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Our Ambassadors are a selected group of highly talented people who have made their special skills available to the organisation. The program is built around extraordinary commitment to OzChild with a complementary skillset to contribute to growth of our:

• profile
• financial strength
• services

The program was initially launched in 2007. Since then the program has produced or committed to:

• $140,000 in three donations
• $8,700 in customer invoice donations
• Donation of training fees from financial advisor
• Significant pro bono legal contribution to business development and risk management
• A series of marketing and PR workshops
• Management and business focus workshops and personal coaching
• Co-ordinated leadership training across all leadership levels within OzChild
• Strategic planning workshop for OzChild's Board
• Media plan with media release articles
• Project management of materials production
• MC and support for public fundraising events.

Ambassadors are asked to keep OzChild in the front of their minds, seeking opportunities to add to its growth and to proudly align themselves with the organisation.

Steve Cadden, an OzChild Ambassador and OzChild Unite member, tells how supporting OzChild has enriched both his personal and business life.  Find out here about growing your business while supporting OzChild through OzChild Unite.

Ambassador Program concept

OzChild has its strategic plan built around growing its profile in the community and with key stakeholders, its financial strength and its range and quality of services.

• Profile embodies knowledge of who we are, what we do and why we make a difference to children's lives. The way we are known should connect our name to the valuable contribution we make to children's lives. Our profile should encourage appreciation, respect and support for OzChild from an ever widening public.
• Financial strength includes growth in operational revenue or savings, investments and assets and discretionary funding capactiy. Increased operational revenue means more service to more children. Increased investments and assets ensures both our resilience in tough times and our discretionary revenue to support our aims and objectives.
• Services to children, their families and those systems involved in children's current welfare and their future are our very reason for existence. We take an evidence based aproach to identifying current issues affecting children's lives and any trends that may affect their futures. Once these have been identified, we provide best practice solutions. Where these do not exist, we create and pilot possible solutions, based on research and practice wisdom to make a positive difference to those children.

We need help to extend each of these three inter-related areas.

The Ambassador Program is designed to allow a select group of influential people to contribute to one or more of these areas.

On their own each member is valuable, but as a group they become part of a team, the collective energy of which will make an unprecendented contribution to the wellbeing of disadvantaged children.

Why does this matter? Our children are on of the most vulnerable groups in our society, yet it is they who will shape tomorrow's community.

Who becomes an Ambassador?

Ambassadors are invited by the CEO of OzChild to become involved for one year at a time based on their unique potential contribution to one of the three areas above.

They are typically introduced by existing supporters of OzChild because their friends or colleagues see them as potential willing contributors. The group size is limited to a maximum of fifteen people.

The commitments of ambassadors are to

• understand and publicly advocate for the organisation
• set personal specific goals in one of the critical areas above and
• work to achieve those goals for the organisation throughout the year.

Each ambassador will be given recognition for their contribution to OzChild.

Why become an Ambassador?

• Becoming an ambassador is about knowing that you are using your lifetime's learning and skills to give back and contribute to a better world.
• It is about knowing that you personally have something special to contribute because of who you are and what you have achieved - that you belong to a group of like minded and influential people who share their altruism and effort to make a real difference.
• The business world has many valuable solutions to the social issues in our community but their contributions are often not heard.

Making the decision and commitment to the role

• The first step is to be recommended and then invited to discuss your possible involvement.
• For those interested, the next steps are to consider how your history, skills set and context could be used to enhance OzChild's goals.
• Decide which of those you would choose to commit and at what extent in the forthcoming year.

In 2011 OzChild celebrates 160 years of caring for children! OzChild is Australia's oldest independent, not-for-profit, children's charity, with a history of caring for children which dates back to 1851. We continue to care for children, support families and strengthen the potential and life opportunities of children and young people.

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Simone

When my family decided to go into the foster care program, we were full of anticipation and curiosity. We knew that it would be rewarding, but we under-estimated just how rewarding it could be.  The experiences I have had over the several years of fostering have been funny, educating, challenging and emotional.

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