Overview of Brotherhood of St Laurence
Brotherhood of St Laurence is a not-for-profit institution selected for analysis in this essay. Brotherhood of St Laurence of is located in Melbourne, Australia, and it has a highly recognized national profile. This organization focuses on achieving one of the Australian visions to fight poverty. The characteristic of the Brotherhood of St Laurence is that it conducts its operations with passion. This organization delivers services and talk on behalf of the disadvantaged people in Australia. The disadvantaged people include young individuals who are in school, elder people, unemployed adults, families, and children in early years. Brotherhood of St Laurence is selected for this essay as it not only works to eradicate poverty but also prevents it (Doherty, Horne & Wootton, 2014). It focuses on individuals who are at critical stages and also in risky situations. Moreover, this organization addresses refugees’ challenges that concern financial and social inclusions, as well as settlement issues.
This organization was named after a patron of the disadvantaged well-known as St Laurence. Laurence resided in Rome during the period of Pope Sixtus, (256-276 AD). Laurence was among the seven deacons who were chosen by the Christian ministry also located in Rome. The responsibilities of the Christian church included collecting the donations and issuing them to the needy persons. The church was attacked during the time of Emperor Valerian. At this point, Laurence was instructed to leave for the church treasurers to lead the church. However, Laurence opted to assemble the disadvantaged people and distributed the church possessions among them. For this reason, Laurence was roasted to death and he is recognized as a famous Christian martyr.
There are various reasons that contributed to the existence and development of the Brotherhood of St Laurence. First, Brotherhood of St Laurence was established in 1930, December 8th in Adams town under St Stephen’s Anglican parish. It continued to exist since its founder, well-known as Gerard Kennedy Tucker was dedicated to serving the Australian people. He was surrounded by individuals who supported him such as the lay brothers and priests in of the Anglican Church. Archbishop of Melbourne approved this institution leading to its acceptance in the nation. All the like-minded young men joined hands to serve the disadvantaged persons in the name of Jesus Christ. The period of Great Depression facilitated the development of the Brotherhood of St Laurence as many people were left jobless. The organization worked actively to help the unemployed people and after the 1939-1845 war, an order was issued for the expansion of the institution (Nabben, 2001). Under Father Tucker headship, the Brotherhood of St Laurence continued to exist and also develop. However, Father Tucker’s leadership ended in 1974 when he died. Brotherhood of St Laurence is greatly supported by the Australian government and it benefits the disadvantaged Australians as well.
The beneficiaries and eligibility of the Brotherhood of St Laurence are discussed in this section as they feature a wide range and scope of its service. First, children and families are the main beneficiaries of this organization. This organization provides support to the families facing social and financial difficulties. The children from such families receive care and the organization ensures they remain healthy, strong, and happy (Reiger, 2001). Brotherhood of St Laurence outlines a program that offers a platform for disadvantaged families as well as communities to acquire numeracy and literacy skills. Furthermore, through the Brotherhood of St Laurence, these families can access self-improvement policies and services. Second, the young people are as well recognized as beneficiaries of this organization (Hudson & Rogan, 2009). This organization provides a room for the young people to learn and fulfill their education goals, acquire employment, and live comfortable lives. Young people access training services and they can access their policy development and research areas through the Brotherhood of St Laurence.
The History of Brotherhood of St Laurence
Third, the unemployed and untrained people in the society are also targeted groups for the Brotherhood of St Laurence. This institution issue job placement services and train individuals who experience challenges in acquiring job opportunities. Through research and adoption of streamlined services, Brotherhood of St Laurence supports the job seekers and also assists in sharpening their skills. Fourth, the elder people also fall under the vulnerable group of persons in the society. Brotherhood of St Laurence continues to recognize the importance of caring for elder people. The organization fights poverty and social isolation that prevail among the elder individuals. Specifically, the elder people fall under the age gap of 55 years and over who receive support from the organization. This organization ensures that elder people can access programs and services of care in the society. Fifth, the refugees and other homeless people are also beneficiaries of the Brotherhood of St Laurence. In this case, the Brotherhood of St Laurence partners with the community members, businesses, and the government to cater to the needs of refugees and the homeless. Brotherhood of St Laurence pioneered the transportation of services to the refugees which helped in strengthening infrastructure. Finally, the Brotherhood of St Laurence recognizes the low-income earners and provides them with opportunities to save and acquire loans for financial security. This institution offers a platform where low-income earners can access fair programs for financial services with low-interest rates.
