About this organisation
Summary of activities
verview of the Year: The 2023/24 financial year marked a period of incredible achievements and meaningful community impact for Epilepsy ACT. This year was also the final year of funding from the Epilepsy Smart Australia Program, and while our work continues, I would like to take this moment to express our deep gratitude to the Australian Government for supporting our programs over the years. Their commitment has helped us to provide invaluable resources, build awareness, and extend our reach within the Canberra region. Events and Community Engagement: Our annual events and engagement activities continued to foster connection, raise awareness, and drive our mission. The Christmas in July Party, a highlight for many, was a great success. With over 70 attendees, we enjoyed a day filled with kite-making and flying under perfect weather conditions. It was a beautiful day for making connections, building community, and enjoying the outdoors. In March, we held the annual Walk for Epilepsy around Lake Burley Griffin, complete with family activities and a strong turnout. Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers, supporters, and participants who made this event a heartening display of community solidarity. This year s event raised $[insert amount], and every dollar goes toward supporting epilepsy awareness and services. We re especially grateful to our friends at the Tradies Club in Dickson and the many pharmacies across Canberra, Queanbeyan, and Bungendore who sold our soft purple cows and puppies, helping to generate awareness and much-needed funds for our programs. Westfield Woden also played a pivotal role, graciously allowing us to sell plush toys throughout the centre. Training and Outreach: Epilepsy ACT provided an array of training sessions over the past year, addressing the needs of schools, workplaces, and private groups across the region. These sessions empower people to better understand and support those living with epilepsy, building a more inclusive community. Additionally, we participated in the launch of the Child UnLimited initiative at Parliament House, aligning ourselves with organisations dedicated to making a difference in the lives of young people. Media and Awareness Initiatives: Throughout the year, Epilepsy ACT was active in the media, participating in four radio interviews, including an important segment on ABC Canberra discussing SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy) and the Make March Purple campaign. Riotact also supported us with articles and homepage features, helping to shed light on epilepsy stigma and SUDEP. These public platforms are essential to spreading awareness, and we thank our media partners for helping us to amplify these important messages.
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Outcomes
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Programs and activities
Name: Epilepsy Education
URL: https://www.epilepsyact.org.au/online-training/
Classification: Education partnerships (Education > Education support > Education partnerships)
Beneficiaries:- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- Adults - aged 65 and over
- Children - aged 6 to under 15
- Early childhood - aged under 6
- Families
- General community in Australia
- People with chronic illness (including terminal illness)
- People with disabilities
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Name: Epilepsy Smart Australia Program
Classification: Epilepsy (Health > Diseases and conditions > Brain and nervous system disorders > Epilepsy )
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- Adults - aged 65 and over
- Children - aged 6 to under 15
- Early childhood - aged under 6
- Families
- Migrants, refugees or asylum seekers
- People from a culturally and linguistically diverse background (or people from a CALD background)
- People in rural/regional/remote communities
- People with chronic illness (including terminal illness)
- People with disabilities
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Finances
What is this?
This graph shows how much revenue (money in) and expenses (money out) the charity has had each year over the last few years. Charities have many sources of revenue, such as donations, government grants, and services they sell to the public. Similarly, expenses are everything that allows the charity to run, from paying staff to rent.
What should I be looking for?
First off, this graph gives a general indication of how big the charity is - charities range in size from tiny (budgets of less than $100,000) to enormous (budgets more than $100 million). You're also looking for variability - if the charity's revenue and expenses are jumping up and down from year to year, make sure there's a good reason for it.
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want revenue to be slightly above expenses. If expenses is reliably above revenue, the charity is losing money. If revenue is much larger than expenses, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
If a charity receives more money than it spends, that's a surplus (in business, it would be called profit). If it spends more than it receives, that's a deficit. This chart shows surpluses and deficits for the charity over the last few years.
What should I be looking for?
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want a charity to make a small surplus on average. A deficit means that charity lost money that year, which may indicate poor financial management or just a series of bad circumstances. If the charity always has a huge surplus, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
This chart compares the amount the charity receives from various sources, including donations (i.e. money given by the general public or philanthropy), goods and services, government grants, and other sources.
What should I be looking for?
Donations are an important source of revenue for some charities. Others rely more heavily on government funding, or on revenue from other sources. This is an indication of how much they need donors to accomplish their mission. Note that there is no 'good' or 'bad' amount of donations for a charity to have. It might be interesting to look at values over time - are they going up or down? A charity that gets less donations every year may be in trouble.
What is this?
Assets are things that the charity owns that are worth something. This could be anything from a car to investments. Similarly, liabilities are debts or obligations that the charity owes to someone else, like a loan or an agreement to pay for something.
What should I be looking for?
Firstly, in general a charity should have more assets than liabilities. If it doesn't, it implies that the charity might not be able to pay its debts, and you should look very closely at the charity's annual and financial reports to make sure they are taking steps to remedy this. Current assets should generally be above current liabilities - that means the charity can easily pay off the debts that are coming due soon. Beyond that, look for a large stockpile of assets. While a charity should have enough assets to keep it afloat in hard times (a 'buffer') if that stockpile gets too large the charity could be using that money more effectively. As always, if you have concerns check the annual and financial reports.
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