In this episode of Executive with a Cause, host Tammy Ven Dange chats with Erin Parker, Head of People and Infrastructure at RSPCA Victoria.
We learn about RSPCA Victoria, their operations and their IT transformation. This includes the lessons learned along the way, including the importance of engaging operational staff in the transformation process.
We also talk about the challenges of managing IT when you don’t have a technical background.
You won’t want to miss this episode, where we get deep into the “how to” operational side of this complex organisation.
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Topics from this episode:
- 00.00 | Introduction
- 00.39 | About RSPCA Victoria
- 02.48 | About Erin and her role at RSPCA Victoria
- 07.10 | Infrastructure requirements for Commercial vs Charity Sector
- 10.17 | RSPCA Victoria volunteer base
- 11.46 | When your role expands past your area of expertise
- 14.08 | Advice for scoping IT Infrastructure
- 17.58 | Trusting your instincts
- 19.58 | Working in IT with a Non technical background
- 28.07 | Challenges of working with changing priorities and operational needs
- 31.52 | Planning a digital or IT transformation?
- 36.09 | How would RSPCA Victoria do things differently?
- 37.11 | Final thoughts
- 38.23 | Contacting RSPCA Victoria
Tammy Ven Dange is a former charity CEO, Association President, Not for Profit Board Member and IT Executive. Today she helps NFPs with strategic IT decisions with her business Roundbox Consulting.
Podcast Transcript with Erin Parker (Minor modifications have been made for clarity)
Introduction
Tammy Ven Dange
I’m Tammy Ven Dange, your host for Executive with a Cause. Today I get to speak with Erin Parker, the Head of People and Infrastructure at RSPCA Victoria. Today we’re going to talk about the good, bad, and hard things about running a charity.
Erin Parker
Thank you for having me.
About RSPCA Victoria
Tammy Ven Dange
I’m really excited to talk today because you’re part of an organisation that is near and dear to my heart. If anyone knows my background, they’ll know how much I love this organisation and the work you do. But we have people that don’t know what RSPCA does.
So can you tell us a little bit more about RSPCA Victoria?
Erin Parker
Absolutely. RSPCA Victoria is a very special place to work and volunteer.
Our purpose is really to work with the community and stakeholders to protect animals from experiencing cruelty and neglect and also support the community in providing really great and responsible pet ownership to animals throughout Victoria.
The work of our organisation is very diverse. That came as a surprise to me when I entered the organisation seven or eight years ago.
The work of the organisation includes our inspectorate, which is an enforcement that investigates complaints of cruelty and also prosecutes people of interest who have been responsible for cruelty or neglect.
We also have an animal care arm of our business that looks after animals that come into our organisation from a number of different sources, including our inspectorate, pound contracts and also from the community.
And we would look after them from entry, look after all of their health and care needs until such time that they’re ready to be rehomed to head on to the next chapter of their journey.
We do a whole bunch of work in the prevention space as well.
So working with government, with industry and a whole host of other external stakeholders to try and bring about changes to legislation that are in the interest of animal welfare.
We also work with other sort of organisations and communities in need to try and help people keep animals in their homes and also provide great welfare and care for their pets as well, where they might not have the means to be able to do that for themselves.
It’s a really diverse business and one that does really important work for the community.
About Erin and her role at RSPCA Victoria
Tammy Ven Dange
Great. And how did you get involved in RSPCA?
Erin Parker
Yeah, well, my introduction to RSPCA from an employment perspective is a funny story, actually. I’ve always had a passion for animal welfare. I’ve grown up with a lot of animals in my life and I relocated from Queensland probably about 15 years ago now and was very much familiar with the RSPCA brand my entire life.
But my background has predominantly been in human resources roles within financial services. And when I was working in financial services, I was looking for an opportunity for my team to do some sort of corporate volunteering. And naturally, the first place that I went to in search of one of these opportunities was RSPCA.
I made the mistake of clicking on employment opportunities rather than volunteering opportunities in my search. And miraculously, they were advertising a role that was comparable to the role that I was in in financial services. And then the rest was sort of history from there.
So good recognition of the brand and the work of the organisation my entire life. But I sort of stumbled into this role, and I haven’t looked back since.
Tammy Ven Dange
So, you came in originally as the head of HR and that role has expanded. Tell me more about the role that you have right now.
Erin Parker
Absolutely. So currently, I’m in a head of people and infrastructure role. And it looks after a number of what I would describe back of house functions for the organisation.