On the other hand, the Brotherhood of St Laurence is eligible as it runs on government support, meaning it has a legit license and permits. Brotherhood of St Laurence runs various businesses which help it in raising funds to run its operations and salaries for its employees. Through these businesses, the job seekers are trained; low-income earners receive affordable commodities and services. Brotherhood of St Laurence has a health permit that shows its social responsibility and commitment to conserving the environment surrounding it. Therefore, this organization encourages proper disposal of waste, minimize energy consumption, as well as encourage recycling. Brotherhood of St Laurence has recycling books, energy efficient rooms, and reconditioning fridges. Also, it runs community stores where it sells furniture at low costs. It also sells donated household items and clothing. In addition, these stores offer employment opportunities for the job hunters. Finally, this enterprise is eligible as it runs other social enterprises such as FloodSax, Brotherhood Green, Phoenix Fridges, Brotherhood Books Online, and the Hunter Gather vintage clothing stores (McDonald, Craik, Hawkins, Williams, 2011). Through all these social enterprises, Brotherhood of St Laurence acquires finances to support the disadvantaged people in the society.
Brotherhood of St Laurence’s organizational structure determines the flow of information across different managerial levels. Brotherhood of St Laurence’s mission is to offer the best services of research, datasets, publications, as well as address issues that prevail among the disadvantaged people. This organization has an advisory board that advice on tactics of running successful operations and engages in successful research. The board members apply policies and comprehensive knowledge to maintain the outstanding results based on the social and economic policies in Australia. Brotherhood of St Laurence offers a designed four-year doctoral program for students who wish to acquire advanced skills in economics (Jones & May, 1999). This organization offers membership with targeted benefits such as discounted tickets for events. The organization also works closely with government agencies, institutions, policy analysts, and other upcoming businesses. Also, this organization exercises research partnerships with industries, government, and community enterprises to explore issues surrounding social and economic policies. Other partners include Social Services Department, Sacred Heart Mission, ARC Center of Excellence, Department of Employment, Department of Education and Training, as well as National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (Wong, 2004). All these institutions support the Brotherhood of St Laurence so that it can improve practices, programs, and service delivery.
Beneficiaries and Eligibility
On the other hand, the Brotherhood of St Laurence is defined by staffs who work hard to serve the disadvantaged people in the society. The organization is made up of 600 workers and 900 volunteers in more than fifty cities. An asset and facility desk officer works full time and provides a wide range of services to the customers. The community engagement lead works part-time 22 hours a week. The work of a community engagement lead is to ensure that the disadvantaged people are well engaged. Contracts and compliance officer works full time 38 hours a week. This position requires an employee to have the appropriate skills to maintain contracts dealing with property leasing. A facilitator works on casual hours and should be able to provide interactive and insightful training to the disadvantaged people in the society. A database and reporting officer should work 0.8-1.0 hours in 4-5 days in a week (McDonald, Craik, Hawkins, Williams, 2011). Should have appropriate data analysis skills to run programs for service delivery. Among other main employees, there is a personal care attendant who works casual hours, should be a female and should have appropriate skills to care for the customers in their respective homes. A service Development Manager works full time 38 hours in a week and should have appropriate skills to deal with children under the age of 15 who lack educational or employment opportunities. Finally, a workplace trainer works part time 30-38 hours in a week should be team focused for training purposes.
Brotherhood of St Laurence employs a transparent process of recruiting people to ensure they match the required skills for the respective job positions. Employee retention can be achieved by maintaining standard salaries in any organizations. For instance, at the Brotherhood of St Laurence, the support staff is paid a salary of $58,677 per year. The administrative assistant receives $50,201 per year which has helped Brotherhood of St Laurence retain them for a long period of time. A senior coordinator receives $82,462 per year alongside the overtime money paid over the weekend (McDonald, Craik, Hawkins & Williams, 2011). A data entry clerk receives $59,493, while a site coordinator receives $56,366 per annum. Brotherhood of St Laurence retains employees through effective training that reinforce their skills. Also, mentoring programs offered for employees in this organization creates a platform for strong relationships that facilitate retention. Also, the positive culture instilled establishes values such as respect, attitude, honesty, excellence, and teamwork among employees. Finally, the Brotherhood of St Laurence experiences a low staff turnover. This is because the Brotherhood of St Laurence provides appropriate factors for retention and appropriate consulting services for the staff. However, the Brotherhood of St Laurence experiences issues of management as they do not listen to issues raised by the staff. This may result in high staff turnover that may impact the institutional operations in the future.
Volunteers are connected to various organizational benefits in the Brotherhood of St Laurence. Volunteers serve at committees or on the board of members where they assist in taking care of daily activities in this organization. Skilled volunteers assist in programming. In this case, they help in minimizing the costs and they provide quality services to the clients. In addition, volunteers can help in fund development where they assist in elevating the Brotherhood of St Laurence. They act as prospectors in a development committee. Brotherhood of St Laurence offers volunteers appropriate conditions in the irrespective working positions to ensure they offer quality services to clients. However, volunteers at the Brotherhood of St Laurence experience various problems. For instance, they lack enough work as they help the main employees in the respective departments. Also, volunteers experience money issues as they also need for upkeep. Finally, volunteer’s experiences work placement issues especially if they are unskilled. Moreover, volunteers experience communication challenges as they cannot reach the employers easily.
