The Collaboration Imperative David Thompson AM

1. The Collaboration ImperativeDavid Thompson AM CEO Jobs Australia and Chair National Roundtable of Nonprofit Organisations www.ja.com.au

2. About Jobs Australia Independent national peak for 280+ nonprofit providers of employment and related services In continuous operation for 20+ years Funded and owned by its members Provider of employer-side IR/HR services to 900+ community organisations nationally Policy, advice, research, advocacy and demand aggregator Jobs Australia members deliver > $800 million services for government � mainly but not only Jobs Services Australia

3. About the National Roundtable of Nonprofit Organisations Coming together of national peak nonprofit organisations Four key objectives: promotion of the contribution of the sector, better regulation, better financing and promotion of debate about place, identity and future of the sector Together for the common good Our identity a big and important issue Central importance of values in charting our future and our destiny The �AORTA� syndrome Emulating business and/or government � being remade in their image??? Or deciding to be different??

4. The Coming of Competition �the employment services example 19th century community services delivered by civil society organisations � not governments or business 1945 birth of the CES Mid 1970s federal government funding for community organisations � Community Youth Support Scheme (CYSS) 1989 CYSS and other programs morphed into SkillShare- still all nonprofit Early to mid 1990s competition policy becomes fashionable 1997 announcement of radical Job Network experiment �Diabolical conjunction of fiscal consolidation and microeconomic reform� � Ross Gittins, SMH Economics Editor

5. Initial Impacts of Competiton Testosterone rushes abound � and not just with the boys Public sector provider behaves badly � �the scum� Good practices become trade secrets � sort of Private sector salivates � big money to be made Transnational corporations begin to swoop Some nonprofit sector angels grow dorsal fins Co-operation and collaboration go by the wayside Many smaller organisations go under and continue to do so Confusion about identity, purpose and values abounds Many organisations become their contracts - isomorphism

6. What�s happened since 1998? Continued consolidation of �market� 1998: 300 providers, 2003: 200 providers, 2009: 113 providers, 2012: BIG question Mission drift and mission creep � helping people or doing the government�s bidding? The �bigs� doing in the �smalls� � economies of scale prevail Industry or movement ? � the identity question returns Australian NGOs develop imperialist tendencies too ATO starts very taxing reviews Staff turnover continues at seriously high rates � �we just wanted to help people but..............� Seriously sophisticated government performance management and links to market share and future contracts pervades and dominates thinking and behaviours

7. On a much more positive note........ Competitive pressures continue but reinforce the need for nonprofit collaboration and co-operation �Us� versus �the rest� reinforces the need for the sector to assert its differences and to celebrate them More sharing of resources, good and best practices and a sense of solidarity which was diminished by competition Aggregation of demand for high quality services and support seen as crucially important � especially for the little guys Greater recognition of the need for minnows to act and work together to make like a whale in the face of stiff competition Everyone getting over competition as an entirely dominant paradigm Growing imperative to identify and measure the nonprofit secret herbs and spices and their impacts � framed around our values as the core

8. Jobs Australia as an aggregator and collaborator Active building, promoting, resourcing and facilitation of networks of common interest among members and their people Aggregator of demand for services � insurance, software, IR/HR and policy advocacy and best practice advice New social media providing new ways of and opportunities for collaboration Collectively analysing the bigger picture and helping our members to chart their best course Constant agitator about the central importance of values in determining who we�re going to be when we get to be grown up � �punter-centric� Promoting sub and cross sectoral collaboration and aggregation in Australia and overseas � examples ACOSS, Community Sector Banking and RIPESS (Nepalese NRMs)

9. Real and Effective Collaboration Grounded in and informed by values Not just about chasing grants or other finance together Working closely together on issues that matter Voluntary and sincere and not response to a condition of funding Takes time and effort and trusting, open and committed relationships Can�t be created by funders or other outsiders � it has to come from the collaborators themselves � but remember most funders will love it! It can�t be done to you � you have to do it yourselves

10. Collaboration opportunities for NRM Organisations Purchase goods or services together Combine policy advocacy and marketing efforts Share research and/or fundraising efforts Form a new organisation to provide administrative services Share development of good and best practice Share staffing and staff development Provide governance and other support to Boards and Committees Collectively resource and support networking and information exchange not just in Australia but overseas as well

11. Collaboration Imperatives Without effective collaboration, the future for many smaller and medium nonprofits delivering services might well be grim Well constructed and implemented collaboration should deliver more and better outputs, outcomes and spillovers � and therefore more environmental bang for the buck Measuring, proving, measuring and then promoting and celebrating the impacts of NRM organisation�s activities is imperative for the organisations themselves, for public support and recognition and to ensure that governments and other investors continue to provide $$$$ support Everyone involved needs to be prepared to make the investment of time , energy and resources to make it happen � it won�t just happen effectively on the side-lines

12. Fair Dinkum Partnerships Partnership is a widely used and frequently abused term Cross- sectoral partnerships (government and nonprofit and business and nonprofit) are most often about the sector being remade in the image of another. Governments remake us as mini bureaucracies and businesses would have us behave just like them (HIH or Enron or Rio Tinto or....) The nonprofit sector needs to reflect on what it aspires to and needs in terms on effective intra-sectoral partnerships We need our own purpose�built partnerships which reflect our values and which maximise our collective ability to act and deliver for the common good.