SCARF Incorporated
11th Annual General Meeting
Friday 25th November 2016
Chair’s Report – Mr Drew Arthur
1. The SCARF Journey in 2016
SCARF’s Journey in 2016 is a story of transition.
It has been a year filled with change - the most significant change in the history of SCARF! With the retirement of SCARF’s Founder, Sharyn Mackenzie, in February 2016, many stakeholders were wondering how the organisation would survive. Truthfully, we were wondering this too when we joined SCARF’s Management Committee in November 2015!
Without a doubt it has been a very challenging year for SCARF. Securing vital funding, strengthening governance, building an operational team, managing existing relationships, exploring new partnerships and developing a strategic and sustainable approach to service-delivery have been challenges - all with the aim of ensuring and expanding SCARFs capacity to respond to the needs of refugee entrants now and in the future.
Thanks to the incredible commitment, dedication and support of countless SCARF supporters – new and old – we have survived this major change; we continue to work through these challenges; and we have much to celebrate.
Tonight we would like to:
· Share some of our activities, achievements and future directions (i) at the strategic level; and (ii) at the operational level.
· Celebrate the SCARF community - comprised of people of all ages, from refugee and non-refugee backgrounds, volunteers, members, supporters and program partners – all of whom play a critical role in keeping SCARF going and growing.
· Showcase the energy, creativity, enthusiasm, and commitment of the many people who work so hard throughout the year to keep SCARF services running – both behind the scenes and in frontline service delivery
2. Where we Began – Founder, Foundation & Essence of SCARF
SCARF began with one volunteer (and her hard-working husband!) and one newly arrived family
Sharyn Mackenzie saw a gap in services: providing friendship-based support to refugee entrants throughout their settlement experience for as long as they need it – recognising that building a sense of belonging has no time limit. Sharyn also saw the goodwill and interest among the local Illawarra community to extend the hand of friendship to refugee families
With that idea – connecting local volunteers with refugee entrants – SCARF was created 11 years ago with the founding vision to see all people from refugee backgrounds settled happily and participating fully in the life of the wider community.
In line with this vision, SCARF’s mission is:
To provide refugee support through a community that builds a sense of belonging; promotes social and economic inclusion; and empowers individuals and families to lead independent lives by creating connections and generating opportunity.
Since its founding in 2005, SCARF’s community of volunteers, members and people from refugee backgrounds has grown organically - as has its services and programs – into a valuable community asset that we all want to sustain and grow.
3. Current Context: SCARF in Transition
When this Management Committee assumed their roles in November 2015, SCARF had limited funding to continue operations. We also had very few human resources for operational management when Sharyn retired.
At the end of 2015, SCARF had over 150 active volunteers and over 1000 community members from 14 different countries of origin.
In 2016, (between January – October), we have seen unprecedented growth in the demand for SCARF services. From 1st January 2016 to end-October:
o We have welcomed 252 new community members from refugee backgrounds (the statistics for the infographic were done in October – this number has now grown to 329)
o We have over 227 registered volunteers in 2016
o We have received over 70 referrals from other refugee support agencies such as Navitas, IMS and Multicultural Health
Given SCARF’s growth in size and scope, change was needed at strategic and operational levels in order to stabilise and sustain SCARF into the future
4. Transformation Strategy
Early in 2016, the Committee took time to review and reflect on what worked in the past, what SCARF’s needs are in the present, and what our vision is for SCARF in the future
We identified 3 key strategic objectives:
1. Sustainable Development & Growth
We recognised the need for internal strengthening of SCARF to improve our operational effectiveness and financial sustainability. We committed to:
· Strengthen governance of SCARF to support a positive transition to sustainable operations
· Build a team of core staff to manage SCARF programs and services
· Expand SCARF income sources & diversify SCARF support base
· Collaborate with other organisations to enhance impact in refugee support
· Build an evidence base for what we do to ensure our programs and service are responsive to current needs
· Critically reflect, document and report on our outcomes and impact – are we achieving our mission – how can we do this better?
