Today’s announcement by the ANCD of a survey to determine the level of pain being experienced by ATOD NGOs is welcome – the real challenge is the action points arising from the survey results. The ANCD quite rightly recognise the dual issues of the enormous work in doing the original funding submission and the ongoing reporting requirements. Having been involved in both, and good compromise that reduces the onerous side for NGOs whilst still ensuring transparency can only be a good thing. Feel free to post your funding experiences to share with others.

The announcement:

To CEOs of NGOs within the Drug and Alcohol Sector

At a number of recent community consultation meetings held by the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) the burden on drug and alcohol NGOs in complying with submission and reporting processes from funding bodies has been raised as a major concern. This concern has also been echoed in discussions with the Australasian Therapeutic Communities Association (ATCA).

Given the ANCD will be launching some major research on the NGO sector in early 2009, the membership of the ANCD has requested that a short survey be undertaken by the ANCD Secretariat to gain a broader understanding of the extent and degree of the impact of this issue on services.

The survey specifically seeks information on a number of different aspects, including time spent on completing funding submissions and complying with reporting requirements once funding has been granted.

As the CEOs of these services we would value your input by having you complete this on line survey. It takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and can be accessed at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=JJ_2feoEQVEOdexY3lZfcHiQ_3d_3d

The closing date for surveys to be submitted is 21st January 2009.

We appreciate your valuable time and input. Should you require further information or assistance in completing this survey please contact Janice Jones, Janice@atca.org.au or Denise Gilchrist, denise@ancd.org.au regarding this request.

Dr John Herron
Chairman
Australian National Council on Drugs