Around twenty Menslink members attended the Menslink Annual General Meeting at the Southern Cross Club in November 2015 to review the 2014-15 Annual Report, audited financial statements and vote for their preferred candidates in the Board elections.
A key highlight from the year was a 60% increase in the number of young men receiving direct support through counselling and mentoring from Menslink, together with a 15% increase in the number of young men attending Silence is Deadly presentations and learning that “it’s not weak to speak” about depression, anxiety and tough times. This represents a fantastic effort by both our staff and volunteers, with more young men than ever before getting the help they need. We cannot thank them enough!
At the same time, expenses grew by less than 10% (administrative costs by only 2%), representing our continued focus on operational efficiency and cost control.
Together with our legal partner, Proximity Legal, we also embarked on an extensive review of all our policies, procedures and governance arrangements to ensure our work and management practices are at the highest possible standard. This review is ongoing in 2015-16.
Finally we were very pleased to receive increasing support from both our corporate sponsors and the community in general during the year, reflecting the value and trust placed in us and the work we do across Canberra. With over 40% of our funding coming from external donations and sponsorships; and 100% of our mentoring done by volunteers, we simply could not achieve the results we do without the community’s support. Thank you for your ongoing generosity.
All of our most recent annual reports can be viewed online here
Menslink acknowledged and said goodbye to two Directors who retired at this AGM: Wendy Addison and long-serving Secretary Jenny Henderson. Their contributions to Menslink were very valuable and will be missed.
Members also voted in four new Directors – some relatively new to Menslink and some who have been volunteers and supporters for many years. A list of Board members is available here