There is a dual narrative around charities in Australia; warm-and-fuzzy feel-good stories contrasted with charities misusing donated funds and lacking probity and transparency.

Charities are suspected of over-spending on themselves – disproportionate amounts on administration, executive travel and plush offices. “How much of your donated dollar actually reaches poor children in Africa?” ask sceptical donors.

As founder and CEO of a charity (over $3m annual turnover in 2021), I am acutely aware of charities straying from their original mission – they resemble government departments with a bloated bureaucracy, minimal outcomes and obsessive focus on bringing in more dollars.

Businessman and philanthropist John Wyllie pose 6 questions charities should ask themselves, the first one being: does mission come before the interests of the organisation? As Wyllie puts it “the organisations with real longevity, integrity, impact and financial support are the ones that think obsessively about the people they serve… not who’s on what committees and tickets for test matches.” (Tanarra Philanthropic Founder, John Wylie, speech opening Governance Institute of Australia national conference. 29 November 2018)

Earbus Foundation of WA was set up to address ear disease in Aboriginal children in regional and remote WA. Our patron, Professor Harvey Coates AO, borrowed the Earbus idea from his native NZ. Like most great ideas it is inherently simple –disadvantaged groups with ear disease (Maori, Aboriginal, refugee kids etc.) typically have difficulty accessing mainstream services. So Earbus takes services to them – audiology, doctor, nurse, treatments, hearing tests, specialist consults, medications and more. It’s a free service for kids (and adults who reach out to us) delivered through schools, daycares and communities.

Earbus is built on values – clear, enduring and always front-of-mind; be open and honest, be loyal and supportive and be brilliant. These are the bedrock of our culture and all Earbus people must live them, not just nod in their general direction or applaud enthusiastically when they are mentioned.

My challenge as CEO is ensuring values are in our DNA and that we stay on mission. To paraphrase Wyllie – we are a servant organisation not a self-serving one. Is it simplistic to suggest that charities are one or the other? Part of our culture is zero tolerance for waste; most families and children we serve have very little, and sometimes they lack basic necessities. It ill behoves us to be wasting anything
when many of these children open an empty fridge in the morning hoping for breakfast. Our teams on the road share accommodation, cook our own meals and save every cent we can so what we have goes to children and communities.

A basic metric is how many kids do we help and how much we spend achieving outcomes. The first time I tried this simple calculation I was amazed – in 2019 we helped 12,357 kids at an average spend of $229 per child. The following year Earbus saw 13,083 kids at $253 a head. And last year the reach grew to 13, 407 kids at $252 each – the two most recent years being COVID disrupted!

It’s a gross measure so don’t overstate its nuances. But it reassures us we are on a mission and remain a servant organisation. John Wyllie’s sage advice – “Have a clear mission that’s all about who you serve that you can articulate in 20 seconds to a stranger, have great leadership from your board and management, have a great and positive culture, be lean, and assess honestly your impact, and you’ll be a long way down the path to success, fulfilment and feeling that it’s all worthwhile.” Amen to that.

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