ANNUAL REPORT 2021
TABLE OF CONTENTS
02 From the Chair 04 About Us 05 Our Partners 06 Highlights 10 Financial Snapshot 12 Meet the Team 14 Acknowledgments
THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
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FROM THE CHAIR In 2020, young Australians named their top two concerns as coping with stress, and mental health. They also identified identified education, mental health and the impacts of COVID-19 as significant personal issues.* It’s clear that there is vast scope for us to do more as an organisation and support a growing number of partners in the joint mission of building resilience and wellbeing in young people and their communities. In this our third year of operations, Thinking Positive progressed our digital strategy and our website is nearing completion. We also endorsed a fifth organisation and strengthened our partnerships with existing beneficiaries via updated agreements, thanks to pro bono legal support provided by Herbert Smith Freehills. I’m immensely grateful that donations increased by almost 75% in the last 12 months, with overall donations growing by more than 850% since 2019.
*Mission Australia Annual Youth Survey Report 2020 https://www.missionaustralia.com.au/what-we-do/research-impact-policy-advocacy/youth-survey
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THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
COVID-19 continued to disrupt the plans of our partnering organisations in 2021, and yet they continued to model their values and resilience by innovating
and
adapting
their
programs to reach a growing number of young people and their families. I hope you enjoy reading the highlights they’ve shared with us.
James Dods DIRECTOR/BOARD CHAIR
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THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
ABOUT US Thinking Positive a Brighter Future for Australian Youth is a registered health promotion charity established to promote activities supporting the positive mental health of young Australians. We partner with organisations delivering programs to schools, individuals and families across Australia, and training and empowering others in youth leadership and program facilitation. Many such organisations are run by passionate and caring people, on volunteer power and with limited resources. Our DGR status enables us to collect funds and distribute grants to our partners to free up their resources to do what they do best and increase their impact.
What our partners do Our partners are responding in diverse ways to address the mental health crisis faced by our young people. Programs and activities include: · transformational Rites of Passage programs with young people and their parents/carers · school seminars · one on one mentoring · online parenting workshops · online leadership development workshops · campaigning and advocacy. 04
THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
OUR PARTNERS We are proud to endorse these organisations
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THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
HIGHLIGHTS The Rites of Passage Institute In 2021, ROPI worked with a total of 14 schools successfully piloted two RoP programs at Pymble Ladies College (Sydney) and St Hildas (Perth) and supported them to embed the RoP framework into their school-wide wellbeing curriculum ran a Making of Men camp for 24 teenage boys and their fathers, a Mother & Son camp for 18 boys aged between 10-13 and their mothers (April), and a Young Warriors camp for 24 children aged between 8-11 (May) trained 730 participants in RoP facilitation, both in person and online, and seeded multiple community-building programs nationally further developed free online webinars and resources, reaching an estimated audience of 15 000 people. "I turned 18 back in October and I love the programs you do so much I would love to take the next step and become a volunteer
facilitator...I
believe
it
helped me overcome so much hardship in my life and I would love to give back to the people who helped me do that." ROPI participant
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THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Radiant Woman In April, Radiant Woman ran a four day Rites of Passage program in Uki, NSW with five families, two paid facilitators, one volunteer and one trainee facilitator. A family who had lost their home in the recent bushfires received a substantial scholarship to enable them to attend. As Radiant Woman is a face to face, transformational program, there were challenges in 2021 with lower participant numbers and meeting program costs, associated with COVID-19. RW worked towards greater sustainability via plans to train greater numbers of facilitators and to collaborate with other organisations training facilitators in delivering Rites of Passage programs for girls.
"The sincerity and kindness of all who participated was beyond our expectations. Amazing program, Amazing Women!!" Mother on RW program
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THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
HIGHLIGHTS Flourish Girl In 2021, Flourish Girl delivered full day school programs to girls up until lockdowns adapted to online versions of school programs to girls in Victorian schools delivered face to face teacher training to Victorian school teachers, including strategies for better conversations with teenage girls to facilitate their wellbeing provided ongoing training to facilitators, face to face in Victoria and online during lockdowns started developing its online version of The Flourish Girl Journey for girls and teachers grew its overall reach since its founding to 6350 teenage girls in 45+ schools in Victoria & NSW, its total trained facilitators to 20 and its total number of trained teachers to 80+.
