David, 37, joined HeartKids halfway through his AGSM Executive MBA. The Charity is dedicated to providing support to families of children with heart disease, be it congenital or acquired. They support families through the journey that is diagnosis, surgery, and out of hospital care. They also offer bereavement programmes, and and events that allow a chance for parents to escape from day to day realities, if but for a minute.
“As an MBA, you have the potential to bring dynamic and cultural change that is not so easy to make in other industries that are more resistant to change. The skills of an MBA can bring change to many lives and not just one”, said David.
He told us that Childhood Heart Disease (‘CHD’), the most common birth abnormality affecting 1 in 100 children and is the greatest killer of children under the age of 1 in Australia, taking more lives than all other diseases combined
Being at HeartKids allows David to, “See the charity sector on a large scale and the difference that he could make”. Childhood illness is also something that is close to home for David. One of his closest family friends lost two kids and he wanted to help make a difference to other families that suffer this tragedy.
David’s role is immensely challenging. Everyday six children are born with heart disease in Australia. The country has over 400 cancer charities but HeartKids is the only national charity for heart disease in children.
He said, “It's a significant undertaking to manage a charity. There are never enough resources to do a job but I’m surrounded by inspirational families and people. My role moves from operations, to promoting our cause, to fundraising and strategic planning to improve processes. I also focus on increasing awareness and monitoring community engagement.”
He feels that the MBA is vital to his job with HeartKids. The charitable sector in Australia is highly competitive and needs people who understand how businesses work. “I’ve found that there is a lack of business and strategic thinking compared to the private sector. There are around 600,000 nonprofits in Australia and only the most skilled operators will succeed”, said David.
He feels that MBAs will be able to drive change in the industry because they can engage well with the commercial sector, something that is imperative for partnerships and sponsorships. MBAs will also find it easy to adopt business case-style analytical thinking, like David does when making plans for the charity’s day to day operations and for its future.
David is HeartKids’ first full-time staff member and as such is extremely excited about bringing the rest of the team along for the journey. He said, “I love working in a not-for-profit because of the satisfaction you feel from the intrinsic value of your work. I am always inspired when I think of the steps forward we can achieve and the dynamic and multifaceted nature of the work”.
They just had the Tiny Tickers Ball when we spoke to David but he’s currently busy driving the Cuppa Campaign where the community helps HeartKids raise funds and awareness by hosting a ‘Cuppa’ in their community. He’s also looking forward to Christmas time because that’s busy period for fundraising and driving awareness about significant causes.
Read more about students, alumni and programs at the Australian Graduate School of Management here
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