Starlight Foundation appoints digital advisory board to supercharge growth

The Starlight Children’s Foundation has appointed a digital and data advisory to power its innovation as it accelerates growth in digital channels.

Louise Baxter, Starlight Foundation CEO.

The Starlight Children’s Foundation has created a digital and data advisory board to boost innovation and efficiencies for the children’s charity.

The move, which is believed to be the first of its kind for a charity, aims to ensure the Starlight Foundation’s digital capabilities are effective, efficient and compliant, as well as providing inspiration and insights into cutting-edge practices that will help supercharge the charity’s growth.

The board will include Microsoft general manager of customer success Tiffany Wright, futurist Dr Catherine Ball, Leidos chief security architect Dylan Jones, Sitback CEO Paul Armstrong, EY AI and data partner Lisa Bouari, Bank of Sydney COO Geoff Wenborn, Salesforce regional director, Enterprise & APAC Nonprofit health, Melanie Valdes, Onmarq founder and CEO Marina Yastreboff, and Barhead Solution CEO Ken Struthers.

The role of digital has grown exponentially for the charity over the last decade and now enables more than 3 million interactions across digital platforms with close to 40 per cent of its total fundraising now coming from digital channels.

The board’s focus will be to elevate the existing digital capabilities and services and ensure the insights stretch across the entire organisation, said Starlight Children’s Foundation chief executive and executive director Louise Baxter.

The Starlight Foundation has appointed a Data and Digital board to provide advice and guidance for the charity to navigate the increasingly complex digital and tech environment.

“Starlight is an organisation which focuses on innovation, our unique program has been innovating since day one, and we want [the board] to ensure that we are using technology in the most efficient and effective ways.

“We’re expecting to connect the board to the different specialists within our organisation, which means it’s not one person who’s managing digital, because digital impacts everybody’s role. So we don’t have to have a digital team sitting there, per se, we have digital natives and digital expertise in every part of the business.”

“Growth is really important to us. There is a growing need for our programs, and we’re not meeting that need currently. To achieve that need we need funds and digital comes into play in both those and then we have to be ensuring that as we grow the foundational pieces, like the privacy, the cyber security, all of those things are really where they need to be.

“Over the last 20 years, over 70% of our increased revenue has come from new revenue streams, and this includes our digital fundraising. So there’s a business imperative there as well, and then we need to be effective and efficient and we have to meet all of that compliance burden as simply as we possibly can.”

“We’re in a world, and every business will tell you this, where we can only grow our fundraising at a certain rate, but at the moment, costs seem to be going faster than that, and so that means you have to be even smarter in the ways that you’re creating and supporting your programs.”

The board will also leverage the knowledge and connections of its board members to help the charity navigate the increasing compliance and regulation within the sectors by tapping into top digital and data firms.

Sitback CEO Paul Armstrong said the board members would provide the charity with access that small companies may not be able to access otherwise.

“The board relationships are connecting the top firms in cyber security, the top firms in data privacy and regulation, this is access that other firms, commercial or not for profit, just don’t have the either financial capability or brand value to do.”

Ms Baxter admits the cost of living challenges have been challenging for the charity, however, The Starlight Children’s Foundation benefits from its position as one of the most recognised charity brands in the country. The strength of the brand, which can be attributed to Ms Baxter’s background in marketing and advertising agencies.

“Our brand is incredibly important and is always a focus in everything we do - every piece of communication, every person is a brand spokesman, and every interaction is either underpinning or undermining our brand.

“Starlight has been in Australia for 35 years and we have grown significantly over that time, and are now an essential part of pediatric healthcare. Serious illness doesn’t select by postcode, so you don’t have to go far to find somebody who’s been impacted themselves, or has a Starlight story.”