Cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer.

Cloud computing in recent years has exploded to be terminology that we are all familiar with. Although for many of us this new technology is not easily understood, what businesses must understand though is there are many positive ways cloud technology can help your business excel, saving you time and money and giving you peace of mind in the event of a disaster.

A recent survey conducted by Infosys found that Australia businesses are leading the way in accepting cloud computing(1), this shows there is obvious benefits to cloud computing, but how can you use cloud computing to help your business and ultimately increase your bottom line.

Here are our top five benefits on why your business should start cloud computing now.

1) Infrastructure and Upgrades
Because technology is always changing, and so is the infrastructure that goes with it. The cost of updating your infrastructure is always a large financial investment. By using a dedicated cloud company which continuously purchases state of the art equipment to ensure your service is reliable in an environment, eliminates the need for maintaining hardware and associated IT administration. Most of the cloud solutions offer upgrades for free as part of the package and can easily be downloaded via the internet or even automatically completed to help with easy software integration.

2) Capital Cost
Businesses are quickly waking up to the fact that cloud solutions make good business sense when it comes to cost management. Managing in-house IT infrastructure and operating costs are the main reasons that businesses are turning to the cloud. With so many cloud providers in Australia, the cost of this service has become very competitive. Evaluating your business requirements for a cloud service before approaching providers will ensure the service you will be provided with matches your company needs. When it comes to cloud services cheapest may not be the best option.

3) Disaster Recovery
Implementing a system of backups where your data is stored both on your system and on the cloud is a perfect contingency plan for your business. Make sure that your cloud provider has a Disaster Recovery and business continuity plan in place for those “what –if” scenarios. Ensuring your Cloud Computing provider can support your business if a disaster does occur is also a prerequisite.

4) Security
Security concerns are still one of the greatest apprehensions that businesses have in regards to using cloud technology. Trusting your valuable data to a third party does have risks. But by acquiring knowledge about the physical and technical controls of the data centre, it’s country location and who can access it, is a good way to put you at ease that your data is safe. Ensuring that both the data centres’ and it’s anti-virus software and firewalls are updated will help secure your data.

5) Performance/Availability
In today’s world having fast, secure access to your data when you want it is essential. To achieve this select a cloud provider that includes a multi-server environment or multi location access. Ask if your cloud provider can easily increase its capacity when you need it without interrupting your workflow is essential for business to run smoothly.

Sage MicrOpay (AuSAE Annual Partner and Payroll/HR System Specialists) Private Cloud provides software services for companies who want to leave it to the specialists to manage the IT component of their payroll and HR systems. Together with their Australian based Private Cloud provider Dimension Data Cloud Services, they provide a service that delivers the highest levels of security, management and skills to ensure your sensitive human capital data is protected and delivered to users on time, every time.

Speak to the AuSAE Annual Partner Representative for Sage MicrOpay Christine Marcos on christine.marcos@micropay.com.au or phone 02 9884 4128

One of the most popular Dilbert comic strips in the cartoon’s history begins with Dilbert’s boss relaying senior leadership’s explanation for the company’s low profits. In response to his boss, Dilbert asks incredulously, “So they’re saying that profits went up because of great leadership and down because of a weak economy?” To which Dilbert’s boss replies, “These meetings will go faster if you stop putting things in context.”

Great leadership is indeed a difficult thing to pin down and understand. You know a great leader when you’re working for one, but even they can have a hard time explaining the specifics of what they do that makes their leadership so effective. Great leadership is dynamic; it melds a variety of unique skills into an integrated whole.

Below are 12 essential behaviors that exceptional leaders rely on every day. Give them a try and you can become a better leader today.

1. Courage

“Courage is the first virtue that makes all other virtues possible.” —Aristotle

People will wait to see if a leader is courageous before they’re willing to follow his or her lead. People need courage in their leaders. They need someone who can make difficult decisions and watch over the good of the group. They need a leader who will stay the course when things get tough. People are far more likely to show courage themselves when their leaders do the same.

