The Mark Lyons Scholarship recognises and supports future not-for-profit leaders. Generously funded by The Centre for Volunteering, it makes leadership and management skills accessible, strengthening the sector.
Leading change in not-for-profit
Gemma Rygate (L), CEO of Centre for Volunteering with Mark Lyons Not-for-Profit and Social Enterprise Management Scholarship recipient, Sally Beesley (R).
Sally Beesley spent a lot of time in hospital around the time she was in year eight. Due to a shortage of beds, she stayed on the baby’s ward where she often helped the nurses – sparking a lifelong love of working with young children.
As the Education and Quality Manager at KU Children’s Services, she now supports service directors and staff in providing quality education and care programs for pre-schoolers.
“Early education provides the foundations and instils a desire for lifelong learning from a young age,” says Sally. “To be part of that is really quite special.”
And these important stepping stones are something she believes every child should have access to.
“I don’t think social services like childcare and aged care should be run for a profit. Or if they are, the profits should be going back into the services – not shareholders’ pockets.”
Early education provides the foundations and instils a desire for lifelong learning from a young age. To be part of that is really quite special.
Sally is legally blind, but she hasn’t let her vision impairment get in the way of pursuing her passion. With a deep desire to make a greater impact in early education as a force for social good, Sally decided to develop her leadership skills through the Masters of Not-for-Profit and Social Enterprise Management program at UTS.
Being awarded the generous Mark Lyons Not-for-Profit and Social Enterprise Management Scholarship was an unexpected bonus.
Strengthening a sector
To invest in the leadership and management capacities of the non-profit sector, The Centre for Volunteering created The Mark Lyons Scholarship in partnership with the UTS Business School. Honouring the late Mark Lyons, a pioneer in the study of the not-for-profit sector, the scholarship aims to strengthen organisations, promote the wellbeing of the community and overcome social disadvantage.
“Through this scholarship we want to support people in the sector and acknowledge their professionalism in the community,” says Gemma Rygate, CEO of Centre for Volunteering. “Every recipient in the last seven years has shown a real passion and commitment to making a difference.”
As part of the scholarship students receive $5,000 to help them overcome some of the common barriers that students face. For Sally, the funds helped her access the course materials more easily.
“The team at UTS was already really good at supporting me. But thanks to the scholarship, I was able to get a new laptop with a larger screen that also reduces glare, which has made a huge difference in helping me complete my degree.”
The scholarship also allowed Sally to complete her major research project at the end of her program, exploring the idea of universal access to early childhood education.
“It was really important to have that support during the last phase; it allowed me to get the research done and complete the degree in the time that I did. It has also helped me move towards the next level in my career.”
Sally has already implemented a lot of the skills she developed throughout her degree.
“I drew on the strategic planning skills I learned when we went through a service restructure at the end of last year. I also learned a lot about the intricacies of not-for-profit services and how to design, deliver and assess social impact campaigns, which will be useful in the future.”
