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Leadership in the for-purpose sector is high-pressure and often isolating. While most executives invest in systems and strategy, few leverage one of their most powerful assets: trusted peer insight.

This workshop offers a practical, facilitated space for CEOs and senior leaders to decode real challenges with those who truly understand them. You’ll explore frameworks that sharpen decision-making, strengthen leadership resilience, and build the high-trust networks essential for navigating complexity and avoiding costly blind spots. This isn’t networking, it’s a recalibration of how you lead.

Attend this workshop and learn how to:

  • Apply proven peer-led decision frameworks to test strategy, explore blind spots and accelerate insight
  • Build high-trust environments that enable honesty, accountability, and constructive challenge
  • Strengthen your leadership resilience by shifting from solitary problem-solving to structured, peer-based thinking
  • Introduce peer-based models of leadership within your own executive or senior management teams
  • Leave with a tangible, trust-building toolkit to support growth, reflection, and faster course correction

Leanne Warner

Leadership Hub Chair
FOR PURPOSE ALLIANCE

Kate Mills

Chief Executive Officer
The Property Industry Foundation

Carmel Molloy

Chief Executive Officer and Founder
FOR PURPOSE ALLIANCE

12:00 - 1:00 Networking luncheon

As the ACNC and broader regulatory environment ramp up scrutiny, particularly around corporate structure transparency, key personnel remuneration, and cybersecurity posture, many nonprofits remain underprepared. Failure to adapt won’t just mean audit headaches. It threatens funding eligibility, reputational trust, and board confidence.

Cyber incidents targeting charities are rising, and funders are beginning to treat ESG, data integrity, and governance failings as investment risks. Inaction can erode credibility with donors, partners and regulators alike.

This practical, scenario-based workshop is designed for nonprofit CFOs, CEOs and COOs who understand that financial governance is no longer just about compliance, it’s about futureproofing. You’ll walk away with the frameworks, updates and tools needed to anticipate change, respond with agility, and lead your organisation with financial integrity in a risk-conscious world.

Attend this workshop and learn how to:

  • Audit and restructure complex organisational entities to align with ACNC transparency requirements and reduce regulatory exposure
  • Strengthen cybersecurity protocols to safeguard financial and donor data, meet board expectations, and limit legal liability
  • Decode the 2024 Annual Information Statement updates—including executive pay reporting—and embed systems to manage new obligations
  • Build a proactive compliance roadmap that goes beyond minimum standards to reinforce board oversight and cultural accountability
  • Integrate financial and ESG reporting to align with shifting funder demands and demonstrate measurable sustainability and impact

Joyce Low

Chief Operating Officer
NSW Nurses and Midwives Association

Adele Stowe-Lindner

Executive Director
Institute of Company Directors Australia

Developing effective leadership, governance and board capability ​
  • Staying up to date and aware of your obligations
  • Examining good governance in practice
  • Building trust through transparency and accountability

Cate Bennett

Acting Commissioner
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC)

  • Proactively managing and resolving conflicts to maintain alignment
  • Enabling effective governance while avoiding micromanagement to support strategic leadership and operational autonomy
  • Building a transparent, accountable and purpose-driven partnership to enhance trust, collaboration and long-term impact

Moderator:

Russell D’Costa

Chief Executive Officer
ALife Ed Australia

Panellists:

Morgana Ryan

Chief Executive Officer
CARE Australia

Margaret Sheehan

Chief Executive Officer
ChildFund Australia

Louise Hardy

Interim Chief Executive Officer
Arthritis Australia

  • Adapting leadership models to navigate uncertainty, shifting workforce expectations, and sector-wide transformation
  • Embedding inclusive decision-making to ensure diverse voices shape strategy, culture, and impact
  • Balancing innovation with stability to maintain mission focus while responding to evolving community needs and funding pressures

Morgana Ryan

Chief Executive Officer
CARE Australia

  • Overcoming complex problems to increase operational efficiency
  • Navigating how to build financial sustainability within your organisation
  • Equipping your people to make the most impact

Andrew Coleman

Group Chief Executive Officer
TIP Group

11:00 Morning refreshments

Strengthening trust, transparency and public perception 

Chair:

