This information was directly sourced from  the MS Research Australia website here. 

MS Research Australia has been recognised as Charity of the Year in The Australian Charity Awards 2015. There are approximately 2.5 million people worldwide and 23,000 within Australia affected by multiple sclerosis (MS). In just ten short years MS Research Australia has greatly increased the level of funding for MS research creating a significant impact on the number of research programs focusing on MS throughout Australia. Using strong research governance principles as well as innovative campaigns and platforms, MS Research Australia is achieving its goals.

Dr Matthew Miles, Chief Executive Officer of MS Research Australia said, 'It is a great honour to be awarded Charity of the Year. This award is a culmination of over ten years of very hard work by many people. The support of people with MS, donors, state based MS societies, allied organisations and corporate organisations has been critical to this success'.

The Australian Charity Awards were introduced in recognition of the dedication and achievements of non-profit organisations, charitable funds and charitable institutions. As a partner program of The Australian Business Awards, the Awards highlight charitable organisations that have achieved outstanding results through initiatives that have significantly benefited charitable causes.

Ms Tara Johnston, Program Director, Australian Charity Awards says, 'The initiatives of charitable organisations are dedicated to transforming the lives of individuals, inciting social change and creating a positive impact on the broader community. We are proud to honour MS Research Australia for its achievements'.

Mr Simon McKeon AO, Patron, MS Research Australia and 2011 Australian of the Year said 'As the Founding Chairman and now Patron of MS Research Australia, it's wonderful to see how the hard work of many people in this impact-driven charity has achieved great outcomes for people with MS'.

Megan Healey is a mother of three children and was diagnosed with MS 17 years ago. She says 'As someone who is living with MS, it gives me hope to see the ground breaking achievements of MS Research Australia. It is imperative that we continue to work towards a cure for this disease not only for the individuals living with MS, but also for their family members and the community. National awards such as this are wonderful for the recognition of the hard work and also to increase awareness about MS'.

The 2015 Australian Charity Awards program received a significant number of nominations, with five organisations shortlisted and recognised for Outstanding Achievement and MS Research Australia announced as the overall winner for The Australian Charity of the Year.

For more information on The Australian Charity Awards go to www.charityawards.com.au

The Philippine Council for the Advancement of Association Executives (PCAAE) is pleased to invite and provide AuSAE members with a complimentary conference pass for their Association Executives Summit III (AES 3) to be held on December 3-4, 2015 at the Philippine International Convention Centre. 

The AES is the biggest annual gathering of association managers and professionals to connect with colleagues while gaining practical tips and tools to help their organisations succeed. 

To learn more about the AES please visit visit this website. 

This media release was directly sourced from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) here. 

Over 4 000 charities now have a ‘red-mark’ against their name for failing to report to the national charity regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).

The red-mark on the charity’s listing on the ACNC Charity Register, available online at acnc.gov.au/findacharity, sends a clear message to potential donors, volunteers and grant makers that the charities are not compliant with their ACNC obligations.

ACNC Commissioner, Susan Pascoe AM, said that these charities were required to submit their 2014 Annual Information Statement by 31 January 2015.

“These charities, which are now more than six months late, have a red-mark on their listing on the Charity Register to highlight to people that the charity has yet to meet the legal requirement of submitting their 2014 Annual Information Statement.

“Once the charity submits its overdue 2014 Annual Information Statement, the red-mark will be removed.

“Submitting an Annual Information Statement is not only an obligation of being an ACNC registered charity, it’s also a way for charities to demonstrate transparency and show the public the work they are doing in the community.”

Ms Pascoe said that the ACNC supports charities in meeting their ACNC obligations, and that the ACNC was committed to enhancing public trust and confidence.

“Registration with the ACNC gives eligible charities access to various Commonwealth charity tax concessions to help them achieve their charitable purpose.

“The public expects us to ensure that only charities operating legitimately have access to these benefits.”

Ms Pascoe said that the ACNC was here to help charities wanting to meet their obligations.

