Vivienne Cunningham

Eastern Volunteers

Viv Cunningham -Smith is CEO of Eastern Volunteers, a Volunteer Resource Service and Aged and Disability Service in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Viv is also the Chair of the state wide peak for Volunteer Resource Services and has 30 years experience in delivering services through paid and volunteer workforces in the child and family and primary health sectors.

Prior to her current role Viv was General Manager of Playgroup Australia responsible as the Senior Practitioner for national service delivery and the research and quality portfolios. She was CEO of Playgroup Victoria with over 15,000 members across 80% of postcodes in Victoria. Viv is from NSW and managed the southern part of NSW for Barnardos Australia for 10 years. She specialised in development of the first integrated children’s family services for under 5 year olds using the brain development research to guide service development and practice.

Viv is a social worker by trade and is a specialist outcomes planner using Results Based Accountability methodology. She has worked for over 15 years with not for profits in developing outcomes and measurement to determine how clients/ consumers are better off. She specialises in working with small to medium not for profits on their governance and in her current role does a lot of repair and restore consulting when governance goes wrong in these organisations.

Topic: Governance for not for profits and talk about volunteer Boards and their obligations

Ostii Ananda

Flowji

Ostii is founder and CEO of Flowji. He has 30 years’ experience in business, education and sustainability. He has been a fashion mogul, a corporate exec, a yoga teacher, an organic farmer and a community activist.

Along the way, Ostii became a major web nerd. He built websites, then tweaked them to rank #1 on Google search. He developed systems to untangle the web for clients. And he pulled in the coders and creatives to make it happen.

Ostii Ananda didn’t set out to found Flowji. In a way, Flowji found him. And now he spends every day doing what he loves – helping businesses and social entrepreneurs use the web to create a better world.

Topic:  The 4 steps to website success

Kirsty Wallett

Small Not-For-Profits Alliance

Kirsty is passionate about empowering small non-profits to magnify their voice and be heard through clever and resourceful digital marketing solutions.

As a Founding Partner and the Head of Marketing at the Small Non-Profits Alliance, Kirsty has 15 years experience in the marketing, communications and media sectors, working across corporate business, government and the charity sector. Through her work in her own consultancy, The K Franc Social, Kirsty has supported organisations across Australia, New Zealand and Asia to harness the power of social media and digital marketing.

Kirsty regularly presents presented as a social media and digital marketing specialist at workshops and industry events around Australia. You can connect with Kirsty on Twitter @kirstywallett or listen to her on the Small But Mighty podcast for small non-profits.

Topic:  Facebook Mastery for NFPs - using the new donate functions & demystifying Facebook advertising

Jenna Paulin

AP Marketing Works

Jenna Paulin is an employee of the HR Dept. The HR dept supports small to medium size businesses with the everyday people problems that they face. Providing practical and pragmatic outsourced HR services without the costly infrastructure of an internal HR Department. Their approach at the HR Dept is to first understand your business in order to be able to provide operational and strategic support and advice for all things people. Ony through this understanding, by knowing the ins and outs of the business, they can provide the professional human resources support and advice required to help your business achieve great people success.

The HR Dept have a great passion for business success and the attention to detail required to achieve it. HR is challenging but a critical function for business owners, and it is important that you are provided with a dedicated, personalised approach with a trusted advisor.

Topic: People management - KPI's performance reviews and workplace standards 

Derek Mortimer

DF Mortimer & Associates

Derek Mortimer is principal of DF Mortimer & Associates, a Melbourne based boutique law firm practicing exclusively in not-for-profit and charity law. The firm’s clients include private and public charitable foundations, trader associations, and religious institutions.

Derek commenced his legal career with a 1993 study tour of affordable housing trusts and micro finance loan funds in the USA. His firm recently provided background legal advice for preparation of the University of Western Sydney publication “The Australian Community Land Trust Manual” (2013).

Derek founded and chairs the Law Institute Victoria “Charities and Not for profit Law Committee”. Derek contributes submissions, presentations articles to a variety of government agency reviews, public forums and peer reviewed journals. In particular Derek has contributed chapters on "Formation" and "Dispute Management" to the Thomson Reuters Not for Profit Best Practice Manual (2013).

Jess Gleeson

HR Dept

Jess Gleeson is an employee of the HR Dept. The HR dept supports small to medium size businesses with the everyday people problems that they face. Providing practical and pragmatic outsourced HR services without the costly infrastructure of an internal HR Department. Their approach at the HR Dept is to first understand your business in order to be able to provide operational and strategic support and advice for all things people. Ony through this understanding, by knowing the ins and outs of the business, they can provide the professional human resources support and advice required to help your business achieve great people success.

