Report: charity support needs a change

Commissioned in September by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, the recently-released Heartbeat of Rural Australia study aimed to determine how grassroots organisations in rural areas were faring, in the wake of nearly two years of disruptions caused by natural disasters and COVID-19.

A total of 638 groups - including 52 in SA - contributed to the study, with FRRR chief executive officer Natalie Egleton saying their collective and individual importance had not been comprehensively or quantitatively articulated prior to the study.

"It's common knowledge that community groups play a really vital role in supporting the communities through challenges, we were interested in amplifying that and understanding how they need to be better support them to do their work," she said.

The report stated COVID-19 acted as "the last straw" for many organisations that were already struggling.

"Regional areas often didn't have the same case numbers or lockdowns as city areas - the thing that came through the study is the instability that the pandemic caused," Ms Egleton said.

When asked to describe the overall feeling in their communities, the majority of respondents indicated their communities were feeling frustrated, uncertain and tired or fatigued, with an overwhelming 95 per cent of respondents citing COVID-19 as having impacted the community across the past 18 months.

SA in particular fell behind in terms of digital connectivity, with only 35pc of SA respondents reporting an increased use in digital technology, well behind Vic, which led the category at 66pc.

The report outlined a number of opportunities of how groups can be better supported, such as by allowing greater flexibility in how awarded funding can be spent, simplifying grant application processes, and offering training or 'pro-bono' assistance to improve organisations' effectiveness.

"We need to double down on investing in communities and their capacity and strength when they're not in crisis, so when we do have big events like natural disasters, the money is already well-placed, rather than only being provided on a reactive basis," Ms Egleton said.

The recently-released Heartbeat of Rural Australia study, commissioned by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, has cited a need for to better support rural charities and organisations with their operating costs, rather than exclusively supporting new projects.

The report revealed running costs account for an average 58 per cent of revenues received by community organisations. More than half of respondents revealed that figure exceeded 75pc.

While the report acknowledged the importance of one-off grants for specific projects, nearly four in five respondents revealed they wanted greater flexibility in the use of, and time to, use the grants they received.

FRRR chief executive officer Natalie Egleton said rural organisations often struggled to fund ongoing costs.

"So often these organisations are entirely run by volunteers, who may be able to source project-to-project funding, but struggle with the pressure of constantly having to dig into savings to find money for operational costs," she said.

Cottages 4 Country Care founder Dianne Farrell, whose charity provides Adelaide accommodation for rural patients and their families temporarily staying in the city for medical reasons, said the need for support with ongoing costs was "right on the nerve".

The charity has five Adelaide cottages, with the overall occupancy rate more than 85pc so far this year.

"Grants all say you have to do something new, no matter how great the need is for ongoing support," Ms Farrell said.

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"We received a $100,000 grant, which is obviously fantastic, but at that stage we had a $600,000 mortgage, and we weren't allowed to use that grant to pay off the mortgage.

"We are using the money to get a brand new cottage, which is very exciting, but already our overheads are $2418 a week. It all adds up, and there is next to no support available."

The need to attract and retain volunteers was brought to light in the Heartbeat of Rural Australia study, with a number of organisations finding it more difficult than ever to find sufficient numbers.

About a quarter of the study's respondents (23 per cent) cited an increasing demand for services as a reason for needing more volunteers, while 30pc of organisations listed volunteer fatigue as a reason.

Volunteer fatigue became more pronounced with location, with 22pc of regional organisations noting it as an issue, compared with 35pc of those in rural areas and 45pc of those living remotely.

Overall, three quarters of respondents who had tried to recruit new volunteers in the past 18 months said it had become more difficult than pre-COVID-19 times.

Kate Pearce, from 5431 Collective in Orroroo, said more young people needed to step into volunteer roles.

"We have an aging demographic of volunteers here and they're getting sick and tired of volunteering," she said. "We need our young ones to step up and we need them to be equipped with the skills to do that."

Ms Pearce said there was also a need to streamline the efforts of volunteers, particularly in small communities.

"Everyone is time poor, and often in small towns it's the same 15-20 people on every committee," she said.

"Why are 15 different community groups writing the same application for the same thing? I don't know how we streamline that a little more, but it would be good to look to join resources."

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