The season’s natural disasters, especially the devastating floods, have given non-profits and social enterprises new and different concerns in the management of their organisations.  The immediate impacts of these disasters are, of course, beyond an organisation’s control.

What we can control are the plans developed and steps taken in immediate and longer-term recovery. Limiting the ripple effects of a disaster and using the opportunity to regroup and to prepare for future challenges can make organisations stronger in the end and might even make the difference between ceasing and continuing operations.

Making the right plans often starts with asking the right questions. When facing the recovery and clean up, some questions to start with include:

1. What accounting needs are required for insurance and assistance purposes?
2. How can you update your budget to include rebuilding costs? recouping costs from down time?
3. Is any down time an opportunity for re-evaluating services and practices?
4. How will the announced flood tax levy affect your organisation as an employer?
5. Do employees affected require leave or additional support?
6. How does meeting these needs affect your budgeting and staffing?

Questions your organisation faces as a result of an extraordinary situation can seem confusing and overwhelming but they are a step in the right direction to establishing a plan for recovery.

For further support or assistance, contact your Client Manager.

As part of the FaHCSIA funded Financial Management Resource Support Unit Project, Matrix on Board is pleased to introduce a new FREE Help Desk service to answer all those tough questions Money Management Workers face out in the field. Lead by Tricia Ross, the Help Desk will be facilitated both with a hotline phone number and online. Tricia brings with her years of experience of working with Indigenous communities and clients in Northern Australia and is passionate about providing a service to help her colleagues in the field. If she doesn’t know the answer, she’s committed to helping you find it!

The Help Desk hotline number will be operational Monday – Thursday from 10am –3.30pm each day. Tricia will be supported by the FMRSU and Matrix on Board team to answer all questions, big or small.

If you can’t get to a phone, you can log on to the FMRSU website and check out the Help Desk Hot Topics where you will find a series of frequently asked questions and answers. If you have a question, follow the stream related to your topic and add a comment.

To access the Help Desk Hotline, call 1800 443 038 or visit the FMRSU website.

In 2010, Matrix on Board joined the masses and entered the world of social media. It all started with Twitter and Morri’s love for sharing updates, industry news and general happenings for the day. It wasn’t long before followers joined and the love was shared. As we followed, tweeted, and retweeted, we watched as the world of social media opened the door to new relationships and opportunities to build on our ability to service our colleagues and clients, there holding the key to social media. The barriers of time, location and availability were broken down and we started developing a new, more open and ongoing relationship.

Following the success of Twitter, it was time to join the growing number of clients and non-for profits and enter the world of Facebook. After months of watching, testing and learning, we’re pleased to share some new changes that we’re making to the Facebook page.

Discussion Board

Having hosted a website specifically dedicated to answering any and all the questions about non-for profit organizations, we’ve decided to move the conversation from the website, to Facebook and will be hosting weekly discussion forums on everything from accounting and governance to recruitment and marketing. With more and more of our talented staff joining the page on Facebook in the coming months, these discussion forums will give clients and followers access to a wealth of expertise and experience. Each Monday a new discussion will begin, but that doesn’t mean the others need to stop. As things change, challenges arise or questions need to be answered we will continue to add to the discussion, building a growing resource of answers on all areas of the non-for profit world.

Wall

Our wall will become a new “go to” place for all the latest news and links you need to follow to keep up to date on what’s happening at Matrix on Board. Look out for links to our blogs, events, discussion forums, photos and more. Of course, once you like our page you can add to our wall too, sharing news, photos, comments and ideas or questions you’d like us to address in our discussions.

Events

Matrix on Board has a full calendar of events planned for 2011, including the much-loved FABO Awards. Events will be posted regularly so keep your eye out for the next event you might like to attend.

Photos

We have so much fun at Matrix on Board and they say a picture says a thousand words so we’ll be sharing the fun and excitement of our events through our photos and inviting our team and friends to tag themselves where they pop up in our pictures. Who’s ready to say cheese?

