3rdmill and Barnardos
“Making a positive difference” is what gets the team at 3rdmill out of bed in the morning.
We can’t however be all things to all people, and we know there is plenty to be done out there!
Over its 12 year history, 3rdmill has worked closely with a range of non-government / not for profit organisations, including:
· Planet Ark - Pat Cash’s environmental foundation;
· Opportunity International - founded by David Busseau, Senior Australian of the Year 2008;
· Pink Hope - an initiative to support and give hope to young individuals who are affected by Breast and Ovarian Cancer; and most notably
· Barnardos – for whom we have been developing back-office facilities to assist with their welfare programs.
Barnardos is a non-denominational, non-government welfare organisation focused on young Australians, delivering over 60 integrated welfare programs operating throughout NSW and the ACT. Their welfare goal is to find permanent workable solutions for children whose families are experiencing difficulties.
Barnardos works with children and their families who experience multiple aspects of disadvantage, such as abuse, unemployment, poverty, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect and drug and alcohol abuse, concurrently.
As can be imagined (and expected) when dealing with children’s lives and government bodies comprehensive accreditation, operational and funder requirements are imposed. The requirements for the services which erode worker face to face time are for some of the most effective early intervention services. Most funders for those services restrict their funding to the direct costs for the client, and do not provide funds for infrastructure and back office systems and even workers.
Put simply, to be able to break the cycles and be effective with clients over the long term, workers need three things:
- Face to face time with the client
- Efficient back office systems for them to be able to provide the most effective services for the clients
- Ongoing funding for the services that are most effective
If efficient back office systems cannot be put in place, fewer clients can be helped as the paperwork increases and the hours stay the same. Plus additional funders cannot be sought for direct services due to the administrative impact. It’s a catch 22.
Also social welfare workers need a help desk type facility to:
- Help them to assist clients with debts
- Help them to negotiate with creditors to reduce client costs & debts
- Help them to use systems
With the current economic climate, fundraising revenue is spiraling down and budgets are being continually cut.
For Barnardos this means that welfare programs are being closed for admittance of new clients and critically needed improvements in back office and administrative support are on hold.
If your corporate social responsibility budget has additional funds available, we invite you to support Barnardos. Donations can be made on-line via the 3rdmill website (link available from the Home Page), via:
- one of the links available at the bottom of this Page
- the PDF form available for download HERE or
- a brochure available from 3rdmill.
Thank you in advance for your support, it is truly appreciated !
Barnardos Donation Links
Barnardos (www.barnardos.org.au) is one of the many not for profit organisations assisted by 3rdmill.