Image 2023 scholarship recipients including from L to R – Ben Litchfield, Eryn Miller and Melissa Barker.

Scholarship recipient announcement

This year for the first time the Australian Scholarships Foundation and the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the UNSW Business School partnered to help cultivate the next generation of not-for-profit leaders by providing a learning experience for those aspiring to step into a senior role.

Three fee-free scholarships to join the newly created for-purpose 2023 ASF Leadership Program have been awarded to emerging leaders with five plus years of experience and working towards, or recently assumed, a higher position of organisational responsibility.

Congratulations to the 2023 ASF Leadership Program scholarship recipients including:

Joining The ASF Leadership Program will equip our scholarship winners, with practical leadership capabilities and pathways to future study. Interactive workshops and self-paced learning modules will provide critical skills that they can quickly apply in a work context, and the opportunity to build new networks to support their leadership journey.

Eryn Miller has worked in the for-purpose sector for 10 years. She has been with The Smith Family for six years, starting as Executive Assistant to Head of Strategy & Philanthropy, Head of Communications and the Head of Marketing and then moving to the National Major Donor Relationship Coordinator role in January 2019. Since then, she has been a key team member supporting fundraising at The Smith Family, achieving her dream role as Major Gift Manager in 2021.

Eryn is looking forward to joining The ASF Leadership Program in October sharing, “The prospect of learning from experienced leaders, engaging in meaningful discussions, building new networks, and gaining insights into effective leadership practices fills me with enthusiasm. I can’t wait to make the most of this opportunity to grow and develop my leadership skills to better enable the amazing work of The Smith Family.”

In previous roles Eryn worked at the Fred Hollows Foundation, The Kids Cancer Project and Lifeline Australia where she helped raise funds for Lifeline’s vital call centers and research programs that addressed suicide prevention.

I can’t wait to make the most of this opportunity to grow and develop my leadership skills to better enable the amazing work of The Smith Family.

Eryn Miller, Major Gift Manager, NSW & ACT, The Smith Family

Ben Litchfield‘s career has focused on senior management roles within aged care and health services, facilities management, recruitment and human resource management and hospitality service management.

In his current role, Ben is Regional Operations Manager in the Hunter New England region with HammondCare which specialises in serving people with complex health or aged-related needs in dementia and aged care.

Ben shares he is excited to attend The ASF Leadership Program and the opportunity to further develop his performance as a manager and a leader. Ben highlights, “In the post Covid 19 world communicating effectively is invaluable and has never been more important given the constantly changing complex conversation required by us as managers.” Ben looks forward to developing skills to effectively present the vision, strategy and culture to achieve the goals of his organisation.

This valuable learning opportunity will support me in further developing and honing my leadership capability and style, and in continuing to enhance the impact I create in my specialist role at the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Melissa Barker, Positive Psychology Advisor, Starlight Children’s Foundation

Melissa Barker is the Positive Psychology Advisor at the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Melissa’s expertise is in implementing evidenced-based strategies which proactively build and nurture team members’ mental health & wellbeing and in fostering a mentally healthy workplace.

Working in the People & Culture team, Melissa’s role also involves leading Starlight’s learning & development strategy which supports the ongoing growth and flourishing of individuals, teams and the organisation.

Melissa is thankful to be awarded a scholarship to participate in the ASF Leadership Program with AGSM sharing, “This valuable learning opportunity will support me in further developing and honing my leadership capability and style, and in continuing to enhance the impact I create in my specialist role at the Starlight Children’s Foundation”.

“At the Australian Scholarships Foundation, we strive to ensure not-for-profit leaders are receiving the same opportunities that corporate leaders benefit from,” says CEO of the Australian Scholarships Foundation, Louisa Graham.

“We are delighted to work with the AGSM @ UNSW Business School to offer a program for emerging leaders to build leadership skills to equip them as the sector’s future leaders,” says Ms Graham.

Australian Scholarships Foundation is a charity focused on delivering training and professional development opportunities to the nation’s charities and not-for-profits. In addition to our scholarships, we offer subsidised programs through trusted education providers to build the capabilities of not-for-profit leaders.

—ENDS—

Media enquiries 

Please contact Australian Scholarships Foundation, Leona Spencer at [email protected]

You can find information about the Australian Scholarships Foundation’s aims and impact here.

The 2023 ASF Leadership Program

If you would like to join this program in October or send a team member along to learn alongside these leaders there are a few places still available, best quick and register here.