All of these exciting changes will be slowly integrated over the coming weeks to be up and running from March.

In 2011, we will also be venturing further into LinkedIn, tapping into the “professional” social media channel and providing our clients with yet another way to keep up to date and in touch with our team and the business. The afage of “it’s not what you know but who you know” couldn’t be better expressed than through LinkedIn and we at Matrix on Board want to make ourselves available to be known so we can share what we know.

So, there are some exciting changes ahead and we’re sure there’ll be more. We look forward to liking, following and connecting with you across these channels.

Most of us recognize the importance of continuing our education as we move through our careers. Regardless of what we seek to learn, many of us face the same barriers and make the same excuses for not pursuing further training and education. I don’t have the time! It’s too expensive! I can’t make the commitment right now! We’ve all heard them and probably said them at one time ourselves.

But, like everything else, education and teaching evolves and online learning is one area not only addressing but also overcoming these barriers to offer quality, cost-effective and flexible learning programs.

A New Series of Online Learning Courses

Following our principle of informing, resourcing and strengthening non-profits and social enterprises, Matrix on Board will be introducing a new series of online learning courses in 2011, above and beyond our existing training and development options. Focusing on the key areas of Financial Management, Strategic Planning and Governance, the online learning courses will be introduced from June.

With technology leading the way in delivering this new way of training and development, Matrix on Board will also be looking at customized online training options for our clients.

The benefits are numerous. With greater flexibility, and wider reach the barriers of time, physical location and cost are managed and the focus placed back on the quality of content and tailored delivery to meet the needs of those seeking further education.

For more information on online training opportunities contact your Client Manager.

Over the last months, Matrix on Board team members in Broome have been working to develop new and updated training materials for programs under the Financial Management Resource Support Unit which is funded by FaHCSIA and delivered by Matrix on Board. We are happy to announce we have commenced trial delivery of the new materials this month, a busy month of training, and the results have been very positive.

Rowena Strain, FMRSU Team Leader has focussed her work on financial inclusion for the last several of her eleven years working in the Kimberley in Indigenous and other community organisations.  Rowena developed a two-day training plan around the Money Management Workers Guide, which is a resource for new Money Management workers to understand their role and the skills they need to do their jobs. 

New Training Materials a Team Effort

With input from her Broome Team and Managing Director, Nerida Nettlebeck, there are now role play activities, worksheets, a game and a process for integrating the skills covered in the course into future mentoring sessions with each participant’s Matrix Client Manager.

Rowena and Matrix Client Manager, Siena Balakrishnan, have been collaborating to update the training plan for the MoneyBusiness Kit which is part of Money Management training programs. Siena has fully documented the MoneyBusiness Kit training delivery she has refined over the past year. Rowena has developed training plans for the three new MoneyBusiness Kit workshops on homeownership, tenancy and paperwork.

Matrix on Board training within FMRSU and Money Management reflects a major focus of our core vision. Financial Literacy Education, in all the forms it takes in Matrix on Board services, is part of our mission to support organisations to make the most positive and sustainable impact in their communities.

By Michelle Taylor, Matrix on Board General Manager, Darwin

This was the subject line of an email that I sent out to some of my colleagues in Matrix last August. I had just finished two days of ‘speed dating’ style business plan reviews with Aboriginal Art Centre managers at the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair. ANKAAA had contracted us to have a look at the current business plans of five art centres. For two days I sat in a corner of the Art Fair, surrounded by the hustle and bustle and incredibly beautiful art, and had hour long conversations over tea and biscuits with managers from across the Top End. We talked about the challenges they face in running their business. We talked about the expense of bringing consultants to their remote locations to facilitate workshops, and the lack of business infrastructure, peer support and development opportunities. We talked about the crucial social, cultural and economic roles that many Aboriginal Art Centres play in their communities and how technology might be used to make those roles more effective. 

I learned a great deal over those two days, and was inspired to think about business planning in a different way. So, what if we could do it differently? What if we could support these Art Centres without large amounts of their funding being spent on travel costs? Over the past few months my colleagues, some Art Centre managers and the creative people at ANKAAA and I got to thinking!

