World Vision transforms for a supporter-led market
Monday, November 16, 2015
World Vision Australia will streamline its fundraising and administration operations in a major transformation aimed at greater supporter engagement and more efficient use of resources.
World Vision Chief Executive, Tim Costello said the change was designed to reposition Australia’s leading humanitarian agency to leverage off the digital landscape to give supporters a more relevant and personalised experience.
Revealing details of the organisation’s new operating model to its Australian based staff today, Mr Costello said pioneering a new way of working in a rapidly changing market was the only way to ensure the organisation would be able to sustain its commitment to its best-practice development work in more than 60 countries.
“With a 30 per cent drop in the Australian dollar, which meant 30 per cent less funds available for work in the field, we had little choice but to adapt. Like many organisations and sectors we are facing changes on a number of fronts, our supporters want more relevant ways of contributing to our work, and where and how we work is changing rapidly. And, of course, all supporters of charities want lower overheads.”
The move comes after growth in the organisation’s chief funding stream - child sponsorship - has failed to keep pace with cost increases in recent years.
Cuts to the Federal Government’s aid program have also impacted a key revenue stream for the organisation.
Mr Costello said that while great progress had been made in the past decade in the chief focus of World Vision’s work - reducing poverty and its impact on children around the world - global humanitarian assistance needs have also dramatically increased.
“Ten years ago an estimated 30,000 children a day were dying, now it’s less than 16,000 a day. But in the past few years there has been a growing need in the more fragile and conflict zones like Syria and South Sudan that require a different approach.”
World Vision’s Chief Operating Officer, Ross Piper said the new operating model would be built around multiple operating rhythms, allowing the organisation to respond in a more agile way to both supporters’ expectations as well as to the needs of those World Vision serves.
“We want to be able to respond to what’s on people minds at the right time and with the right offer that can connect them more directly to the impact our work is having in the field,” Mr Piper said.
“This means we need a leaner more agile operating model with some different skills and a different mindset.”
As part of the first phase of the planned nine month transformation process, the organisation will cut a total of 89 jobs from its Australian operations this year. This phase will focus on World Vision’s core administrative functions; fundraising and marketing; contracting and consulting.
Phase 2 and 3 in 2016 will see corporate and support services adjusted to fit the requirements of the new operating model. The transformation will have no direct impact on World Vision’s development and humanitarian work in Australia and overseas.
Staff whose roles are being made redundant will be encouraged to apply for redeployment in one of the newly created roles or can accept a redundancy package. Support for job placement outside of the organisation and counselling will also be available to staff Mr Piper said.
About World Vision:
World Vision is one of the world’s largest international humanitarian aid and development organisations dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision provides assistance in more than 60 countries throughout the Asia Pacific, Middle East, Latin America, Caribbean, Europe and Africa. We partner with communities, governments, civil society, corporates and non-government organisations to transform lives, through community development, emergency relief, policy change, advocacy and education. http://www.worldvision.com.au
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