Infoxchange Group
Annual Report 2020
Technology for social justice
Infoxchange Group Annual Report 2020
Technology for social justice
We strengthen communities using technology to create positive social change
In the past year we’re proud to have supported:
people in need
not-for-profit, community and government services
A message from our Chair & CEO
This year has been extremely challenging for individuals and organisations alike, with the COVID-19 pandemic hitting Australia and New Zealand only two months after the devastating Black Summer bushfire season in Australia.
Our products and services have been needed by the community and not-for-profit sector more than ever this year as a result. Supported by our partners and with the incredible dedication of our staff and volunteers, we’re proud of the way we have mobilised to respond to meet the needs of those impacted by these crises.
In early 2020 we made crucial updates to Ask Izzy to ensure that people affected by the bushfires and COVID-19 could easily find local support services. We also moved to an online delivery model for our digital skills and employment programs to ensure people could continue learning skills for work and life at a time when digital skills have proven to be more essential than ever before.
We supported not-for-profits with the digital tools needed to aid their bushfire recovery efforts, and we helped organisations adapt to working from home and transition their service delivery during COVID-19 by upgrading their technology platforms and providing access to donated and discounted technology.
Disaster response and recovery is becoming the new normal, and we’re committed to continuing to use technology to help put communities on the road to recovery, transform the not-for-profit sector and prepare for future disasters.
Some of our significant achievements this year include:
- 5.9 million searches on our service directories, including Ask Izzy. Ask Izzy had the most monthly searches in its four-year history this March during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia – demonstrating its enormous value as a crisis support tool.
- Supporting 24,000 not-for-profits with IT support, consulting, training and technology solutions. Our client and case management and referral systems supported over 1.3 million people in the last year alone.
- Providing not-for-profits with $24.6 million worth of donated technology products.
- Delivering digital skills training to people across Australia – including through Digital Springboard, our program which builds the skills and confidence people need to use digital technology and access new career opportunities, and through our Connecting Up Online Courses that are tailored specifically for the not-for-profit sector.
- Launching the Connected Future initiative with partners Credit Union Australia and the Australian Red Cross to improve the digital and financial capability of vulnerable community members across Australia.
- Empowering the sector with data insights to inform service delivery and working with government to move towards a more data-driven approach to policy development.
Our organisational strategy has served us well during COVID-19. Despite the disruptions, our rigorous planning and focus on our core mission has enabled us to support the community and not-for-profit sector with record levels of impact, whilst transitioning our workforce to working from home and maintaining a strong financial position.
As we enter into the new financial year in a period of ongoing disruption, our key priority will be delivering products and services that support the digital transformation of communities and the sector during the pandemic and in a post COVID-19 world.
We will also continue to focus on our team’s health and wellbeing as we consider new ways of working as a result of COVID-19.
And we’ll be working on the Infoxchange Group’s next three-year strategy to set the course for the coming three years, with plans to further scale our impact to help communities in need and the organisations that support them by using technology to create positive social change.
Thank you to all our staff and volunteers for your extremely hard work and dedication during this tough year. Thank you to our Board for your incredible leadership, and to our customers and partners for your ongoing support.
We look forward to working with you all over the coming year as we continue to deliver on our vision of technology for social justice.
Supporting communities and the not-for-profit sector through a challenging year
Supporting communities and the not- for-profit sector through a challenging year
Bushfire support and recovery
COVID-19 support and recovery
Using tech to empower people & communities
Using tech to empower people & communities
The past year has seen:
searches for help on our directories, including Ask Izzy & SAcommunity
people provided with digital skills training through our Digital Springboard program
more than 400 organisations participating in the Australian Digital Inclusion Alliance (ADIA)
The COVID-19 lockdowns this year forced us all to rely on digital technology more than ever before. Access to devices, internet and digital skills became absolutely critical for work, education, social connection, accessing government services – even buying groceries.
But it also made Australia’s digital divide even more apparent, and those without access to digital technology or the skills to use it have been left even further behind.
As founding members of the Australian Digital Inclusion Alliance, we have worked with a powerful consortium of corporate, government and community groups to advocate for the creation of a national digital inclusion roadmap to help address Australia’s widening digital skills gap.
Our efforts to support people to improve their digital skills have been amplified with our Digital Springboard program reaching over 3,000 people nationally, and in a new online format. To support those worried about getting online we launched two new courses focused on scams and managing money online.
Through our service directories we continue to empower people in need by connecting them to more than 370,000 support services across Australia. In the past year we saw almost 6 million searches for help on our directories – two million more than last year.
We’re more determined than ever to keep empowering people and communities to improve their lives through the use of technology, ensuring that no one is left behind in today’s digital world.
Tackling youth unemployment through digital skills training
Young people have been disproportionately represented in Australia’s unemployment figures throughout COVID-19. We’ve been striving to give them their best chance at gaining meaningful employment through our Tech Ready program.