We really support our operational areas in achieving their goals. The makeup of people and infrastructure includes all of those traditional people functions. So… HR, volunteer programme, learning and development, health, safety and wellbeing, etc.
But I also have areas under my remit that include facilities and fleet management, infrastructure projects, as well as information services or IT, as it might be called in other organisations. So quite a broad range of different areas that support the business in its important work.
Tammy Ven Dange
I don’t think a lot of people recognise how much infrastructure is involved in running an organisation like RSPCA.
You know, I work with a lot of charities and very few have the infrastructure requirements like you guys have. Given that you came from HR, from a commercial sector, moved into HR and the charity sector… first of all, I should ask you that question.
Infrastructure requirements for Commercial vs Charity Sector
Tammy Ven Dange
What are the main differences in HR between the commercial and charity sector?
Erin Parker
Yeah, that’s a really interesting question. I don’t think that I knew what to expect stepping into a Not for Profit organisation for the first time.
But one thing that stood out to me from day one and something that I really treasure is that the culture is quite different, I think, in a Not for Profit organisation.
RSPCA is quite special in that everybody that is there is wholeheartedly dedicated to our cause and very much, you know, signed up to the goals of the organisation.
Whereas when I’ve worked in the corporate sector previously, one of the challenges that we always had from a people point of view is trying to connect people to our vision and to our purpose and for them to sort of see and feel meaning in the work that they’re doing.
So, yes, that’s probably the thing that stands out to me the most from a cultural point of view is that deep connection to our purpose, to our mission and a sort of dedication to our work like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.
Tammy Ven Dange
Now, operationally as well, from my experience coming from corporate and then going into not for profits, there’s also differences in things like payroll, right?
And I know payroll could fall under HR or could fall under finance, depending on the organisation. But I’m just thinking about how Awards can be quite complex.
And I’m just wondering if you have any thoughts about that?
Erin Parker
Yeah, there’s definitely some more complexity at RSPCA than what I’ve experienced elsewhere.
In many other organisations that I’ve worked at, people might be paid a wage that accounts for all of the things that they might otherwise be eligible for under the award that relates to their role.
Whereas at RSPCA, the construct of our workforce is quite different.
We have a lot of different people employed under different Awards. And they’re sort of employed on a full time, part time or casual basis. And we operate over a seven day roster as well.
So, there is a lot of complexity that comes with people being able to work seven days per week, that attracts overtime and penalty rates and public holiday rates, and so on and so forth.
Whereas in places that I’ve worked previously, the payroll was quite simple to process, because for the most part, people were effectively on autopay where their pay would be the same each fortnight or each month like clockwork.
So yeah, there’s and again, the diversity in our workforce means that we are operating under a different awards.
There are some similarities, but there are also some differences. So we need to make sure that we’re carefully monitoring those and have sort of good systems and processes in place to make sure that we’re fulfilling our requirements under those awards.
Tammy Ven Dange
Well, you even have the complexity of having individual people that can be on two awards on the same day, right?
Because they’re what an animal care attendant, and then someone could be an admin or something in the afternoon? So that’s crazy.
Erin Parker
Yeah, that’s such a great point that you raise.
Again, this isn’t something I’ve necessarily experienced elsewhere, but at RSPCA, it’s not uncommon for people to possess several different roles in the organisation.
So on one day, they might be acting in the capacity of a veterinary nurse at one of our regional clinics, and the next day, they might be working in a role that might not be covered by an award, it might not be covered by our enterprise agreement, it might be in an administrative capacity.
Again, we need to make sure that we’ve got really good systems and processes in place so that we know what people are doing and when, what payroll rules apply to them, and that we can make sure that we’re paying them correctly for that.
So yeah, that’s a great point. I mean, that’s definitely a point of difference compared to where I’ve worked previously.
RSPCA Victoria volunteer base
Tammy Ven Dange
And then let’s talk about volunteers. How many volunteers does RSPCA Victoria have?
Erin Parker
Yeah, so currently, we have about 1400 volunteers, and we’ve got about 420 staff members.
So we’ve got many more volunteers compared to our paid workforce. And it’s probably worth mentioning that the nature of those roles, again, are very diverse.
We have some people that volunteer in our shelters, or in our op shops, and they might come on site every week or every fortnight for a shift like clockwork.
We also have volunteers that are in a foster care capacity. So what that means is that we actually wouldn’t see them terribly often.
They would take animals that are in need of some special care at home. They’d look after those animals in their home environment. And we would be seeing them at times in which they’re either collecting a new animal, returning their existing foster animal, or bringing their foster animal in for some level of treatment.