Craig Stevens

Chief Executive Officer
LocalKind Northern Beaches

Ensuring financial sustainability and diversified funding 

Chair:

Josh Hickford

CA ANZ Councillor
Chartered Accountants, Australia & New Zealand
Chief Executive
Taranaki Foundation

  • Upholding ethical storytelling standards that honour dignity while inspiring support
  • Fostering donor relationships through transparency, consistency, and values-aligned communication
  • Demonstrating financial integrity with clear reporting and responsible stewardship of funds

Corinne Habel

Chief Development Officer
ChildFund Australia

Margaret Sheehan

Chief Executive Officer
ChildFund Australia

  • Preventing issues before they escalate by identifying early warning signs and setting clear expectations
  • Responding with confidence and fairness when managing challenging staff behaviours or formal complaints
  • Managing or undertaking investigations into alleged workplace misconduct, including reportable conduct matters

Jane Thorpe

Senior Investigator
Centium

  • Showcasing meaningful outcomes that reflect both quantitative data and lived experiences/li>
  • Tailoring impact narratives to resonate with diverse audiences, from funders to beneficiaries
  • Linking evaluation findings directly to program improvements and strategic direction

Karen McComiskey

Chief of Private Funding
World Vision Australia

  • Tracking shifts in donor priorities toward transparency, impact, and values-driven giving
  •  Tailoring engagement strategies to meet the preferences of digital-first and younger donor segments
  • Aligning fundraising communications with societal trends to increase resonance and relevance

Alexandra Ryan

Head of Campaigns and Products
Leukaemia Foundation

Heather Little

Chief Philanthropy Officer
Australian Wildlife Conservancy

  • Strengthening donor trust with transparent, real-time insights that demonstrate program impact
  • Bridging the automation gap to reduce manual workload and improve outcome tracking
  • Adapting your finance strategy to meet growing external pressures and evolving funder expectations

Emily Singh

Presales Consultant
Sage APAC

  • Identifying alternative revenue streams such as social enterprise, fee-for-service, and impact investment
  • Developing partnerships with corporates, community organisations, and local government
  • Strengthening internal systems to support innovation, risk-taking, and adaptive funding strategies

Kylie Daniels

National Manager
Beyond Bank

1:00 Networking Luncheon
  • Acknowledging past missteps openly and communicating a clear path to repair
  • Engaging affected communities in authentic dialogue to rebuild trust and shared ownership
  • Integrating accountability mechanisms to ensure long-term credibility restoration

Moderator:

Thomas Allsop

Chief Executive Officer
PeakCare

Panellist:

Jamie Crosby

Chief Executive Officer
Families Australia

  • Exploring systems-level governance to highlight board focus beyond their own programs and organisations
  • Diagnosing complexity with confidence to distinguish between and respond to simple, complicated, and complex challenges
  • Applying adaptive leadership strategies to balance competing demands and navigate uncertainty with more clarity and purpose

Arminé Nalbandian

Chief Executive Officer
Centre for Social Impact

  • Co-designing programs and policies with communities to reflect their lived realities
  • Sharing decision-making power to reinforce equity, relevance, and local leadership
  • Evaluating success collaboratively to ensure outcomes reflect collective values and goals

Jamie Crosby

Chief Executive Officer
Families Australia

  • Collaborating with funders to co-design solutions that extend beyond transactional giving
  • Examining case studies in partnering with government, corporates, and philanthropy to address vaping, online safety, and healthy eating
  • Delivering maximum reach and impact, where, and when it counts

Russell D’Costa

Chief Executive Officer
Life Ed Australia

Karen Robertson

Head of Education and Impact
Life Ed Australia

  • Exploring how doubling charitable giving and harnessing the intergenerational wealth transfer could reshape the sector’s scale and influence
  • Diving into cutting-edge donor models, innovative foundations, and breakthrough nonprofit tech transforming impact like never before
  • Challenging the status quo: is simply giving more enough, or do we need smarter, systems-driven strategies to create lasting change?

