Inside ASI-AP

The deadline for the September 2008 round of funding for the ASI SMART Company Scholarship Fund has been extended to Friday 12 September (from Wednesday 10th Sept).

This is the time NFP staff can apply to attend FIA’s Fundraising Leadership Program (FLP)- an intensive four day program covering advanced professional issues in fundraising and philanthropy, transformational leadership and social marketing.

One full scholarship is available along with up to 5 part scholarships (25% of early bird member rate registration fees). More details about the scholarships is at www.advsol.com/ap/scholarship and the FLP at www.fia.org.au.

MEDIA RELEASE

July 22, 2008

Second Birthday Celebrated With Gift Giving Spree
Biggest round yet for ASI SMART Company Scholarship Fund

The ASI SMART Company Scholarship Fund has celebrated its second birthday by awarding nine more non profit professionals from across the not for profit sector and across the country grants worth $11,000. This round of funding was one of the most competitive on record with $40,000 worth of funding requested, resulting in some tough decisions for the review panel.

“Demand is increasing so we must be doing something right,” says Paul Ramsbottom, managing director ASI Asia Pacific and instigator of the scholarship fund that aims to strengthen non profit sector professionals. “More not for profit professionals are seeking ongoing professional development than ever before and that’s good news.”

The Fund received applications requesting more than $40,000 in funding in the June round. We are pleased to confirm nine Scholarships were awarded with a total value of more than $11,000. Approximately $9,000 will now be made available for the final two rounds of funding for 2008.

Congratulations to the following Scholarship recipients:

Part A – Fully Funded Education Scholarships

Claire Black - The Wilderness Society
FIA Madison Down Under

Tarnya Van Driel - Asthma Foundation of SA
FIA Madison Down Under

Elaine Young - Australian Red Cross
Diploma of Business (Volunteer Management)

The Fund received applications requesting approximately $9,000 in funding in the March round. We are pleased to confirm six Scholarships were awarded with a total value of more than $5,000. Approximately $19,000 will now be made available for the three further rounds of funding for 2008.

Congratulations to the following Scholarship recipients:

Part A – Fully Funded Education Scholarships

Kennie Ward - OBJECT
FIA Skills 1 (NSW)

Judith Williams – Australian Breastfeeding Association
FIA Skills 1 (VIC)

Part B – Education Subsidies for ASI Customers

Janita Suter - Caritas Australia

I was interviewed recently for an article that has now been published in the February issue of Business Community Intelligence (BCI). The article, "Small Investment - Big Change: making a difference as a small to medium enterprise", discusses corporate responsibility and specifically our efforts in establishing a program including the ASI SMART Company Scholarship Fund.

A copy of the article in full is available to ASI staff at this private link.

Business Community Intelligence is an initiative of Our Community (www.ourcommunity.com.au). BCI is Australia's Premier Corporate Responsibility Newsletter designed specifically for the Australian business scene, with an eye to best practices and cutting-edge corporate responsibility thought leadership from this country and abroad. Issued quarterly, it provides case studies, community engagement ideas, insights, tools, and information on what works and what doesn't.

The March round of the ASI SMART Company Scholarship Fund has now closed. We received a total of 9 eligible applications for a range of funding with some very impressive applications coming through.

Joining Paul and Julie on the review panel for March is Leo.

As you may be aware, a different member of staff is selected to join the review panel for each funding round.

Previous guest panelists have included:

December 07 - Greg
September 07 - Jay
June 07 - Jason
March 07 - Jana

December 06 - Kevin B
September 06 - Mick
June 06 - Lindsay

This year the following staff have been selected to participate:

On Tuesday, Sue-Anne Wallace (CEO of the FIA) and I attended the Sydney luncheon to announce the state finalists of The Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships. ASI and FIA jointly submitted a nomination for this award, which I had posted about a few months ago.

Unfortunately, we did not win the state award, so that's it for us for this year. But it was really a good thing to be part of, and already Sue-Anne and I have started to make notes on how we can improve our community partnership so that we can nominate again next year.

