Governance Scholarships Open for NFP Leaders
2 October 2013 at 4:36 pm
Charitable fund manager, Perpetual has opened applications for 290 scholarships to support the development of good governance and leadership in the Not for Profit sector.
Administered by the Australian Scholarships Foundation (ASF), and funded by the Perpetual Foundation and JS Love Trust, the scholarships will be offered to chairpersons and board directors of charitable organisations.
The NFP leaders will attend the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Governance Foundations courses for Not for Profit Directors or Not for Profit Chairpersons.
Perpetual, which manages more than 550 charitable trusts, Private Ancillary Funds and Perpetual Foundation endowments, supporting medical, social, environmental, religious, cultural and educational causes says it is committed to supporting and developing Australia’s NFP sector and the scholarship program provides a key focus of this work.
The scholarship program follows research undertaken during the 2012 scholarship program, which found that 60 per cent of those organisations governed by course participants in the Not for Profit Chairman course had no budget for training.
Andrew Thomas, Perpetual’s General Manager of Philanthropy, said: “Perpetual is committed to supporting education as it is a vital part of improving governance and outcomes across the sector.
“However, it is often the case that financial constraints mean board education is not adequately funded. This can have a negative effect on the organisation’s ability to achieve outcomes.
“We are delighted to fund these scholarships from the Perpetual Foundation for the third year, along with the JS Love Trust. They give organisations and directors across the charitable sector greater access to formal governance education, enabling them to strengthen governance practices.”
Amy Lyden, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Scholarships Foundation said the scholarships were an opportunity to strengthen the effectiveness of NFPs.
“Governance training for NFP boards continues to be an overwhelming demand for ASF. With the introduction of the government’s new charities regulator, increasing funding challenges and other major initiatives affecting the NFP sector such as the new disability insurance scheme, boards need to be on top of their game,” Lyden said.
“Effective boards quite often equate to a more effective NFP organisation, and everyone benefits as a result.”
John Colvin, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Institute of Company Directors, said the Not for Profit Board courses were designed specifically for NFP directors looking to develop a deeper knowledge of directorship responsibilities, governance and performance issues relating to NFPs.
“The benefits from these scholarships extend beyond those experienced by the individual participants. The boards they serve on will also benefit significantly from the skills acquired by those individual directors who have completed the course,” Colvin said.
Scholarship applications are now open until Sunday, October 27. Applications are open to all existing board directors and chairs of Australian charitable organisations.
Application queries should be directed to the Australian Scholarships Foundation via www.scholarships.org.au
