Basic Links & Internet Reference Resources

Below are links to hundreds of resources from around Australia and across the world, divided into categories to help you find the information you need. Basic links and resources are at the top of the list, with more specific links and information further down.

NEWS ABC News Ltd Fairfax Weather

BANKING Westpac NAB ANZ Commonwealth Bendigo

SEARCH Google Yahoo Ask Jeeves White Pages Yellow Pages

SEARCH Dictionary Wikipedia Atlas Postcodes ebay

SEARCH Exchange Rates Conversion Tables Creative Commons Project Gutenberg World Times

Community Resources & Links

Advocacy Community Consultation Community Foundations Contacts Government Peak Bodies Evaluation Finance Accounting Budgeting Fundraising General Not-For-Profit Sector Links and Sites Governance Boards Constitution and Model Rules Running Meetings and Dispute Resolution Management Club/Association Management Program Personnel Management Volunteer Management

Marketing/Media Direct Mail Templates Media Relations Social Marketing Not-for-Profit Law Regulatory Bodies Regulation Legislation Statistics Administration Planning Strategic Planning Business Plans Project Planning Tax Technology Technology Accessibility Guide to Free Software

Advocacy

• Activist Rights (Australia)
• Centre for Lobbying in the Public Interest
• Constructive Criticism for letter writing/petition campaigns (Australia).
• Organising for Effective Advocacy (Canada).
• Building Movement (US)
• Alliance for Justice's E-Advocacy for Nonprofits
• How to win an Online Campaign
• Groundspring's guide to using online advocacy (US)
• Empowerment Zone
• Neighbourhood Funders Group's Community Organizing Toolbox

Community Consultation

• NSW Health's guide to Aboriginal Health, and on the Recognition of Aboriginal peoples' unique position in the history and culture of NSW.
• Queensland Government reference for community engagement practitioners
• Victorian Local Government Association consultation and engagement resource website
• Canadian guide to assessing community needs and resources
• Sample shire/town exit survey - created by Wheatbelt Area Consultative Committee with assistance from Our Community

Community Foundations

• Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) information on community foundations, which also features links to various community foundations across Australia.

Contacts

• All Federal Government Contacts
• The Australian Government Regional Information Services (AGRIS) - links to all Australian Government information for regional Australia.

• Government Departments of "Community"
• Australia - Federal
• ACT
• NSW
• NT
• QLD
• SA
• TAS
• VIC
• (Victorian Government's Contacts and Services directory)
• WA - two departments

• Peak Bodies
• Alphabetical list of Peak Bodies for Australian Community and Social Services Sector.

Evaluation

• Two reports at the DVC site (Australia) - Getting to Know Your Community - A Guide to Using Local Data, and Getting to Know Your Community - A Guide to Gathering Qualitative Information for Community Strengthening.
• Our Community's SWOT analysis guide.
• The Victorian Community Indicators Project.
• Boyd, Boyd and Rapp's program evaluation guide
• Canadian guide to assessing your governance and board.
• Canadian guide to evaluating comprehensive community initiatives.
• Canadian guide to evaluating community programs and initiatives.
• Program evaluation for non-profits with few resources

Finance

• Our Community's Financial Centre
• The free Community Treasurers Guide
• Whatcom Council of Non-profits (US) best practice in financial planning
  
• VicSport's Guide for Sports Clubs on Understanding Lease Hire Agreements
  

• Accounting
• Accounting for Parents & Citizens' Associations (QLD) guide on money management for school committees.

• Budgeting
• The Board Responsibilities section of Our Community's Boards Centre
• Budget Yourselves (UK) - Windows-only software program that helps groups write a budget.

Fundraising

• Our Community's Funding Centre
• Whatcom Council of Non-profits (US) best practice in fundraising
• Discover Total Resources: a Guide for Non-Profits

• Fundraising - Membership Dues
• Helpsheets at Our Community's Funding Centre.
• Membership Director - database software for tracking memberships.
• University of Wisconsin (US) community group membership survey template.

• Fundraising - Grants
• Our Community's Funding Centre
• Apply Yourselves (UK) software
• Alice N.T Reid's proposal writing guide
• CIVICUS'(US)guide

• Fundraising - Sales/Products
• Fundraising Ideas (Australia) has free information, guides and contacts to help with sales or product-based fundraisers

• Fundraising - Special events
• Our Community's Funding Centre special event helpsheets, and fetes and festivals helpsheets
• Meeting Events Australia (MEA) and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Accessible Events - a Guide for Organisers, a new guide aimed at helping event organisers bring down the barriers to participation for people with a disability.
• Shire of Yarra Ranges (VIC) festivals and events planning kit.
• Australasian Special Events - the portal for the event industry, including a service directory of event industry companies.

