SSSBA Newsletter v2 21 July McGill ·...
Transcript of SSSBA Newsletter v2 21 July McGill ·...
www.compassioninscience.com.au
Scientific and Support Staff Benevolent Association
Supporting people in need in the Science Community and beyond. Newsletter July 2014
SSSBA – who are we? The Scientific and Support Staff Benevolent Association. The SSSBA was formed by a group of people who work in
the defence science field. It was established primarily to
operate a Benevolent Fund that can provide financial
assistance to people in necessitous financial need due to
personal circumstances including natural disasters,
sickness, and misfortune. Here at SSSBA, we have a
particular interest in helping those people presently
working in defence science or those that worked in the
field in the past. They can be scientists, engineers,
technical staff, or support staff, who have supported
defence science and technology. The request for
assistance can be for the individual or members of their
family.
This newsletter aims to provide information about the
Association and how you can be engaged in its aims.
Compassion “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
― 14th Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness
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Benevolent Fund SSSBA is a Charity registered with the Australian Charities
and Not for Profit Commission (ACNC). It is also recognised
by the Australian Taxation office as having Deductibility Gift
Recipient or DGR status. This means, any donation of $2 or
more made to the benevolent fund it administers is tax
deductible.
SSSBA is an incorporated association registered in the ACT
but operates nationally and is run by volunteers, in their own
time and often expense. The interim membership committee
(right) helps run the association and establish the
governance and business framework required by legislation
to run a charity and maintain DGR status.
The benevolent fund, let’s call it the Fund, under legislation
must be administered by a separate committee, called the
Benevolent Fund Committee. This committee will accept
nominations from the public for people who may be eligible
for support from the Fund.
The members of the association will assist the Association in fulfilling its obligations, assist in providing future
committee nominees, and voting in representatives on the Benevolent Fund Committee. Membership fees,
currently $5 per year, will help pay for the running costs of the Association such as association running costs,
banking and audit costs. We encourage people to become members and help the committee run the
Association. We encourage members to participate in annual general meetings, promote our cause, and to
nominate for the committees that are central to maintaining and growing the Fund.
The Association Member committee
Here is the team and their current role in running the association.
Len Sciacca, President
Nigel McGinty, Vice President
Pina Dall’Armi-‐Stoks, Treasurer
Nathan McGill, Secretary
Helen Cartledge, General Member
Len is the Office Bearer for the Association.
All enquiries should be sent to
From little things big things grow…. If 500 people make regular donations of $2 per pay,
this will add up to $26,000 per year.
This is our target for 2014/15
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Benevolent Fund and Association information
How to make donations
1. Automatic salary sacrificing. If you work in The APS/Defence, it is easy to make regular, tax deductible
donations to the Benevolent Fund through the defence payroll system. In PMKEYS, go to the deductions
area and select “Workplace Giving”. Do a search for the Scientific and Support Staff Benevolent
Association and select it. Enter $2 deduction per pay, for instance. Check your next payslip to ensure
everything is working. The donation will come out of your pretax pay, meaning you will not have to
claim the donation at tax time. You will not require a receipt from the Association, as the payslip will be
a tax record of your deduction. The tax has essentially been automatically given back to you. You may
wish to seek advice from your tax agent however for any financial decisions you make in this regard.
2. Direct debit. You may direct debit into the Benevolent Fund association from our website. We are using
secure banking with Westpac and a tax record of your donation will be made at the time of your
donation. This will be your receipt. Please keep this for your records. We are trying to avoid manual
processing of receipts to keep costs down.
3. To keep our costs down, we will not issue hard copy receipts by mail or correspond by postal mail. All
correspondence will be by email unless there are exceptional circumstances. Your assistance in keeping
the Association’s administrative costs down would be greatly appreciated. Note that all office bearers in
SSBA are doing this on a volunteer basis and in their own time.
Be a part of the charity with Membership
1. Firstly, you do not need to be a member to donate to the Fund.
2. The Association requires a reasonable cohort of members to enable a healthy continued representation
at the committee level, to help us communicate our cause, and to help us with the governance of
donations and distributing the funds to people in need.