For the courageous leader adversity is a welcome test. Like a blacksmith’s molding of a red-hot iron, adversity is a trial by fire that refines leaders and sharpens their game. Adversity emboldens courageous leaders and leaves them more committed to their strategic direction.

Leaders who lack courage simply toe the company line. They follow the safest path—the path of least resistance—because they’d rather cover their backside than lead.

2. Effective Communication

“The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” —Joseph Priestley

Communication is the real work of leadership. It’s a fundamental element of how leaders accomplish their goals each and every day. You simply can’t become a great leader until you are a great communicator.

Great communicators inspire people. They create a connection with their followers that is real, emotional, and personal, regardless of any physical distance between them. Great communicators forge this connection through an understanding of people and an ability to speak directly to their needs.

3. Generosity

“A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.” —John Maxwell

Great leaders are generous. They share credit and offer enthusiastic praise. They’re as committed to their followers’ success as they are to their own. They want to inspire all of their employees to achieve their personal best – not just because it will make the team more successful, but because they care about each person as an individual.

4. Humility

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” – C.S. Lewis

Great leaders are humble. They don’t allow their position of authority to make them feel that they are better than anyone else. As such, they don’t hesitate to jump in and do the dirty work when needed, and they won’t ask their followers to do anything they wouldn’t be willing to do themselves.

5. Self-Awareness

“It is absurd that a man should rule others, who cannot rule himself.” —Latin Proverb

Contrary to what Dilbert might have us believe, leaders’ gaps in self-awareness are rarely due to deceitful, Machiavellian motives, or severe character deficits. In most cases, leaders—like everyone else—view themselves in a more favorable light than other people do.

Self-awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence, a skill that 90% of top performing leaders possess in abundance. Great leaders’ high self-awareness means they have a clear and accurate image not just of their leadership style, but also of their own strengths and weaknesses. They know where they shine and where they’re weak, and they have effective strategies for leaning into their strengths and compensating for their weaknesses.

6. Adherence to the Golden Rule +1

“The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.” – Jon Wolfgang von Goethe

The Golden Rule – treat others as you want to be treated – assumes that all people are the same. It assumes that, if you treat your followers the way you would want a leader to treat you, they’ll be happy. It ignores that people are motivated by vastly different things. One person loves public recognition, while another loathes being the center of attention.

Great leaders don’t treat people how they themselves want to be treated. Instead, they take the Golden Rule a step further and treat each person as he or she would like to be treated. Great leaders learn what makes people tick, recognize their needs in the moment, and adapt their leadership style accordingly.

7. Passion

“If you just work on stuff that you like and are passionate about, you don’t have to have a master plan with how things will play out.” – Mark Zuckerberg

Passion and enthusiasm are contagious. So are boredom and apathy. No one wants to work for a boss that’s unexcited about his or her job, or even one who’s just going through the motions. Great leaders are passionate about what they do, and they strive to share that passion with everyone around them.

8. Infectiousness

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” —Reverend Theodore Hesburgh

Great leaders know that having a clear vision isn’t enough. You have to make that vision come alive so that your followers can see it just as clearly as you do. Great leaders do that by telling stories and painting verbal pictures so that everyone can understand not just where they’re going, but what it will look and feel like when they get there. This inspires others to internalize the vision and make it their own.

9. Authenticity

“Just be who you are and speak from your guts and heart – it’s all a man has.” – Hubert Humphrey

Authenticity refers to being honest in all things – not just what you say and do, but who you are. When you’re authentic, your words and actions align with who you claim to be. Your followers shouldn’t be compelled to spend time trying to figure out if you have ulterior motives. Any time they spend doing so erodes their confidence in you and in their ability to execute.

Leaders who are authentic are transparent and forthcoming. They aren’t perfect, but they earn people’s respect by walking their talk.

10. Approachability

“Management is like holding a dove in your hand. Squeeze too hard and you kill it, not hard enough and it flies away.” – Tommy Lasorda

Great leaders make it clear that they welcome challenges, criticism, and viewpoints other than their own. They know that an environment where people are afraid to speak up, offer insight, and ask good questions is destined for failure. By ensuring that they are approachable, great leaders facilitate the flow of great ideas throughout the organization.