• Alcohol regulation
Information on alcohol regulations in each state of Australia can be found at:
• ACT
• NSW
• NT
• QLD
• SA
• TAS
• VIC
• WA

• Gambling Regulation
If you want to raise money through gambling then you are going to face a maze of different regulations in every Australian state. Following is a list of all relevant links to State Government websites.



• ACT - General gaming

• NSW - Main publications page for information on promotions and competitions
• Club Bingo
• Housie
• Lucky envelopes
• Trade promotion lotteries
• Interstate Lotteries
• Calcutta
• Raffles
• Casino or gaming nights
  

• NT - General gaming - with links to gaming licence information and requirements.

• Qld - General Gaming
• Gaming Compliance
  
• Gaming Permits, Fees and Charges
  
• Responsible Gaming
  

• SA - General gaming
  
• Bingo - Fact Sheet and Licence Application
  
• Trade Promotion Lotteries - Fact Sheet and Licence Application
  
• Raffles - small, large, larger raffle application information
  

• Tas - General gaming
• Minor Gaming - including raffles, bingo, calcuttas, instant draw bingo, and lucky envelopes - Click Here
• Trade promotion lotteries

• Vic - General gaming
• Bingo
• Lucky envelopes
• Trade promotion lotteries
• Raffles

• WA - General gaming

• Food Regulation
All Australian states are moving towards a common set of food safety standards - the national Food Standards Code. Each still has its own state legislation, with the links below to information about that standard, or the differences between the two.
• ACT
• NSW
• NT
• QLD
• SA
• TAS
• VIC
• WA

• Fundraising - Running an Auction
  • Sales Powerhouse's (US) timetable to guide auction planning

• Fundraising - Donations
• Our Community's Funding Centre

• Fundraising - Bequests
• Our Community's Funding Centre

• Fundraising - Partnerships with Business
• Our Community's Community and Business Partnership Brokerage Service and Resource Centre
• Our Community's case studies of successful partnerships
• Our Community's Funding Centre
• The Prime Ministers Community Business Partnership (Australia).
• US Journal of Extension collaboration assessment tool.
• EOLG (UK) partnership assessment tools
• UK Charity Commission on partnership benefits to charities/groups
• Partnerships.org.uk's A-Z of partnerships and networks

• Fundraising - Workplace giving
• Our Community's Funding Centre
• The Australian Taxation Office's guide

• Fundraising - Sponsorship
• Our Community's Funding Centre
• Our Community's Community and Business Partnerships Brokerage Service also has information here and here.

• Online Fundraising
• Our Community's Funding Centre helpsheets on donations and appeals.
• Our Community Giving Centre
• Various guides to online fundraising from Funding Consultant Groundspring(US)

General Not-for-profit sector sites

• Not-for-Profit Megasites

• Australian megasites
• Our Community
• Communitybuilders - NSW Government site
• Community.gov.au
• New South Wales Department of State and Regional Development

Governance

• HBS Working Knowledge (US) guide to achieving balance in non-profit goverance
• Governance Hub (UK) governance resources and guides and governance in small community organisations
• Voluntary Arts Network's (US) governance information



• Boards
• Our Community's Boards Centre, and helpheets.



• Evaluation
• Our Community's Board Effectiveness Quiz
• US board evaluation checklist


• Promoting Diversity
• Our Community's Boards Centre and Policy Bank
• The Diversity (Women) section of the OC Boards Centre
• Other diversity-related OC helpsheets.
• The NSW Government's Taking Participation Seriously guide


• Occupational Health and Safety
• Our Community's OH&S helpsheet


• Risk Management
• Our Community's risk management helpsheets
• Our Community's risk management checklists


• Recruitment
• Our Community's information on recruitment
  
  
• Constitution/Rules - Model Rules
• ACT
• NSW
• NT
• QLD
• SA
• TAS
• VIC
• WA


• Running Meetings
• Meeting Procedures
• Our Community's guide.
  
• Robert's Rules of Order (US), or the simplified version
• MAV's Meeting Procedures (Australia)
• City of Sydney Code of Meeting Practice
• The Greens' (Australia) Meetings and Decision-Making
• UK Charities Commission


• Dispute Resolution
• Our Community's dispute resolution helpsheet and dispute resolution policy.
• Victoria
• Queensland
• NSW
• ACT

(In all other states you will have to pay for your mediation).

