Community Partner: Harriet Beavis, Director of Fundraising at PathFinders
Skilled Volunteer: Carl Fernando, Risk Management Group, Macquarie
Commencement of Partnership/Collaboration: November 2020
Location: Hong Kong
Problem Statement
Founded in 2007, PathFinders is a well-recognized Hong Kong-registered charity with a mission to ensure the most vulnerable and unsupported children in Hong Kong are protected and respected, and their Migrant Domestic Worker (MDW) mothers are empowered to find a path to a brighter future.
Into its 13th year of operation, PathFinders was experiencing the growing pains of an organization of its age and size. With limited headcount, capacity, and skills amongst the team, PathFinders needed to bring external experts to help it work through some of the more complex aspects of corporate governance, such as risk management.
Risk management has always been the remit of PathFinders’ senior leadership team. Over past years, it has become increasingly important as the organization has evolved its strategies, programming, and budget, making it more important to assess any changes or new risks that may have arisen. The evolving and unstable external environment was yet another impetus to create a robust risk management framework.
Following their initial contact at the Connection Session, Harriet Beavis, Director Fundraising of PathFinders, and Carl Fernando, Risk Management Group, Macquarie, began a partnership in which Carl helped the organization create a risk management framework.
Carl was invested from the beginning, and willing to go the extra mile. He didn’t wait for us to tell him the next steps. He did the legwork and made recommendations or chased us for an answer – this was key to his success.
FSI’s Shared Impact Solution: Community Connections
The PathFinders Partnership
PathFinders was one of the social impact organizations that benefited from the connections with skills-based volunteers, at a time when a robust risk management framework was much needed to bolster organizational governance.
“Although there are other skills-based volunteer platforms out there, we have struggled in the past to identify committed and skilled individuals,” said Harriet Beavis, Director of Fundraising at PathFinders.
Harriet’s reason to join Community Connections’s Connection Program was to meet and identify high-calibre volunteers whose skills and passions align with PathFinders’ work and needs. In just an hour, Harriet was able to connect with eight Skilled Volunteers, and she has since been in touch with four who were interested in supporting the organization’s work.
Among the four Skilled Volunteers was Carl Fernando, an Enterprise Risk, Compliance and Governance professional from Macquarie with 15 years of experience in the field, and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. “Carl was invested from the beginning, and willing to go the extra mile,” said Harriet. “He didn’t wait for us to tell him the next steps. He did the legwork and made recommendations or chased us for an answer – this was key to his success. He was very proactive in sharing his skills and what he could support us with, which made it easy to direct his offer to my colleagues and to my board, who were interested to learn more about his background and offer to support on various aspects of board governance.”
From PathFinders, I’m obtaining the education, experience, and opportunity that comes from working with an incredible organization looking to support and enrich the lives of expectant mothers and their children, that are some of the most under-represented and vulnerable in our society.
Since the Connection Session, Carl has taken the lead to manage a thorough organization-wide risk review for PathFinders. He organized a series of conversations with different team and board members until a scope of suitable work around risk management was developed for him to drive forward. Carl was also generous with his time, and spent a day at PathFinders’ community centre to “onboard” himself, observe, and learn more about the organization’s work and operations, as well as to meet key staff to kick-start the risk management project.
And PathFinders isn’t the only beneficiary in this partnership. “I’ve benefited immensely,” said Carl. “From PathFinders, I’m obtaining the education, experience, and opportunity that comes from working with an incredible organization looking to support and enrich the lives of expectant mothers and their children, that are some of the most under-represented and vulnerable in our society.”
In addition to being articulate about his skills and expertise, Carl was eloquent when presenting his risk management framework and project plan to PathFinders’ extended leadership team to ensure their understanding of the project and their respective involvement. For example, Carl has led numerous workshops covering all aspects of PathFinders’ work and engaging all team members, so as to give employees a platform to voice any concerns. He presented the topic of risk management at a PathFinders board meeting, sharing with the board members what they could expect from the risk review project.
Carl has worked closely with PathFinders’s leadership team to finalize their first-ever risk register – a compilation and classification of all organizational risks – to help them identify the biggest risks and prioritize and develop treatment plans.
Looking back, Carl found the Connection Session a great experience. “The exposure and introduction that Community Connections provided by bringing together NGOs that were able to articulate their mission and needs really expedited what might have been months’ worth of research for me. I love that the various organizations could be very clear on what they needed and also give participants a flavor for who they are, what they do, and the mission they exist for. It really is a wonderful session.”