Supported by the Victorian Government, Tech Ready tackles youth unemployment and the digital skills shortage in regional areas by helping young people get the digital skills they need for the jobs of the future.
Since June 2019, Tech Ready has supported 58 students in Geelong, Shepparton and Wangaratta to undertake a Certificate III in Information, Digital Media and Technology. It has also provided practical job-readiness workshops, mentoring and opportunities to connect with industry professionals.
One Tech Ready graduate who has reaped the benefits of the program’s supportive model is Seth Constable, who landed his first role in tech just three months after graduation.
Seth now works as an IT officer at a local high school. Even though the school has seen major disruptions this year due to COVID-19, Seth has taken it all in his stride. For him, Tech Ready was instrumental in helping him prepare for work and thrive in his new role during very challenging times.
Tech Ready helped me land my first job in tech. Being able to apply the knowledge I gained through the program’s industry tours and guest speakers really helped give an extra level of credibility to my evolving education.
students enrolled
students gained employment or transitioned into further I.T study
industry professionals involved
I know for some people, accessing support is really overwhelming and really scary. If you don’t know what’s out there, you don’t even know where to start.
With Ask Izzy you can just type in where you are and there you go, it’s all at your fingertips. Having that information is a powerful first step.
I know for some people, accessing support is really overwhelming and really scary. If you don’t know what’s out there, you don’t even know where to start.
With Ask Izzy you can just type in where you are and there you go, it’s all at your fingertips. Having that information is a powerful first step.
There have been
searches on Ask Izzy in the last year
Ask Izzy is our website that connects people to more than 370,000 services across Australia including housing, meals, money help and more.
It was developed by Infoxchange in partnership with Google, realestate.com.au and News Corp Australia.
Top 5 category searches:
- Food – 31%
- Money help – 19%
- Housing – 17%
- Everything things – 10%
- Centrelink – 6%
Top 5 demographics of users seeking housing support:
- Mental or emotional difficulties – 23%
- Escaping family violence – 21%
- Families with children – 17%
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander – 12%
- Have pets – 9%
Ask Izzy searches during Australia’s first COVID-19 lockdown
Number of weekly searches
This graph shows how the introduction of official measures coincided with the highest ever use of Ask Izzy in the final week of March 2020.
Search increases during the first two weeks of lockdown in March 2020
%
Increase in searches for centrelink
%
Increase in searches for emergency relief
%
Increase in searches for food
Most common search terms in March 2020
Housing
Coronavirus
Food
Toilet paper
Connecting people with vital services during national crises
There’s no denying 2020 has been tough on a lot of people. The year began with catastrophic bushfires ripping through communities across Australia, and only a few months later the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
These national emergencies have shattered communities and left millions of people out of work and struggling to pay bills and put food on the table.
Ask Izzy has been there in these times of crisis to connect people in need with support such as food parcels, emergency relief and counselling.
With support from Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, we responded to the bushfires by making urgent updates to our service listings in fire-affected areas so that people could get accurate and up-to-date information about help in their area.
We also created a new bushfire support category with links and phone numbers for all state-based relief services across Australia.
When COVID-19 hit we immediately updated Ask Izzy with national and state-based COVID-19 support information, including testing site locations. As the pandemic took hold, searches for help on Ask Izzy spiked to the highest levels in its four-year history as more people than ever sought help.
We know the impact of these crises will be felt for a long time to come. The Ask Izzy team will continue working hard to ensure we keep responding to the needs of the community as we all navigate the post COVID-19 world and prepare for future natural disasters.
Technology has the potential to transform the way services are delivered and have a real impact, especially during a crisis – Ask Izzy is a great example of that.
Using tech to strengthen the sector
Using tech to strengthen the sector
The past year has seen:
people provided with support through our case management system
$24.6 million worth of technology product donated to not-for-profits
electronic referrals for people in need of support
tonnes of refurbished hardware supplied to not-for-profits
hours of technical support supplied to not-for-profits
enrolments for our online training courses by not-for-profit staff
With the challenges faced by so many this year, it’s never been more important for organisations to have good, reliable technology so they can keep supporting communities even through the most difficult times.
Not only can technology help not-for-profits find new and innovative ways of reaching out and helping people, it also allows their staff to continue to work efficiently and effectively so the communities they serve don’t miss out on valuable services.
Through our range of technology services, including IT support, consulting, webinars and online training, technology donations and discounts, we’ve been able to support not-for-profits across Australia and New Zealand as they’ve adapted to new ways of working in our post-COVID world.
Our client and case management system continues to be used by thousands of government and community services across Australia to safely and efficiently manage the care of some of our community’s most vulnerable people.
And our extensive service directories such as Service Seeker and SAcommunity are being used by thousands of organisations
every day to find support for those doing it tough.
Helping vulnerable Queenslanders find a safe place to live
Everyone has a right to a home where they feel safe and secure, and the Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works is committed to helping vulnerable Queenslanders find appropriate, affordable and safe housing.
