Formation | 1813 |
---|---|
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.
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.
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.
The Benevolent Society provides older Australians with services for house independence, and assisting carers' needs. These include:
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:
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]
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.
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
In 2021, The Benevolent Society made Lin Hatfield Dodds the new CEO.
Joseph Benedict Chifley was an Australian politician and train driver who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the treasurer of Australia under Prime Minister John Curtin and later himself from 1941 to 1949. He was notable for defining Australia's post-war reconstruction efforts.
Newington is a western suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of City of Parramatta.
The Prince of Wales Hospital is a 440-bed major public teaching hospital located in Sydney's eastern suburb of Randwick, providing a full range of hospital services to the people of New South Wales, Australia. The hospital has strong ties to the adjacent University of New South Wales. The Prince of Wales Hospital shares the Randwick Hospitals' Campus site with the Sydney Children's Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Women, as well as the Prince of Wales Private Hospital.
Bondi is a suburb of eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, seven kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council.
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is an Australian organisation that advocates for action to reduce poverty and inequality, and is the peak body for the community services sector in Australia. It was formed in 1956.
Benevolent asylums, also known as destitute asylums or infirmaries for the destitute, were institutions established throughout the colonies of Australia in the 19th century to house destitute men; deserted, vagrant or homeless women and their children; and orphans not able to support themselves. Poor conditions in the sleeping quarters and harsh treatment in some of these institutions created unpleasant experiences for many of those who had to reside in such places.
Norwood, known legally as Norwood-Ravenswood, is a United Kingdom charity established in 1785 in the East End of London. Its name comes from its long-running home for Jewish children, Norwood Hall, in the south London suburb of West Norwood which opened in 1863 and closed in 1961.
The Sydney Leadership program is an initiative of the Benevolent Society, and was started in 1999, with the aim of creating a network of committed individuals working together to bring about social change. It is based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, is an Australian children's hospital located in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales.
Northcott was established as the New South Wales Society for Crippled Children in 1929 by the Rotary Club of Sydney, in response to the growing number of children left with the effects of illnesses such as polio and tuberculosis.
The Gladesville Mental Hospital, formerly known as the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum, was a psychiatric hospital established in 1838 in the Sydney suburb of Gladesville. The hospital officially closed in 1993, with the last inpatient services ceasing in 1997.
The Royal Hospital for Women (RHW) is a specialist hospital for women and babies located in the suburb of Randwick in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Royal Hospital for Women shares the Randwick Hospitals' Campus site with the Prince of Wales Hospital and the Sydney Children's Hospital, as well as the Prince of Wales Private Hospital.
The timeline of nursing history in Australia and New Zealand stretches from the 19th century to the present.
Royal Far West is an Australian charity based in the Sydney suburb of Manly, concerned with improving access to developmental care for children from rural and remote areas of New South Wales. Founded in 1924 by Methodist missionary Reverend Stanley Drummond from Cobar, today Royal Far West works in partnership with families, schools, healthcare providers, local government and community groups, offering health, education and disability services for country children and their families at its Centre for Country Kids in Manly, as well as virtually via Telecare and in local rural and remote communities. Royal Far West's Centre for Country Kids opened in December 2018.
Kathryn Therese Greiner is an Australian politician and social advocate. She is a former alderman of the City of Sydney from 1995 until 2004. She is separated from Nick Greiner, a former Premier of New South Wales.
Graeme Gordon Innes is an Australian lawyer, mediator and company director, university chancellor and was Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner from December 2005 to July 2014.
Old Liverpool Hospital is a heritage-listed former hospital and now technical college at College Street, Liverpool, City of Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Francis Greenway, Edmund Blacket and Walter Liberty Vernon and was built from 1822 to 1958, originally with the use of convict labour. Variously known as the Colonial Medical Service Hospital, Benevolent Asylum, Government Asylum and Liverpool State Hospital and Asylum, it is now the Liverpool campus of TAFE NSW. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 11 December 2009.
The Infants' Home Child and Family Services was established in Sydney, Australia in 1874 as a refuge for unwed mothers and their babies and evolving over time to a current provider of early childhood education and health services.
The New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice, a department of the Government of New South Wales, is responsible for the delivery of services to some of the most disadvantaged individuals, families and communities; and the administration and development of a just and equitable legal system of courts, tribunals, laws and other mechanisms that further the principles of justice in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It also provides services to children and young people, families, people who are homeless, people with a disability, their families and carers, women, and older people. The department is the lead agency of the Stronger Communities cluster of the New South Wales government.
Eliza Pottie was an Australian social reformer, and a leader in women's organizations in New South Wales. She was involved in the founding of the Young Women's Christian Association in Sydney, the Ladies' Sanitation Association, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She served as president of the Ladies Sanitation Association for nine years.