Creative Thinking Sparks Pilot Projects

The result of all this creative thinking has lead to two concept proposals for pilot projects with ANKAAA. The first is to take Matrix on Board’s popular ‘Understanding Financial Statements and Auditors Reports’ seminar (normally a day long, face to face event) and turn it into 6 weekly online sessions. Facilitated by Morri Young, Managing Director and founder of Matrix, these sessions will walk the participants through the wonders of Assets, Liabilities, Expenses and Income, Cash Flows, Balance Sheets and all things financial in a fun (yes, really) format that is designed to suit people with no accounting experience or knowledge. As well as being able to access this professional development from the comfort of their own homes and offices, the Art Centre Managers will be able to interact with each other through the online platform, tell their stories and ask questions directly related to their work. The series is tentatively schedule to start in April.

Online Adventure for Art Centre Managers

Also tentatively scheduled to start in April is another online adventure for Art Centre Managers. Through a series of 6 fortnightly sessions, Art Centre Managers who need to update their current business plans will be guided through their planning ‘journey’. I will be facilitating the series and will support the participants by providing information, templates and advice on the different elements and activities involved in updating a business plan. We will start with ‘Vision, Mission and Values – and who owns this story anyway?’ and will work our way through how to set strategic goals, risk management plans, getting the budget right and how to use the plan effectively. Art Centre Managers will have ‘homework’ after each session – such as to run a Values workshop with their committees and artists – and the group will be able to share their experiences with each other as their plans come together. This proposed project also includes the opportunity to have a Matrix on Board consultant review the new plans and provide suggestions and recommendations prior to finalisation. If successful, this online business planning series could become a viable, and inexpensive alternative to the more traditional planning formats for organisations who don’t require a ‘start from scratch’ process.

Matrix has been working with non profits across Australia for over 13 years, and we have developed some tried and true processes and formats for the work we do. It has been an exciting experience to take our methods and apply the ‘what if we did it differently’ approach to bring our experience and expertise together with the opportunities presented by technology to create new and exciting services for our clients. I can’t wait to see what we come up with next!

Matrix on Board are proud to count arts organisations among the many non-profit clients we support.  We want to make sure we share the news about a national opportunity for Aboriginal artists open until 18 March.

The 28th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) sponsored by Telstra and Northern Territory Government’s Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) aims to ‘to recognise the important contribution made by Indigenous artists and to promote appreciation and understanding of the quality and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art from regional and urban based Indigenous artists throughout Australia, working in traditional and contemporary media.’

The Award showcases about 100 works each year providing an opportunity for national recognition for established and emerging artists alike. This year, six works will be chosen for Awards with cash prizes. The $40K Telstra Award honours ‘the work considered by judges to be the most outstanding work in the exhibition.’ Winners in five media categories each win $4,000: the Telstra New Media Award, the Telstra General Painting Award, the Telstra Bark Painting Award, the Telstra Work on Paper Award and the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award (sponsored by Telstra).

The exhibition will open and winners will be announced 11 August 2011. More information and entry forms are available at http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/museums/exhibitions/natsiaa/.

Organisations located or operating in the Northern Territory are preparing for new child protection laws effective from 1 March. Employers and volunteer coordinators are responsible for ensuring that people currently working or volunteering for them in specified areas of employment have a Working with Children Clearance Notice and that all new employees and volunteers, which in some cases include Board members, have a clearance.

The Working with Children website for the Northern Territory recommends that all organisations consider whether they have policies and practices in place that will create a child safe/child friendly organisation.

It is likely that most organisations will need to review several policies and procedures and their recruitment and risk management policies in particular.

Changes in Recruitment, Risk Management, Policy and Procedure

Recruitment policies and procedures will need to consider a number of new requirements. These include identifying positions which require a clearance, how applicants are informed of this, checking that potential employees have the clearance, considering whether commencement of employment needs to be deferred if a person does not have a clearance, undertaking the two-yearly renewal and how an organization will deal with changes to levels of clearance or the removal of a clearance.

