So long and thanks for all the fish

This is my final roll of the dice bringing you the Community Advocate before I hand over the editorial reins to a new editor almost two years to the day since the Institute of Community Directors Australia (ICDA) launched the weekly newsletter on July 19, 2023.

As founding editor, it’s been an absolute privilege to cover the charity, not-for-profit (NFP) and community sector.

In what is a bittersweet decision, I’m retiring from full time work to hike the world with my wife, Jane, to learn how to cook, and to try to progress past page one of the great Australian novel.

I’ll be passing the baton of the Community Advocate to my friend and colleague Nick Place, a highly accomplished journo, author and media practitioner whom some of you already know from his extensive freelance work telling the stories of philanthropy and NFPs.

Reporting on a sector comprising more than 600,000 NFPs and 60,000 charities that employ 10 per cent of the nation’s workforce has been an exhilarating ride.

It’s been a revelation to observe up close the enormous passion, commitment, and desire to make the world a better place exhibited by those who proudly call the sector home.

Over the past two years, the Community Advocate has published hundreds of stories and podcasts, reporting on developments in areas as diverse as the environment, fundraising, foreign aid, the cost-of-living crisis, philanthropy, mental health, the sector’s embrace of artificial intelligence, homelessness and gambling reform, to name just a few.

We’ve reported without fear or favour on the magnificent work the sector does and why it matters, highlighting controversial missteps and mistakes, and leading calls for change where necessary.

Some of the most significant attempts at reform in the sector’s history have occurred during my time at the Community Advocate, with the release of the Productivity Commission report into philanthropy, the Not-for-profit Sector Development Blueprint and the DSS probe into community sector funding.

Along with my colleague Matthew Schulz, I've reported on the sector's frustration at the lack of progress toward genuine reform. I’ve written yarns supporting the sector’s right to advocate, chronicled the sector’s long-running battle with the ATO’s controversial NFP self-review tax return and reported on the push to reform deductible gift recipient (DGR) rules.

We’ve run in-depth feature stories such as why the Victorian town of Castlemaine has become a hot spot for volunteering, one-on-one podcasts including a sobering interview with the founder of the Groundswell Foundation on his personal experience of the loneliness epidemic, and a pictorial snapshot of 24 hours in the life of the sector.

We've granted space to sector experts to write razor-sharp, thought-provoking opinion pieces diving deep into a range of important issues, from the push for national fundraising laws and the threat of toxic masculinity to US President Donald Trump’s attack on diversity and the implications for our own backyard.

The Community Advocate has also dissected issues that affect the day to day running of the sector, from changes to fixed term contracting and closing the fundraising skills gap to the Pay What It Takes campaign.

The no-nonsense fortnightly columns from Community Council for Australia CEO David Crosbie, a feature of the Community Advocate since day one, continue to be a highly valued sense check on the state of the sector.

We’ve also been prepared to look at the sector’s lighter side, such as when we shone a light on wild and wacky charity fundraising initiatives across the world. (I've added wine tasting during a 42.5km marathon to my bucket list).

I’m particularly proud that we have been able to bring to life the stories behind the individuals striving to make a positive difference in the world via our weekly People with Purpose profiles.

Without these individuals, there would be no charity, not-for-profit and community sector.

Throughout it all, our readership has continued to grow, and we thank you for your ongoing support.

The group managing director of Our Community, Denis Moriarty, made the decision to launch the Community Advocate in July 2023 because he believed a segment of the economy that has such a huge impact on the lives of countless Australians in so many ways deserved to have its activities celebrated, scrutinised and investigated in the most comprehensive way.

The Community Advocate will continue to do just that.

More information

Sector leaders welcome the Community Advocate