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 Message from Peter Shergold
The academic excellence of CSI is important but, as I’m fond of saying, we are a Centre for Social Impact not just a centre for the study of social impact. Our role is to participate in (and sometimes lead) public discourse on the social economy. So expect to see more of us. Cheryl Kernot’s appearance on the ABC’s Life Matters on 22 April evoked very positive responses. Mark Lyons contributed a great deal of his knowledge and experience to ABC Radio National’s Background Briefing which will be broadcast in the near future.
Ideas can be powerful. Cheryl will be appearing on a panel at the Sydney Writers’ Festival on 24 May to discuss the Participation Society. It’s the best free ticket in town, presented by the Griffith Review, which featured her thoughts on “A Quiet Revolution” in social enterprise (see special CSI Update subscription offer to Griffith Review). I also contributed an essay in this edition which is open for comment on our blog. An edited version of this essay on participation was published in the weekend Sydney Morning Herald on 25-26 April and the Canberra Times on 6 May. I’ve also got a gig at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas in July.
Our challenge is to get out views quickly and effectively. This electronic newsletter and the CSI website are obviously crucial. Numbers of visitors are increasingly monthly and we’re undertaking a major upgrade of the site. We’ve already got an indexed library of short podcasts available. A video which I made on the impact of the global financial crisis on corporate responsibility made No. 1 on UNSW Community Television, and has been watched (and rated!) by YouTube viewers around the world.
We’re also producing three series’ of CSI papers – Background (reviews), Issues (analysis) and Briefing (short and pithy). See, for example, Mark Lyons’ overview of the nonprofit sector in Australia and my assessment of The impact of the global financial crisis on corporate social responsibility.
Of course it is academic excellence that makes CSI fit for our social purpose. Our NAB Senior Research Fellow, Debbie Haski-Leventhal, is extraordinarily productive publishing in top journals on volunteering. She’s also a fine teacher: find out at her Management of Volunteers course in Sydney next week.
And congratulations to Michael Liffman who, as you’ll read here, has been elected to the coordinating committee of Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmakers’ Support (WINGS) based in Manila – the first Australian to be so honoured.
I do hope you’re finding what CSI is doing is worthwhile. If so, please recommend us to a friend!
Peter Shergold,
Macquarie Group Foundation Professor
http://csi.edu.au/
And the winner is …
Oxfam have taken out the prestigious first prize in the PWC Transparency Awards co-sponsored by CSI which recognise quality and transparency in financial reporting in the not-for-profit sector. For more information, and links which might help your organisation win next year, see our news story.
Movers and shakers
We are looking forward to welcoming our first CSI Visiting Fellow, Dr Thomas Schillemans, from August to November. Dr Schillemans, an assistant professor in public administration at the Utrecht School of Governance at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, will conduct in depth interviews in Australia as part of research which aims to understand how mass media influences the strategies of government agencies, third sector organisations, and other important actors in the policy field. The research is part of an international comparative project looking at Australia, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK.
Kylie Charlton has been awarded the latest Heloise Waislitz Fellowship by the Asia-Pacific Centre for Philanthropy and Social Investment at CSI partner Swinburne University. The Fellowship, generously funded by the Pratt Foundation, brings to Australia a leading figure in the study, teaching and promotion of philanthropy and social investment. Kylie, previously a Vice President in the Project and Structured Finance Group at Citigroup with 11 years experience in commercial and investment banking in Sydney and New York, is a founding team member of Unitus Capital, a financial advisory firm specializing in arranging capital for microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other social enterprises. Kylie will look at the theme of "Can For-Profit be For Good" considering profit seeking investment to generate social and environmental good (“impact investing”) in Australia and the Asia-Pacific.
Liz Gillies has been appointed to the Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership for founding partner Melbourne Business School as Research & Projects Manager in a joint appointment supported by CSI. Among her tasks, further detailed here, will be development of a working paper on how the MBS centre working with CSI might best support leadership initiatives for social impact projects. Liz previously worked for the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust and helped secure the grant of $1.5m to support the Chair of Leadership for Social Impact at MBS, for which the selection process is underway.
Academic publications
The increasing coverage of CSI in mainstream media is welcome, but it is the academic excellence standing behind it which will sustain our positive profile. Read our collection of ever-increasing numbers of journal articles by our staff on the Publications page.
Executive Courses
Take-up of AMP scholarships for big discounts on CSI executive courses is increasing as word gets around: see the full list of recipients. Our most recent courses, Women on Boards and Impact Mapping: Social Return on Investment have proven very popular, and we encourage you to apply for the excellent offerings coming up next: as well as Management of Volunteers in Sydney next week, there’s Heart-Based Leadership in Challenging Times with Gianni Zappala and Sue Lennox on May 21-22, then Social entrepreneurship and enterprise with Tim Zak a few days later.
Yakety Yak
Keep watching our website for videos of our dinner series Yakety Yak, featuring prominent figures in the third sector in conversation with the well-known journalist and TV presenter Peter Thompson. Stimulating dialogues with UNSW Chancellor, Chairman of Investec Bank (Australia) Limited, and Chairman of the CSI Sydney Advisory Council David Gonski, and with NSW Minister for Community Affairs Linda Burney, will soon appear.
Griffith Review subscription offer
With the world on the cusp of extraordinary economic, environmental and social change, Griffith REVIEW 24: Participation Society explores the transformation of traditional democratic principles, social networking and civic involvement, revealing some of the innovative and sustainable new models that will shape the future. This edition features major essays by Cheryl Kernot and Peter Shergold. Single copies $19.95 or subscribe for a full year and receive a FREE back copy of your choice. Call 07 3735 3071 or visit www.griffithreview.com.
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