Managing Indigenous Organisations

Related Party Benefits are benefits, outside of normal remuneration or commercial arrangements, given by a Corporation to a related party. For example if the Chairperson is given a loan by the Corporation, or another Director is provided with free housing, outside of normal remuneration or outside of an arms-length commercial arrangement where they have provided a service and are getting paid for that service - these are Related Party Benefits. Related parties include Directors and close relatives, and the entities or companies they control. Both regulatory bodies, ASIC and ORIC, require that Related Party Benefits and transactions are approved by members at general meeting, or where allowed by the legislation, approved by the Board. They must be transparent. Even without legislation it is simply good governance to manage any transactions in which related parties gain a benefit. Clearly this could be a minefield in an Indigenous organisation. (more…)...

Is your organisation too reactive? I'm not talking about the bush fires you have to put out every day. That's just a symptom of an under-resourced not for profit or grant funded service. No, I'm talking about how you tailor and manage the services you deliver by aiming at what is the issue of the moment. For example is your Board, hearing from your members, concerned about housing, so you decide to provide housing support services? That's not necessarily wrong, but is it supportive of your long term objectives? (more…)...

Full disclosure! I make my living as a business and management consultant, mainly to Indigenous organisations. I don't charge market rates, in fact working for myself I can afford to adjust my rates so that on occasions I can "give back" to worthy causes. The market rate for someone with my experience, especially if you compare to the Big 4 or other financial services firms is about $4,500 to $6,000 a day. I charge between $2,000 to $3,000 per day, and I'm proud to say that most of my clients are "repeat" clients in that I am called back from time to time to solve problems and help them continue to grow and improve. (more…)...

In any organisation, succession planning is crucial to maintaining the momentum of the organisation, and in preserving corporate knowledge. For an Indigenous organisation, often short on documented procedures and corporate knowledge, and short of funds to build that documented history and strategy, it is doubly important. Good succession planning means that the organisations doesn't go into cycles of stop-start and rebuild. In particular, a good CEO and a high-performing and productive Chairperson and Board are critical to the success of an Indigenous organisation - you just can't hope for the best. So what are the things that an Indigenous organisation need to consider in succession planning? (more…)...