11. Accountability

“The ancient Romans had a tradition: Whenever one of their engineers constructed an arch, as the capstone was hoisted into place, the engineer assumed accountability for his work in the most profound way possible: He stood under the arch.” – Michael Armstrong

Great leaders have their followers’ backs. They don’t try to shift blame, and they don’t avoid shame when they fail. They’re never afraid to say, “The buck stops here,” and they earn people’s trust by backing them up.

12. Sense Of Purpose

“You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” – Ken Kesey

Whereas vision is a clear idea of where you’re going, a sense of purpose refers to an understanding of why you’re going there. People like to feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves. Great leaders give people that feeling.

Bringing It All Together

Becoming a great leader doesn’t mean that you have to incorporate all of these traits at once. Focus on one or two at a time; each incremental improvement will make you more effective. It’s okay if you “act” some of these qualities at first. The more you practice, the more instinctive it will become, and the more you’ll internalize your new leadership style.

What other qualities would you like to see added to this list? Please share your thoughts on exceptional leadership in the comments section below, as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

About the author:

Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the #1 bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world's leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training, serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. His bestselling books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. Dr. Bradberry has written for, or been covered by, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Harvard Business Review.

This blogpost first appeared on LinkedIn

Voting is currently under-way for the positions of AuSAE regional director in ACT/NSW and New Zealand regions. Please see below all candidate statements. To vote, an automated email was sent on March 2 from "election buddy". Voting for these positions close on March 31. AuSAE thanks all candidates for applying. 

If you believe you are eligible to vote and have not received an email, please call Toni Brearley on +61 7 3394 8381.

AuSAE ACT/NSW Regional Director Candidates 

Peter Griffin, General Manager, Real Estate Institute of New South Wales I have worked in the Association sector for the past eight years. Prior to that my career spanned a number of industry sectors including health, IT, publishing, financial services, telecommunications, and management consultancy. Originally trained and professionally qualified in both marketing and accounting (unusual but very handy), my current role is General Manager of the Real Estate Institute of NSW. I would love to be given the opportunity to serve on the AuSAE Board. I believe that my diverse experience and skills would be of great benefit to AuSAE and its members as the organisation and its members grapple with a range of issues. I believe that I can help to find solutions to those issues.
Joe Lopino, Executive Director, Australian Furniture Removers Association Through my experiences in numerous industries I have developed strong advocacy skills to effect change, growth and obtain stakeholder engagement. My current role as Executive Director of Australian Furniture Removers Association has required me to utilise those advocacy skills at both State and Federal Government levels. I also bring a strong governance background and board principles as graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. I hold a delegate seat on the Australian Trucking Association Council as well as a member of their Transport and Economic Policy Committee.
Lauretta Stace, Chief Executive Officer, Fitness Australia I believe in the value of Associations. Associations have a vital role to play in society because through collaboration and collective action, people can change things for the better. I have been involved with the Association sector for 15 years in leadership positions. I am currently the CEO and Company Secretary of Fitness Australia Ltd. I understand, value and respect the role of a director in this sector and would like to share and contribute my skills, knowledge and experience to help advance AuSAE as the Peak Body for Associations. I have a thorough understanding of and experience with corporate governance and the role of a director. I am also a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

