Report cards build capacity of local NFPs

With $50,000 in FRRR funding, the NFP House team was able to build the capacity of a dozen not-for-profit (NFP) organisations around Australia, and all from their Gladstone base. They delivered organisational assessments in a tailored report card to each group, with an improvement plan to help guide them towards better compliance and sustainability.

As the Project Coordinator, Bernadette Ariens, describes it, while the report cards that NFP House provided to may not be “sexy”, the results that come from these governance health checks were truly remarkable.

“We put the finger on the organisation’s pulse by having a two-hour session with them,” Bernadette said.

“You could call it a community social audit, but it’s more of a dialogue, a discussion where we cover 32 benchmarks through a series of questions and we seek evidence.

The NFP health check helped community groups ranging in purpose from the Biloela Historical Society to the Port Curtis Scouts, and the 1770 Art Show.

Doing so many assessments in a relatively short period of time has given Bernadette the confidence that NFP House has a strong regime in place to help not-for-profits in a range of contexts, wherever they are in Australia.

“Businesses have a whole lot of regulation in terms of operations, particularly financial policy. But so do not-for-profits. They have the same level of compliance and obligation, yet they’re run by volunteers and they don’t have the support the government provides small and medium sized businesses.”

Ensuring their governance is robust and healthy helps the community far beyond the core membership of the group, Bernadette said.

“As humans, we don’t exist on our own. We exist in groups. So, there’ll always be a bowls club, a swimming club or a something or other club, a P&C that will still be governed or regulated too,” she said.

“There’s that part of it, but there’s also just strengthening communities, so that when the crisis dies down, they’re still sustainable.

“You’re assessing in times of non-disaster – peace we say – because disaster could be drought, it could be a pandemic, it could be famine, it could be a huge mental health crisis. It could be a range of things. It’s how you define disaster. So, it’s saying – you get yourself sustainable enough that nothing can rock you. You might not be thriving in disaster, but you’re surviving in order to thrive outside of disaster.”

Bernadette said they also learnt from the experience of giving so many health checks that the report cards showed much more detail than just the regulation compliance of each organisation.

“What we did find is that it was not so much what was the outcome in the report card. It was more about how important the point of connection that service or organisation was offering,” she said.

“We always say passion without knowledge is dangerous. We are just giving you the knowledge parts so your passion can remain.”

The practical governance mentoring they provide small community organisations has been so successful, the federal government is now considering using the model as a national template – to help fill the compliance gap that many NFPs face.