St Vincent de Paul Society NT Strategic Plan 2022-2026

Our Values

Commitment

be loyal in service to our mission, vision and values

Compassion

serving all with understanding, without judgement

Respect

serve all regardless of creed, ethnic or social background, health gender, or political opinions

Integrity

promote and follow our mission, vision and values

Empathy foster relationships based on respect, trust and friendship

Advocacy

work to transform the causes of poverty and challenge the causes of human injustice

Courage

encourage spiritual growth, welcome innovation and give hope for the future

Acknowledgement

“Because you see Christ in his poor, I know you will approach each one you visit with humility as His servant. Always remember, that if we had been through the hardships they have had to meet -if our childhood had been one of constant want - perhaps, we too would have given away to envy and hatred, as I must admit have many of the poor in this quarter. But be kind and love, for love is your first gift to the poor. They will appreciate your kindness and your love more than all else you bring ³ them.”

(Blessed Rosalie Rendu, 1833).

Our Society

The St Vincent de Paul Society is an international, voluntary, Catholic organisation dedicated to tackling poverty and disadvantage by providing assistance to the poor. Founded in France by a group of young men in 1833, the principal founder was Blessed Frederic Ozanam. Today the Society has more than 950,000 members in 150 countries. The first Australian Conference was established in Melbourne in 1854. The first Northern Territory Conference, St Mary’s Star of the Sea Conference Darwin, was launched in September 1949 and is still assisting Territorians today.  

“I rang Vinnies and they told me to come in and see them on Tuesday in Palmerston. No mucking around, within 3 days they’d processed it, and on the Friday, they put a brand-new washing machine on the floor of my house – I nearly fell over backwards. I am so grateful for everything Vinnies has done for me, I am so blessed that God could help me through you guys.” 

(Companion - Colin, 2022).

Our Vision

The St Vincent de Paul Society Northern Territory is pursuing our goals of spirituality and membership, governance and leadership, financial sustainability within key areas of growth and service delivery in our advocacy of the poor.

2022 - 2026 Strategic Plan

Our Five Year Plan is underpinned by our mission and values and emphasises the importance of retaining our lay Catholic heritage and commitment to developing the spirituality of members and volunteers.

We recognize the need for flexibility if needs change to our priority.

Our main priority is to ensure that we are ready and prepared to better serve and look after the companions who call on us for assistance in so many ways.

“Do not be afraid of new beginnings. Be creative. Be inventive. Organize new works of love in the service of the poor. You who have energy; who have enthusiasm; who want to do something of value for the future; be inventive, launch out; do not wait”

(Frederic Ozanam).

Strategic Priorities

Companion Focused

Goal

To create meaningful opportunities for our people engaging in our mission of living the Gospel message and offering “a hand up” to our companions whose needs are the core of our decision making and service provision

Objectives

A.  Service delivery: design and implement a service delivery plan that enables our current services to provide for the immediate and long-term needs of our companions.                    

B. Excellence: drive quality in our service provisions so that all of our social services effectively reduce the impact of poverty on our companions and address injustice in our Aboriginal communities.

C. Measuring impact: Create meaningful ways to measure the impact and outcomes of everything we do so that we more deeply understand our companion's needs and can continually improve our ability to address all types of poverty.

2. Building Stronger Relationships / Connections

Goal

To develop and grow our community partnerships resulting in sustainable, positive outcomes for both the Society and the companions we support.

Objectives

A. Society aims: design and implement a communications and engagement plan outlining the Society's overall vision and core aims and objectives. It will include political, economic, social and technological factors.

B. Government advocacy: to advocate for the Society to raise awareness for homelessness, services and community housing with key policy and decision-makers.

C. Aboriginal engagement: design and implement a Reconciliation Action Plan. The plan's emphasis will be on relationships, respect, and opportunities. The plan will give the Society a framework from which to foster connections with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with mutual collaboration and trust.

3. Long Term Sustainability

Goal

To build a sustainable financial base to enable investment in opportunities to benefit our companions. We will be entrepreneurial in our approach to raising funds to support our service delivery.

Objectives 

A. Retail growth: development and execution of a retail strategy that expands our presence in the community and increases our available resources.

B. Fundraising growth: through the Fundraising and Marketing Plan, grow our donor base and our corporate partnerships to deliver greater support for our work.

C. New income streams: explore opportunities for new streams of income generation.

D. Government funding: attract additional government funding where opportunities align with our strategic goals.

This plan was built on the 2016 – 2021 Strategic Plan, which set goals to strengthen our spirituality, service, Society and partnerships as well as develop our membership.