AuSAE New Zealand Regional Director Candidates 

Rod Auton, Chief Executive Officer, Crane Association of New Zealand I have been fortunate to have worked in Senior Executive Positions for eight and a half years and in this time have contributed and been instrumental in formulating governance policies, formulating organisational strategy, and ultimately advancing the organisation. I have a diverse range of skills gathered over a 50 year working life. They include business management, planning, change management, financial management, and evaluation and monitoring. I have the ability to listen, analyse, and question strategy proposals and performance data as well. I have an in-depth understanding of the not-for-profit environment and the issues that associations face. I have a firm belief that I can contribute positively to the AuSAE Board and the Society as a whole and request your support.
John Collyns, Executive Director, Retirement Villages Association New Zealand I have been an Executive Director of four industry associations over the last 20 years, as well as an elected board member of various other organisations. As a result I have worked closely with many different people, ranging from the CEOs of listed public companies to owner-operators and sole traders who have been on the various boards I've worked with. I understand the principles of governance. I have always believed in effective representation of all members in an association, and the RVA itself scored 81.1% satisfaction by its members in a recent AuSAE survey. I am a passionate advocate for AuSAE and the not-for-profit sector. I have regularly attended AuSAE events (and even spoken at them on occasion). I work closely with my peers in the industry association sector, especially via Business NZ's Industry Advisory Group, and have persuaded both the Bus and Coach Assn and the Retirement Villages Assn to join as a member. I am proud to have recently been made a Fellow of AuSAE.
Nick Hill (current Board Member Term 2011-2014), Chief Executive Officer, Building Officials Institute of New Zealand As Chief Executive of the Building Officials Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ), the peak body representing the Building Controls and Building Surveying sectors, I have been committed to improving professionalism and the much needed skill sets for our membership and the wider building and construction sector in New Zealand. I have been fortunate to have made and achieved recognizable changes to the building sector in New Zealand. I am currently Vice President of AuSAE, its Treasurer and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee. I have been involved with the Society since co- leading the 2011 merger of ANZI (as it President) with its Australian counterpart (AuSAE) to form the broader Australasian Society of Association Executives. Contributing to this newly formed organisation has been both consuming and a pleasure as the Board set about invigorating member benefits and value to achieve much needed membership growth on both sides of the Tasman.
Linda Noble, Chief Executive, Governance New Zealand  As Chief Executive of Governance New Zealand, a Division of ICSA International, I am responsible for the implementation of strategic objectives that enhance and promote the organisation both locally and in the international arena. Key achievements in this role include the rebranding to Governance New Zealand (formerly Chartered Secretaries NZ), instigating a national conference, overhauling the professional education programme, and representing the interests of Governance New Zealand at ICSA International Council meetings. Having worked extensively with complex governance structure, I have a very good understanding of the responsibilities of being a director and the skills required for the position, including accountability, leadership and strategic thinking. As a qualified management professional, I bring a wealth of experience in the not-for-profit sector along with excellent business and financial expertise that would make me an asset as an AuSAE Board member.

Please find a copy of the AuSAE Constitution and AuSAE By-Laws

The 2015 Redback Report is here! Find out what makes your online audiences tick and use this research to enhance your webinars and webcasts!

What did Redback Conferencing uncover?
The importance of increasing interactivity and keeping viewers engaged is still front of mind for many and the need for on-demand access and powerful and passionate presenters is evident.

However, delivering on what you say you're going to, clear and uninterrupted audio quality and knowledgeable presenters seem to have topped the list when it comes to importance in this year's report.

Why should you download this?
The aim of this research is to assist you when it comes to planning, marketing, hosting and reporting on your webinars and webcasts.

Here’s some of what the research uncovered:

• How much are attendees willing to pay for your online events?
  
• The best time of day and time of week to hold an online event
  
• Memorable experiences - what gets people talking about your event?
  
• Preference – should you use webcams? Should you focus on heavy duty slides?
  
• What's more important... Audio vs. Content, Passion vs. Knowledge?
  

Click here to download your copy of the report!

“The story of innovation has not changed. It has always been a small team of people who have a new idea, typically not understood by people around them and their executives.”
—Eric Schmidt, Chairman, Google

Some of the most frequent questions we get from CEOs and leaders of other companies are: How does Google innovate? Can innovation be planned? Can it be taught? Ultimately, we think that company culture and innovation can’t be separated. “You have to have the culture,” says Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, “and you need to get it right.” We also believe that to stay competitive, we (and every other company in the world) absolutely have to innovate.

So how do you create a culture of innovation? Google doesn’t have a secret formula, though we’ve done our best to find one over the years. But we have distilled our thinking into a set of basic principles—ideas we believe can be adapted and applied at pretty much any organization, regardless of size or industry.

