FPL Advisory supports clients across many industry sectors to resolve risks, create opportunities and support government engagement. A member-based non-profit organisation was seeking long-term sustainability with respect to government funding and program development as they continued to contend with issues around straddling the advocacy-advisory divide.
Situation
A member-based federated body in Victoria was facing a challenging future with their longer term financial sustainability under question. With a significant portion of revenue from government sources, there appeared to be a disconnect to the cost base and expectations on the accompanying service delivery for that government funding and the associated funding levels. FPL Advisory was commissioned to conduct a financial sustainability review of the organisation.
Action
FPL Advisory reviewed the current suite of service offerings and conducted a stakeholder engagement program with their departmental and ministerial stakeholders. Combined with background research into the organisation and the broader sector, this gave us a detailed view of their current and potential capabilities. Many of the organisation’s functions were unfunded or underfunded when aligned against government stakeholder funding levels and expectations or were structured in a way that meant significant sunk costs were considered extraneous by departmental partners and so was effectively funded out of retained earnings.
Resolution
The review outlined a suite of recommendations for internal reform including modifying the approach to costing programs to be consistent with similar organisations and external reforms such as working towards a service level agreement with their chief departmental stakeholders. We also found that with recent investments in building internal capabilities, the organisation was in a good position to keep building on its reputation for high quality work which will have a positive feedback effect on pricing negotiations into the future. This provided a validated basis for future strategic development as the organisation continued its growth.