3. We have set membership fee at $5 per year and hope this will cover the costs of running the
Association. Membership fees are not tax deductible. Ideally we would like at least 100 members
from across the nation. Our costs include registration of the Association, online banking costs, website
hosting and tax auditing.
4. Membership will give you:
a. Ability to nominate for and voting rights for Association Member Committee positions
b. Voting rights for nominations of people to be on the Benevolent Fund Committee.
c. The knowledge that you are part of something bigger, your modest $5 membership fee will help
run the Fund and cover the running costs of the Association.
d. Regular communications about Fund status.
e. Ability to submit ideas to the Association to do things better and ability to initiate and/or
volunteer for Association initiatives.
f. Attend the Annual General Meeting. This will be facilitated using video conferencing facilities
wherever possible.
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5. Membership fees may be paid into the Association’s Membership Account. Please visit
www.compassioninscience.com.au, or email [email protected] for further information.
The Benevolent Fund
A separate Committee administers the Fund. Nominations for assistance are assessed by the Committee and are
based on individual circumstances.
Funds may be used in a number of ways but the current options are:
1. One off payment. This will be determined based on a number of factors including the amount of funds
available. No other limit has been set at this stage apart from Funds availability. Should there be a
circumstance that Funds are too low to make a meaningful contribution, a separate funding drive may
be initiated to raise funds.
2. Payment of bills. For instance, direct payment to medical or utility bills as determined by the
Benevolent Fund Committee.
3. Regular payments per month for a limited period. In this case, payments of say $200-‐$500 per
month may be made to the recipients for a limited time period to help their cash flow.
4. Interest free loan. An interest free loan may be suitable for people with a short term cash flow
problem. For instance, they may be receiving insurance payout if their home burnt down, but require
some cash quickly and are happy or able to repay at a later date.
The Benevolent Fund Committee
Nominations to access the Fund are submitted using a nomination form available from the website. The form
will generally require personal information including financial information of the individual in financial
trouble. The form will also request referees from their accountant, bank representative or other people of some
standing in the community who may be aware of their situation. This information will be helpful because of the
strict governance that a charity with tax deductibility status must follow.
The Benevolent Fund committee will consist of at least 5 persons, two of whom are from outside the
Association and the others may be members of the Association who are nominated by the membership. The
external representatives will be people of some standing in the community. This is a requirement of the ATO.
The first person on the Committee is Professor Lisa Jackson Pulver AM who is well respected in the academic
and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
The Benevolent Fund Committee will be established shortly.
Privacy and the Association
The Association is committed to member and donor privacy. All requests for assistance will be handled with
care and treated confidentially. Personal information of members will only consist of email addresses,
addresses, names and membership number and will not contain any banking information. This will be
maintained by the Secretary and only available to the Association Committee. The list will not be used for any
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other purpose or be passed to a third party. Email distribution to members will not reveal individual email
addresses. See the SSSBA privacy policy provided on the website.
Successful nominees for the fund will be asked whether they are prepared to have people know that they were
assisted. Otherwise just very brief and non-‐identifying details will be provided to the public. Please note, people
requesting support may be required to provide some detailed financial information of a very personal nature
e.g. Mortgage liabilities, bills, living expenses, sources of other funds including investments. Because this is a
registered charity and essentially using tax deducted monies, people requesting financial support will be
expected to source emergency funds from other sources as much as possible. It does not mean you have to be
destitute to get support, but payouts from insurances and or grants from government etc. must be taken into
account. There is no hard and fast rule that determines a person’s suitability for assistance. The fund committee
will consider each case individually and determine the best way to financially help the nominees. We will have
selected people for that committee who will be pragmatic and have a strong understanding of what being in
need means.
General enquiries
Website: www.compassioninscience.com.au
Email: [email protected]
The Association is there to help people in financial dire straits. If something in this newsletter has affected you adversely or you are experiencing hardship and you need to talk to someone: www.beyondblue.org.au | Lifeline 13 11 14