Reflecting on Our Community Consultation: Energised and Ready for Action

Last Sunday, we hosted our community strategy consultation with third party consultant Bill Synnot.  It was great having his expert steer to guide the blue sky thinking and ensure the discussions engaged.

We also want to thank local philanthropists the Ubuntu Foundation for their financial support to make this happen.

Most importantly we want to thank our passionate community members who volunteered their time and energy to drive these discussions. It’s worth noting that 95% of attendees stayed for the entire four-hour session—a testament to the commitment of our community.

Community members sift through a significant volume of ideas an vote on the most important.

Finally thanks to Shaylee from Bean on the Green for the fantastic catering.

We’re immensely grateful to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts and ideas—it’s clear we’ve got a lot of work ahead, but the path forward is exciting!

While Bill is busy collating some of the discussions for our board to progress, we felt its important to summarise some of the key takeaways from the day for those who were unable to attend.

Key takeaways

Discussions identified five strategic themes for initial focus, which are:

1. Forward-Planned Event Calendar: Building a diverse schedule of events to cater to our community's unique demographics.

2. Better Communication and Marketing: Enhancing how we connect and share updates with everyone.

3. Volunteer-Driven Initiatives: Expanding our volunteer groups with clarity on roles and opportunities for involvement.

4. Sustainability and Financial Strength: This covers a range of priorities like memberships, renovations and other functional improvements.

5. Community Hub and Safe Spaces: Focusing on maximising the use of the space, such as the creation of co-working areas, and ensuring the space remains an inclusive for all.

   
   

In addition to our strategic themes, several quick wins emerged:

• Strengthening Our Structure: As a volunteer-heavy club, we need additional board roles and sub-committees to share the load. We will be scoping out what this might look like and will share with our members and community shortly.

• Open Community Feedback Loops: It’s clear there’s a strong desire for ongoing dialogue. To support this, we’re considering regular forums, for example alongside our board meetings with the establishment of a P&C-style committee could take the lead in facilitating these sessions.  We know that such formalities aren’t for everyone, so we will also ensure there are other avenues for feedback too.

Consultation Next Steps

Here’s what you can expect to happen next.

1. Bill is collating the materials from the consultation—we’ll share these with everyone soon.

2. The board will regroup to summarise the insights and integrate them into a draft strategy.

3. Once the draft strategy is finalised, we’ll share it widely and invite the community to have further input, help us prioritise our energy and use this to drive grants, funding opportunities and focus areas.

4. The board will also clarify where we need help and seek support of our community to increase the team behind the organisation and share some of the responsibilities to help make the shared vision a reality.

   
   

We’re excited about the future and grateful for the energy and ideas that came out of Sunday’s session. Let’s keep the momentum going as we build a stronger, more connected community together.

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