In this Google for Work perspective, we’ll share these eight principles of innovation and show how we apply them inside Google.

1. Think 10x
The notion of “10x thinking” is at the heart of how we innovate at Google. To put the idea simply: true innovation happens when you try to improve something by 10 times rather than by 10%.

2. Launch, then keep listening
The restaurant business has a smart idea called the “soft opening.” Instead of hoping everything is perfect and inviting the entire public to arrive all at once, a new cafe will have a few days or weeks where they invite people in, learn what works, discover
what customers love, and slowly grow (they hope) into a successful business that everyone is talking about.

3. Share everything you can
At Google we believe that collaboration—that is, people working together in teams—is essential to innovation. And collaboration happens best when you share information openly. So as a company, we share as much as possible with employees. This doesn’t mean every last business or strategic detail, but we do strive for transparency.

4. Hire the right people
Google has grown at a rapid rate: from 2,000 Googlers a decade ago to more than 50,000 now. What we hope hasn’t changed is the kind of people who work here and the types of projects they like to work on. Ever since our very first hires, Google has worked hard to attract people who want to tackle big problems that matter and do great things for the world.

5. Use the 70/20/10 model
We’re firm believers in a concept first introduced in the early days of Google: the 70/20/10 model. Simply put, it means that:

• 70% of our projects are dedicated to our core business
  
• 20% of our projects are related to our core business
  
• 10% of our projects are unrelated to our core business
  

6. Look for ideas everywhere
The best ideas can’t all possibly come from any one team, one department or one company. We believe great ideas can be found anywhere, and we look for them everywhere.

7. Use data, not opinions
Data usually beats opinions. So at Google, data is a big part of every choice we make. We test and measure almost everything we do so that we have a continuous data stream to inform our decisions.

8. Focus on users, not the competition
We believe that if we focus on users, everything else will follow. If you can build a robust and loyal base of people who love what you do, you’ll have something rare and valuable. For us, that always starts with the desire to improve the lives of users.

For a copy of the full whitepaper "Creating a Culture of Innovation" please click here.

As part of a recently announced global competition, the Australian Water Association is seeking businesses and entrepreneurs to submit their ideas and innovative solutions to water sustainability challenges.

An association working toward sustainable water management in Australia is turning to entrepreneurs and businesses around the world for help in solving sustainability challenges with one of the world’s most valuable resources. Last week, the Australian Water Association announced the Australian Water Innovation Challenge 2015, which is calling on companies to submit innovative water technology solutions in a broad range of industries, including food and beverage manufacturing and the energy and resources sectors.

“AWA is looking for ideas that could potentially transform the sustainability of communities and businesses, both in Australia and around the world,” Jonathan McKeown, AWA CEO, said in a statement  [PDF]. “AWA, and our 4,500 members, understand that innovation and entrepreneurship are necessities for growth, and global growth is only achievable through preserving our most important resource—water.”

The competition opened last Friday, and interested participants have until May 8 to enter their ideas. The winner will be announced at Australia’s International Water Conference & Exhibition in May and will receive a full-page editorial in AWA’s journal, a tailored B2B program that will help introduce the winning idea to potential users, an entry to the Australia Water Awards, and additional promotional support. Research has shown that parts of Australia could face a water crisis by the end of this century as a result of changes in the world’s climate. The Water Innovation Challenge is not limited to what can be done in Australia, though.

“We are looking for ideas that can transfer across industries, countries, and applications,” McKeown said. “No idea is too big or too small.” To help administer the challenge, AWA is partnering with global startup competition platform YouNoodle. “Every day we are seeing organizations, governments, and corporations turn to innovation to help answer questions and innovate within almost every industry,” Torsten Kolind, cofounder and CEO of YouNoodle, said in a statement. “The Australian Water Innovation Challenge is a great example of this trend and we are proud to be a part of this unique competition.”

Startup competitions have been gaining ground in the association industry recently as stagnant and growing industries have been looking to generate new ideas to either solve problems or stimulate further growth.