Ryan Ginard

Head of Sector Development and Innovation
Minderoo Foundation

  • Positioning your organisation as a strategic partner offering shared value
  • Cultivating relationships that move beyond transactional sponsorships to deep collaboration
  • Integrating social impact goals into partnership frameworks to drive mutual outcomes

Amira Shahin

Head of Strategy and Operations
Still Aware

3:30 Afternoon refreshments
  • Forging values-aligned partnerships that go beyond funding to build trust, credibility and shared purpose
  • Cultivating a community of champions by aligning stakeholders, staff, and supporters around your mission
  • Unlocking new opportunities by blending professional networks with personal leadership influence

Adele Stowe-Lindner

Executive Director
Institute of Company Directors Australia

Join a series of small-group, topic-driven roundtable discussions designed to foster candid conversation, practical insight, and peer-to- peer exchange. Each table will focus on a specific challenge or opportunity facing the sector, with a facilitator guiding dialogue and encouraging shared solutions.

Increasing volunteer and donor engagement in a world of donor fatigue

Increasing volunteer and donor engagement in a world of donor fatigue

Craig Stevens

Chief Executive Officer
LocalKind Northern Beaches

Jay Crangle

Head of ESG
Sustainable Business Council NZ

Ryan Ginard

Head of Sector Development and Innovation
Minderoo Foundation

Centring future giving on trust, transparency and generational change

Amira Shahin

Head of Strategy and Operations
Still Aware

Strengthening public trust through strategic partnerships

Using data to drive advocacy and lasting change

Brittiny Edwards

Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Share the Dignity

5:00 Closing remarks from the Chair and end of day one

6:00 Third Sector Awards

7:00 Registrations opens

Adele Stowe-Lindner

Executive Director
Institute of Company Directors Australia

Developing effective leadership, governance and board capability ​
9:00 Opening keynote: Leading your nonprofit through 2025’s legal and governance landscape

Adele Stowe-Lindner

Executive Director
Institute of Company Directors Australia

Adele Stowe-Lindner

Executive Director
Institute of Company Directors Australia

Developing effective leadership, governance and board capability ​

Adele Stowe-Lindner

Executive Director
Institute of Company Directors Australia

Increasing data, technology and digital transformation literacy
  • Discussing the barriers and enablers, tools and tactics that drive successful organisational innovation
  • Sharing use cases around piloting industry first agentic AI tools that improve the client experience and service impact
  • Planning for innovation as a key market differentiator enabling success with your key stakeholders including partners, clients, funders and community

Mike Davis

General Manager- Innovation
Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand

  • Positioning digital transformation as a strategic enabler, not just an operational upgrade
  • Mobilising the wider ecosystem, including funders, boards, and delivery partners, to support investment in tech and data
  • Inspiring a sector-wide mindset shift toward continuous digital learning and innovation

Ben Vasiliou

Chief Executive Officer
The Man Cave Global

  • Reframing leadership ambition by moving from heroic individualism to collective, values-led impact
  • Exploring how to define success (and failure) beyond traditional metrics to embrace growth, experimentation and evolution
  • Navigating partnerships, mergers and transitions with clarity by understanding when to lead, when to support, and when to step aside

Alex Green

Chief Executive Officer
The Arthritis Movement

  • Identifying and addressing digital literacy gaps across teams, volunteers, and service users
  • Providing accessible training and support to ensure equitable participation in tech-enabled service delivery
  • Embedding inclusive design principles so that digital transformation benefits all—not just the tech-savvy

Facilitator:

Amira Shahin

Head of Strategy and Operations
Still Aware

Panellists:

Ollie Parker

Executive Leader Finance and Corporate
Barnardos Australia

Alex Green

Chief Executive Officer
The Arthritis Movement

Mike Davis

General Manager- Innovation
Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand

11:00 Morning refreshments

Addressing workforce burnout, development and retention  

Chair:

Amira Shahin

Head of Strategy and Operations
Still Aware

Measuring social ROI and using ESG for impact

Chair:

Gary Shaw

IDG Ambassador and Member
New Zealand Modern Slavery Leadership Advisory Group, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

  • Responding to shifting workforce expectations by offering flexibility, purpose, and pathways for progression
  • Navigating recruitment and retention in a resource-constrained environment with creative, low-cost strategies
  • Strengthening organisational culture to improve staff satisfaction, loyalty, and long-term commitment

Tanya Drakopoulos

Head of Operations
RSPCA Victoria

  • Cultivating shared ownership of outcomes by aligning staff goals with organisational purpose
  • Encouraging innovation and initiative by recognising and rewarding strengths-based performance
  • Balancing productivity with wellbeing to avoid burnout while driving impact

