Developing financial diversity, strength and growth
- We ensure that the health of our communities is a funded priority in mainstream health provision.
- We deliver bold and exciting revenue generation activities that appeal to our communities.
- We ensure diversification of our income sources to ensure that we can deliver against the health needs of our communities which may be underfunded.
- We make prudent decisions about investing our resources, and ensure that these investments are ethically sound.
- We endeavour to find efficiencies in spending and source talent and resources which are cost effective while upholding the standards of our organisation.
Summary Highlights
Finance Operations
We’re here to build ACON’s financial diversity, strength, and growth. We do this through sound financial planning, diversifying income streams, innovative fundraising, and strong risk management and compliance.
ACON’s risk management framework is informed by the principles and guidelines set out in the Australian Risk Management Standard (AS/NZS ISO 31000:2018). The framework comprises policies, procedures, guidelines and operational tools to support decision-making for the management of risks. Each business unit maintains a risk register and these registers feed into the organisational wide risk register, as and when required.
ACON maintains a Compliance Framework, which also comprises policies, procedures and guidelines. A breach register is maintained to ensure that any breaches of legislation or policies are documented and resolved.
Senior managers continue to have access to a legislative alert system to ensure they remain up to date with all current legislation relevant to their business unit.
Risk management and compliance reports are provided to the Finance and Audit Committee and the Board on a quarterly basis.
ACON has a Finance & Audit Committee, which is responsible, on behalf of the organisation, for ensuring that ACON’s organisational culture, capabilities, systems and processes are appropriate to protect the financial health and the reputation of ACON in all audit related areas.
The Committee, composed of experienced financial professionals and independent directors, provides oversight and guidance on many financial, risk and compliance matters. The Committee meets bi-monthly and their diligent oversight and independent perspective contributes to the integrity and transparency of ACON’s operations.
The Committee’s work includes reviewing the financial reporting processes, the systems and internal controls, risk management, compliance and audit processes, as well as reviewing and analysing the quarterly financial and investment reports; monitoring ACON’s internal and external auditors’ findings and recommendations with regard to ACON’s capability and performance in all audit areas, ensuring that appropriate corrective actions are taken in a timely manner when deficiencies are identified; playing a significant role in advising the Board of Directors in relation to the investment portfolio and its performance.
It ensures that ACON’s resources are properly utilised to maintain returns, while managing portfolio risks, within parameters approved by the Board.
This year marked a significant milestone for ACON’s Finance unit as we transitioned from Sun Systems to Sage Intacct Systems. This strategic move has brought forth a multitude of benefits that have transformed our financial operations. The key advantages of Sage Intacct Systems include:
- Enhanced efficiency: The automation of key financial processes has reduced manual entry and increased operational efficiency.
- Real-time financial reporting: With Sage Intacct’s cloud-based platform, we now have access to real-time financial data, enabling timely and informed decision-making.
- Scalability: As ACON Finance grows, Sage Intacct Systems can easily scale to meet our expanding business needs without compromising performance.
In addition to upgrading our core financial systems, we have also integrated Adaptive Systems. This will enable streamlined budgeting processes and dynamic reporting.
The implementation of these new systems is expected to significantly improve our operational efficiency and enhance the accuracy of our financial data. This, in turn, will empower our decision-making process, allowing us to make more informed, strategic decisions that will drive the success of ACON.
We gratefully acknowledge the pro bono support provided during 2023-2024 by the following legal advisers:
- Allens
- KL Gates
- Norton Rose Fulbright
- Dowson Turco Lawyers
The assistance provided so willingly and professionally by these organisations has been invaluable in assisting ACON achieve its strategic goals and further our work in our communities.
We will further enhance our financial management system. Additional functions will provide efficiencies through invoice automation, fraud detection capabilities, and advanced reporting systems to support informed decision-making and strategic planning.
Fundraising & Philanthropy
We’re here to deliver bold, innovative and sustainable fundraising initiatives and activities that connect with and appeal to our communities to help continue funding our work.
Our efforts to achieve our objectives in improving the health and wellbeing of our communities is significantly enhanced through fundraising and philanthropy. We simply would not have the impact or reach that we do without the thousands of dedicated supporters who donate and raise funds for us every year, in what continues to be a very challenging fundraising environment.
We thank the many hundreds of supporters who continue to make ACON’s work possible through fundraising and philanthropy.
Celebrate With Pride is ACON’s year-round peer-to-peer fundraising campaign. The campaign provides a platform for people and businesses to raise funds for ACON during special occasions and days of significance, as well as during key periods such as the Mardi Gras season and Pride Month. Supporters can access a range of resources and support from ACON’s fundraising team to help make their fundraiser a success. Over the year, more than 15 fundraisers were registered with Celebrate With Pride, raising around $24,000. We express our sincerest thanks to all who got involved with, or donated to, our Celebrate With Pride campaign.
Our communities continued to show wonderful support for our long-running and much-loved World AIDS Day campaign, the Red Ribbon Appeal. We collected donations at trains stations in the CBD and at theatre productions. We provided support to local LGBTQ+ venues in Sydney, Newcastle and Lismore that hosted fundraising events. And we assisted several businesses, corporates and community organisations in holding Red Ribbon Appeal benefits. We express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported the Red Ribbon Appeal.
Visit the Red Ribbon Appeal website to learn more and get involved.
Over the year, we continued to raise funds at community events and we’re grateful to all who made a donation to ACON over the past year. Our annual gala event Honour Awards drew a strong crowd, and we thank everyone who attended the event, participated in the silent auction, bought a raffle ticket or made a donation.
Bingay, ACON’s long-running community engagement event, continues to be popular and well-attended. Held monthly at The Beresford, funds raised at Bingay goes towards supporting ACON’s programs and services.
Local LGBTQ venues continued their fundraising efforts for ACON and we extend our sincerest thanks for their support, including Universal, The Beresford and Stonewall Hotel.
There are many ways to donate to ACON and this year, we express our thanks to those that supported us via external fundraisers.
In August, ACON provided assistance and resources to a number of supporters participating in the City2Surf. Altogether, the ACON team raised around $3,794 for ACON.
For GiveOUT Day in 2023, we raised funds for our Rovers Program. Through donations and GiveOUT Day’s matching program, we raised around $2600.
We thank everyone who got involved and made a donation to ACON through external fundraising initiatives.
We continued to grow our valued fundraising partnerships with corporates, businesses and organisations. We extend our deepest thanks to the many organisations for contributing to our Red Ribbon Appeal, Celebrate With Pride and Honour Awards campaigns, or for holding fundraisers for ACON, including Jean Paul Gaultier, ABSOLUT, Merivale, people2people,
OUT@NBCUniversal, Universal Hotels, Deutsche Bank, Allens Lawyers, CBRE NSW, N-Able, Asics, I Equals Change and many more. We thank all our fundraising partners for their incredible support.
We thank the many hundreds of supporters who continue to make ACON’s work possible through fundraising and philanthropy. We are truly humbled by the generosity shown by our communities and our allies. We thank all our donors and partners for your kind assistance, as well as all those who supported us through community events, appeals, fundraising drives and in-kind contributions.
In the coming year, we will develop and implement a multi-year fundraising strategic plan, enabling ACON to better meet its goals and support the communities we serve.
Our Focus Areas
