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Funding campaign gathers momentum

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The Corryong Neighbourhood Centre (CNC) has thanked the community for its support for the ‘1000 Steps to Sustainability’ campaign to ensure its future.

“We have raised just over $20,000 directly into the CNC account as at Wednesday lunchtime and will have details on UMIF donation account receipts when we receive the report at the end of the week,” said CNC o-ordinator, Sara Jenkins.

“We are still getting plenty of questions so hopefully can answer a few more today.”

How can I be sure my donation won’t be wasted if the CNC closes anyway?

No donation will be wasted and hopefully we not be forced to actually close. We are moving forward in careful stages to overcome obstacles and make sure we continue to offer as broad a range of services to the community as possible.

If you donate directly to the CNC account by EFT, cash or through the online portal your donation will be used to:-

  • Cover ongoing operational costs while our core funding is revoked including retaining staff who temporarily have no funding
  • Reduce existing ‘creditors’ in line with a prioritised listing which you can view at the CNC.

If you donate through the UMIF FRRR donation account, as well as being tax deductible, your donation can only be used for future activities which meet the definition of ‘charitable purpose’.

In practice, this means your donation will be used to:-

  • Continue the youth program until alternative funding can be sourced. Retaining an ongoing youth program after 10 years of building it up, is our highest priority after returning the bakery to profitability
  • Provide funds for ongoing core operations while Neighbourhood House funding is revoked (and cannot be used to repay debt).

How long will you continue to try and raise funds?

Raising enough funds to meet our immediate debts (approx. $250,000) is the more urgent priority needed to meet state government needs and secure our ongoing NH contract, so we urge people to please donate Now rather than waiting to see how we get on. Good progress towards this objective is essential to give us some leverage with DFFH to reconsider our NH contract cancellation at the end of January.

However, our ultimate aim is for complete recovery, so we will continue to run and promote the fundraising campaign to reach the $500,000 goal throughout 2025.

Why haven’t you had a public meeting?

There are a lot of stakeholders involved in CNC operations and several are only returning this week from the Christmas break. We want to be certain that we have had discussions with them, have a clear plan and are confident that it is achievable before having a public conversation.

At this stage, we intend to hold a public meeting sometime towards the end of February when we have more definite decisions from government.

Bakery heads in the right direction

We are also confident that we will be able confirm that the bakery has returned to profitability.

Have you lobbied the state and federal members of parliament and what are they doing?

We have approached both Helen Haines and Bill Tilley. Helen has written to the relevant state and federal ministers and is continuing to lobby on our behalf.

We have also spoken with Bill’s office and he will raise the matter with the Minister when State Parliament sits on February 6.

We are keeping both offices updated with progress.

What’s next?

After three consecutive fortnights of surplus in the bakery – it may not seem like much but it is a start – we are confident that we can return the bakery to sustainable profitability over the next few months.

We are continuing to reduce hours and costs and have received financial relief from our bakery landlord and primary funders. We will be looking at options regarding other debt and cost management measures over the next few weeks.

We are also seeking legal advice regarding the state funding situation, investigating alternative funding models and continuing discussions with the department this week and beyond.

We are investigating options in regard to selling the Walwa property to clear debts and provide cash flow but we prefer not to take this step unless absolutely necessary.

We will provide regular updates in the Corryong Courier and hold a public meeting later in February.

In the meantime, please come into the CNC and ask if you have any further queries.

We are also happy to come out to speak with your group or organisation and answer your queries. Just give the CNC a call on 0428 449 248 to make arrangements.  

Corryong Courier 30 January 2025

This article appeared in the Corryong Courier, 30 January 2025.
Related story: Centre faces funding shortfall

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