Benevolent Society

Last updated

Benevolent Society
Formation1813
Founder Edward Smith Hall
Founded at Sydney, New South Wales
Chair
Tim Beresford
Chief Executive Officer
Lin Hatfield Dodds (July 2021-)
Website https://www.benevolent.org.au/

The Benevolent Society, founded by Edward Smith Hall in 1813, is Australia's first and oldest charity. [1] The society is an independent, not-for-profit organization whose main goals include helping families, older Australians and people with disabilities.

Contents

The Benevolent Society centers around the advancement of society and positive change. Many of today's essential services in Australia were pioneered by The Benevolent Society, and its legacy of advocacy for progressive, positive change continues to inform their work today.

The organization currently delivers services from 60 locations across New South Wales, including four main Sydney hubs and a national office, and the ACT, and 16 sites in Queensland. It has 1600 staff, plus a volunteer force of about 700. More than 56,000 people were reached through The Benevolent Society's 90 services, community programs and events in 2016–17. [2] The chief executive officer is Lin Hatfield Dodds, and the chair of the company is Ken Smith.

Foci

The Benevolent Society focuses its programs on providing services to older Australians, people with disability, keeping children safe and well, and assisting families, especially those at risk.

Aging

The Benevolent Society provides older Australians with services for house independence, and assisting carers' needs. These include:

Disability

The Benevolent Society is the largest provider of disability services in NSW. It has been an approved NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) provider since 2016, working to help people transition to the NDIS and providing many of the services under the scheme. The Benevolent Society offers these services:

Child and family

The Benevolent Society helps families with 64 services provided to more than 44,000 people, from playgroup to parenting education and coaching, household budgeting, to practical support and family counselling. [3]

Leadership

Social Leadership Australia (SLA) was established by The Benevolent Society in 1999 to "design and deliver a suite of innovative leadership development programs to develop the capacity of individuals, organizations and communities to create lasting, positive change on entrenched issues".[ citation needed ] Programs included Sydney Leadership, Queensland Leadership and a four-day Introduction to Adaptive Leadership. They worked directly with organisations to develop and deliver customized programs to build internal leadership capacity. All programs were based on an Adaptive Leadership approach developed by Professor Ron Heifetz at Harvard University. The Benevolent Society closed SLA in 2017 due to the evolution of the market and the proliferation of leadership programs available.

History

On 8 May 1813, Edward Smith Hall and several other 'like-minded gentlemen' formed what was initially known as ‘The New South Wales Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Benevolence’. It is the first charitable organization dedicated to doing universal good in Australia, and was later known as The Benevolent Society. [1] :10

19th century

20th century

21st century

In 2021, The Benevolent Society made Lin Hatfield Dodds the new CEO.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rathbone, R. W. (Ronald William) (1994). A very present help : caring for Australians since 1813 : the history of the Benevolent Society of New South Wales. State Library of New South Wales Press. ISBN   978-0-7305-8915-0.
  2. "Annual Report 2017". The Benevolent Society.
  3. "Annual Reports | About Us | The Benevolent Society". www.benevolent.org.au. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  4. "Sydney". The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser . Vol. NINETEENTH, no. 928. New South Wales, Australia. 1 September 1821. p. 3. Retrieved 7 May 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Advertising". The Argus . No. 6, 132. Victoria, Australia. 31 January 1866. p. 8. Retrieved 7 May 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  6. Benevolent Society of New South Wales Act of 1902 No 97 (NSW)
  7. "Social Benefit Bonds - The Benevolent Society". The Benevolent Society.
  8. "Social Benefit Bond | About Us | The Benevolent Society". www.benevolent.org.au. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  9. "Fix Pension Poverty". Fix Pension Poverty. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  10. "EveryAGE Counts". EveryAGE Counts. Retrieved 30 October 2022.

Sources