The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) is pleased to announce the successful scholars for the 2024-25 Not-For-Profit Scholarship Program.
This is the seventh year of the NFP Scholarship program and it's encouraging to see the 2024-25 round attracting a record 1336 applications.
This year's scholarships have been awarded to 200 recipients working in small to medium not-for-profit organisations drawn from every Australian state and territory, including directors, executives and emerging directors.
They will gain valuable skills to support their work in the NFP sector, undertaking the AICD Governance Foundations for Not-For-Profit Directors course which is designed to enhance director understanding of compliance and performance related roles and responsibilities.
Over the life of this scholarship program, more than 1300 NFP sector leaders now will have benefited from the opportunity to access foundational governance education, helping them to build capability and govern their organisations more effectively.
AICD Managing Director and CEO Mark Rigotti extended a warm welcome to this year's successful candidates and congratulated them on making it through the rigorous selection process.
"We're aware that the challenges experienced by the NFP sector have increased over recent years, with growing community expectations and significant regulatory reform and disruption placing increased demands on NFP directors and executives.
"That's why the AICD is so pleased to offer this scholarship and to play its part in helping equip directors, boards and their organisations to deal with the increasingly complex operating environment."
This year's successful scholars come from a range of fields including the arts, culture and recreation; education and research; employment, development and housing; health; social services; and the environment.
Testimonials of AICD NFP Governance Scholarship graduates:
This [course] has made a massive difference to my understanding of how to be a better participant in my industry at a governance level. I will always look back on this experience as a key milestone in my professional development.
- Mark Anderson, President, Conservation Council of SA
I am more confident in my ability to contribute meaningfully in the Board setting as a result of the course. I loved the learning environment created by AICD and its educators. I also relished learning alongside and getting to know exceptional leaders in the NFP space. An uplifting two days!
- Lyndon Galea, Chief Executive Officer, Eat Up Australia
I would thoroughly recommend the NFP Directors course. It was delivered in an entertaining and informative way, I learned a huge amount. As a bonus, the calibre of professionals in the room made for excellent discussion and networking.
- Janine Carter, Deputy Chair, Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association
As an executive director and the CEO of Connect Community Plus Kids I find that the daily demand for the services that we provide tends to be all encompassing. Since completing the course I've been able to restructure [and] we are now in a far better position to achieve the ambitious goals that we have set ourselves.
- Gordon Barratt, OAM, Chief Executive Officer, Connect Community Plus Kids
The AICD is committed to supporting not-for-profits and their boards to achieve good governance.
Download the media release here.
