2019-03-12 P&E Agenda - Item 7 - Attachment 1 - NBRF FY17-18 Annual Report

                                                    NOOSA BIOSPHERE RESERVE FOUNDATION - 2017/18




1. REPORT FROM THE CHAIR (Dick Barnes)


I am pleased to present our Annual Report for Fiscal 2017/18 to the Noosa Shire Council (Council) and hence
to the community in general. I would like to set in context here the key activities undertaken in 2017/18 that are
covered in more detail in subsequent sections. In particular, highlight important initiatives for the future.

I apologise for the lateness of this report. This was due to a series of serious medical events that led to a number
of false starts on my part. This will not happen in future as we have now a more robust structure.

Financials

Once again we have a clean audit report. The financials are highlighted here and the full reports are in Appendix A.
The fiscal accounts are assembled to appropriate accounting standards and, as a result, are quite complicated.
To help with this, we have developed a set of management accounts for the ongoing day to day control of the
Foundation. We are pleased with this and a copy of the year-end report is included in Appendix B. The reports
show the NBRF meeting it’s commitments and in good shape. The Board has significant expertise in the area and
is assured that any governance issues and financial controls are well managed.

“Back to Basics” Program

At the end of 2016/17 we recognised that it had been a year of consolidation and that we wanted to “accelerate
our game” in 2017/18. To achieve this, we developed our “Back to Basics” program. These issues are now
embedded in our psyche and the program was concluded this year. The headings of the program are shown in
Appendix E and our work has progressed in all areas.

Second Grants Round

The outstanding performance of 2017/18 was undoubtedly the second grants round. We were able to award a
total of $330,000 to 6 small (less than $20,000) and 3 large projects. We were staggered that we had 54 applicants
reflecting the community’s interest in our work. As you will see later, the projects selected are going well as are the
large projects remaining from the first grants round in 2015/16.

Financial Leverage

Perhaps we have not stressed enough the leverage we have obtained for the money funded by the Council. So
far, in round terms, we have funded projects worth $2.9 million of which NBRF, through Council, have provided
$950,000. A leverage of 3 to 1 which is exceptional and one of the purposes for setting up NBRF.

Of the balance, $600,000 has come from cash provided by other organisations and $1.35 million from “in-kind”
activities. The “in-kind” activities contain a significant amount of community volunteer time and show a significant
engagement with what we are doing. I would like to thank the “grants committee” of four Directors (Clare
Cartwright – Deputy Chair, Frank Wilkie, Karen Hussey and David Dique) for the exceptional hard work that went
into awarding the projects. With 54 applicants it was a much bigger task than expected.

As part of our governance processes, Michael Gloster and Dick Barnes took no part in the decision making to
avoid any potential conflicts of interest with organisations making submissions.