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TRANSCRIPT
Brendan Torazzi
This is an ohs.com.au production Welcome to Episode 26 of the Australian Health and Safety Business Podcast. I'm Brendan Torazzi, the host of the show and today with Lisa O'Brien, who is the CEO of the Smith family. Hi, Lisa.
Unknown Speaker
Hi, Brandon. Thanks for having me on.
Brendan Torazzi
Yes, no, it's been, it's been great to get you on the show. So I'm really interested in just giving our listenership a bit of an overview of what the Smith family do.
Unknown Speaker
So the Smith family is Australia's largest education focused children's charity, we've been around since 1922, supporting disadvantaged kids. In the last 2030 years, we've really focused on supporting those children with their education, because we realize that education is actually the key to breaking that cycle of intergenerational poverty. And so that's the focus of everything that we do now. We are a large organization were working in every state and territory across the 94 communities. And last year, our work reached 140,000 children and
Brendan Torazzi
young people our congratulations, that's amazing. It is amazing.
Unknown Speaker
You know, we have been growing over the last few years with the generous support of the public. And we know that there's huge need out there, there's 1.1 million kids who are growing up in poverty.
Brendan Torazzi
Wow, that I mean, that sounds like a huge part of the population to one
Unknown Speaker
in six kids are living below the poverty line. And we know that will impact on their educational outcomes. And so whilst we're reaching a significant proportion, there's still a lot to be done.
Brendan Torazzi
Is it getting worse? Or do you think it's getting better?
Unknown Speaker
Sadly, I don't think it's getting better. I think it's staying about the same when you take into account population growth over the period that, you know, we've been focusing on that area. So you know, I think that the reason I don't think it's improving is because I don't think people really understand the extent of the problem. That's why I always make a point of telling people, one in six Australian kids are growing up in poverty, and that will impact on their education.
Brendan Torazzi
Very easy to live in a bubble really, isn't it? I mean, I wouldn't have ever thought that that that that was such a high percentage.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, no. I mean, look, we live in large, sprawling cities. And unless you're living in a community where you have direct experience of of that poverty, then yes, it's hard to be unaware of it. And it's not. It's not always obvious. And the impact of poverty can be quite subtle, but far reaching. So for kids say, growing up in Western Sydney, their parents are in financial distress. For those kids, you know, there'll be at school, often without the new shoes, often with secondhand clothing, they won't have the chance to go on an excursion because their parents can't afford it. Many of these kids will come to school hungry, they feel like they don't fit in, and so they're disengaged. And so they're the subtle signs. If you look closely at a child in one of those schools, you might be able to tell that they are experiencing the effects of poverty.
Brendan Torazzi
So is that the gateway for you to go via the school system and sort of work with schools to identify kids that you think may be at risk?
Unknown Speaker
Yes, that's right. So we have a large number of partner schools that we work with across the country. And we will approach those schools around helping us to identify kids who they think are being adversely affected by their financial circumstances. And then we work with the family. So they'll help us identify a chart, but then we reach out to the family and enter into an arrangement with them around financial support for that child's education and also encouraging them to access a whole range of education focused programs that we offer. So these are some programs that we offer outside the school gate. So in conjunction with the school, but these are things like after school learning clubs or careers programs, or extra reading support programs to supplement what's happening in schools. So we really partner with schools, and we engage with parents around their child's education. So
Brendan Torazzi
obviously, can you can you give us an example of how I don't know, you've come in you've a child has come into contact with the Smith family. They've been part of some of your programs and what difference has it made?
Unknown Speaker
So these kids that we will recruit So, I've been describing our learning for Life program, which is a long term education focus of scholarship program. So a child will come on to that program, usually in primary school, and then we will go with them over the long term, because the research tells us it's long term support that will make a difference to that child. And so we've tracked that child all the way through school. So the outcomes that we measure for those kids, are they attending school regularly, because that's how you will a child will engage with their education and, and that attendance is actually a condition of the ongoing financial support that we provide. So are they attending? How many of them finished year 12? And then how many of them are going on to employment or further study? And on this intensive program, I've been describing learning for life, we have 50,000 kids on scholarship around Australia, it's
Brendan Torazzi
amazing. It is. So what was it say this time last year?