Tanya Drakopoulos

Head of Operations
RSPCA Victoria

  • Normalising feedback and reflection as tools for professional and organisational growth
  • Integrating microlearning and peer mentoring to build skills and support cross-functional development
  • Adapting leadership approaches to empower self-directed learning and team autonomy

Simone Blumberg

Chief People Officer
Vision Australia

  • Embedding self-awareness and empathy into leadership frameworks to strengthen internal and external impact
  • Applying IDGs to organisational culture to foster collaboration, resilience, and ethical decision-making
  • Bridging personal development and strategic leadership to align individual growth with broader system change

Gary Shaw

IDG Ambassador and Member
New Zealand Modern Slavery Leadership Advisory Group, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

  • Adopting blended methods to capture both qualitative stories and quantitative results
  • Linking impact data to real-time decision-making for program improvement and accountability
  • Building stakeholder trust by transparently sharing how insights drive tangible change

Rebecca Kafetzis

Chair
Family Inclusion Network WA
National Sanctuary Practice Lead
The Mackillop Institute

  • Positioning your ESG commitments as a core part of brand identity to engage funders and partners
  • Tailoring ESG narratives for different audiences including corporates, donors, and government
  • Measuring and communicating progress across social, environmental, and governance priorities
1:00 Networking Luncheon
  • Structuring executive roles for sustainability when life outside of work is complex
  • Modelling values-based leadership informed by personal experiences of care and pressure
  • Creating cultures that embrace flexibility, authenticity, and long-term contribution

Chloe Jesson

Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Queensland Mental Health Alliance

  • Redesigning roles and workloads to match capacity, reduce stress, and promote clarity
  • Creating visible progression opportunities even within flat structures
  • Leveraging internal mobility and skill-sharing to build future leaders from within

Elfa Moraitakis

Chief Executive Officer
SydWest Multicultural Services

  • Identifying and developing emerging talent early through structured mentorship and succession plans
  • Championing diverse leadership pathways to reflect the communities served
  • Designing leadership pipelines that blend lived experience, cultural intelligence, and strategic capability

Angela Johnston

Chief People Officer
Achieve Australia

  • Identifying key scope 3 emissions sources relevant to your supply chain and service delivery model
  • Developing data collection protocols that balance rigour with feasibility
  • Collaborating with partners and funders to ensure aligned reporting and accountability
  • Embedding ESG thinking into strategic planning rather than treating it as a standalone compliance activity
  • Empowering staff and leadership to take ownership of ESG goals through internal alignment
  • Demonstrating long-term value creation through integrated impact, sustainability, and governance reporting

Panellist:

Gary Shaw

IDG Ambassador and Member, New Zealand Modern Slavery Leadership Advisory Group
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Jay Crangle

Head of ESG
Sustainable Business Council NZ

Alison Cameron

Head of Risk and Regulation
HammondCare

  • Expanding traditional measurement frameworks to reflect cultural, spiritual, and relational outcomes
  • Honouring Indigenous knowledge systems and community-defined indicators of success
  • Creating space for alternative narratives that value healing, connection, and collective wellbeing

Dr Tiffany McClomskey

Chief Executive Officer
Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation (KBHAC)

Justine Gordon

Chief Executive Officer
The Burdekin Association

Barbara O’Neill

Director
The Burdekin Association

3:30 Afternoon refreshments
  • Applying agile practices to improve responsiveness, iterate faster, and strengthen innovation across teams
  • Leveraging data-driven decision-making to prioritise investments, measure ROI, and refine strategy
  • Embracing entrepreneurial thinking to diversify revenue, improve customer (beneficiary) experience, and grow impact sustainably

Maroushka Saldanha

Business Development Lead
Institute of Community Directors Australia

  • Exploring emerging models of nonprofit governance, funding, and collaboration shaping the next decade
  • Anticipating shifts in workforce, technology, and policy to stay ahead of disruption
  • Positioning your organisation strategically to thrive in a values-driven, impact-focused, and tech-enabled sector

Doug Taylor

Chief Executive Officer
The Smith Family

5:00 Closing remarks from the Chair and end of conference