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THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
The Royal Hood The Royal Hood offers a 10-week coaching and mentoring program for young people aged 10-18 in groups of up to 20 girls or boys. Topics covered include identity, positive thought patterns, the power of words, relationships, mental wellbeing and making positive choices. In 2021, TRH navigated COVID-19 restrictions to safely facilitate two face to face Royal Hood mentoring programs for 32 young people ran two programs based on a scaled back model of the teen program for 20 pre-teens ran a June school holiday activities event (including basketball and go-karting) for 14 young people saw 62% of graduating participants committing to ongoing mentoring.
"Before this program, Mum and I used to fight and argue all the time. Since starting this program, Mum and I have not fought once." TRH participant 09
THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT 2020-21
Profit & Loss at 30 June 2021
Balance Sheet
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THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
OUR IMPACT
Where our donors live USA 17.9%
74% increased giving in 12 months $200,000
NSW 35.1%
QLD 1.1%
$150,000
$100,000
$50,000
VIC 45.9%
$0
97% of donated funds distributed to partners
2019FY
2020FY
2021FY
Our costs
Operations 3.2%
$0.03 per dollar raised
Grants paid 96.8%
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THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
MEET THE TEAM... James Dods - Director/Board Chair James has been a well- known member of the Byron Shire local and business communities for over 25 years, serving as a board member and director of a range of Schools and not for profit organisations during this time. Recently retired following 5 years as Board Chair of the Cape Byron Rudolf Steiner School, James has also served as Chair/Board member and a co-founder of Uplifting Australia, a registered harm prevention charity dedicated to strengthening the emotional resilience and wellbeing of children and families.
Dr Mac Cohen - Director Marc is a medical doctor, university professor and wellness trailblazer who has spent more than 30 years practicing and researching holistic health. Marc has published more than 100 peerreviewed scientific papers and many books and technical texts on wellness and natural medicine, including the illustrated children’s book “The Beautiful Mare and "The Boy Who Gave Thanks“. He is the Founder of the Extreme Wellness Institute and Co-Founder of the Bathe the World Foundation.
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THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Jack Dods - Director Jack is a design professional specialising in architecture and urban design. Having studied at the University of Sydney and Columbia University in New York, he now practices in his home town of Byron Bay. Jack is a member of a number of Byron Shire Council advisory groups, where he helps to ensure public spaces are designed to accommodate the needs of local youth. Jack has had a long involvement with Rites of Passage work, both as a participant as a boy and then as a young man and mentor to other boys during programs. He is especially passionate about the effects of father absence on our society, and sees modern Rites of Passage work as a crucial component in ensuring we develop strong, connected, sustainable communities.
Suzy Tieman - Donations Manager With 30 years’ experience across social venture, educational, legal and IT support roles, Suzy is well known to the local business & NFP community. Suzy was Administration Team Leader with national harm prevention charity Pathways Foundation (2006-09). Following nine years as Operations Manager with a Managed IT services provider, Suzy was Operations Coordinator with Uplifting Australia (2018-20). She is currently Operations Coordinator with Human Nature Adventure Therapy based in the Northern Rivers of NSW.
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THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We gratefully acknowledge the hundreds of individuals and families who participated in programs and who donated to express their thanks.
Thanks also to the wonderful generosity of these foundations: Michaela Arnott Foundation Rosey Kids Foundation Bet Lev Foundation River Capital Foundation Small Giants Catalyst Foundation Frank Montagnese Foundation Modara Pines Charitable Foundation
Pro bono legal
Consulting and accounting Balancing Books Rochdale Accounting
Website Smart Virtual
Thinking Positive a Brighter Future for Australian Youth Ltd
PO Box 308, Byron Bay NSW 2481 admin@thinking-positive.org thinking-positive.org 14
THINKING POSITIVE | ANNUAL REPORT 2021