This article first appeared on Associations Now

In 2013 Survey Matters, supported by the Australasian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE), conducted the first Associations Matter Study for Professional Associations.  Twenty three associations participated, over 35,000 members were invited to participate and nearly 8,000 responses were received.

This inaugural study focused on understanding members’ opinions of the current activities and services provided by their professional association. Why they join, what services they value, how they rate their association’s performance, how they like to participate and whether they intend to renew. The results provided the professional associations who took part the ability to better understand the opinions and preferences of their members so they could tailor their strategies based on empirical evidence. It also enabled those associations to benchmark their individual performance against the overall findings to understand how they performed in relation to others.

The second Associations Matter Study for professional associations lifted the focus from operational performance to a more strategic outlook.  Rather than concentrating on associations’ current service provision, we changed the conversation to concentrate on members – where their pressures are, what hinders them in their profession and what they believe associations can do to alleviate their challenges.  

The results are fascinating! Again, nearly 8,000 members provided us with their views and feedback, providing professional associations with a wealth of information about what members want from their membership, how they believe they can contribute and where their association can assist them achieve their own goals and objectives.

To access the key findings and to read the report please click here: http://www.surveymatters.com.au/professional-associations-matter/

Historically the objectives of the corporation have been seen as somewhat opposite to those of the not-for-profit sector; specifically self interest as opposed to community interest. So it is ironic that we are now seeing closer relationships developing between the two, with partnerships now a growing trend and a common feature of the corporate landscape.

So can we attribute this upswing of corporate interest in the community to a sudden outburst of altruistic thinking on the part of the modern corporation? Have they abandoned their previous drivers of bottom-line profits and increased shareholder value? Far from it. In fact it is these very drivers, which have remained the cornerstones of profit-making corporations for decades, now underpinning the growth in partnerships between the two sectors.

Corporations by necessity are pragmatic beasts and boards by law must act in the fiduciary interests of the company that they represent. The hallmark of the profit makers tends to be commercial astuteness while those of the not-for-profit sector are genuineness, compassion, and commitment. How can these two sectors initially engage with each other? The cold hard reality is that it is precisely because the not-for-profit world offers tangible benefits for the corporate world, via an association with them, that corporate giving is on the rise.

These benefits include enhanced reputation, branding and marketing benefits, community and governmental support for commercial undertakings and increased capability to attract and retain high calibre staff. Differentiating your brand from that of your competitors, making a statement that you stand for something other than simply profit generation and finding the key to building staff loyalty have all proven elusive for many corporations. The fact is that partnering with the not-for-profit sector has proven to be the solution to these and many of the problems faced by companies today.

Within this new paradigm corporate giving becomes an investment decision, more about value creation than the old unidirectional philanthropy, fuelled by moral imperative. In the past it has been a one-way street; that is, not-for-profit organisations going cap in hand to the wealthy corporates.

Therefore, this paradigm shift does require a new approach for any not-for-profit organisation seeking to capitalise fully on this new opportunity. They need to develop a different type of skill in order to engage effectively with the profit makers if maximum corporate support is to be gained. The key to unlocking corporate wealth is in the development of a partnership framework which serves the needs of the corporation not just the not-for-profit partner.

Many organisations have also discovered that once differing skill sets are shared after a partnership has formed, there can be considerable mutual benefit for both sectors that goes well beyond simply being financial in nature. Some of these transferable skill sets are outlined in the table below:


Notwithstanding this, there is still a strong requirement for charities to make an approach to corporates to establish these partnerships for day-to-day funding or funding for specific projects. As regards the not-for-profit sector, the Economist.com points out that it is important that organisations do not compromise their own characteristics even though, at the same time, they need to ‘become more like them,’—i.e. more like the corporations that they are seeking support from. This is particularly true with the corporates demanding ever-increasing professionalism from their potential partners.

It would seem that any debate about whether social investment, is beneficial or not for a corporation, has been somewhat eclipsed by the wealth of positive experiences from the Australian corporate landscape and from overseas. It is now simply a matter of whether a corporation wishes to choose the development of partnerships with the not-for-profit sector as one of its key business strategies for building social capital, goodwill and staff pride and loyalty.

