About this organisation
Summary of activities
Established in 1985, the Victorian Women s Trust (VWT) is a proudly independent feminist organisation. The Trust support women, girls and gender diverse people to thrive. VWT is 100% powered by donations from people in the community who share our vision for an equal future for all. We create social change projects and campaigns, conduct research on the issues affecting our communities, run thought-provoking events, and provide mentorship opportunities. Our advocacy work focuses on three high impact areas: economic security, health and safety, and equal representation. Creating change in these areas is key to achieving true gender equality. In 2023-24, VWT has continued with its programs summarised as follows: Here She Is!, features hundreds of successful women with a range of backgrounds, disciplines, and professional expertise. It has been used as a directory of leaders since its launch on International Women s Day in 2013. Rural Women Online Phase 2 Project: VWT, in partnership with the Dugdale Trust for Women and Girls has with the phase 2 of the project with the primary objective of fast tracking training and technology support for rural women so that they are skilled in connecting, and re-connecting, to others socially, services and supports to isolated women. Kitchen Table Conversations (KTC) is a model of civic engagement that revolves around one simple idea: that engaging people in the kind of open and honest dialogue that women have had around kitchen tables for centuries has the power to create real change. Madam Speaker: is a celebration and collection of speeches made by women and gender diverse people. Their speeches often provide unique perspectives on consequential issues throughout Australian history. This initiative seeks to influence people s understanding of women s continuous and critical contribution to society.
Like what you see?
Outcomes
Outcomes are self-reported by charities
Programs and activities
Name: Here She Is!
URL: www.vwt.org.au
Classification: Community information (Community development > Community information)
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- Adults - aged 65 and over
- Females
- Other charities
- People from a culturally and linguistically diverse background (or people from a CALD background)
- People in rural/regional/remote communities
Name: Rural Women Online Phase 2 Project
URL: https://ruralwomenonline.org.au/
Classification: Community development (Community development )
Beneficiaries:- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- Females
- People in rural/regional/remote communities
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.
Transparency
Scoring detail
Details