CSI Update Issue 5

the Centre for Social Impact
Academic Excellence fit for Social Purpose

CSI Update, Issue 5, October 2008

Peter Shergold

Message from the CEO

I was delighted to help facilitate the Macquarie Group Foundation Summit on Social Innovation in the Hunter Valley on 19-21 September. CSI, along with Mission Australia and Social Ventures Australia, were sponsors. Lord Andrew Mawson and Geoff Mulgan attended from the UK, ‘Woody’ McCutchen from the USA and John Prendergast from New Zealand.

The sun shone and the discussions sparkled. Importantly, the Chairman of Macquarie, David Clarke, was a notable participant and, in his concluding remarks, announced a ten-year $2.2m sponsorship for the Centre. I now write to you as the Macquarie Group Foundation Chair.

Alongside me, I am delighted to say, is Cheryl Kernot. She has taken on the role of Director of Teaching & Learning and is working with Gianni Zappala and our Melbourne and Swinburne colleagues on the Graduate Certificate of Social Impact. I’m excited at the prospect of four new units developed and delivered collaboratively, and accepted as credit towards an MBA or MComm degree. Details of the proposed courses will be on our website shortly.

Cheryl’s knowledge of social enterprise activity in the UK is already proving invaluable. We’re looking forward to working together (and perhaps reprising our past lives) in Paul 't Hart’s upcoming Executive Program on Collaborative Leadership in a Shared Power World.

The seminar held at Melbourne Business School on 16 September was a great success. Charlie Leadbeater was as provocative and stimulating in person as he is in print, approaching the topic of social innovation from his own distinctive perspective. It was wonderful, too, to have the CSI partnership well displayed with Glyn Davis (VC Melbourne), John Seybolt (Head of Melbourne Business School) and Ian Young (VC Swinburne) all participating. Thanks, also, to Martin Stewart-Weeks and CISCO for hosting a post-seminar dinner.

Finally, I am delighted that collaborative research projects are now taking shape. Mark Lyons is overseeing a research survey on workplace giving jointly commissioned by the Centre and PricewaterhouseCoopers, working with Australian Charities Fund, United Way and the Charities Aid Foundation. And the Centre has begun discussions with Doug Taylor at United Way and the NSW Community Relations Commission on undertaking an assessment of Sydney community needs.

Keep reading our website for more information on this and other projects. I am optimistic that CSI will be adding to the good news frequently for the foreseeable future!

Peter Shergold,
Chief Executive,
Macquarie Group Foundation Chair.
csi.edu.au

Courses
In conjunction with the Fundraising Institute Australia, CSI is running ‘Leading for Results’, a course to help not-for-profit leaders improve their fundraising, resource development and operational skills. Participants will learn how to create organisational clarity, strategy, transparency and ethics, how to forge effective partnerships, build teamwork, and effectively leverage marketing and other resources. The course presenter is Dr Tim Seiler, director of Public Service and The Fund Raising School at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. ‘Leading for Results’ is being held in Sydney on November 5 and 6.
And it’s not too late to register for Paul ‘t Hart’s course 'Exercising Leadership in a Shared Power World', in Melbourne October 30-31 and Sydney November 13-14.
Read more and register.

Small Conversations on Big Topics
We are pleased to make available online brief audio commentaries from big thinkers on the key issues in social impact. Hear opinions and research from Woodrow 'Woody' McCutchen, Steven Rathgeb Smith, Geoff Mulgan and Charles Leadbeater, with more to come.
Read more and listen.

Brain Food
Professor Peter Shergold and Associate Professor Cheryl Kernot, along with Professor Michelle Haber from the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia will discuss Australia’s thriving ‘third sector’ of volunteers, not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises in a free evening event on Monday October 13 at the University of NSW facilitated by Richard Spencer.
Visit the UNSW website to find out more.

New Scholarship
UNSW is seeking applicants for a generous new AGSM Alumni Community Leader Scholarship. Starting in 2009, it will provide full tuition fees for the AGSM MBA (Executive) program for candidates employed in not-for-profit community organisations.
Read more or apply for the scholarship.

Memberships
CSI has joined Philanthropy Australia, the national peak body for philanthropy as an associate member, and the National Roundtable of Nonprofit Organisations, a peak group of some 20 nonprofits dedicated to enhancing their collective effectiveness.

Caring Ethics
You are invited to join a national conversation on the ethics of caring, part of a research project initiated by Carers NSW with the St James Ethics Centre supported by the Macquarie Foundation aimed at informing policy makers, legislators and corporates about the challenges ahead in meeting the needs of carers and those they care for.
Find out more.

The Centre for Social Impact
– Supporting and strengthening the social enterprises of today
Educating and inspiring the social entrepreneurs of tomorrow –