple workers. The future growth of this sector, however, is still heavily reliant on the business sector as housing becomes increasingly unaffordable for vulnerable groups.

Violence

The budget proposed an extra $54 million to tackle violence across the nation, including domestic violence, sexual assault, cyber safety and elder abuse.

With domestic and family abuse estimated to cost the economy upwards of $12.7 billion each year, $54 million is a small investment towards an important societal issue and a blow to the Not-for-Profits acting on behalf of abuse victims.

Welfare

The Government announced a new round to the robodebt scheme, with measures implemented to recover fines and save $300 million.

“The proposal to deduct State Government fines from social security payments without their agreement is unnecessary, intrusive, and could leave many people homeless,” said Dr Goldie. “The ball is in the states’ court to reform the system of court-ordered fines so that people are no longer imprisoned because they can’t afford to pay.”

These changes will leave NFPs in the sector to fight further for an increasing support for the nations most vulnerable and disadvantaged.

Refugees and migrants

Support services for refugees and asylum seekers was cut by $54 million, putting vulnerable people under greater pressure to survive in the face of adversity, societal issues such as violence and welfare cuts, and the rising costs of living.

Dr Goldie said the 2018 budget would leave some of the most vulnerable people in the community open to disadvantage.

“New migrants lacking paid work, who will be left without income support for the first four years. This is not the way to welcome people to this country and help them contribute to its future prosperity.”

The limited resources allocated to the refugee’s sector will leave NFPs with several gaps to fill as disadvantaged refugees are put under further stress.

Still interested? Stay tuned for information on upcoming conferences and summits by following us on Facebook @ Akolade Aust 

Written by: Naomi Neilson 

Recently graduated with a Bachelor in Communications with a major in Journalism and Public Relations, Naomi Neilson has jumped straight into the world of media and press with Third Sector. She is motivated and passionate to explore the industry and thrives on creating an interactive and social platform for Third Sectors unique readers.

In her free time she can be found either watching the footy or designing her next big art piece around sourcing stories and engaging with new people.

Follow me on LinkedIn for information regarding future Akolade events as well as future blogs posts @ Naomi Neilson

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Innovation in the NFP sector for business growth

Being innovative means taking risks, hence why the term ‘innovation’ is not always synonymous with the not-for-profit sector.  Most not-for-profit organisations don’t see the need to innovate, as they often implement conventional ideas and outdated business models that worked in the past, rather than invest their time, money and limited resources into developing new strategies. As a result, the sector struggles to remain sustainable in a competitive environment whilst trying to tackle the important social issues they set out a cause for.

So how can not-for-profits improve the way they think and operate while remaining sustainable?

To begin with, like any other sector and organisation, NFPs must first accept that change and uncertainty is unavoidable. With drastic decrease in donations, changing market dynamics, technological disruption, social media evolution and the constant fluctuations in government funding are just some examples of the new normal in an already competitive environment. It has never been more imperative that NFPs now need to start thinking outside the norms and be innovative with the way they run their business. 

Some key areas that help drive operational sustainability in NFP:

• Keeping innovation simple an open

Innovative businesses are ones that improve upon established practices and focus on efficiency.  NFP organisations need to identify where innovation is needed by evaluating its value proposition, operating environment and business model.  Look at everything to see how you can set yourself apart from the competition. From campaign messaging, fundraising techniques, staff relations, even look at possible alternative services that can help be innovative if it brings something new to the front.

• Driving a commercial mindset

Commercial awareness in the NFP sector is about having an understanding of the business world and its changing dynamics. This can be achieved by donning the commercial lens which helps NFP organisations develop their unique selling point. It is imperative to identify the position you occupy in the social space that differentiates you from the rest in a constantly changing market.

• Changing culture and innovating from the top

It is inevitable that NFPs need to innovatively change their thinking model and mentality of operations. This starts with a change in internal culture and leadership mentality which needs to be filtered down through all levels of the organisation.  NFP leaders need to ensure that there’s a clear vison that the organisation is working towards while also ensuring all staff to work towards a similar goal. Once you have this leadership mindset, you need to develop a mission strategy to embrace and drive change, rather than shy away from it.

• Internal and external collaboration brings better results

Australia Post and digital giving provider GiveEasy commissioned a report into the Innovation Index of the Australian Not-for-Profit Sector. According to this report, working together internally is a great way to fuel innovation. The report identifies that successful organisations also look beyond their four walls, developing innovation externally and working across boundaries for a common purpose – the NFP sectors who perform best at maintaining external networks are Youth, Social and Public Welfare.

To know more about how NFPs can innovate their business, attend the NFP Business Growth and Innovation Forum scheduled for June 19 – 21 at the Grace Hotel Sydney. Leaders from some of Australia’s most prominent not for profits will gather their successful case studies on how to make an organisation stand out, grow and bring its staff with you on this ever-changing journey towards innovation and sustainability.