The HR Dept have a great passion for business success and the attention to detail required to achieve it. HR is challenging but a critical function for business owners, and it is important that you are provided with a dedicated, personalised approach with a trusted advisor.

Topic:  Contracts, position descriptions and handbooks

Gordon Jenkins

I am Gordon Jenkins

Gordon Jenkins, is the humorous and straight talking international authority on visibility and business growth that helps entrepreneurs and professionals breakthrough their plateau, He is an accomplished entrepreneur, professional speaker, executive coach and motivator. He is the international author of Network with Purpose - Transform your skills in 4 simple steps. His ability to connect with diverse groups of people is both intriguing and compelling. He helps these invisible go-getters become visible by networking with purpose and improving their business strategies, so they achieve sustainable business growth and personal life goals.

Gordon is the supporter of the underdog; his purpose is to help ordinary people achieve extraordinary and meaningful outcomes, everyday. He is regularly featured in the media and many of his articles are 'viral' hits. Gordon is also Chair of Lungitude Foundation, one of the worlds leading medical research foundations specialising in lung organ transplant rejection, organ donation longevity and being for life. Oh yes, Gordon never leaves home without Banfi The Duck.

Topic 1 and  2:  Growth, Unconventional growth - defying what the text book tells you to do 

Rob Makdissi 

CollinsCo Wealth Management

Robert has been working in the wealth management industry since 1998, starting out at stockbroking firm TD Waterhouse. He has since worked with UBS, Morgan Stanley and Baillieu Holst as a senior Wealth Management Advisor. He has extensive experience in managing investment portfolios and tailored trading strategies over Australian and International Equities and associated derivative products.

Robert has RG146 accreditation in securities, managed investments, margin lending and derivatives. He is ADA Level 2 accredited and experienced in advising on Exchange Traded option products, and has obtained US Series 7 qualifications. He has a Bachelor of Business from Victoria University and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from Kaplan Professional.

Topic 8: Generating Income in a Low Rate World - Robert Makidissi (CollinsCo Wealth Management)

Andrew McLeish 

Stopline

Andrew is the Managing Director at Stopline Pty Ltd. Stopline is Australia's leading specialist provider of whistleblower programs and related hotline services. They assist some of Australia’s largest public and private sector organisations in meeting their governance requirements and duty to their staff and stakeholders by providing simple, effective and cost efficient services. In addition to their hotline and whistle blower services, they also provide fraud and corruption investigation, cyber threat assessment, eDiscovery and forensic IT services to our public and private sector clients.

Due to the new whistleblower legislation, large businesses in Australia must have a whistleblower reporting mechanism in place. What people don’t have is a soft place to fall and a safe place to voice what’s happening. Stopline specialises in the giving them a soft place to fall, and giving them a safe place where the matter can be confidentiality investigated. We can also help the employer ensure that it doesn’t happen again. When organisations have mechanisms for their people to tell their story and have a voice, people feel supported, are highly engage and productive, and everyone benefits from a much safer workplace.

Topic: Whistleblowing & Investigations

Ailsa Page

AP Marketing Works

onsidered by many to be a one-in-a-million strategic marketing consultant, Ailsa’s point of difference is that she specialises in helping small businesses and community organisations find their point of difference, reignite their passion and dramatically improving their bottom line. She doesn’t just promise results. She actually gets them. And that’s why her award winning business AP Marketing Works has being going strong since 1999. Having been in the trenches of marketing for 20+ years, Ailsa has a unique ability to instantly get to the heart of her audience by decoding marketing mumbo-jumbo and delivering easy-to-implement marketing strategies in a way that is both energetic, entertaining and educational. Outgoing Victoria/Tasmania Chapter President of the Professional Speakers Australia, Ailsa’s infectious enthusiasm and unparalleled marketing expertise is the talk of the town throughout government groups, not for profit organisations, established businesses and small business entrepreneurs. • Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute and Certified Practising Marketer • Published in Business Victoria Online, MYOB Pulse Online Business Hub, Herald Sun, Business West, Inside Small Business and Smart Company • Former Vice President of the Greater Western Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Counsellor and lecturer at Victoria University • Telstra Business Awards and Telstra Women’s Business Awards judge for 7 years • Specialist judge for the Australian Marketing Institute National Marketing Excellence Awards • Former Marketing Director of award winning Wangaratta Festival of Jazz • 3-time author, accomplished classical piano and gypsy cello player and occasional tap dancer!