“To those who haven’t submitted yet, I urge you to join the 40 000 registered charities that have already submitted their 2014 Annual Information Statement.

“If your charity needs assistance submitting its Annual Information Statement, contact our friendly staff on 13 ACNC.”

Charities can check their reporting due date by viewing their charity’s entry on the ACNC Charity Register at acnc.gov.au/findacharity or by logging into the Charity Portal at charity.acnc.gov.au.

Charities can find further information about the 2014 Annual Information Statement at acnc.gov.au/2014AIS.

A list of charities more than six months late with their reporting is available on the ACNC website at www.acnc.gov.au/redmark.

Is your association attractive to your next generation of members? As your baby boomer members retire so will their membership. Making sure your association is ready to service the Next Generation Members will ensure future growth and sustainability.

The Next Generation have been brought up in an era of technological and social change, they are predicted to make up more than 50 % of the workforce by 2020.

In this day of easily accessible information the next generation of members are not joining your organisation for the same reasons older members joined or in the same ways! Associations who recognise this are using tools to help them manage their content and how it is delivered to their members online.

By implementing your website with a fully integrated online association management system you are able to target those new members through a variety of means. Integration of your database, membership portal, events and communication can also provide you with the tools to better review your member engagement.

Associations that have tailored NexG sections on their websites together with dedicated social media platforms provide the next generation with appropriate engagement. By remaining up to date with responsive websites and communication tools your association is recognising that NexG members are the ones actually driving the demand.

Recognising that NexG depend on their mobile devices, your website needs to deliver messages clearly on the first screen. Not having much time to articulate your value and ensuring a positive experience means is important to deliver what the NexG wants and needs, when they want it and how they want it.

By making it easier for your members to interact with your website on mobile devices will help to increase the number of your member visits as well as be inviting for your NexG members to become a part of your Association. Responsive Web Design provides an optimal viewing and interaction experience — easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling — across a wide range of devices. Your members now want the full experience of your desktop site on their mobile device expecting a better membership experience.  Responding to call-to-actions immediately can translate to increased member activity and engagement

In April this year, Google made some timely adjustments in terms of favouring mobile-friendly websites.

"Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.” – Google.

Now might be the time to assess your next generation membership segment and adapt your marketing and communication to not only their current, but also their future needs.

For more information on how you can provide a more next generation member-friendly online strategy, contact the team at Internet Vision Technologies today info@ivt.com.au +61 3 9723 9399 www.ivt.com.au

The Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia Ltd, recently changed its name at its Annual General Meeting to the Aerial Application Association of Australia Ltd.

This change was made to better reflect the wide range of aviation businesses and pilots the company represents including both agricultural and firefighting operations.

CEO of the Association, Mr Phil Hurst, said that the change was an evolution of the Association that had been representing both the agricultural and firefighting sectors for many years and the Association would maintain its history through the ongoing use of the AAAA acronym (pronounced ‘Four As’).

“AAAA was originally founded in 1958 and since then has been willing to adapt to the changing need of its members as they have grown.

“In addition to supporting farming clients by protecting crops, sowing seeds and applying fertilizer, the firefighting sector has emerged as an increasingly important sector in need of strong representation through a united voice.

“AAAA’s track record of positive government relations, safety promotion, environmental protection and whole of life professional development means that both agricultural and firefighting companies and pilots are now able to support an Association that is clearly focused on their needs.

“AAAA recently held the inaugural Aerial Firefighting Operators Conference in Albury which was well supported and produced a strong strategic direction across a range of fire-related issues.

“AAAA will be seeking to work cooperatively with the National Aerial Firefighting Centre and the State/Territory Fire Agencies over the coming months to establish a professional relationship that will support the agencies in their interactions with firefighting contractors.

“The inaugural Aerial Firefighting Conference was such a success that operators have already voted in favour of it becoming an annual event. Next year’s event will again be held in Albury and will also feature a trade show.

“Operators, pilots and trade supporters can all become members of AAAA with a wide range of benefits on offer ranging from political representation to practical programs on everything from dangerous goods to human factors training” Mr Hurst said.

Media Contact:

Phil Hurst - CEO – AAAA E: phil@aerialag.com.au 02 6241 2100 or 0427 622430

This media release was directly sourced from the Aerial Application Association of Australia (AAAA) Ltd. For more information please visit their website here.

The 2015 ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo had no shortage of ideas and opinions on the current state of membership in associations. Here are four takeaways that stood out, including the definition of engagement and the next big threat to membership stability.

The dust is still settling from another ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo. In my five days in Detroit, I heard a litany of ideas, questions, and discussions about association membership, both in Learning Labs and in informal conversation.

It was clear that association membership pros have a lot on their minds. In the coming weeks, I will likely revisit some of the stories and ideas I heard to share them in detail here, but, for now, while many of us in attendance are in the midst of returning home, here are four reactions from some of the ideas that caught my ear:

Members define engagement, not the association. Tuesday’s Learning Lab “Engagement Is More Than a Buzzword” was one of the best deconstructions of a single association topic I’ve seen in a long time, and engagement is certainly a term in need of clarity. Presenters Joe Vallina, CAE, of the American Nurses Association and Maddie Grant, CAE, and Jamie Notter of Culture That Works described the process they’ve taken to define engagement at ANA, but the most crucial insight they said associations must come to understand is that members define what engagement means, not the association.

In other words, each and every member has individual and unique reasons for engaging in an association and preferred methods for doing so, they said. The association must work to understand what those definitions are and aim to serve them, but it doesn’t get to determine the stakes of the game. That’s an important shift in mindset.

To read the other three takeaways please click here.  This article first appeared on Associations Now here and was written by Joe Rominiecki. 

The Australian Breastfeeding Association has launched a Friendly Workplace Program in a bid to increase national breastfeeding rates.

The program intends to encourage employers to create an environment where employees can express or breastfeed at work.

In Australia, 96 per cent of women initiate exclusive breastfeeding, a figure that drops to 15 per cent after five months.

With as many as one-in-four Australian women returning to work within six months of giving birth, the Australian Breastfeeding Association chief executive Rebecca Naylor said the program encouraged workplaces to recognise their role in supporting breastfeeding mothers.

"We know that if 90 per cent of babies were exclusively breastfed to six months, then we could save the health system around $120 million," Ms Naylor told 666 ABC Canberra.

The National Health and Medical Research Council and the World Health Organisation both recommend that infants be exclusively breast-fed for six months until solid foods are introduced.

Ms Naylor said there were simple things that could be done to assist breastfeeding mothers in the workplace.

"If [working] women want to continue breastfeeding, then they need a clean and private place to express or in some cases feed their child," Ms Naylor said.

"They need policies that support that so that they can have lactation breaks.

"They need a culture at work that says 'we want to support you'.

"Some women need to return to work, and many women want to return to work. And we need to create a community in which it's possible for them to do that."

Workplaces can register to become an accredited breastfeeding friendly workplace with the Australian Breastfeeding Association. 

This information was originally sourced from ABC News here. 

This calculator may be used by public benevolent institutions, health promotion charities, rebatable employers, public and non-profit hospitals and public ambulance services that provide fringe benefits to their employees.

A fringe benefit is an employment-related benefit provided to an employee. A fringe benefit may be provided to an associate of your employee or by a third party under an arrangement with you.

How this calculator works

This calculator will help you work out an estimate of the amount of Fringe benefits tax (FBT) payable for the fringe benefits that you provide to each of your employees.

The calculator considers the effects of GST as well as the relevant capping amounts.