And then we also have events volunteers as well. So they might show up for large events like Million Paws Walk that happen once a year. And outside of that, they might not be terribly involved in working for or volunteering for the organisation.
So very diverse group of volunteers supporting our cause as well.
When your role expands past your area of expertise
Tammy Ven Dange
Okay, so the interesting thing, though, is you’ve actually gone from that HR space to embedding or embracing other parts of the organisation.
Let’s talk about infrastructure. Because in RSPCA land, that includes a lot of facilities and buildings and things that people do not normally think about in terms of a charity necessarily.
So what was it like to go from, “Okay, I understand I’m in my lane” to taking on this additional requirement that’s not small? This is like big development work sometimes.
Erin Parker
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. So my role, just by way of background, I was in a head of people and culture role. Then the breadth of that role increased to incorporate facilities, infrastructure, and fleet.
And then later on, it increased further to include IT. So I’m grateful that I was able to accumulate those additional areas in, I’m not sure if it constitutes bite-sized chunks, but one at a time rather than all at the same time, because that would have been enormously challenging. But yeah, RSPCA Victoria, like our services, our facilities are really diverse.
So, across all of our sites, we obviously need some office facilities for our fundraising, human resources, IT functions, and the like.
We also need facilities to care for animals, all species. So, you could imagine that the facilities to house dogs is quite different to the facilities that we need to house cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, cockatoos, ferrets, goats, the whole gambit.
And then we’ve got different facilities again for our social enterprises.
So, we’ve got a private vet clinic, we have a retail store, we’ve got about half a dozen op shops peppered throughout Victoria as well. So yeah, our facilities are quite diverse.
I suppose I had a really steep learning curve when I had the opportunity to be able to oversee that function, having come from sort of more of a traditional HR role previously.
Advice for scoping IT Infrastructure
Tammy Ven Dange
Is there any advice you’d give somebody else that may find their scope of work expanding like that, especially for something like infrastructure?
Erin Parker
I think some of my sort of biggest lessons or perhaps advice would be sort of first and foremost is just take your time to take the time to understand, understand the current landscape, speak to staff and volunteers that are utilising the facilities,
If that is the area that somebody’s taking on, to understand what they like, what they don’t like, what they see to be the sort of risks and issues and challenges associated with those facilities.
And also not be afraid to ask for help and bring experts in sort of from outside of the organisation to help you on the way.
You know, when I acquired the facilities area, even the IT function, we had a number of people internally that possess some fantastic expertise within that space, but there were definitely some gaps as well.
And given that I didn’t have that background, I didn’t have the expertise within that space, we had to make some introductions and work with some people from outside of the organisation to help us to fully understand the current state of the land and help us come up with a plan in terms of how we went from the condition that we were in to where we wanted to go in the future.
Definitely ask for help, reach out for expertise and take the time to understand the lay of the land from the outset.
Trusting your instincts
Tammy Ven Dange
You were always good in the many meetings we’ve been through to always be willing to ask what you perceive as dumb questions
You’d always started off by saying, “Look, I’m not this person, I’m not this technical person, I’m not this building person or whatever. Explain it to me that way.” And I think that has always made it probably easier to learn – where a lot of people, they’re afraid to ask those questions.
Erin Parker
Yeah, I have no shame in asking stupid questions.
“I’m not the IT expert on this call. I’m not the facilities expert in this call. I’m a HR person by trade. So forewarning, I am going to ask the silliest questions of everybody on this call.”
But it’s been so helpful. It’s been so helpful for my learning.
And it has meant that I have been able to gain a deeper understanding of sort of the risks and issues that we have within our organisation. Then I can relay those risks and issues to other stakeholders, such as our CEO and our board in a way that will make sense to them.
Because when we are talking about things, particularly things in the technology realm, it can be enormously technical and complicated and not make a whole lot of sense to the decision makers.
So being able to sort of explain these things in really basic terms has been really helpful for me personally.
Tammy Ven Dange
Well, we’ve been working together for a few years now on the transformation, the IT transformation for RSPCA Victoria.
One thing that I always notice about you, and actually most executives, is that your instincts would tell you that what you’ve heard wasn’t quite right.
And so many times you say, “This doesn’t quite feel right.”
And I’m like, “You’re absolutely right! It’s not right.”
Your instincts are always on par.
Because so many other executives will also be questioning their instincts, and you’ve probably learned through this process that you could trust your instincts.