2. Develop & Support Communities
We recognised the need to support both volunteers and refugee entrants in their efforts to make a meaningful contribution to society. To this end, we committed to:
· Nurture and grow our volunteers through developing a robust volunteer management program providing briefing and support to volunteers along with training & development opportunities
· Create opportunities for young and emerging leaders from refugee backgrounds
· Expand and enhance SCARF’s core programs; and develop new areas of programming focused on social inclusion for children, youth and adults
· Increase awareness and understanding of the refugee experience among the broader community
· Create opportunities to share both volunteer and refugee stories, and showcase their contributions to the life of our community
3. Economic Development
We recognised the challenges faced by people from refugee backgrounds in accessing education and employment opportunities as a pathway to economic inclusion and independence. To this end, we are committed to finding ways to support:
· Job readiness – vocational training & education; CV-writing; interview skills; workplace culture and practices
· Job networking - volunteer-based business mentoring, work experience and peer support circles
· Job creation – support small business/enterprise creation by people from refugee backgrounds harnessing and promoting existing skills, experience, interests and qualifications.
In striving to achieve these objectives, we are actively exploring partnerships with other refugee support organisations to:
o avoid duplication of effort particularly where successful programs and services have been developed and provided elsewhere and could be replicated in the Illawarra region; and
o maximise reach and responsive positive impact on the lives of refugee entrants and the strengthening of community in the Illawarra
Fundamentally, this strategy seeks to stabilise and sustain SCARF to better respond to the needs of refugee children, youth, adults and older people, recognising that social and economic inclusion is an activity, a process and a goal - with no time limit.
In entering a new phase of SCARF’s organisational life, the essence of SCARF remains at the foundation of all our work and is reflected in our core values: Humanity; Community Connection; Compassion; Empowerment & Capacity; Courage, Resilience & Renewal; Positive Leadership.
5. Activities, Successes, & Challenges in 2016
In 2016, the Management Committee sought to ensure SCARF financial and operational stability to meet the needs of the community SCARF serves. This required infrastructure strengthening at strategic, organisational and operational levels.
Key activities of the Committee in 2015-2016 included:
· Preparing SCARF’s first published annual report, showcasing SCARF’s work and impact in the community
· Developing an operational expenses budget to understand the real cost of running SCARF on an annual basis (approx $550,000)
· Strengthening the Management Committee with key skill-sets in HR, Risk management, Change management, Public relations/marketing expertise
· Strengthening SCARF governance including organisational risk management and legal compliance to ensure transparent, safe, legally and financially compliant operations into the future
· Ensuring appropriate human resources for operational management
· Securing urgently needed funds – initially through small grants to support continuation of each core program, and the launch of the SCARF Empower campaign. From January 2016 to now, we have been successful in securing over $120,000 in grant-based funding, over $35,000 in public donations, and over $30,000 in community fundraising.
· Ensuring continued delivery of core services and programs throughout this transition period
SCARF Programs/Services
We are currently reviewing SCARF core programs in terms of risk, reach & impact, effectiveness, outstanding needs/demand, development opportunities, potential partnerships.
We are also exploring ways to respond to long-standing settlement challenges of job readiness, job networking and job creation - utilising our diverse base of volunteers, tapping into their local business and education networks, and capitalising on the unique skills, experience, knowledge, determination and entrepreneurial spirit of people from refugee backgrounds.
SCARF Funding:
This remains our biggest challenge. SCARF has traditionally relied on public donations, small grants and volunteer resources to deliver its services. This enables SCARF to be flexible, adaptive and uniquely responsive. This does however limit our ability to meet the demand for our services in a consistent, systematic and sustainable way.
In the past - without a core team of paid staff to coordinate delivery of services - SCARF has operated on an annual budget of approximately $250,000 per annum.
In the 2016-17 financial year, SCARF is seeking to fund an annual operating budget of approximately $550,000, which includes funding for a core team of part-time staff, and further development of SCARF programs and services to meet emerging needs.
Now, as we have strengthened the infrastructure and governance of SCARF, we are better placed to seek more significant multi-year funding from corporate, government, and/or philanthropic foundations.
