2018

APCO Foundation Chairperson’s Report.

In 2018 the APCO FOUNDATION have kept it simple but significant. We had over 60 applications for funding and gave to 27 families and causes. We raised just over $240,000 and gave away $220,000.

Our continued growth owes much to our board. It is a well-balanced board that consists of experienced, and exceptional people that volunteer their time to ensure the efficiency of the foundation. I am going to mention our board members here as they deserve the recognition of the APCO community.

Jill Wood, one of our founding members has been with us since 2013 and is the backbone of the foundation, being at head office means she often plays many roles for us, secretary, treasurer, and all-round multi-tasking! Jill’s kindness and support towards the members of our foundation is unlimited and greatly appreciated.

Jan Carroll also a founding member since 2013 and has the most difficult and rewarding job of saying no and yes to our many applicants for funding. It can be a tough job to say no to a worthy cause and it must be done with a kind and gentle manner. Jan is perfect for this job and keeps all the applications in order which is a big task over twelve months as we gave away a large amount of money over the past year.

Lyn Martin joined us in 2015 and was a current franchisee at the time. Lyn has stayed on the board to support us even after selling their business last year. Lyn is an invaluable member who stays late every meeting and is in charge of checking that each site has done their banking and seeing if they have everything they need to support the foundation.

Andrew Augustine joined us in May 2014 and without his help we would have no public face at all. He always has the foundation in mind and includes us in the everyday life of APCO marketing. He is responsible for the 10c from chill water and APCO Oil and for the 22c twosdays that gives us an income stream of $42,600 with most of that coming from 22 c Twosdays. Andrew is working on a reusable sustainable bag for the APCO chain that will also see a portion of the money going to the foundation.

Andrew Jones came to the foundation in April 2016 and has been a great asset with his considerable experience in organizational change and financial management. He volunteers for extra jobs helping out at the wine walk and race day and has proved an invaluable addition to us.

Tom White from Coulter Roache also joined us in 2016 and provides us with strong support overseeing our legal obligations and making sure that we are following the guidelines set out by the justice department. He is generous with his time and knowledge and we could not do without him.

Last but certainly not least my three wonderful sisters without whom the foundation could not function. Jennifer Brennan, Christine Healy and Mary Anne Carew. They come a day early and leave days later, they balance figures, cheques, and organize functions down to the tiniest detail and give up so much to make sure that the foundation will go from strength to strength. I am awed by their commitment and dedication and I love working with them. They are the kindest people I know.

I cannot thank the board enough for their strong support and kind hearts over the past 12 months.

I have always struggled with the word charity which I believe has negative connotations and so this year I have tried to talk about Kindness. Kindness requires action and the foundation have strived to do that over the past twelve months by following our goals.

• To continue to create awareness and goodwill in the APCO community.

• To build our website and social media presence

• To continue to grow our events and fundraising abilities

I believe we have been building on these goals, using our local APCO service stations to tell the community what we have been doing over the past 12 months through signage at the front door of each site. Our Heritage wine walk grew to 700 people this year from 420 last year and raised $70,000. We received a grant from Geelong connected communities for $2,000 and $3,000 from Geelong Events. This meant we were able to hire an event company Minapre events to run the wine walk for us which left us to do our job of giving out the money that we raised. We could not have raised this money without the support of our major sponsors PURE WAX and APCO.

Race for A Reason ran on May 12th and with the support of the Geelong Racing club and our corporate partners we raised $ 46,000. It was a great day with 250 people attending, our wine wall had a Penfolds Grange up for grabs, the amazing Ian Cover as MC, and Gina Liano as our special guest. Race for a Reason will run next year on May 10th with a Black and White theme.

The board made the decision to double the amount each franchisee can give to $2000. This is the way we will build the most awareness as we help those who need it within our communities.

I have attached a copy of the people and causes where we have actioned our kindness. There was an outstanding amount at the end of the financial year which had not been used by the franchisees, so the Board again decided that all the outstanding money had to be spent by 30th June 2018 to comply with the Justice Departments regulations. The money was divided equally between Cop’s n Kids and Cottage by the Sea.

We achieved our goal of placing the the rest of the defibrillators into each APCO service station. This was a great achievement and they are all registered with Ambulance Victoria thanks to Mary Anne. We did not achieve our goal of improving our website and social media presence and somehow this year we must find the time to build on this important resource.

The Foundation made some large donations this year:

• $50,00 to Regional Head Space. Each local service station gave $2,000 to their local headspace adding up to $50,000.

• $25,000 to Cottage by the Sea for the renovations that will make it possible for them to also reach out to children with disabilities.

• $20,000 to Barwon Health to build a rehab center specifically for children.

I have given a lot of thought to the next 12 months and I think our goals this year should be the following:

• We want our franchisees and our local APCO communities to join us in building the foundation over the next 12 months.

• To add another fundraising venture either a function or an income stream

• To improve our website and social media presence.

We are beginning to build a bank that will allow us to have a ‘big’ goal one day soon! It is the small amounts that we have given away this year that are contributing to building a solid foundation with the communities around us. We need to build the trust so that people trust we are giving our money back to those who need it. I believe that when that trust builds so will the foundation. In five year’s we have given away just over $390.000 dollars!!

It is a privilege and a pleasure to work with this foundation and the wonderful people, charity and corporate partners that support us. Their kindness and generosity are a constant source of amazement and wonder to me. I look forward to the next 12 months and the challenge of building the foundation with all your help to the next level.

Thank you all kindly,

Sharon Gleeson
APCO Foundation Chair

2018 Apco Foundation Geelong Heritage Wine Walk