Is there any advice that you’d give people when they’re taking on additional roles like you have, where you really have no clue, and you’re trying to trust the experts in front of you, but at the same time, something doesn’t make sense?
Erin Parker
Yeah, I think that if you’re seeing or hearing things that don’t sound quite right, don’t make sense, or perhaps you might just feel the need to sort of sanity check it with somebody else. I would suggest that you trust your gut, you trust your instinct, and you find somebody reliable and trustworthy and knowledgeable that you can do that with. That’s served us really well.
I’ve really valued having a network of people outside of the organisation that possess expertise and technology facilities, infrastructure projects, whatever it might be, that I can pick up the phone and call and say,
“Hey, listen, this has popped up. This is what I’m hearing. Does this sound right to you? Are there any other options that we should be considering in sort of deciding what our pathway forward is?”
So yeah, definitely trust your instincts and make sure that you’re sort of doing the necessary due diligence so that you’ve got a really good grasp on what’s going on and what it is that you might need to do on behalf of the organisation to work through whatever it is that you might be experiencing.
Working in IT with a Non technical background
Tammy Ven Dange
Thinking about you as the new executive in charge of IT with a non-technical background, and then knowing that we had a multi-year plan now to implement all this change, including a lot of cybersecurity risk management that we needed to do at the beginning…
Are there any thoughts or lessons learned from that process that you would recommend to others coming from a non-technical background?
Erin Parker
Yeah, I think absolutely. I think from the outset, RSPCA hadn’t made any significant investments in IT for a number of years, and we knew that that was an issue for us and that that would be a barrier to us achieving our future goals.
So it was definitely sort of identified as a priority and a necessity to start investing in this space in future years, but we really didn’t know where to start.
It was quite an overwhelming problem that we were contemplating.
So again, some of the things that I think that we did really well from the outset was getting some assistance from someone outside of the organisation, which is yourself, Tammy, at Roundbox Consulting, doing a really deep dive into the current state, making sure that we had a full picture of what are the risks and issues that exist within our current architecture.
That was really important because we discovered through that process that there were some risks that existed within our current set up that perhaps weren’t well known to us or perhaps weren’t as well understood as what they should have been.
So getting that sort of external set of eyes over our landscape was enormously valuable, as well as consulting with volunteers across all levels of the organisation to get their feedback and input as part of the process as well.
That was really valuable because as the people that are using our technology on a day-to-day basis, they know it best and they often experience issues that perhaps myself or the IT team might not necessarily be aware of.
We gained quite a number of insights from that process again to help provide a fuller picture around the current state. So that was really valuable.
I think we did, through this process, we did have to go through several layers of decision making to build a case for support and then get agreement from our board and from our CEO to press ahead with our proposed plans.
I think another thing which I touched on earlier that our CEO and our board and our senior leadership team, they’re not technology experts by any stretch of the imagination.
So when they’re hearing terms like single source of truth or operational efficiencies or duplication of effort, broadly we know what those terms mean.
But what I found really successful was when you’re able to describe these issues concerning our current environment, but also sort of share stories to help illustrate what those words mean in our context.
I just found that so helpful to build their understanding of what are the issues that we’re experiencing and then obviously gain their support for us to press ahead with the projects that we were proposing and secure the investment that we needed to do that.
So if I were to give you just one very quick example, we’ve talked for a very long time about how inefficient a lot of our processes were and we would describe that using phrases like single source of truth, operational efficiencies, duplication of effort, as I said.
But when I was able to describe the process that a veterinarian would need to undertake in assessing an animal and say they go down, they see the animal, they write it down on a piece of paper, then they go back to their desk and then they enter it into this system and then they have to enter it into this system and then this system doesn’t talk to this system…
Really told a storey about the experience of our frontline staff doing their best to provide the highest standards of welfare to animals in our care, but losing all of this time and energy dealing with these sort of manual processes which are a product of our poor systems.
I found that to be a really effective way to help our decision makers sort of really understand and appreciate why this is an important piece of work to invest in and just how sort of significant and impactful some of the shortcomings in our current landscape are and how they really get in the way of us achieving our goals.
Tammy Ven Dange
I think that’s a great example and definitely being able to show what that means for frontline.
I should say that so many organisations are building business cases around manual processes, yet for the board, that doesn’t really mean anything. They don’t have visibility to that.
So being able to explain it from a veterinarian’s point of view, suddenly it feels real. It feels, “Oh, that poor vet.”
