I’ve recently noticed a shift to grassroots engagement and philanthropy here in Australia and globally. Gone are the days of traditional mass-market engagement and giving. Around the globe, audiences now seek one:one relationships, pressuring organizations to connect differently. We’re seeing this in various countries in their high social media use and transformation of “ghost malls” into community spaces as well as in their donor participation and volunteering trends. For in

This year has been transformative. It’s truly been a time of positive change in finalizing my PhD study on nonprofit innovation, sharing the study’s findings at seminars and conferences across the globe, having two more studies published, and gaining new practitioner roles where I’ve been able to directly apply my research insights. In addition to my ongoing position as Charley’s Chocolate Advisory Board Member, in early 2024, I became a Queensland University of Technology (Q

As Plato put it “Our need will be the real creator” (c. 375 B.C.E.). This aphorism reflects enduring themes of today’s society, challenging us to bring together critical ideas of innovation, growth, and social progress; and, certainly, such notions have been interrogated in their interconnectedness in for-profits. Yet despite the nonprofit sector’s recognized significance and particular hurdles, these concepts remain largely understudied in an integrated way in the nonprofit

Milton Friedman famously opined that the firm’s social responsibility is to maximize its profits (while engaging in open, free, and fair competition). The role and conduct of organizations in society has fascinated me for decades. For example, I have referenced competition theory throughout my corporate and nonprofit executive and board roles. In 2020, early in my doctoral program at The University of Queensland, Australia, I refreshed my knowledge of this influential concept

Recently appointed to Charley’s Chocolate Advisory Board, my third food tech start up board, and after an immersion tour in their sunny far north Queensland operations, I began thinking about some common themes of my SME consultancy and my for purpose board roles: innovation and why some organisations do well and others not so well in this space. First of all, far north Queensland is such a delightful mix of scenery, agriculture, tourism … My ‘tour’ started with a drop by ac

Earlier this year, thanks to a Harvard Social Enterprise Scholarship and Sport Australia Women Leaders Grant, I had the pleasure of completing the Harvard Kennedy School of Government/Harvard Business School Performance Management in Non-Profits program. Similar to the AICD Company Directors Course a decade prior, I relished the opportunity to undertake some serious relevant study and to network with inspiring leaders. Similar to the AICD Course, the pre-reading materials we