Management

• Our Community's resources
• US Enterprise Foundation's "how-to" for non-profit managers.
• US Enterprise Foundation's answers to non-profit FAQs
  



• Club/Association Management Program
• Australian Sports Commission modules
• Creating a club
• Club/Association planning
• Committee management
• Conducting a meeting
• Financial management
• Sponsorship, fundraising and grants
• Marketing and promoting sport and recreation
• Event management
• Legal issues and risk management



• Personnel Management
  • Our Community's recruitment guide.
  • Canadian guide to developing job descriptions
  • Canadian guide to director hiring and appraisal
  
  
  
• Volunteer Management
  • Our Community's guide
    
  • Community Builders (NSW) employee volunteering guide
  • Australian Volunteer Search
  • Volunteer Canada
  • Volunteering England
  • Volunteer Canada's publication Volunteer Connections: The Benefits and Challenges of Employer-Supported Volunteerism
  • UK volunteering assessment page

Marketing/Media

• Our Community's Marketing, Media and Post Centre

• Direct Mail
• Our Community's Marketing, Media and Post Centre and Marketing  Tools and Resources page
• Creating an in-house mailing list (US)
• Direct mail analysis tool(US)

• Templates
• Our Community's template links including:
• The HP (Hewlett Packard) site
• The Microsoft Office site (US)

• Media Relations
• Our Community's Media helpsheets
• Our Community's searchable index of Australia's media organisations.
• Womedia's media relations resources for community organisations and the volunteer sector.
• About.com's handy non-profit marketing information and helpsheets
• Voluntary Arts Network (US) marketing and media marketing resources
• UK pocket guide to answering journalists' questions


• Social Marketing
• Canadian social marketing guide

Not-for-profit Law

• Regulatory bodies
• ACT (Tel: (02) 6207 0473)
• NSW (Tel: 1800 502 042)
• Northern Territory (Tel: 1800 019 319)
• Queensland (Tel: 1800 502 042)
• South Australia
• Tasmania (Tel: 1300 654 499)
• Victoria (Tel: 1300 558 181)
• Western Australia (Tel: 1300 304 074)

• Regulation
• OC's guide to incorporation procedures
• OC's list of state fundraising regulations

• Legislation
• ACT
• New South Wales
• Queensland
• Northern Territory
• South Australia
• Tasmania (first reference) and second reference
• Victoria
• Western Australia

• Statistics
• Giving Australia Survey (2005) (PMCBP)
• Australia's nonprofit sector (1999) (ABS)
• "Non-profit institutions contribute 3.3% to GDP" (ABS)
• Generosity of Australian Businesses (ABS)
• Business Generosity Survey (ABS)
• Voluntary Work, Australia (ABS)

• Administration
• Correspondence
• Microsoft's correspondence templates


• Codes of Conduct
• Our Community's Ethical Solutions book
• MAV's Model Code of Conduct, with a further advisory note here
• Independent Sector's (US) Code of Ethics
• Independent Sector's (US) ethics checklist
• Charity Commission's (UK) conflicts of interest guide for charity trustees
• MAV's Conflicts of Interest Guide
• Ethics information and helpsheets (Canada)


• Personnel Procedures
  
• Government Offices London - Succession Strategies Toolkit


• University Centres
  
• Grand Valley State University, USA, School of Public and Nonprofit Administration

Planning

• Strategic Planning
• Our Community's strategic planning advice
• Strategic Planning in Non-Profit Organisations (USA)
• Whatcom Council of Non-profits (US) best practice in strategic planning


• Business Plans
• Our Community's guide
• Creating an Effective Business Plan (US)



• Project Planning
• IMLS (US) guide

Tax

• ATO tax basics for non-profit organisations
• ATO GiftPack for deductible gift recipients and donors
• ATO FAQs on gifts and fundrasing
• ATO information sheet on your group's ability to claim DGR status
• ATO income tax guide for not-for-profits, including a worksheet to figure out ITEC.

Technology

• Our Community's Tech Community and Management and Training Centre
  
• Voluntary Arts Network's (US) computer and IT advice
• IT resource guide (UK)
• US-based NPower's technology guides and tools
• Techsoup's technology resources

Technology Accessibility

• Links to Australian Web Accessibility Policies and Guidelines via the Vision Australia website.
• The Australian Government Information Management Office guidelines to minimum website accessibility standards.
• Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes.

Free Software

Follow this link to Our Community's Community Technology Helpsheets to view some of the best free and sector-specific software available.

 

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Our Community Pty Ltd   www.ourcommunity.com.au   ABN 24 094 608 705
National Headquarters: 51 Stanley St, West Melbourne Victoria 3003 Australia
(PO Box 354 North Melbourne 3051 Victoria)
Telephone (03) 9320 6800   Fax (03) 9326 6859   Email service@ourcommunity.com.au