Erin Parker
And especially when on our board – sort of the membership has changed over the years, but typically two or three of our directors do come from a veterinarian background. So being able to articulate these issues and provide examples that would really resonate with them has been really helpful, really valuable to this process.
I think has played a big part in why we’ve been able to secure the support that we needed to press ahead.
Tammy Ven Dange
I think the other part of that is you guys have been really good about explaining it from a risk perspective. It’s another red flag for board members.
Erin Parker
Yeah, absolutely. And our board, I would describe our board and our organisation as being fairly risk adverse.
So being able to articulate the risks associated with the current state and again, really articulate the implications of that.
It’s all well and good to say this is a cyber security risk, but that statement might not mean anything to our senior leadership team and to our board.
But if we can then sort of elaborate further to help explain exactly what that means and what the possible implications are for the organisation, that has also been really helpful for sure.
Tammy Ven Dange
I think a good example for you guys, if I’m allowed to share, is around your HVAC system that was sitting on an unsupported server.
People don’t think about the fact that these big facilities actually have emergency services, security monitoring, facility, electricity, lights and HVAC type things on servers.
And if that was compromised or unavailable, then suddenly the animals would not be able to get air conditioning on a hot day.
Erin Parker
Yeah, exactly right.
And not only does that become a sort of safety issue for staff, volunteers and other people attending the site, but we’ve also got obligations under our Codes of Practice as well to provide a temperature controlled environment for animals in our care.
So something as simple as the air conditioning system not working for whatever reason, but in our particular case, it was in jeopardy of not working because of the IT that sat behind it, could create some really significant risks for our organisation.
Challenges of working with changing priorities and operational needs
Tammy Ven Dange
There’s been some major changes over time, though. The roadmap that we created three years ago is not necessarily what we’ve actually implemented over time.
Talk about the challenges of managing change within an environment, especially with the economy that we’re dealing with at the moment.
Erin Parker
Yeah, the roadmap.
One of my favourite parts about the roadmap that we have is that it is flexible and it is dynamic and it can change as our priorities and operational needs change over the years.
So, you know, whilst we presented to the board what we thought the next sort of three, four, five years might look like and the prioritisation and timing of projects.
But in reality, the timing of those projects has changed quite drastically and which has been fantastic that the way in which the roadmap has been designed is flexible enough to facilitate that.
So what’s really important for us is that once we get through a phase of work, rather than jumping right into the next phase – that we have to check in with our stakeholders, check back in with our strategic priorities.
Some of those sort of new emerging or changing sort of risks and issues that our organisation is experiencing to contemplate whether the scope of the next phase of work is still appropriate or whether it might need to be sort of reconsidered with some different priority given to some other projects that might not have been intended for that phase.
So yeah, that’s an important process that we go through each year, like clockwork, that it has served us really well in ensuring that we are being flexible and adapting to the needs of the business as they change.
Tammy Ven Dange
And even the scope of the projects have changed.
Erin Parker
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, that can be really tricky actually, because when we are talking to the steering committee, our senior leadership team, our board, you know, at a point in time about a project, we might provide them with a view around scope, timing, costs, etc.
But by the time we’re due to start the implementation of that project, almost on every occasion, the scope, the timing, the costs have changed.
So that’s something that we have to really carefully manage to make sure that yeah, we are sort of being very clear from the outset that things can change as we go.
And making sure that again, we’re sort of checking back in with our stakeholders, reviewing those details of the project before we go through any formal decision making process, so that we’re not having to race back to our steer co or to our board later on, and ask them for some revisions to say the budget or the project plan, for example, because things had changed unexpectedly.
Planning a digital or IT transformation?
Tammy Ven Dange
For an organisation that’s thinking about a significant transformation, whether they call it digital or IT, what kind of advice would you give to them in the planning phase?
Erin Parker
Yeah, I think probably not all too dissimilar to what I’ve already shared, which is really taking the time to understand the current landscape, the risks, the issues, the opportunities associated with it.
Also taking a look to see what other similar organisations are doing, and whether there’s some learnings that we can take from their experiences and contemplate as part of our own planning process.
Definitely getting the support of the experts that you need along the way.
Being in a not for profit organisation, resources can be stretched thin. And there might be limitations in terms of the skill and capability that you possess within the organisation, which might mean that you can start down the path of transformation.
But you might be able to do it more successfully or more effectively with the support of some experts from outside of the organisation, or from other similar organisations that experienced something similar in the past.