Unknown Speaker
Well, we are growing significantly. So this time, last year, we were at about 3839.
Brendan Torazzi
Wow, that I mean, that's what 25% More than 25% growth a year,
Unknown Speaker
actually was probably a little higher than that, I think was like the low 40s. But we've been we're on a four year program of growth, going from 32,000, up to 56,000, by the end of 2020. So in 12 months time will be at 56,000, having grown over three and a half years really, from 32,000.
Brendan Torazzi
So my my business brain is going oh my god, how many staff? Do you need to run a thing like that? I mean, how many staff do you have?
Unknown Speaker
We have in total across the organization? Just under 800? Okay, and we have over 8000 volunteers. Okay, so a big component of the work that we do is supported by volunteers. A lot of our programs, the ones I was talking about before, they're delivered by volunteers, the mentoring programs, the learning clubs after school, many of them are run by volunteers.
Brendan Torazzi
So with those volunteers, I'm thinking of some of the health and safety issues that may come up what sort of, I guess precautions or safety measures do you put in place to ensure that the kids are safe, but also the volunteers and staff are also protected?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, so Well, all of our volunteers go through the ones who are working in delivering programs, they go through working with children's checks, as well as police checks. And everyone has to have had those checks before they're either staff or volunteers before they can work with a child who were supporting them, they also will have training in our various policies and procedures so that they're aware of what their obligations are in working for us. We've we because we have such a large number of volunteers, we hear the we don't really distinguish in terms of the sort of checks and policies and procedures and role descriptions, we don't distinguish that much between full time staff and volunteers in terms of our attention to that kind of detail. So it's really about making sure those policies and procedures are in place, and that the staff are appropriately trained to the sorts of things that we take care of the around ensuring that team members, whether volunteer or a staff member, that they're not working alone. They're not working in an in a single worker site, because we work across 94 communities, you know, we have a very dispersed work workforce, but we make sure that they're working in a site, whether other team members are about or, you know, in an environment where they're sort of in a shared office space or, as part, you know, in a school, but one of the challenges with schools is they close for many weeks a year. So if we do have staff on their own in school, we'll bring them back into the sort of state office period so that, you know, they're not alone in affair in a relatively isolated environment.
Brendan Torazzi
So does that mean 94 different office leases or it's you try and lend spaces? Yeah, community centers, etc.
Unknown Speaker
Exactly. So will often sublease and a small amount of other space sometimes, you know, we pay a peppercorn rent for that. Sometimes we get it for free. Sometimes we have to pay commercial rents, but we always try and avoid that
Brendan Torazzi
wherever we can. Yep, like this place in the middle of Sydney CBD. I imagine. It's not peppercorn
Unknown Speaker
rent? No, it's well subsidized. Oh, that's good.
Brendan Torazzi
That's good. That's good. And so if we were to sort of look at your revenue sources, government versus private benefactors or the community, how's that made up just in percentage terms?
Unknown Speaker
So we get about 30% of our funding from government, which is compared to other charities that's relatively a small amount and But it's been quite a conscious thing, because we've always seen ourselves as quite an independent organization and wanting to work in partnership with government, but to be also independent so that we can
Brendan Torazzi
write programs that you want to run
Unknown Speaker
exactly the policies that we want to put in place. So the balance comes from a whole range of private sources, from individuals who are sponsoring a child. So the program was talking about before learning for life, the long term sponsorship program, most of those kids are supported by an individual who is supporting them over the long term, we have a number of corporate partners who provide direct program support or in kind pro bono support. And that's a significant revenue stream for us as well. We run appeals, we just finished our winter appeal raised $5 million, just of individuals making a donation in cash at that time of the year. So it's very, very diverse, though, the way in which we receive funding for that balance. And shall we raise over 70 million a year through those various channels?
