5 September 2019

The Australian Pro Bono Centre was delighted to attend and present at the Australian Pro Bono and Skilled Volunteering Summit held on 29 August 2019 sponsored by Ashurst, Macquarie, Westpac Foundation and Resonate Consulting. It was a very informative and inspiring day for everyone who was able to attend. The Centre’s CEO, Gabriela Christian-Hare, shared the podium with Macquarie Group Foundation’s Lisa George to put forward the business case for skilled volunteering and pro bono.

Some of the key messages from this very insightful day included:

CSI’s Professor Kristy Muir reminded us that non-profit executives, directors, corporate partners and volunteers need to manage, govern, collaborate and volunteer for the social impact that we are trying to achieve, and not for the best interests of our own organisations.

TACSI’s Carolyn Curtis discussed the idea of “whole person pro bono” where both corporates and the NGOs they have partnered with are learning from each other.

SVA’s Suzie Riddell and ABCN’s Allegra Spender spoke about collaboration challenges and how to make social impact partnerships sustainable. They also highlighted being realistic about what can be done by a volunteer versus needs to be paid for, even if it’s low bono.

Emma Maple-Brown from Herbert Smith Freehills offered some great insights on how to be a useful skilled volunteer, following her experience at UNSW’s Indigenous Law Centre which we also featured in our July 2019 Pro Bono Voco.

The day concluded with EY’s Dominic Thurbon inspiring insights into key drivers of success in social change movements and programs including: urgency, an agreed set of facts, a sense of optimism, and humility.

The Business Case Workshop at the Australian Pro Bono and Skilled Volunteering Summit August 2019