It was with great pleasure that FDCA was announced winner of the inaugural Blake Dawson Waldron Excellence in Nonprofit Board Governance Award in July 2004.

In February 2004 FDCA received information about a new award, to recognise excellence in nonprofit governance, established by the Nonprofit Governance and Management Centre in partnership with law firm Blake Dawson Waldron.

Nominations were invited from any board of a nonprofit organisation – from local community management groups, to professional and trade associations, to national charities and federated organisations. Jo Comans felt that FDCA’s national office should prepare a submission about our Board, saying that ‘We thought that the governance work undertaken by the FDCA Board, who give up their time freely and without payment, deserved recognition’.

Submissions were considered by a panel consisting of representatives of the Nonprofit Governance and Management Centre and Blake Dawson Waldron, and the announcement and presentation made at the Building Better Boards Conference 2004 dinner held in Sydney on 31 July 2004.
FDCA was represented at the conference dinner by three of its Directors: Bev Foden and Sue Perdriau, both from New South Wales, and Tracey Guerin from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

On hearing of FDCA's success, President Bron Dekok said, 'What an achievement for our Board and our organisation! Congratulations to the Board members and Executive members, past and present, who have brought us to this place. Thanks also to FDCA national office staff committed to the success of the organisation.'

Background to the Submission

Since its transition from an incorporated association to a company limited by guarantee in late 2000, FDCA has worked hard to educate successive Board members about their governance role and to assist them to understand and comply with their responsibilities as company directors.

The nomination form called for a range of information about the composition of the Board, how Board members are educated about their governance responsibilities and how the Board ensures that meetings are meaningful and productive. The submission noted that the FDCA Board is as unique as the family day care program itself:

•	Directors have a dual role in governing the organisation and representing the views of their STAC – requiring them to maintain a governance approach and think strategically about organisational issues while also bringing forward and considering ideas, concerns and suggestions from their State or Territory regarding family day care operations.
•	The Directors on the Board are all women comprised of people who work within family day care. This composition gives the FDCA Board unique insight in terms of its ability to know and understand the organisation’s constituents – and therefore work to ensure they are effectively represented.
•	The Board is entirely voluntary and receives no fee for services; the duties and workload associated with being on the FDCA Board are undertaken outside of normal working hours.
•	The tyranny of distance has been conquered by the development of mechanisms to enable the effective participation of Directors from across the country. Such mechanisms include four face-to-face Board Meetings per year, teleconferences as required, regular reporting processes and the use of email to provide regular updates and information and to consult with the Board.
•	The Board has displayed a real commitment to continuous improvement. It is innovative and resourceful and demonstrates a commitment to learning and improvement in its activities and for the company itself.
•	With 16 Directors, the Board is large. While this could be seen as a challenge to effective Board management, the composition of the FDCA Board assures our constituents that Directors have the necessary experience and knowledge to effectively progress the objects of the organisation.

Congratulations are extended to the sixteen current Directors, and to preceding Directors as well as dedicated national office staff who have over the past four years contributed to the development of a strong governance foundation from which to operate. Thanks are also extended to those people who worked tirelessly before the transition to the company structure to ensure that the constitution and other legal structures were in place. Together you helped to make the FDCA Board the professional and innovative group it is today.

[back to top]