Brendan Torazzi
That's amazing. So 70 million, privately, and then 30 million from the government? Is that roughly amazing. One of the things that struck me about the Smith family, when you look at the accounts, that's how well run, it seems to be like it's very efficient in the way that you spend money. Is that something that's been learnt? Or how have you got how have you got there? You know, because a lot of charities have that reputation of wasting money on administration, or
Unknown Speaker
some, I think I've been here now for eight and a half years. And there's always been that culture of being very careful with how we spend our money. And making sure that you know, we're really effective in every dollar we spend. I think the Smith family was founded by five businessmen. And I think that sort of culture of your business thinking is part of the organization in its DNA. And so we're quite commercial in how we think about things. And I certainly bring that commercial thinking to the role, it's been a big focus of mine, that if we, firstly, you're if we're taking, or asking donors to give us money, I want to be certain that we are spending that as effectively as possible and that we're achieving measurable outcomes in return for the investment they're making in our work. So that's been a big focus for me. So then you really have to drill in on what is the return on investment that we're achieving? And what is the impact of the work that we're doing. And so that sort of business frame commercial thinking, you're, that's a big part of how we are as an organization. And of course, the ability to provide a whole lot of services using a volunteer workforce is a part of that as well. Because if we weren't able to access that generosity from the broader community, our cost of service delivery would be much, much higher.
Brendan Torazzi
So I've just realized and speaking to you that I didn't introduce you correctly, it's actually Dr. Lisa O'Brien. And so can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up being the CEO? You know, probably Australia's most famous charity?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, I love it. Look, it's yeah, sometimes going, how did I end up here? But then I go, I'm really glad I did. Because it was I mean, I started as a medical practitioner, I then specialized in health services management. So I'm a medical administrator, originally by No, that was my further training. And so I worked in health services management, so in leadership roles in health services for a number of years, but working in, in hospitals in the health sector, you do see a very broad slice of the community. And so I certainly recognized early on that there are segments in our community that are really suffering, significant financial disadvantage, and that that has a knock on effect on their health, but also on their children, their children's well being and their educational attainment. So I was always very aware of disadvantage in the community, and I just had a strong sense of, of social justice. And so then, as my career progressed, I went through a period where I was working less than full time and got involved in a project in my local community, which was founding a drop in center for homeless women. And then SVA as my career progressed, and I've been through various leadership roles, obviously it'd be really, really amazing to have the opportunity to lead a community organization providing Adding services to disadvantaged kids. So I actually saw this ad that there was an ad in the paper, or this my family. And I really want that job. So I applied and I had a very large number of interviews. And look, I don't think anyone was more surprised than me when I managed to learn the role. But I can't I couldn't get why because it's such a very diverse role leading an organization like this, from obviously understanding the communities in which we work, but also understanding fundraising and I had done some of that, and obviously had leadership experience, I'd worked for government, and a lot of what we do here at the Smith family is working with government. So it was that kind of breath, I suspect meant to be it sounds like, either that or I just pulled that they've kept me on. So it must be okay.
Brendan Torazzi
Cuz imagine you'd have to be, you know, quite a special person to want to, you know, it's it's not just a job, right? You've got to, you'd have to have other drivers to, to make you want to keep coming back, I guess. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
Look, I, I love this organization. I love the people that I work with here. I love the families and communities that we have the chance to support. So it is your role like this is really more about your passion for the mission. And but also, for me, it's about your excellence and doing it doing a roll like this really well, as we were saying before, I think an organization like this one, just like any other has to be very focused on being effective. And you know, what is our vision? And what are the values of the organization? And how do we maximize our effectiveness and effectiveness in delivering missions?
Brendan Torazzi
Are you imagine you must get a huge amount of joy from, you know, being able to make a difference?
Unknown Speaker
Oh, absolutely. It certainly gets me out of bed every morning.
Brendan Torazzi
Oh, that's great. And so we talked about growing up to 56,000. Children, what else is on the horizon for the Smith family.
