Tag: governance

From Little Things, Big Things Grow – Annual Report

“…but this is the story of something much more
How power and privilege can not move a people
Who know where they stand and stand in the law

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow”

From Little Things, Big Things Grow,  Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody, 1991

Let’s Fix the Tax Treaty! seeks to be an open, transparent and effective advocacy group.  As part of this commitment, not only do we, the Steering Committee, believe it is good practice to set annual objectives as part of our action planning, it is also useful to look back and reflect on what was achieved with the resources available to us.

2017 was our first full year of existence and much of the year was spent building the foundations upon which we intend to build activity, momentum and scale over the coming years.   Key milestones along the way included publishing our Strategy Roadmap, creating and implementing a Wiki framework for knowledge capture and ongoing membership development and support.

Many of you will recall that we prepared a 2017 Scorecard which we issued as part of the Strategy Roadmap document.  How did we do?  See the table below this post.  Although not everything was achieved, we believe we made solid steps towards our goals.  Currently, we are finalising our 2018 objectives which will inform our efforts over the coming year.

As always, we value your feedback and comments.  Most of all, we value your involvement.  Are we moving too slow?  Do you want us to go in new or different directions?  Get involved!

Karen, Carl & Caroline

Continue reading “From Little Things, Big Things Grow – Annual Report”

Behind the Scenes

It’s been almost three months since Carl posted our revised Strategy Roadmap. In that time, the Steering Committee (Karen Alpert, Carl Greenstreet, and Caroline Day) have been working behind the scenes on creating a package of materials to support organised action. I’ve written a “Talking Points” paper and am working on a more detailed Issues paper. We also plan to boil this down into one or more single-page briefs that can be used to help inform members of Parliament, policy-makers and other key decision-makers and influencers. We have a series of questions that we would like to ask the appropriate government agencies under Freedom of Information and Carl is preparing FOI requests.  The bottom line is that we need to have both well-documented evidence and a clear objective before we start any campaign to inform policy-makers.

As we have said before, many hands make light work. There are several areas where we could use some help. Please read through this list and consider what you might be able to help with:

  • Steering Committee (see section 2 of the Strategy Roadmap) – we are still looking for two more members to fill the vacant positions (see page 9 of the document)
  • Developing and organising our evidence base – We are creating a wiki to organise and index information from this website and others. Even if you don’t feel up to adding original content to the wiki, consider becoming a wiki editor to help populate the wiki with links to other resources.
  • Branding – Do you have graphic design skills? If you would like to design a logo for us, let us know via our contact form.

 

Strategy Roadmap – Rough Draft

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
― Abraham Lincoln

While it may seem like there’s very little activity here, we have been busy behind the scenes. The Steering Committee (myself, Carl Greenstreet, and Caroline Day), have been working on articulating our strategy. We have a very rough draft of our initial strategy roadmap that we are now releasing for comment. There are still many holes to fill – the table of contents shows an outline of where we’re heading.

Previous blog entries have discussed our overall vision. Carl’s Plan to Succeed post foreshadowed much of the structure of the current document. In Priorities I outlined several main goals which have been incorporated here. And in One Step at a Time I talked a bit about the long time horizon that may be necessary in our struggle. The governance section of the document comes mainly from my Steering Committee post. The Strategy Roadmap pulls all of this information into a single document.

This is a first draft. Your comments and suggestions are needed to assist with refining the current document and extending it. Getting the strategy right is an important first step. As the old proverb goes: “What’s the use of running if you’re not on the right road?” You can make comments here, on the Facebook group, or by completing the feedback form on the About page.

Comments will help us develop a coordinated action plan for 2017. We look forward to your feedback, and will be calling for assistance from everyone as our plans for 2017 take shape.

I’d like acknowledge Carl’s efforts in putting together the initial outline that became this first draft. Fleshing out his outline has been a group effort. If you are interested in joining the Steering Committee to help with further refinement of this document, please fill in the form here.

Download the document here: FTT Strategy Roadmap

Steering Committee

If we’re going to have any real impact, we need a plan. To that end, I am gathering together a Steering Committee to assist in strategy and action. I have already asked some people to join the Steering Committee and will introduce members to the group (both on the blog and on Facebook) as they agree to serve. Current Steering Committee members are Karen Alpert and Carl Greenstreet.

The committee will ideally consist of 4-6 individuals from around the country. With Carl’s feedback, I have put together a Steering Committee Charter that describes the roles and responsibilities of Steering Committee members. Subcommittees will assist the Steering Committee with Education, Blog posts, Legislative Action, Allied Action, News, and Media.

If you would like to volunteer for one of the subcommittees, please complete this form

Subcommittee(required)