Pro Bono Dubbo Region Community Advisory Service
Do you work or volunteer in a social enterprise, not-for-profit or charity in the Central West / Orana region?
Are you looking for guidance on grants, tenders, or governance?
As a certified social enterprise, 100% of our profits are reinvested to provide support and build capacity of the social impact sector. In addition to a range of programs and our online learning hub www.iclick2learn.com.au, in the last twelve months alone we have provided over $75,000 of pro bono services to organisations in the Central West Orana region.
We are now launching a new pro bono service to formalise this support we’ve been providing for many years.
Each fortnight, we are providing 2 x 30-minute sessions for free to assist. Some examples may of topics you might like to discuss include:
- How to establish a social enterprise
- Committee and board governance
- Conflict management
- Grant writing
- Tender writing
- Fundraising
- Managing an organisation
- Your rights, roles and responsibilities
Basically anything to do with governing, funding or managing a social impact organisation.
Where do we meet?
You can choose to meet us online via Zoom or in person at The Exchange Dubbo, 98 Macquarie Street, Dubbo (thanks to our generous venue sponsor, RDA Orana).
Who can access this service?
This service is designed to support groups that don’t have access to internal support staff, or the funding to pay for professional services. We define this as small to medium organisations with up to two paid staff members. To fit with resourcing constraints, this service is currently only being offered in our local region – the Central West and Orana Local Government Areas. To check if you are within these regions, see below list of Local Government Areas.
- Bathurst
- Bogan
- Bourke
- Brewarrina
- Blayney
- Cabonne
- Coonamble
- Cobar
- Cowra
- Dubbo
- Forbes
- Gilgandra
- Lachlan
- Lithgow
- Mid-Western
- Narromine
- Oberon
- Orange
- Parkes
- Walgett
- Warren
- Warrumbungles
- Weddin
How it works:
- Check the calendar for an available time that suits you.
- Tell us briefly what you’d like to discuss so we can be prepared.
- Choose to meet us face-to-face at The Exchange Dubbo, 98 Macquarie Street, Dubbo, or online via Zoom.
- If you wish, you can bring another people with you (due to space limitations for face-to-face you can only bring 1 additional person). You can always take notes to share with your wider group.
Your confidentiality is assured:
All discussions are completely confidential; nothing you share will be disclosed outside of your session. We also conduct all online discussions in a confidential environment so you won’t be overheard.
Who are we?:
Not-for-profit Guide is a certified social enterprise. We are driven by our passion and care for the community sector and the groups and organisations that make communities healthy and vibrant.
We are not funded by or part of any government organisation.
Why we offer this free service:
As a certified social enterprise, our Theory of Change is to build resilient, sustainable and adaptive communities. We know that the best way to invest in this impact is to provide for staff and volunteers the support and guidance needed to govern, fund and manage their organisations.
We reinvest 100% our profits back into the business to serve our purpose of helping the community. We believe small, grassroots, and volunteer run organisations should be able to access expert guidance they need.
Natalie Bramble is also a social enterprise champion, an honorary appointment with the Social Enterprise Council of NSW/ACT (SECNA). You can read more here: https://www.secna.org.au/our-team-2
What to expect:
You’ll leave with valuable knowledge and guidance on your specific issue. We’ll also provide information on other resources if you need follow-up assistance.
Session limits:
To ensure fair access for as many organisations as possible, we limit sessions to one free 30-minute session per organisation every three months.
Meet our specialists:
Depending on your needs and our staff availability, you’ll meet with either Kellie Jennar, Natalie Bramble or Kaela Baylis.
All our team have lived experience in social impact organisations and expertise in different areas. The team is overseen by our in-house expert, Natalie Bramble, CEO of NFP Guide.
You can find out more about our team in our below brochure or here: https://nfpguide.com.au/about-us/
Want to help spread the word?
We’d love for you to share information about our free service on your social media, in your organisation’s newsletter, or at your next committee or board meeting.
If you’re a professional with pro bono skills to offer (e.g., accountant, legal), please reach out. We’d love to be able to extend this service to include specific skill sets.
You can also support us by joining our learning hub for just $63/year. This membership gives you 24-hour access to our online learning hub with over 300 videos, courses, interviews, articles, and recorded webinars. As a certified social enterprise, any profits from memberships are reinvested to provide free or subsidised community services, like these pro bono sessions.
If you are a woman in social enterprise, you can also join the Women in Social Enterprise Program, run by SECNA. Join here or spread the word to women in your network: https://www.secna.org.au/women
