Congratulations to the Fulbright Scholars of 2013

On Monday 6th May, the Australian Scholarships Foundation, the Origin Foundation and the Fulbright Commission came together to host an event in celebration of the recipients of the inaugural Fulbright Professional Scholarship in Non-Profit Leadership, sponsored by the Origin Foundation and supported by the Australian Scholarships Foundation (ASF) - Mr Andrew Tyndale of Grace Mutual and Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine of ACOSS.

L to R: Professor Steven Schwartz, Chair of the Fulbright Commission; Amy Lyden, CEO of ASF; Fulbright Scholars Andrew Tyndale and Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine; Professor Murray Wells, Deputy Chairman of ASF; Dr Tangerine Holt, Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission; Paul Murnane, Chair of ASF; Gordon Cairns, Chair of the Origin Foundation.

The Way We Think About Charity Is Dead Wrong

One of the biggest challenges we face in the not-for-profit sector is generating financial support substantial enough to cause significant, ongoing change in the community. Why is it that many organisations feel the pressure to feed most of their funding directly to the cause, and keep overhead costs to an absolute minimum – when this is exactly what will enable them to sustain and achieve long-term impact?

Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta questions the double standard that drives society’s broken relationship to charities, and challenges NFP organisations to do things differently. Too many non-profits, he says, are rewarded for how little they spend – not for what they get done.

“The things we’ve been taught to think about giving, about charity and about the not-for-profit sector are actually undermining the causes we love and our profound yearning to change the world,” he says. “The next time you're looking at a charity, don't ask about the rate of their overhead. Ask about the scale of their dreams.”