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Antidote to Community Fear

We live in a globally connected world where extremism, in many forms (ideological, political, economic, social, and personal) is a constant threat to community safety.  This is why community safety is a key priority for all levels of Government, especially when major public events occur, such as the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, the Australia Open in Melbourne, and so on.  All forms of contemporary extremism begin with extreme views by people who, in the main, fall within the bell curve of psychologically ‘normal’ individuals.  This profile fits for right & left wing extremists, Jihadists, militants, activists, fanatics, zealots, fixated persons, active shooters, and cyber terrorists.

This ‘alarming normal’ profile presents a major difficulty when seeking to counter extremism in that holding ‘extreme views’ (cognitive radicalisation) does not automatically lead to ‘extreme actions’ (behavioural radicalisation).  There are multiple and complex factors dynamically at play which push ‘talkers’ towards becoming ‘doers’ of extreme violence.   Hence, to counter ‘extreme views’ that may lead to violent actions at public places and/or major events requires following a methodology  I designed as a 4D matrix for community security & safety.  It is illustrated in the figure below.

 As can be seen, security & safety are two sides of the same community coin.  The 1st and 2nd boxes deal with ‘Defining & Detecting’ the types of extremism and extremists you are interested in finding out more on from a ‘Security’ point of view.  The 3rd and 4th boxes are all about ‘Designing & Deploying’ appropriate strategies and staff (paid and volunteers) to monitor, report on, and take action, if necessary, at public events and public places where an emergent community threat is potentially possible.  This is the ‘Safety’ side of the matrix.  It is these ‘Safety’ dimensions of Design & Deploy which I wish to focus on for this rest of the article.
  
Of course, operationalising this 4D matrix is neither easy nor cheap.  The resourcing implications of trying to cover all this ground will break the piggy bank of most Governments, or at least put a serious financial hole in their budget.   However, if Governments fail to lead the way in mobilising community safety then the greater risk will be vigilante-style groups popping up in the community to take matters into their own hands.  This is a now an emerging trend in many Western democracies where ‘alarmingly normal’ citizens become engaged in sectarian hate groups against others they perceive as threats to their community.

How to best mobilise community resources is the key question?   Especially, since we all know that the safety of the community cannot be solely left to police and security agencies.  There will never be enough police officers and security personal on the streets, in shopping centres, parks, bikeways and beaches to observe and respond to the new and emerging threats. For instance, improvised and low cost weapons that can severely injure, mutilate, and kill scores of innocent people, who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.     

One potential way Governments can harness and steer community anxiety about extremist threats in a proactive and productive manner is through funding a broad range of small scale, grassroots community groups through a community-based network mechanism I designed called the ‘Safety Alert Volunteer Enterprise’ (SAVE).  My concept of SAVE is that of a self-evolving grassroots interconnected network of self-directed suburban neighbourhoods clustered around local Safety Alert Volunteer (SAV) teams dedicated to community safety for everyone in  their  geographical region.  This vision of SAVE builds on the notion of ‘citizen volunteerism’ which is a well-established principle in the Australian community as it is in many countries around the world.  For instance, many community-based organisations, supported by Government assistance, such as Crime Stoppers, Neighbourhood Watch, Surf Lifesavers, Lions Club and many others rely on volunteers donating their time, talents, and energy to provide various forms of much needed community service.

The mission of SAVE is to equip community members with established principles and protocols of situational awareness training to enhance their community vigilance and timely response notification capacity to assist police, security and emergency management agencies with emerging and imminent safety threats within their local community at public places and with planned public events.

To conclude, ‘SAVE’ proofing a community is best done by communities themselves.  This can be achieved by communities forming ‘community safety clusters’ of 3 to 5 geographically local suburban neighbourhoods connected to and supported, in an training and advisory capacity only, by an umbrella SAVE network.  Each of these community safety cluster’s would maintain their independent, self-evolving nature to decide what works best for them in the particular circumstances, conditions and constraints of their local community region.  Communities just need minimal funding from Government to equip them with the knowledge and skills of SAV training to kick start their community looking out for and taking care of one another’s safety, by themselves and for themselves.   

 SAVE is a community enterprise open to anyone who wishes to participate as a Safety Alert Volunteer (SAV).  Members of the community in any geographical location in Australia can register, via email, their interest in becoming a volunteer in the SAVE network (safetyalertvolunteers@gmail.com ).

Guest blog written by: Dr Geoff Dean

Dr. Geoff Dean is CEO of the Safety Alert Volunteer Enterprise (SAVE) & Managing Director of the company Violence Prevention Consulting as well as Adjunct Professor at the Griffith Criminology Institute (GCI) and the Policy Innovation Hub at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. He is an international peer reviewer and guest editor for several prestigious journals, publishes extensively, and consults globally with police and security organisations.

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