Risk management plans will need to be considered and possibly updated to ensure that the potential risks of employing a person without a clearance, or the effect of a clearance being withdrawn or modified are mitigated.

Child Safe/Child Friendly Organisations

An overarching Child Protection Policy and Procedure which sets out a general commitment of the organisation to protect the safety and well-being of children may be another way to go.  It may also be an ideal time to revisit policies and procedures relating to internal and external reporting requirements relating to child protection and the procedures that will be enacted if an employee, volunteer or board member is reported, or a board member has a changed level or removal of a clearance.

The new laws are similar to those enacted in other states. The Working with Children website has great resources for organisations. Matrix on Board can also help your organisation prepare for the upcoming changes. For information about how Matrix can help contact Michelle Taylor at our Darwin office.

Partnering and working with many great organisations and enterprises to reach common objectives is one of the rewarding aspects of our work at Matrix on Board. Our services extend across Australia including the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and we have full time, permanent teams working out of offices in Darwin, Alice Springs, Broome, Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney.

We have been selected to serve on several panels that provide support to organisations and individuals in locations remote and urban so that we might help these organisations meet their goals. Three national panels in particular are currently a major focus for us, especially in the areas of Governance, Management and Financial Management.

Business Development for Individuals, Families, Organisations and Community Based Businesses

We are members of two DEEWR panels: Indigenous Employment Panel and Economic Development and Business Support Panel for the Indigenous Employment Program. Employers and organisations throughout Australia are able to work with selected organisations such as Matrix ‘to provide quality services and innovative projects to help achieve employment outcomes and business development assistance for Indigenous Australians.’

Through these panels, Matrix has the opportunity to support organisations in many areas of employment and business development for individuals, families, organisations and community based businesses. Our expertise includes training, workforce development, achieving employment outcomes, and strategic, financial and business planning to achieve sustainable economic development.

Capacity Building and Professional Advice Services

We are also members of the Service Development Assistance Program panel (SDAP) which is a component of the Remote and Indigenous Aged Care Support Program under the Department of Health and Ageing. Eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flexible and residential aged care services and some mainstream aged care facilities in remote and very remote areas may access the panel’s capacity building and professional advice services. We are able to work with these organisations to provide assistance to CEO’s, Board Members, senior management and staff to lead and manage their overall organisation effectively and efficiently and to assist in providing advice about effective and efficient financial operations.

Matrix on Board have a history of strengthening, through training, financial management and management support services, all kinds of organisations across Australia: health care providers, childcare providers, arts organisations, financial literacy and education service providers. We appreciate the opportunities panels provide to collaborate with other panel organisations and clients to help us all achieve the goals of individuals, organisations and communities and our greater missions.

Our Boost Breakfast series kicks off in Broome this year with Time to Boost Your “FI”! FI is Financial Intelligence. A manager with high FI understands how strategies and goals for a non-profit’s service delivery are tied to financial planning. Time to Boost Your “FI”! will help you explore ways to link service delivery to financial planning and to use financial reports to engage Boards and motivate staff.

If you are a non-profit manager, whether or not you are a “numbers person”, this session is for you. Michelle Taylor and Rowena Strain will join you and other managers for this Boost Breakfast at the Cable Beach Club to spend an enjoyable hour at the start of the workday socialising and learning a few things.   

Michelle, Matrix on Board General Manager, is an experienced coach and facilitator who has spent a great deal of her career managing and developing the connections between operations and financial departments. Rowena, Matrix Team Leader for FMRSU, teaches business and financial skills in the community sector and herself serves as a volunteer Board member.

The Boost Breakfast Series is made up of short, informal meet-ups designed to refresh non-profit managers on new topics, introduce managers to new services and products and provide an opportunity for managers to network and keep connections fresh. For more information about Time to Boost Your “FI”! or the Boost Breakfast Series, visit our website. Register online for one of the limited number of seats.