QCWA Annual Report 2018-2019

Annual Report 2018–2019 • The Queensland Country Women’s Association

We will need to secure a new database this year as the membership platform presently in place does not perform to cover all the aspects needed across the office with membership data. It is an advantage living in Brisbane that attending meetings, both in-house with partners and meetings beyond the office, has been very beneficial in building relationships for our Association. It is so important that we do not stand alone and take every opportunity to build our lobby base, not only to support our advocacy and lobbying ability but also to support our partnerships. Our sponsors, partners and connections share their logos in this report without hesitation and we thank them for their response for requests for recommendations on governance matters during the year. There are member benefits now offered through these partnerships, which is a great forward action. Many of our connections have given funds to our PRCF and we express our thanks for these donations. Together we have formed more than affiliations with partners, connections and sponsors. These connections will continue to grow as our influence and marketing reach out through business and associations in Queensland, as the QCWA is held in high regard wherever we engage in community. On behalf of the Association I thank our sponsors for Conference 2019: Elders Insurance , Oak Tree Retirement Villages , Telstra and the Commonwealth Bank — we appreciate your support immensely. The work of our Public Rural Crisis Fund has been constant since August 2018, continuing to the present. It would not operate so efficiently without dedicated staff who always act confidentially and with a sense of compassion.

Funds to cover their wages have been sourced or given independently as no expenses are taken from donated funds. Assistance given from applications covering drought and flood requests amount to $10,983,680 as at 30 June 2019. There is a separate report detailing the donations received in this Annual Report. We are amazed that the corporate and community response had allowed us to keep this project continuing and we have at no time had to request donations. The letters received back expressing relief and thanks reduce a person to tears. Special mention must be given to the Australian Red Cross which presented our Association with $4 million to our PRCF for distribution. New branches have been launched at Mount Tamborine, Sandgate, Burpengary Green Wattles and Beechmont, and we welcome them aboard. These branches had started as groups through to sub-branches and all have established and understood QCWA procedures and attained solid membership. A new group has been formed at Yeppoon under the guidance of Central Region Vice-President Marina Taylor. New members joining are excited to know they can be involved in forming resolutions to present at conference, learn new skills and networking. Membership Committee was appointed in March 2019 under the SEB and the initial process was engaging with established branches through the State President’s Workshops to secure our present branch membership and introduce shorter meetings which will attract younger women to join. This is ongoing in the new year as we work to establish twilight branches. New membership numbers for April to June 2019 were 78.

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