Information you will need:

• individual fringe benefits amounts for each employee
  
• the fringe benefits amounts for which you can claim GST credits – if you are registered for GST
  
• any Excluded fringe benefits amounts, including all car parking benefits, meal entertainment (food and drink), entertainment facility leasing expenses and all other excluded benefit amounts you provided to each employee
  
• any excluded fringe benefits amounts for which you can claim GST credits
  
• any Not-for-profit excluded benefits amounts provided to each employee
  
• any not-for-profit excluded benefits amounts for which you can claim GST credits
  
• the number of days you were engaged in rebatable activities as an employer during the FBT year
  
• the number of days you were an employer during the FBT year
  

Disclaimer

• This calculator provides an estimate only of the FBT payable on benefits provided to employees based on the information you provide.
  
• The exact amount of FBT payable can only be calculated on lodgment of your fringe benefits tax return.
  

Imagine walking down the hall of a conference venue.

You stop and enter one of the rooms. A speaker is telling the audience the three steps that they must follow to be successful. The audience sits quietly. Some write or type notes.

Now imagine walking into another room at the same venue. The audience is talking to each other in pairs and triads about how to customize and apply one of the three steps needed for success. The speaker walks around the room listening and engaging in various conversations.

Evaluating Your Conference Model

Read the two examples listed above again.

Which example resembles the majority of your conference general sessions, plenaries, breakouts and workshops?

You’ve just identified your conference session mental model. And you’ve also just identified your cognitive bias.

Consider each example again. What are the underlying beliefs exhibited in each example regarding conference education?

Your Mental Model

Every person that comes to your conference has a set of beliefs about how the world works. What life is really about. And how they succeed in their job.

Similarly, everyone that helps plan and implement your conference has a specific set of underlying views about how your event should work. What defines success. And what your target market expects.

These views and beliefs are strong mental models that drive your actions.

Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures of images that influence how we understand the world and how we take actions. Very often, we are not consciously aware of our mental models or the effects they have on our behavior.

Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline

Start With Your Mental Model... 

To view this full article please click here. This information was originally sourced from Velvet Chainsaw here and was written by Jeff Hunt. 

When we talk with successful people working in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths, we often hear a similar story: that one special moment, program or person that inspired them along the way. These are the kind of moments that stir curiosity, feed a long-held thirst for knowledge, or ignite some unknown passion.

For students, it could be a classroom visit from a software engineer, an after-school program on robotics, or an excursion to laboratory or science museum that opens up young minds to the diverse career opportunities offered by science and tech.

We think these moments are too important to be left to chance.

Australia is not keeping up with demand when it comes to graduates in fields like computer science, and when we look at girls, Indigenous Australians, and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, that picture is even worse.  

That’s why we will work with three Australian not-for-profits to introduce and inspire 10,000 underrepresented students to careers in science, technology, engineering and maths. These landmark partnerships will put to use $1 million in cash grants from Google.org to deliver hands-on training and career programs that will reach these underrepresented groups.

Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience will develop STEM content into their Year 7 and 8 curriculum for Indigenous students, making the subjects relevant through experience-based learning. The program will increase the digital skillset of 4,000 Indigenous students by 2018.

FIRST Robotics Australia will take its FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Robotics program into 150 new schools, providing a robotics set, teacher mentoring and support to student groups across Australia. FIRST will reach more than 1500 students in low-SES areas and regional schools, building teamwork and inspiring young Australians in the fields of engineering and computer science. To sign up, visit firstaustralia.org/new-grant

Engineers Without Borders Australia will expand its “Regioneering Roadshow”, which will give hands-on, STEM and computer science focused training to 5,000 young people, with a particular focus on young women. The Google grant will double the existing program’s geographic reach and connect young professional engineers to community, youth and school groups across regional Australia. 

Australia’s jobs of the future will require new skills, and it’s critical that students from all walks of life are introduced to this field and have the opportunity to shape it and benefit from it. We hope that these three organisations will create more moments that will inspire our kids.

For more STEM resources visit www.google.com.au/startwithcode  

This blog post was originally sourced from Google here and written by Maile Carnegie, Managing Director and Alan Noble, Engineering Director of Google Australia.