Brotherhood of St Laurence’s Eligibility and Social Responsibility
Brotherhood of St Laurence requires a lot of funds beyond that received from the government for high-quality services, estimated $800000. Also, the aged service providers can sustain themselves using the donations and higher membership fees. However, the Brotherhood of St Laurence should pay more concern for individuals who have more needs with low ability to pay. The existing budget benefits the organization in the short-term as it compromises the services for aged persons. Also, reports show that there is a significant variation in regard to service costs when comparing this organization with others. Through fundraising, the Brotherhood of St Laurence collects money to support and sustain their operations to establish better living standards for disadvantaged people in Australia. Government’s budget also has an impact on the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s budget that affects its services and operations. For instance, the government provides grants that increase the organizational budget. For this reason, the organization can pay its employees and run smooth activities. Also, the government’s budget for this organizations helps in providing high-quality services to the disadvantaged people in Australia. In addition, the Brotherhood of St Laurence partners with the government to establish successful programs in Australia.
Hudson & Rogan (2009) argues that the source of capital is crucial for the sustainability of any organization. This principle is upheld at the Brotherhood of St Laurence as it recognizes the individual well-being and works towards improving the living standards of the less fortunate. Brotherhood of St Laurence invests in the future prosperity of disadvantaged persons in Australia. McDonald, Craik, Hawkins, Williams, (2011) outlines that appropriate integration contributes to effective service delivery system. This principle relates to the Brotherhood of St Laurence as the client services require added support to cater to the needs of all disadvantaged individuals. Tsui & Cheung (2004) also presents analytical evidence that community altruism is unlocked through smaller organizations. This is evident at the Brotherhood of St Laurence focuses to preserve and strengthen its relationship with other smaller institutions that help in service delivery. Brotherhood of St Laurence observes the concept of the subsidiary as the small institutions helps in the provision of many services and programs than expected.
On the other hand, the critical analysis explores choices made in non-profit institutions as they have an impact on the living standards of individuals. Through appropriate decision-making, Brotherhood of St Laurence gives the Australians a sense of control and they exercise openness. For this reason, the Australians feel free to present all their concerns where service providers can understand and fulfill their needs. The concept of the Brotherhood of St Laurence as an enabling institution allows it to mediate between the small non-profit institutions and the government. Also, it engages in capacity building as it complies with reporting obligations and helps the small institutions attain effectiveness. Finally, the Brotherhood of St Laurence as an enabling enterprise it engages in resourcing collaboration, Resourcing collaboration includes establishing the formal and informal prospects where the Australian people can share practical experiences.
Conclusion
Brotherhood of St Laurence is a not-for-profit organization whose vision is set to help fight poverty in Australia. This paper explores the background of the Brotherhood of St Laurence that shows that it was named after St Laurence who was roasted to death for serving the needy people. This organization continues to exist and develop from the overall support received from the community in Australia. The range and scope of the Brotherhood of St Laurence outline its beneficiaries and eligibility. The staff in this institution includes the volunteers who strive to ensure the needy people receive standard goods and services. Based on the evidence of analytical and critical analysis, it is clear that the Brotherhood of St Laurence incorporates relevant choices and aspects to lead to a successful institution.
References
Doherty, T. L., Horne, T., & Wootton, S. (2014). Managing public services-implementing changes: a thoughtful approach to the practice of management. Routledge.
Hudson, M., & Rogan, L. (2009). Managing without profit: leadership, management and governance of third sector organisations in Australia.
Jones, A., & May, J. (1999). Approaching organizational analysis: towards a critical perspective. In Working in human service organizations. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.
McDonald, C., Craik, C., Hawkins, L., & Williams, J. (2011). Professional Practice in Human Service Organisations: A practical guide for human service workers. Allen & Unwin.
Nabben, R. (2001). Managerialism, the’quality movement’and community services: dancing with the devil?. Just Policy: A Journal of Australian Social Policy, (22), 43.
Reiger, K. (2001). From tender care to tendered care: the case of the Victorian Maternal and Child Health Service. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 36(4), 333-349.
Tsui, M. S., & Cheung, F. C. (2004). Gone with the wind: The impacts of managerialism on human services. British Journal of Social Work, 34(3), 437-442.
Wong, W. H. (2004). Caring holistically within new managerialism. Nursing Inquiry, 11(1), 2-13.
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