Topic: Marekting Mojo - Making more with less

Moira Kelly 

AO

nspired by a video of Mother Theresa, at the age of 7, Moira Kelly bounded in from school and announced to her stunned mother, that one day, she would work with the renowned Nun from Calcutta. And so began, the inspirational vocation and life of an 'ordinary girl from Melbourne', who became an extraordinary humanitarian, Australian and citizen of the world. At only 18, Moira did indeed work with Mother Theresa in Calcutta and this was the start of an exciting 14-year humanitarian venture abroad. It was in response to meeting a horrifically injured boy and his desperate mother in Bosnia during the war, that Moira began her self-funded medical evacuation of children for life saving and life altering operations. By 2001, Moira had already helped 120 children, from her laptop and her amazing tenacity and ability to solicit the support and resources of friends, family, surgeons, hospitals and volunteers. Moira then returned home to establish the Children’s First Foundation at Killmore on land she had been given to help children. Inspired by Moira’s selfless contribution the Rotary Club, friends and family joined forces to build the house, where to date more than 350 Children have been treated for a variety of critical conditions including open heart surgery, bowel reconstruction, plastic surgery, amputations and new prosthetic limbs. In all cases the lives of these children and their families has been transformed. Becoming a Mother herself has been one of the most surprising and rewarding aspects for Moira on her journey. During her travels to Iraq in 1998, she came across two young children in an orphanage with major limb deficiencies and both needing major life changing surgeries.

Under Moira’s loving care and encouragement, both children have overcome incredible disability and multiple surgeries to become accomplished young men. Ahmed is a world record holder and Paralympian swimmer and Emmanuel, who wowed the world with his unforgettable rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine” on X-Factor 2011, is establishing a successful international singing/songwriting career. Moira is also the legal guardian of twins Trishna and Krishna, born con-joined at the head in Bangladesh, now famous the world over for not only surviving but thriving after the groundbreaking 38-hour surgery that saved their lives. Following the twins’ surgery, Moira stepped back from many of her previous engagements for two years to provide the twins with intensive care. It was a deeply transformative time that redefined for her what hope really means and as a result, she created the Moira Kelly Creating Hope Foundation in 2016. The Foundation brings to Australia children from overseas with medical conditions that local doctors are unable to treat. It also works with Australian children and displaced women in need who are referred to Moira for care. Moira is also currently involved in the creation of The Global Gardens of Peace, which her and her band of volunteers are working hard to create as a gift to the people of Gaza to spread the message of peace.

Elliot Costello 

YGAP

Elliot Costello is a social entrepreneur who, in 2008, co-founded YGAP. To date, YGAP has significantly and measurably improved the lives of over 580,000 people living in poverty. YGAP finds and supports impact entrepreneurs in some of the world’s toughest communities with a belief that local leaders have the solutions to local problems. To date, YGAP has backed 398 early-stage impact ventures. YGAP raises funds through an entrepreneurial approach; owning and running profitable social venture and running innovative global fundraising campaigns. In 2014, Elliot launched the Polished Man Campaign. The campaign asks men and women to paint one fingernail during the month of October to represent the one child that dies every five minutes as a result of violence. The Campaign has seen the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Kelly Slater and even the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull paint their finger nails. To date, an incredible $3.2 million has been raised. Elliot has been invited to speak at the United Nations (UN) in New York and at several UN and leading social enterprise conferences across Europe, Middle East and Asia. He is a leading voice on youth issues, social entrepreneurship and innovative fundraising in Australia.

Topic: Building an innovative not-for-profit business model that is not dependent on traditional forms of fundraising

Kim Boswell

The Forever Agenda, Founder

Contact Details:

Ryk Eksteen

Audit Principal, Collins & Co

Ryk heads up the Audit division of Collins & Co. Collins & Co is the largest accounting firm in the Western Suburbs. Drawing on over 64 years' experience advising businesses across various industries, the firm has extensive expertise in working with Not-for-Profit organisations. The firm's approach is to place an emphasis on systems, risk exposure, accounting Collins & Co policies, governance issues and understanding the client's objectives.

Ryk specialises in the areas of audit and business services and has extensive experience advising and auditing Not-for-Profit organisations including dealing with compliance and corporate governance. His involvement in these organisations enables management to focus their time where it should be spent on achieving the organisation's objective of making a valuable contribution to the wider community.

Ryk is a Registered Company Auditor, a registered SMSF Auditor, has a Bachelor of Accounting and an Honours Degree in Accounting and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia. He also serves as a Director on the Board of the AIOH Foundation and is a former Director of the I CAN Network Limited.

Topic: Recognising a NFP in Distress 

Bianca Crocker

Small Non-Profits Alliance

Contact Details: