How do you turn an organisation with a tarnished reputation into a thriving charity? By working towards a shared mission with the right staff and innovative technology.
In this episode, I chat to Mark Townend who has been CEO of RSPCA in Queensland for 19 years. He has local government, commercial and not-for-profit experience and likes to think outside the box to find creative solutions.
RSPCA QLD deals with some 56,000 animals a year - more than anyone else in the Southern Hemisphere - and has an 88% save rate with a $51m budget. Its 340 staff, 5,300 volunteers and 24 inspectors deal with 18,000 cruelty complaints a year.
As well as significantly strengthening RSPCA QLD’s future health, Mark has several Board responsibilities with Bio Security, Animal Welfare, St Paul de Chartres and Regional Development Australia (RDA), a government initiative.
He’s also the director of Tap Tins, a fully self-serve contactless payment system for donating to charity, and Pet Cloud, an Airbnb-type setup for animals.
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Episode Highlights:
- RSPA stats - 56,000 animals
- How RSPCA Queensland has the highest save rates
- Mark’s background - born in Sydney, early jobs, moving to Queensland and children
- Running for local government elections in South East QLD and holding a place for 8 years
- Moving on from politics and working on his commercial business
- Mark’s opinion of Logan City government
- An offer to buy Mark’s company and partnering with an American businessman
- The struggle for small and medium businesses and state governments
- Why federal and state governments don’t support small and medium businesses
- Moving into the RSPCA
- Mark’s enterprise software initiative to electronically coordinate animals’ and peoples’ records
- Key milestones - first site to have animals online, first to introduce animals into pet shops
- Trial adoptions of animals and working with people to find the right pet
- Creating a positive RSPCA presence in Queensland
- From $5m to $50m turnover
- New innovations to help generate $51m for RSPCA Queensland
- Why Mark steers RSPCA QLD away from face-to-face fundraising
- What Mark does to help him continue to generate ideas
- RSPCA’s latest innovation - Pale Tale Beer
“I hate the word not-for-profit, it should be profit-for-purpose because if I got out of bed not to make profit every day, we wouldn’t be in business.” - Mark Townend RSPCA #Business #Charity #AretePodcast