In essence it is suggested that an appeal based on doing good work and helping others, an appeal driven by the moral imperative, is unlikely to be as effective as one based on assisting your potential partner to overcome many of the commercial challenges that they face today. What not-for-profit organisations have to offer a potential partner is of immeasurable value in securing the success and corporate sustainability that they so desire. Once a strong relationship is formed then the two become a powerful force for social change.

This article was originally published in the Better Boards Conference Magazine 2014.

About the author David Cooke
Dr David Cooke was awarded a doctorate in 2009 for his study entitled The Philanthropic Contract: building social capital through corporate social investment. This study dealt with Australian companies who have successfully developed corporate social investment programs as a means of building social capital. Valuable evidence emerged for non-profit organisations that in order to maximise support from the corporate sector a business case needs to be developed that focuses on a return on investment for the corporation, not on an appeal to altruism. David is also the Managing Director of Konica Minolta in Australia, a global Japanese technology company, and he has applied his learnings to this organisation with extremely positive results.

It isn't enough for businesses to simply do good. Now they have to prove their worth in measurable ways. Not surprisingly, Australians are spending more than $250 billion each year on social issues. This means that broad claims about making a difference won’t cut it anymore, and Australian businesses must now provide evidence of their impact.

For not-for-profit organisations (NFPs) this is good news, because it means that the audience is listening. The bad news is that measuring social impact can be complicated, expensive and often impractical. Indeed, social impact is one of the key areas of focus for the Not-For-Profit Conference, held in various cities across Australia this week and next. Measuring outcomes by a dollar-replacement value is one thing. But when NFPs try to quantify impacts that are multi-layered over longer timeframes it becomes a whole other story, and there is no definitive right or wrong way to approach it.

Simon Faivel, director of Social Ventures Australia (SVA) Consulting and chair of SIMNA, the Social Impact Measurement Network Australia, is confident an evolution is taking place that will see social impact measurement traverse all sectors. The key, he says, is the large amount of information sharing that is bringing more knowledge and greater access to data. “When you see what others have done it makes it easier to make that first leap,” says Faivel. “If you can get your community to share, you can learn more and foster better application of social impact development techniques.”

Professor David Gilchrist, the director of Curtin University’s Not-For-Profit Initiatives, agrees. He says when like organisations work together to gather outcome data, it can provide a bigger picture for analyses and the costs can be shared. Having a more complete body of information enables a stronger case to be presented to governments when negotiations about policy and funding arise.

Gilchrist warns against restricting data to annual reporting because true impact can often take years, even decades, to be realised. Measuring impacts on a three- or even five-year cycle can be simpler, more telling and shares the financial load across several reporting periods.

Full article can be found on the Intheblack Blog here.

Advocacy takes place in a complex and crowded political environment with many organizations trying to move policy on the same issue at the same time. Consequently, advocates often collaborate with allies to increase the likelihood that their unified advocacy voices will be heard. Collaborative advocacy work can take many forms, from tightly coordinated campaigns and long-term formal coalitions, to looser networks and one-time partnering on particular tactics.

While funders acknowledge and often encourage collaborative advocacy efforts, they are nonetheless responsible for making decisions about which individual organizations they should support within the broader field of advocates, and for judging whether a particular organization should receive funding to advance a particular policy goal. Acutely aware of this competitive funding context, advocates understandably might hesitate to identify the important role that allies and partners play in helping them to advance policy.

Even when they do acknowledge the work of partners, it can be challenge for grantees to be specific about the unique role they played in an advocacy strategy when reporting their achievements to funders. This can lead to confusion among funders who want to know what a grantee’s unique contribution to policy progress has been.

This brief offers four tools that funders might use to get a better handle on a grantee’s contribution to an advocacy effort. The tools can be used at both the start of a new grantee relationship or at the end of a grant, after advocacy strategies have been implemented.

Please find the full brief by Center for Evaluation Innovation here.