Tammy Ven Dange
Well, I was thinking even like how you’ve added a project manager, program manager, you know, that’s been a pretty important skill set for you as an org.
Erin Parker
Absolutely. In fact, just carefully considering the resourcing requirements for any transformation program. I think not for profit organisations in particular have a tendency to ask people to contribute to projects sort of in addition to their normal role.
We’ve certainly got a long track record of trying to do that in that way at RSPCA.
But what we’ve learned particularly through some of our larger infrastructure projects, and through our technology projects is just how important it is to have dedicated resources contributing to the project, so that they’re not sort of distracted by their business as usual activity, or feeling as though they’re being pulled into many different directions at the same time.
So yeah, very carefully considering what those resourcing requirements are, which is tough because it can add significant costs to a project very quickly.
But it does make a world of difference as far as your ability to be able to deliver a project sort of on time within budget, and delivering the outcomes that you’re expecting as well.
Tammy Ven Dange
Good advice there. And especially, you know, you tell people they need internal resources. But once they start to price it, they’re like, “Oh, we can’t give that to the board.”
Erin Parker
Absolutely.
Tammy Ven Dange
How do you deal with that? Like knowing that you just blew out the cost of your whole project by double sometimes through internal resources.
That’s hard.
Erin Parker
Yeah, it’s really tough.
And often those internal resources are sort of pencilled in to contribute to a whole host of different projects happening across the organisation at the same time.
So it’s not only a technology project that might be trying to draw time from, say, one of our animal care managers, for example.
They might also need to be contributing to a prevention project, an inspectorate project, you know, a project concerning one of our social enterprises.
So yeah, it can be really challenging. But we do have to really carefully consider, “In reality, can this role contribute to the extent that we need them to, in addition to their current responsibilities? Is that realistic and achievable?”
And if it’s not, then we do have to explore what an alternative resourcing arrangement looks like, cost that up and incorporate that into the overall project costs.
So there’s certainly times where we think we can manage without.
Sometimes it hasn’t quite played out that way. But, you know, we’ve been learning and we have been trying not to stretch people too thin and make sure that if these projects are important and we want to do them well, that we resource them properly from the outset.
How would RSPCA Victoria do things differently?
Tammy Ven Dange
If you had to do this again, Erin, what would you do differently?
Erin Parker
Oh, if I could do this again, what would I do differently?
I think I feel really proud of the progress that we’ve made as an organisation, particularly in the technology space. I think that, you know, as I said, we as an organisation didn’t invest in IT for many years.
We were stuck in terms of where to get started. And we had great difficulties as well in determining what the right path is and how to prioritise the competing needs of our business.
So I feel like we’ve learnt so much along the way.
We’ve made a ton of mistakes without a question of a doubt. But I feel really pleased with the progress that we’ve been able to make in the last three years.
And organisation is in much better condition than what it was when we started this programme of work.
Final thoughts
Tammy Ven Dange
Just in everything you’ve done, even in your past life, before you joined RSPCA, is there anything else you want to share for individuals that may be listening to this podcast that are interested in the Not for Profit sector?
Erin Parker
Yeah. For any of my colleagues out there that haven’t had the pleasure of working within the Not for Profit sector, I wholeheartedly encourage you to consider that at some point in time in your future careers.
Not for Profit are a really special place to be, filled with really special people.
And we need to attract more capable and experienced professionals from different sectors to help contribute to the important work that we’re doing for the community here in Victoria.
So give it a go. It will definitely be a fun ride and be quite different to perhaps the experiences that you’ve had in the past in the corporate environment.
But it’s so rewarding, it’s so fulfilling, and something that I encourage everyone to give it a go.
Contacting RSPCA Victoria
Tammy Ven Dange
And if people want to know more about RSPCA Victoria, where should we send them?
Erin Parker
Yes. So our website is a really good place to go. But I would also encourage you to follow us on social media.
So we’re on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, all of those traditional social media platforms. Definitely follow our work.
And there’s so many different ways in which you can get involved and support the work of RSPCA, be it through working with us, but most certainly through volunteering for us, or advocating for our cause, or even donating or contributing to some of the work that we’re doing down the line.
Tammy Ven Dange
And if somebody wants to reach out to you personally, are we okay to send them to?
Erin Parker
Absolutely, definitely. Erin Parker on LinkedIn, I’d love to connect with you.
Tammy Ven Dange
Excellent. Erin, thank you so much for your time today and sharing more about RSPCA Victoria.
Erin Parker
Thanks Tammy, appreciate your time.
