DOG GUIDE HANDLERS AUSTRALIA (Inc)

ANNUAL REPORT 2016 – 2017
Dog Guide Handlers Australia (DGHA) is a national association which provides a voice for Australians who are blind or vision impaired who are dog guide handlers.
DGHA is an independent association of dog guide handlers, and is not affiliated with any dog guide school.

KEY OBJECTIVES.
DGHA strives to foster, represent, promote, enhance and protect the interests of Australians who are blind or vision impaired who are dog guide handlers.
DGHA draws on the experiences and varied knowledge of its members, to provide peer support, advocacy and information to dog guide handlers throughout Australia.

Current members of the DGHA Committee are:
Nadia Mattiazzo – President
Kevin Murfitt – Vice-President
Greg Madson – Treasurer
Joyce Jones – Co-Secretary
Erika Webb – Co-Secretary
Warwick Best – General Committee Member
Bev Best – General Committee Member
Roger Leal – General Committee Member
Jamie Kelly – General Committee Member
Rowena Dowling – General Committee Member

PRESIDENT’S REPORT:
This year, like many others has been very busy, but also one of important growth and development of DGHA.  As many of you will be aware, significant changes across the disability sector have been taking place and as MyAgedCare and NDIS reforms continue to roll out this dynamic environment is set to continue.
Acknowledging the importance of this evolution and the pressing need for DGHA to understand and influence outcomes and the implications for us all as Members.  I would like to sincerely thank the other members of the Executive Committee for their willingness to contribute to DGHA’s pursuit of its principal objectives advocating for all of us as Dog Guide Handlers.  We would also like to acknowledge the efforts of general committee member Kym Fontaine, who stepped down from the Committee during the year. I would also like to acknowledge David Foran who provided significant input and support as Co-President prior to last’s year’s Annual General Meeting.

Second DGHA Conference

Over the weekend of Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 October 2016, Dog Guide Handlers Australia held its second national conference at the Sage Hotel in Adelaide. In total there were seven sessions over 2 days, the DGHA 2016 AGM, and a conference dinner, which included the presentation of the Judith Killen Golden Harness Award. If you couldn’t attend, all the information, including audio of all sessions, can be found on our DGHA 2016 National Conference page.

Of most pressing demand and a major undertaking that has dominated the Organisation’s thinking and resources has been the reviewing of our Constitution. The Committee has also been giving some considerable thought to organising our next DGHA Conference which we hope will be even bigger and better than our previous Conference which brought together over 40 handlers and presenters. We are hoping to hold our Conference in Sydney in September. We are very excited to note that the 2018 International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF) Seminar will be held in Sydney in September and we are hoping to hold our Conference as close to this time as possible as to maximise attendance from the various international speakers who will be in Australia.  Please check our website regularly as we will shortly be beginning the quite significant organising process.

In terms of our advocacy work, we have continued to provide feedback and input into the issues of airline travel and dog guides, as well as the significant issue of the appropriate accreditation of assistance animals. We have also held one member’s meeting which looked at the future of orientation and mobility. Presenters at this meeting were Nicole Homes – Access & Technology Officer & Kelly Prentice – O&M Specialist from Guide Dogs NSW/ACT who spoke about developments in technology influencing the future of O&M. This includes the use of video streaming, Bluetooth beacons & the changing face of O&M services. If you missed this meeting, please check the news section of our website where you will find details of the meeting and a direct link to the presentation. We thank both Nicole and Kelly for sharing this important piece of work with us. 

I would like to thank our current Committee for their tireless work in ensuring the continuing success of DGHA as the peak body of dog guide handlers and look forward to being involved in our future growth and development.

There are a variety of ways you can provide further support and momentum to your Organisation.  Committee participation is a good opportunity, and so is simply providing feedback, suggestions, topics for consideration, guest speakers you’d like to hear or specific policy initiatives– the ways you can add value for all of us are boundless.    In short, by getting involved in whatever way you can, strengthens our organisation and benefits us all and allows us to support more members in more ways.

Many thanks for your continued support as we pursue an even more exciting 2018. 

Nadia Mattiazzo
President

MEMBERSHIP REPORT:
Total DGHA Members up to 30 June 2016
Full:  84
Associate:  17

SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT:
Co-Secretary and Social Media Manager: Erika Webb.

DGHA social media activity between 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017has been as follows:

• We have 254 Facebook members, up from last year’s 184.
• We follow via Twitter 1815 people and groups, up from last year’s1542.
• We have 1459 Twitter Followers, up from last year’s1155.
• We have tweeted 550 times, up from last year’s 429. 

TREASURER’S REPORT:

DGHA Financial Statement 1 July 2016 - 30 June 2017

ANZ Account Balance on 1 July 2016:  $1,388.38

ANZ Account Incoming from 1 July 2016:

DGHA Memberships:				$140.00
DSS Conference Grant:				$10,000.00
SEDA Conference Grant:				$1,500.00
Guide Dogs Australia Conference Grant:	$2,500.00
Conference raffle Funds:				$416.00
DGHA Conference Payments:	   	   $1,505.00

Total Income into ANZ Account:  		$16,776.00

Outgoing from ANZ account since 1 July 2016: 

DGHA Conference:

Gifts for Presenters:			$215.20
OfficeWorks Supplies:			$98.04         
Prises and giveaways:			$520.65
Golden Harness Award:			$81.10
Returned Conference Registration:	$185.00
Audio – Staging Connection:		$3,377.94     
Conference Payments to Members:	     $6,985.00
DGHA Conference Venue:			$5,190.00
Website Domain Name:				$29.90

Total Outgoing from ANZ:  			$16,682.83

Balance of ANZ Account as of 30 June 2017:  $1,481.55

DGHA PayPal Account

PayPal Account balance on 1 July 2016:	 $864.31

Incoming into PayPal Account from 1 July 2016:

DGHA Memberships:  				$170.00
DGHA Conference Payments:			$2,925.00
Adjustments:						$0.06

Total income into PayPal:  			$3,095.06

Outgoing from PayPal Account from 1 July 2016

Gravity Forms Licence:  				$39.51
PayPal Fees:  						$87.67

Total Outgoing from PayPal:  			 $127.18

PayPal Account Balance as of 30 June 2017:	$3,832.19

Total balance for Accounts as of 30 June 2017:

ANZ Account:		$1,481.55
PayPal Account:	$3,832.19

Total Balances:	$5,313.74

Greg Madson
Treasurer