We’ve been working with the Department on a large-scale project to develop a customised, flexible client management system that puts people and families at the forefront and helps them find accommodation to suit their needs.
Our system allows the Department to help their clients in a range of ways, including:
- assessing their individual needs to find products, services and referrals to help them applying for social housing
- applying for various grant and help initiatives
- finding short term accommodation for families in emergency situations such as natural disasters.
The system is also able to streamline processes such as pulling Centrelink payment information directly into a client’s record, saving countless hours of manual data entry.
With the system built to seamlessly share data across multiple platforms, workers can focus more on the client and their needs rather than worrying about searching for or inputting data in multiple places.
Thanks to our client management system, vulnerable Queenslanders who need a safe place to live can get support efficiently and with their particular needs kept front of mind.
Infoxchange really took the time to listen to our needs. The system they have built for us is user friendly and incredibly flexible – but most importantly of all, it helps us put the focus back on the people and families of Queensland that we’re supporting.
social housing applications
emergency housing accommodation requests
Keeping homelessness support on track through covid-19
Wombat Housing Support Services is a small community-based agency in Melbourne’s north-west that helps people experiencing or at risk of homelessness to find and maintain housing.
Early this year we transformed Wombat’s IT environment by implementing a case management system, moving them to the cloud and setting them up with flexible helpdesk support, helping Wombat to continue to support Melbourne’s most vulnerable people through COVID-19 with minimal disruption.
Infoxchange really made an effort to work out what our organisation is and what it needs. Having these new systems in place during COVID-19 has meant that we can still support our clients while working from home.
Supporting the sector through client and case management
community, not-for-profit and government services use our systems to manage client data and referrals
client records securely stored in our client and case management systems
electronic referrals sent for people in need of support this financial year
Some of the service areas we assist:
Housing & Homelessness services
Women, youth & family services
Indigenous community services
Disability services
Mental health services
Organisations we’re proud to provide with client & case management solutions include:
Helping children across international boundaries
Heart for Kids is a Sydney based not-for-profit that has been helping children living in poverty for 20 years through child sponsorship and education programs.
It has changed the lives of hundreds of children in China, Indonesia and India. But working across international borders as well as multiple locations in Sydney meant that collaborating and securely sharing files had become a real challenge for the organisation.
Through Connecting Up’s donations and discounts program Heart for Kids was able to get heavily discounted access to Microsoft 365, a cloud-based platform that combines Office apps with additional tools like chat, video meetings and file storage.
The team’s communication and efficiency has vastly improved since rolling out the new software, meaning they can now devote more time to their charitable work. The organisation was also able to purchase discounted laptops through Connecting Up and has benefited from our regular webinars, which aim to help not-for-profits get the most out of technology.
Thanks to a “light bulb moment” during one webinar on fundraising this year, Heart for Kids made some revisions to a planned campaign and subsequently raised twice as much as any previous fundraiser. With this money, the organisation was able to purchase a two-acre site with their partner in India to build a school and hostel.
And the savings that Heart for Kids have made on technology and training accessed through Connecting Up have enabled the organisation to support an additional 20 children to gain an education and build a brighter future.
$10,000 saved on software and technology products
additional young people sponsored
We’re proud to offer technology donations and discounts in partnership with more than 50 organisations, including:
Our senior leadership team
The Infoxchange Group is led by a group of diverse and devoted leaders who are passionate about using technology to drive social change and create stronger communities.
Celebrating our people and culture
We’re incredibly proud of the commitment, resilience and agility our staff have shown in the face of this year’s many challenges and opportunities. Our work in the sector has never been more critical, and we couldn’t do it without the fantastic work our people do every day towards technology for social justice.
It’s important to us that our staff feel happy and supported in the workplace so that they can thrive in their roles and help us make a real impact with our work.
That’s why this year we moved our excellent health and wellbeing programs online, so that staff could continue to access weekly yoga and meditation classes even during lockdown.
We also trained new Mental Health First Aid officers to support our staff, and we found plenty of other innovative ways to keep staff engaged and connected while working from home.
From weekly prize draws to online classes, our initiatives have helped connect us all and continue to strengthen relationships between staff across Australia and New Zealand. Congratulations to all our people for the fantastic contributions you’ve made this year.
Staff
Based in
Melbourne
Adelaide
Brisbane
Christchurch
- Male 53%
- Female 47%
%
Born outside Australia
%
Have a disability
%
LGBTIQ+
Volunteers
Countries
Languages spoken
Our values
Empowerment
Integrity
Agility
Excellence
Our Board
The Infoxchange Group Board have extensive experience and professional expertise across the community, business and government sectors.
Thank
you!
ThANK YOU TO OUR INCREDIBLE PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS WHO HAVE WORKED WITH US THIS YEAR TO ACHIEVE POSITIVE SOCIAL CHANGE THROUGH THE SMART AND CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY.
Download the full report & summary of our financial statements