We have now signed a 3 year sponsorship agreement with the FIA (www.fia.org.au), the Fundraising Institute of Australia. While we have been principal corporate sponsors for a few years now, it has only ever been on a year to year basis. This year, we have signed for 3 years, which actually works out better for both of us.

This is a 6 figure sum for us over the 3 years, so it is a substantial investment in the fundraising profession and sector generally.

The sponsorship includes the usual ASI branding on all printed and electronic materials, website home page, chapter invitations, etc.

As reported on the www.asismartcompany.com Scholarship Fund blog site and in the media release posted here, scholarship award winners for the second quarter of 2007 have been announced. The Scholarship Fund received applications for more than $20,000 in funding, and a total of 7 scholarships with a total value of more than $6,000 were awarded. Special thanks to Jason who was on the review panel for this round.

Congratulations to the following Scholarship recipients:

Part A – Fully Funded Education Scholarships
Melinda Warnecke – Monash University Medical Foundation - FIA Skills 2

July 16: Advanced Solutions International Honoured with Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership Award Nomination

Advanced Solutions International (Asia Pacific) has been honoured with a nomination for a 2007 Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership Award by the Fundraising Institute Australia.

The nomination recognises the fruitful relationship between ASI, which provides software to the non-profit sector and the FIA, which represents the sector’s fundraisers. At the heart of the partnership is the innovative ASI SMART Company Scholarship Fund which funds training courses, conference attendance and professional development for individuals working in the non-profit sector.

July 16: Winter Suddenly a Little Warmer for ASI SMART Company Scholarship Winners - Seven more winners announced

Seven non profit professionals have reason to feel a little warmer this winter courtesy of the latest round of the ASI SMART Company Scholarships. The winners, who come from New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria will share in more than $6000 of funding to develop their professional skills and strengthen the non profit organisations for which they work.

The latest round attracted more than $20,000 of funding applications from Australian and New Zealand non profit professionals. The magnificent seven who most impressed the selection panel are professionals from Monash University Medical Foundation, The Mary Potter Foundation, Bush Heritage Australia, Australian College of Health Service Executives, YHA Victoria and two individuals from Diabetes Australia - Victoria.

The June round of the SMART Company Scholarship Fund is closed and now being judged. Our invited guest panel member this round is Jason, who joins Julie and myself on the panel. We had another strong response with a total of 16 eligible applications received requesting approximately $20,000 in funding; approximately $7,000 will be actually awarded.

Don't forget to add the scholarship blog to your RSS feeds. The RSS feed is: http://www.asismartcompany.com/feed/

There have been some great reports Marla has posted up there recently from scholarship recipients - including the AIDS Council of NSW and Orana Family Services.

Further to the recent posts (here and here) on my ABC radio piece on the Perspective program, I realised the audio file has been removed from the ABC website. I have attached a copy here PERSPECTIVE 2007-05-04 Paul Ramsbottom.mp3.

I have also pasted in a copy of the transcript below in case that gets removed too at some stage in the future.

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Transcript

There's a lot of talk about the need for corporate Australia to pick up the slack and give more support to our not for profit sector.

Together with the FIA we have nominated our ongoing partnership to the The Prime Ministers Awards For Excellence In Community Business Partnerships.

Sue-Anne Wallace, FIA's CEO, wrote up a terrific submission on the partnership between FIA and ASI. I have attached a copy below; please take some time to read this when you can. The title of the nomination was "A SMART partnership between FIA and ASI supporting professional education in the not for profit sector".

On Friday 12th May I walked down to the ABC studios at Southbank and headed into "The Tardis" to record a 5 minute piece for an ABC program called "Perspective". My topic was corporate social responsibility with particular focus on the scholarship fund. Perspective is aired each weekday at 5.55pm on ABC Radio National between PM and before the 6pm news. It is also then repeated around the world on Radio Australia; and finally podcast via the ABC website for a month after it plays on air. It is currently scheduled to be aired on Friday 4th May on 621AM in Melbourne (Radio National). I will add a link to the website podcast once it is put up.