With more than 56,000 charities in Australia, there are thousands of fantastic stories about the impact charities have on their local community.

We recently spoke with Dignity Ltd about governance, the challenges they face and the rewarding nature of charity work.

A group of dedicated Dignity Ltd staff

What does your charity do?

Dignity supports people experiencing or at risk of homelessness by providing food, shelter, clothing, advocacy and education enabling and empowering them to regain control of their lives. Three passionate women with education, psychology, and social services backgrounds decided three years ago that more could be done to end homelessness in Australia. They have grown rapidly, and now successfully operate 22 crisis accommodation homes throughout New South Wales and provide over 100,000 meals annually. They are innovative, and dedicated to responding to the increasing homelessness rate in Australia in new and unique ways.

What is the most rewarding part?

Seeing the change in people’s lives. Not only do we see the change in our guests but also in the team of professionals, volunteers, networks and communities that are touched and collaborate with our work.

What is the biggest challenge faced by your charity?

Funding and resource allocation is always a challenge. We work towards increasing our impact daily and need funds to achieve this.

What advice do you have for charities looking to balance their governance and reporting requirements with delivering services?

Governance and reporting is often perceived in our sector as onerous but we find that keeping on top of it with robust streamlined systems is critical to success. Embracing technology and reporting regularly internally ensures that we stay on track and achieve tremendous results.

Find out more about Dignity on their website, or via their social media channels:

Interested in sharing your charity’s story? Email us at charitychat@acnc.gov.au.