Directors' Report

Innovative Training to Engage further within the Community

In 2022, we launched the Little First Aiders program which enables primary school students to learn first aid through video and interactive activities, no matter where they are located. During this period we trained over 20,000 students across 167 schools.

In partnership with Marathon Health, a registered charity and not-for-profit organisation, St John Ambulance developed a specialised Indigenous First Aid Program which was launched in 2022. The First Aid Program is part of Marathon Health’s Preventative Health Culturally Safe First Aid Training and has been designed to be culturally sensitive to meet the unique needs of indigenous communities.

Community Engagement

We worked closely with the NSW Government to develop the public register of defibrillators (AED) locations, which is now part of the Service NSW App providing communities access to these life saving devices in cardiac emergencies.

We supported the NSW Volunteering Taskforce, convened by Minister Natasha Maclaren-Jones (Minister for Families and Communities and Minister for Disability Services) to improve volunteering in NSW.

In 2022, we continued to promote first aid knowledge through community events and media engagement, demonstrating first aid skills and CPR at many events throughout the year, including Bstreetsmart, Restart a Heart Day and Start from the Heart Day.

Investing in our Capability

Throughout 2022 we continued to invest in our capability to ensure we remain a capable and reliable partner supporting NSW communities:

• We developed an engaging and flexible volunteer service model, attracting more than 570 new volunteers to our organisation;

• We dedicated resources to invest in our youth members, increasing youth and parent/carer engagement, investing in the recruitment of new roles to support our youth programs, and providing more youth leaders; and

• We made significant investments in training our people and upgrading our operational fleet, equipment, and systems.

For further information on our community impact in 2022 please refer to our digital impact report which can be accessed here www.stjohnnswimpact.com.au

Financial Results

In 2022 our operating results remained strong, the investment of current and prior year surpluses into enhancing our capability has resulted in a reported net deficit for 2022 of ($0.326M) following the surplus of $3.554M recorded in 2021. The 2022 financial result includes an investment of $0.696M into the development of a new customer relationship management (CRM) system, new website and customer portal. The expenses associated with these investments have been recognised in 2022 however the systems will support our organisations continued growth in future years.

Significant investments we made into enhancing our capability in 2022 included:

• 25 new vehicles ordered to support community and disaster response capability;

• Invested in operational equipment to ensure our members are able to support their communities and respond to natural disasters;

• Developed a new Customer Relationship Management system, new website, and customer portal to improve customer experience;

• Launched a state-of-the-art training facility in the Sydney CBD;