Accountability is core to good governance. We must be accountable to the people we serve, our funders and the public who trust us to contribute to the common good. Good governance practices enable us to demonstrate that we have fulfilled our commitments and efficiently provided high quality services with donated or public funds.

• Strengthening our approaches to governance, developing principled decision-making frameworks
  and guidelines at every level of our organisation.
• Harnessing compliance and regulatory frameworks to enhance our service provision.
• Strengthening our governance culture
• Effectively managing and responding to the risks we face
• Reviewing and consolidating all our organisational policies

In the 2021/22 financial year, we invested significant effort into strengthening our approach to governance. The Society needs to ensure that we are true to our purpose and meeting our obligations as set out in our governing document which requires us to carry out our mission which is ‘to directly relieve suffering or deprivation of those in need and to promote human dignity and personal integrity’.

Our Company Members amended the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW Constitution (Constitution) in the 2021/22 financial year. The changes to the Constitution included altering the composition of the Board, to enable greater flexibility in appointing Directors and to strengthen the skills-mix of the Board. The new Constitution also establishes a clearer process for regular Board renewal, enabling more robust and structured succession planning. The new Constitution came into effect with the approval of the National Council of the Society of St Vincent de Paul on 15 March 2022. A Chairperson and three new Directors were appointed by Company Members in General Meeting on 11 April 2022, implementing the composition of the new Constitution. The Constitution is available on the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission’s website.

During the last financial year, we supported our State Council and Board as they guided the work of the organisation – we undertook an external review of our governing bodies, to better understand our strengths, and the opportunities to improve our governance. The reviewers provided a range of recommendations, and our governing bodies are working towards full implementation of the recommendations by 1 January 2023. Our Board have agreed to alternate annually between internal and external reviews with the 2022/23 review to be an internal review. Our Board will also introduce individual Director performance reviews alongside a collective Board review to further the culture of high-performance at the Board level. We have continued to provide induction programs for new office holders; and offered governance training opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 Northern NSW flooding disasters continued to require us to ensure strong governance. As we responded to the 2022 floods, we have improved our governance systems to ensure that our funds were appropriately distributed and available in a timely manner. A review of our response to the 2021 NSW floods enabled an improvement in our response this year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have continued to operate under a coordinated and well-documented approach to ensure that all of our sites have appropriate safety measures in place, that we were able to close and re-open our Vinnies Shops efficiently, and that our decisions were always based on the best health advice available.

In responding to the pandemic, the Society prioritised operational risk, and service delivery and successfully continued to meet the needs of vulnerable community members in challenging and rapidly changing circumstances. The St Vincent de Paul Society NSW Strategic Plan 2020-2022 was extended for a further 12 months to enable management to:

• progress strategic opportunities within the existing plan that strengthen our future position;
• ensure that all strategic foundations are in place within the Society to allow us to increase our capacity and capability to deliver our mission into the future.

We produced our second Modern Slavery Statement and expanded our consultation with suppliers. We continued our partnership with the Australian Catholic Anti-Slavery Network to support this most important work.

During the 2021/22 financial year, several external accreditation processes reviewed our service provision about which they provided extremely positive reports. These accreditation processes considered governance standards and were satisfied that we met all applicable standards.

We will continue to strive to strengthen our approach to governance to ensure a transparent and accountable approach to all areas of our work.

The Society has continued to implement its Risk Management Framework to embed consistent Risk Management practices across all directorates. A purpose-built integrated risk management system was implemented this financial year, bringing together reporting of incidents, complaints, safeguarding, risk and compliance. The new system will increase transparency and enable better oversight and continuous improvement.

The Society is committed to continually monitoring and improving the quality of its services.

The Program and Service Quality Team provides direction and support to Vinnies Services, embedding standard approaches to quality management and facilitating the sharing of expertise across teams.

Quality Action Groups operate across the major services areas of Homelessness, Disability and Health.

The Society routinely conducts an internal audit to provide internal, objective assurance for the organisation. This process is designed to enhance the delivery of its services and operations.

The Internal Audit operates on a risk-based auditing approach to assess the effectiveness of internal controls and governance. As outlined through the reporting process, internal audit reporting is provided directly to the Audit and Finance Committee of the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW and the Audit Risk and Finance Committee of St Vincent de Paul Housing. Administratively, Internal Audit reports to Director, Legal.

The Internal Audit function has recently moved from an in-house model to a partially co-sourced audit model following a review of internal audit as part of actions arising from the strategic plan.  Each year from 2022/23, following consideration of internal and external risks one or two specialist audits will be undertaken externally and managed through Internal Audit and reported to the Audit and Finance Committee.

During the past financial year, 12 internal audits were completed including audits related to client assistance support through conferences; gifts in wills and estates; service areas within Vinnies Services; procurement; stock management; payroll; people and culture including onboarding, offboarding, staff training, and leave management; physical storage of sensitive information and audits in relation to St Vincent de Paul Housing.

Follow up audits and regular reporting to the Audit and Finance Committee occurs to ensure recommendations made during the audit process are actioned by management.  Implementation of an internal IT Incident Risk Management System in 2022 is also now providing system infrastructure support to the audit and risk program.

Institutions interact with children across a broad range of sectors and activities, such as schools, sport and recreation clubs, support services and childcare centres. These institutions are part of the fabric of our daily lives and reflect community priorities, needs and values.

Making such institutions safe for children requires making communities safe – places where every child is valued, and where their rights to safety and wellbeing are respected and upheld.

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

After The Children’s Guardian Amendment (Child Safe Scheme) Bill 2021 came into effect on 1 February 2022, the Child Safe Scheme created a regulatory framework that will require child-related organisations in NSW to comply with the NSW 10 Child Safe Standards.

These changes provide a consistent standard for how organisations protect children and this legislation is an important step forward in line with the recommendations of the Royal Commission. Vinnies is making good progress towards the implementation of these standards.

Provided mandatory child safe familiarisation training to 1427 members, volunteers, and staff.

Provided specialised training in best practice child safe service delivery on topics including:

• Case note writing to 133 employees and volunteers
• Safeguarding information to 61 employees
• Developed updated training packages for members, volunteers and employees, which include updated legislative requirements
• Training modules are now available in face-to-face, online and on DVD

The Society has continued a project to review and consolidate all of our organisational policies. Policies were prioritised based on organisational and strategic risk. The approach to policy review and development was highly collaborative, drawing on the knowledge and expertise of program managers, frontline staff, and Society members.

Society members were consulted in the development of all policies that relate to the work that they do. The Membership and Youth Advisory Committee was a great support in progressing this work and assisting with digital consultations with Central Councils. A collaborative approach to this work improved the quality and utility of policies and procedures.

A total of 36 policies were reviewed, consolidated, or developed in the 2021/22 financial year. The policy review project will continue into year four of the Strategic Plan 2020–2022.

The review and consolidation of organisational policies supports our people to deliver best-practice services to the people we assist.