- Staff and Boards should not colonise their organisations — and organisations should never colonise their communities
It’s a big statement, and it may sound harsh, but I’ve seen it too often. Individuals or teams take over organisations, redirect purpose, narrow intent, and exclude people. Leaders recruit in their own image and become mediocre contractors of government funding, waiting for the next handout.
This is what I call colonising. Long tenures of staff and Board members can unintentionally crowd out the role that local people, members, and communities should play in shaping their organisation.
At ISV, we created opportunities for local people to get involved and drive the development of their organisation, regardless of who sits on the Board or who occupies the EO role.
- Membership isn’t a tick‑a‑box exercise
Well — technically it is for many organisations. Membership has become compliance rather than purpose.
At ISV, I learned that power shared across an organisation matters more than forms, fees, or nominations. Whether you’re a paid-up organisational member, a volunteer, a partner, an advocate, or a subscriber, you are part of the organisation.
Membership is about belonging and contribution, not paperwork. Grow your community in every way you can.
- Collaboration is more than rhetoric
If I had a dollar for every time someone said, “We’d really like to collaborate with you…”, I could probably stop looking for my next job.
Connecting and networking are essential — but they are not collaboration.
Real collaboration means investing in relationships, agreeing on the change we want to see, and working together on a plan to get there. It’s hard work and managing conflict. It takes time. And it doesn’t always succeed.
ISV taught me to be patient, to choose collaborators wisely, and to value the ones who show up for the long haul.
- Change makers need a platform
People of all ages — especially younger people with lived experience of disadvantage and exclusion — are the change makers of tomorrow.
At ISV, I learned that when you give people space to think deeply and act with intention about what they care about, boom: they influence decision makers and make their communities fairer, safer, and more connected. Change happens, and it ripples outward.
Paid advocacy and lobbying have their place — I’ve made a career out of it — but ISV taught me the power of stepping back and letting people lead their own causes.
- Government policy makers and funders need organisations like ISV more than ISV needs government
Systemic advocates work on big-picture issues: ending poverty, addressing climate change, preventing family and domestic violence, building affordable housing.
Regional social development focuses on how these issues play out in real places, with real people.
ISV taught me that intimate, local knowledge is a form of intelligence that policy makers and funders rarely have access to. And where there is a local problem, there is almost always a local solution.
All the best to Michaela and the team and to all of you who care enough to make things a little better for people, families and communities in the region
Don’t forget to say hello,
Marika