Until we are successful in securing multi-year funding, we are appealing to all SCARF supporters through the SCARF Empower campaign.
We need 400 people to give $50 a month for 12 months to keep SCARF running. Please share the flyer on your seats - give it to one person you know and encourage them to support SCARF.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our SCARF Empower business partners and individual supporters for their extremely generous donations – whether small or large - to SCARF in 2016. Your support was a lifeline for SCARF.
6. Keys to sustainable success
To ensure that SCARF survives and thrives into the future, we highlight the following 4 contributors to sustainable success:
· Community members from refugee backgrounds: traditionally our refugee entrants have been the community that SCARF seeks to support and our efforts have focused on delivering services to this community. While this remains the case, we want to engage community members from refugee backgrounds as experts in SCARF’s growth and future development – it is their advice, knowledge, skills and lived experience that is key to providing effective settlement support.
· Volunteers – we are developing a robust volunteer management program to provide induction, briefing, training and support to our volunteers and opportunities to continuously learn from them
· Partnerships – end-to-end settlement support cannot be achieved by any one agency alone. Genuine partnership and a commitment to improving social outcomes for the community we serve is essential. We are actively pursuing partnerships (at organisational, program and activity levels) with other refugee support agencies including Navitas, IMS, MCCI, STARTTS, SSI to name a few.
· Reliable recurring income – we are keen to develop alternative income streams for SCARF including transforming some of SCARF’s programs into sustainable social businesses that:
o utilise the skills & experience of people from refugee backgrounds and provide pathways to employment
o build on previous SCARF activities and experience
o fill a niche or identified need in the Wollongong market; and
o generate surplus funds to support continuation and expansion of SCARFs programs and services.
Ideas include: establishing a traditional cuisine catering business; establishing a driving school with bilingual instructors providing affordable lessons for people from refugee backgrounds
Ultimately, it is SCARF supporters in all shapes and sizes – providing a range of financial, technical and human resources – that are keys to sustainable success.
7. Future Directions
In looking to 2017 and beyond, we will continue to be guided by the needs of refugee entrants with a focus on improving and measuring outcomes for the people we serve. Our program development will be driven by evidence and consultation with refugee entrants as experts in what works/doesn’t work in settlement support. We will actively seek to increase respect for, and visibility of, the skills, knowledge and experience that refugee entrants bring to our local community and to Australia.
With almost 40% of the SCARF community aged 18 – 40 years (539 individuals out of 1420 community members registered with SCARF), SCARF priorities will focus on providing opportunities for:
· English, Education, Employment + Social Inclusion = Successful Settlement
Future SCARF initiatives in these areas include:
1. SCARF, with much appreciated support from Kiama Community College, is currently conducting a career skills survey for working age people from refugee backgrounds. The purpose of the survey is to map existing skills, interests, qualifications and experience among refugee entrants and gather information on key challenges to obtaining sustainable employment. This will help us to develop programs that support skills-development, work experience, and employment for people from refugee backgrounds in the Illawarra through SCARF and/or partner agencies.
2. SCARF, with support from Unitive Consulting, plans to convene an inter-agency workshop with key refugee support agencies in the Illawarra to openly explore ways that we can collaboratively respond to the most pressing needs in effective end-to-end settlement support. This will include exploration of key gaps in service such as:
o Establishing a multicultural community hub space for delivery of a range of services including informal English language support, form-filling support, tutoring for primary school children, social inclusion & community engagement activities
o Establishing an employment agency & work transitions hub providing specialised ‘JobActive’ support for people from refugee/CALD backgrounds in the Illawarra.
This is an exciting time for SCARF. We are confident that SCARF will continue to grow in size and impact in the refugee support space. This confidence comes from the strength, stamina and commitment of the ever-growing SCARF community – which includes everyone here tonight.
The Management Committee and I are excited to be a small part of transforming, growing and sustaining SCARF.
Thank you
SCARF Chair: Mr Drew Arthur
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Chair’s Report – SCARF AGM 2016 1