Dear Soles4Souls Australia Community,
An Important Message About The Future Of Soles4Souls Australia
In 2011 I was inspired to make a positive difference to the lives of others and began a shoe drive with the goal to collect 10,000 pairs of shoes.
From this humble beginning…
Today, five years on…
- We are close to 150,000 pairs of shoes donated and redistributed around the world, protecting feet and providing opportunities for people in need in our global community both in Australia and abroad;
- We have supported the employment of people living with a disability through our partnership with Wesley Social Enterprises in South Australia;
- We have engaged hundreds of volunteers Australia-wide who have volunteered thousands of hours to the redistribution of shoes;
- We have connected with thousands of people in the community who have donated their shoes;
- We have saved more than 50,000kgs of potential waste from prematurely ending up in landfill; and
- We have received recognition for our contribution to the community.
Thank you for working together with us to make this possible.
All of this was achieved through 90% of volunteer hours and the support of some great Australian businesses which has ensured we have had no storage or building overheads.
I also wish to make a special mention to our community of financial donors including backing our Crowd Funding campaign in 2013 which enabled a shoe drive in Victoria and tens of thousands of more shoes to be redistributed around the world. Again, thank you!
I am proud to say that for the past five years, we have quite literally run the organisation on a “shoe string”.
In 2014 we were boosted by a couple grants which supported the start-up of our partnership with Wesley Social Enterprises – this partnership supported our work and was the leg up we needed to see whether we could turn this work of collecting and redistributing shoes into a sustainable ongoing operation.
Through another grant we were also able to purchase a van which is used by our volunteers to collect shoes from supporting businesses in South Australia who receive shoes from the public (for the first three years I did this using my own car).
In 2014 we employed a staff member for two days per week. This was instrumental in helping to secure large scale shoe drives and important partnerships which included Triple M and BankSA.
But… the Australian charity sector, with more than 60,000 charities (and continues to rise), is highly competitive.
Creating a sustainable charity is extremely challenging.
And, once again, for the past three months we have been operating all administration on volunteer resources.
For us to continue and be independently sustainable we need ongoing grant funding and financial donations…
However, grant funding is competitive and often not available to pay wages – which is the main expense for Soles4Souls Australia to cover resource costs associated with shoe distribution. And, if you are successful in gaining a grant, grants of this nature are also not recurring.
Therefore, this makes financial donations even more critical to ensure charities like ours stay operating. Unfortunately, while we have received significant donations of shoes we have not received significant financial donations over the past five years to ensure we can continue our work on an ongoing basis.
In a tough and competitive charity sector we know collaboration is key to sustainability. Therefore the decision has been made by the Board of Soles4Souls Australia to reach out to interested individuals or organisations. As such, we are keen to receive Expressions of Interest from groups and organisations willing to champion the work of Soles4Souls in either a partnership, merger or take-over.
On a personal level, after 5 years I am ready to hand over the baton in regards to changing lives through the gift of shoes.
I have loved being part of this community and leading the start-up of Soles4Souls Australia, but my life has changed significantly – including becoming a Mum earlier this year.
I have gladly given more than 10,000 volunteer hours, including relocating to Victoria and staying with family for half of 2013 to host a shoe drive interstate.
I have immense gratitude for all my family and friends who supported this work and literally made it possible for me to follow my passion and make a difference in this way.
I am also incredibly grateful for all the support received from the public.
It has certainly been a big journey from the goal of just 10,000 pairs of shoes.
Redistributing 150,000 pairs of shoes has been an achievement only made possible with a conscious and giving community. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you!
Where to from here…
We are taking expressions of interest until 9am Monday October 24, 2016.
All Expressions Of Interest will be reviewed by the Board between October 24 and October 31.
For those groups or organisations interested, we have a strong affiliation with the USA Soles4Souls (www.soles4souls.org) and Wesley Social Enterprises (www.wse.org.au), both of whom are willing to continue their current role.
I will also work with you to ensure a smooth transition.
If you are interested in continuing this work and would like more information please email me at info@soles4souls.com.au.
If a suitable partnership, merger or take-over of our work is not found by the end of November 2016, all donated shoes in storage will be redistributed and operations will wind up on Friday, December 16.
Thank you again and I look forward to connecting with you in the future.
Warm regards,
Dalice
Chair and Founder of Soles4Souls Australia