This information was shared in a CRU Email update on Tuesday 26th June 2024

Many of you will know that at the end of May we found out that our application for three years of funding from the federal government was unsuccessful. Our fellow members in the National Alliance of Capacity Building Organisations (NACBO) were also unsuccessful.

With your assistance we lobbied the Minister, Bill Shorten and then met with him four weeks ago. He apologised for the distress this had caused to the people with disabilities and families we support and our staff and agreed to extend our funding for one year. He also agreed to meet with the Alliance again to ensure that we are not back in the same predicament in twelve months’ time. That meeting is not yet in place.

In the intervening weeks, we have put proposals to the Department of Social Services but to date have not received confirmation of either the funding amount or what work would be expected in return.

We do have some additional funding, but the largest funding agreements that cover our core work finish on 30 June 2024 and consequently the majority of our staff contracts also finish then. As that date rapidly approaches, we have had to proceed with budgeting conservatively and negotiating to retain our staff, without any clear idea of what our income will be.

With all of that happening in the background I wanted to update you on a number of things:

• We have decided that from Monday 1st July, CRU will operate 4 days each week and be closed on Mondays. We don’t know how long this will be necessary for but will keep you informed as it becomes clearer. Operating a four-day week means that the cuts are shared across the team and that will minimise job losses. It will also assist us to maintain our staffing structure and hopefully help us rebuild quickly when we get the opportunity.
• We want to assure you that despite the confusion we remain very much ‘open’ and operating and want our work to continue with as little disruption as possible. We will of course have less capacity so bear with us as we adjust to this.
• We are planning and preparing to continue our work in the new financial year, even though we don’t yet know all of the details.

Thank you again for your support – firstly your quick response to our request to send emails to the Ministers made a huge difference. Some of you have made practical contributions which are very useful and much appreciated – Joining as a Member; Making a Tax Deductible Donation; sending people to First Aid and CPR or hiring our training room are all helping to make a difference.

Thank you also for your many messages of support and stories of the difference CRU has made in your life or the life of your family over the years. While we are already feeling quite determined, those stories renew our energy and help to reinforce why we need to keep fighting for CRU’s survival.

We will be in touch when we know more.

Kind Regards,
Margaret Rodgers (CEO)