Unknown Speaker
So we are just just kicking off the third year of our current five year strategy, and that over the five years, we plan to grow the total number of children and young people that we support by 30%. So the growth in the learning for life scholarship is part of that that's the biggest program that we offer. And so we're well on track there. But the range of other programs that we offer, we're also growing. So we anticipate that by 2022, we will reach 256,000 children and young people across the country. Okay, so and that's part of what we were talking about at the outset that there's this big problem 1.1 million kids growing up in poverty, and that we really set our aspiration for these five years to reach more of them. Yeah, we also recognize that we can't reach all of them have also focusing a lot on advocacy, trying to help the broader community to to have a greater awareness of this issue of poverty in our community and what it means for children.
Brendan Torazzi
So does that mean that the Smith family, would you be the biggest player in like in this space? So because I mean, that if there's 1.1 million kids, and you're gonna reach out and 56,000 That's like, that's almost 15% of the kids in Australia that you're helping, which is a huge achievement.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. Look, we probably are one of the largest in terms of program reach. Yeah, certainly, with our education focus, we I think we are the largest education focused,
Brendan Torazzi
so not for profits different in in the sense that would you work? Like, I'm going to call them competitors. But is it a collaborative kind of environment where you're sort of, you're all effectively trying to do the same thing, which is to support disadvantaged kids? How do you work together to achieve those goals?
Unknown Speaker
That we certainly work together at the on the delivery side. So you know, we're working in 94 communities and our team members who are working in those communities. They can't deal with every problem that a family might be presented with. So if there's an issue here, Rob said, domestic violence and one of the families that we work with, that's not our core area of specialty, so we would then
Brendan Torazzi
refer them to an organization who specializes in that area.
Unknown Speaker
And similarly, you know, if one of those organizations had a child that they felt would benefit from our program, then they might make that warm referral as well. So certainly on the delivery side, we we collaborate very closely with other community service organizations, or you're on the fundraising side, we're, you know, it is
Brendan Torazzi
A certain amount of dollars going around and, and
Unknown Speaker
lots of great causes. Yeah. So, but we recognize that and Joe, I think donors, I always say to people, you know, support a cause that you're really passionate about that matters to you. And for every individual, that's
Brendan Torazzi
something different. Exactly. So the next question I was going to ask was like, what sort of fundraising activities is like direct mail? Or do you go on the speaking circuit? Or how do you actually, how do you actually do that? Because, well, we're not, you know, we're not talking 10 bucks here. And I guess it can be small amounts, but it? Is it also in the larger amount. So
Unknown Speaker
yeah, it's a combination. It is some small amounts, like, you know, Christmas in winter back to school appeals, you know, we will get small cash donations from people and some of those people will give us a small cash donation every year of $10, or $20. And you for many of those people, yeah, that's a big amount for them to be giving. That's a very generous donation. Yeah. So these are here, mum and dad, Australians are who
Brendan Torazzi
aren't, might be suffering themselves in some way. And often, they're
Unknown Speaker
the most generous and particularly proportionally, but also because they understand how easy it is for a family to be thrown into crisis, and to be tipped into poverty, especially if they've had experiences themselves. So it is small donations, right through to very generous individuals who support us to the tune of 10s of 1000s of dollars each year. And in between, we have your fundraising, sorry, event activity. So you know, when people do, you know, a fundraising run or that sort of thing, where they will donate to us through the city to serve websites. workplace giving is a big source for us, we get about a million dollars a year from people who give through their payroll. That donation is matched. Wow, that's fantastic. Because that's regular giving that to me can rely on. There's obviously people who sponsor a child, and they will give to us either annually or every month. corporate partnerships are also a source of donation. And that usually comes in a lump sum, trusts and foundations. Again, people who put money into a foundation and then they have regular distributions.
Brendan Torazzi
Yep. Okay. Well, that's been great. Thank you so much for giving us an overview today, Lisa. And if people want to find out a little bit more about the Smith family and how they can get involved, what should they do?
Unknown Speaker
Go to the Smith family.com.au. website. It's got lots of information there about how to volunteer how to make a donation or to sponsor a child. And there's also phone number on that site as well.
Brendan Torazzi
Right. Okay. Thanks very much, Lisa.
Unknown Speaker
Pleasure, Brendan. Thanks for having me in for chat.