About this organisation
Summary of activities
In the 2022 financial year, the Foundation continued to progress the suite of programs introduced in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic to achieve the three pillars of river leadership, collaboration, and celebration. Recognising the new realities of our world post the pandemic, the 25th International Riversymposium (IRS) continued to be a hybrid event. Hosted by the International Association for Water Service Companies in the Danube River Catchment (IAWD) and the City of Vienna, the IRS was held in Europe for the first time. The 436 delegates from 55 countries were provided with the option to attend in person in Vienna, Austria (the TechGate venue was provided by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology) and online using the B2Match digital platform facilitated by Brutkasten for five days during the 27 November-1 December 2022. The Foundation played the role of program convener, curating the various keynote speakers, presentations, and workshops. The 2022 European Riverprize was awarded to the Rivers of Cumbria and the Lake District National Park (United Kingdom) during the 25th International Riversymposium Gala Dinner held at the Palais Ferstel, hosted by the City of Vienna. In October 2022, as a precursor to the IRS 2022, the Foundation, in partnership with Brisbane City Council, held an online forum on Environmental Markets for the Resilience of Rivers. Attended by almost 80 participants, the forum brought together experts in innovative finance, nutrient offsets, environmental accounting and legal frameworks underpinning potential environmental markets in Southeast Queensland. The key messages of this workshop were presented at the 25th International Riversymposium 2022 in Vienna. Launched in 2021, the 1000+ Resilient Rivers Campaign encourages and recognises river basins and their communities to proceed along their journey towards river resilience. The two rivers of the Brisbane River, Australia and the Tuul River, Mongolia have been recognised as a part of this program. The 1000+ Resilient Rivers Campaign continued throughout 2022. The Foundation was fortunate to have six RiverPatrons in 2022: the Horourable Lord Mayor of Brisbane Adrian Schrinner, Prof Peter Varghese AO from the University of Queensland, Michael Wright from Thiess Pty Ltd, Neil Stephens from Port of Brisbane, Jane Wilson AO from Costa Group and Martin Albrecht AC from Albrecht Foundation. On 21st March, the Foundation hosted a special screening of the movie documentary RIVER for the IRF RiverPatrons at the Five Star Cinemas, New Farm, Brisbane, Australia.
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Outcomes
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Programs and activities
Name: International Riversymposium
URL: https://riversymposium.com/
Classification: Environmental education (Environment > Environmental education )
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- Adults - aged 65 and over
- Environment
- Overseas communities or charities
- People in rural/regional/remote communities
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Name: RiverPrize
URL: https://riverfoundation.org.au/our-programs/riverprize/
Classification: Environmental economic instruments (Environment > Environmental economic instruments)
Beneficiaries:- Environment
- Financially disadvantaged people
- Other charities
- Overseas communities or charities
- People from a culturally and linguistically diverse background (or people from a CALD background)
- People in rural/regional/remote communities
Name: RiverTalk
URL: https://riverfoundation.org.au/our-programs/riverstreaming/rivertalk/
Classification: Environmental education (Environment > Environmental education )
Beneficiaries:- Environment
- People in rural/regional/remote communities
Name: 1000+ Resilient Rivers Blue Print/ Resilient Rivers Hub
URL: https://resilientrivershub.com/resilient-rivers-blueprint/
Classification: Natural resource preservation (Environment > Natural resource preservation)
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Environment
- People in rural/regional/remote communities
Finances
What is this?
This graph shows how much revenue (money in) and expenses (money out) the charity has had each year over the last few years. Charities have many sources of revenue, such as donations, government grants, and services they sell to the public. Similarly, expenses are everything that allows the charity to run, from paying staff to rent.
What should I be looking for?
First off, this graph gives a general indication of how big the charity is - charities range in size from tiny (budgets of less than $100,000) to enormous (budgets more than $100 million). You're also looking for variability - if the charity's revenue and expenses are jumping up and down from year to year, make sure there's a good reason for it.
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want revenue to be slightly above expenses. If expenses is reliably above revenue, the charity is losing money. If revenue is much larger than expenses, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
If a charity receives more money than it spends, that's a surplus (in business, it would be called profit). If it spends more than it receives, that's a deficit. This chart shows surpluses and deficits for the charity over the last few years.
What should I be looking for?
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want a charity to make a small surplus on average. A deficit means that charity lost money that year, which may indicate poor financial management or just a series of bad circumstances. If the charity always has a huge surplus, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
This chart compares the amount the charity receives from various sources, including donations (i.e. money given by the general public or philanthropy), goods and services, government grants, and other sources.
What should I be looking for?
Donations are an important source of revenue for some charities. Others rely more heavily on government funding, or on revenue from other sources. This is an indication of how much they need donors to accomplish their mission. Note that there is no 'good' or 'bad' amount of donations for a charity to have. It might be interesting to look at values over time - are they going up or down? A charity that gets less donations every year may be in trouble.
What is this?
Assets are things that the charity owns that are worth something. This could be anything from a car to investments. Similarly, liabilities are debts or obligations that the charity owes to someone else, like a loan or an agreement to pay for something.
What should I be looking for?
Firstly, in general a charity should have more assets than liabilities. If it doesn't, it implies that the charity might not be able to pay its debts, and you should look very closely at the charity's annual and financial reports to make sure they are taking steps to remedy this. Current assets should generally be above current liabilities - that means the charity can easily pay off the debts that are coming due soon. Beyond that, look for a large stockpile of assets. While a charity should have enough assets to keep it afloat in hard times (a 'buffer') if that stockpile gets too large the charity could be using that money more effectively. As always, if you have concerns check the annual and financial reports.
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