‘We’ll work really hard, but shove someone else up the front to get the glory.’ Vicki Thom of Mad Mob Aboriginal Corporation in the Hawkesbury, New South Wales might be uncomfortable with the spotlight, but she and her fellow directors deserve this pat on the back for their creation of a safe space for community members in the Hawkesbury.
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Mad Mob started as an art group with art classes, which then became a corporation and registered with ORIC in 2017.
‘It took a couple of months to figure out exactly what the community wanted and what was most important to do first,’ says Vicki. ‘The Elders wanted to create an organisation and a space to make them feel safe and where they’re heard and where they can carry on cultural practices. After a lot of yarning and a lot of coffees, we had the ground rules.
The whole thing about Mad Mob is to make the organisation inclusive of all people.
We created a safe place. We meet, we have a yarn, we do artwork, we do whatever the community wants to do. We run an art group every second Wednesday night. The youngest is 3 years old and the oldest is in their eighties. They can come and sit and have a yarn and a good laugh.
‘We also have a lot of Indigenous foster children who come. Foster parents reach out and ask about connections and activities and we tell them to come along.
‘It’s the best thing ever,’ says Vicki. ‘To have the rest of our community acknowledge that we’re here and we’re not going away, but you’re very welcome to join us if you choose. Choices are important.’
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Mad Mob operates as a small corporation with directors and members.
‘People say “how can you call yourself Mad Mob?” We’re all as mad as cut snakes! Hawkesbury council gives us a room to meet in; we have no workers and we have no ongoing funding – we get donations and we apply for small funding grants,’ says Vicki. ‘We’re all volunteers; if we need something we just go and buy it. It’s for everybody and I think that’s why we get on so well – because we’re not bound by funding, by another organisation giving us money.’
The directors of Mad Mob enlisted the support of Community First Development (CFD) to become a sustainable and well-governed organisation. CFD is a First Nations community development and research organisation that works with communities to promote the skills, talents and cultural strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and facilitates activities where they lead positive changes for their communities.
Mad Mob needed to secure resources to keep their cultural heritage alive and to support and maintain improvements in the well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
With CFD’s support, Mad Mob secured deductible gift recipient (DGR) status in 2018, allowing anyone who donates to Mad Mob to receive a tax deduction on their donation. This can make an organisation like Mad Mob more attractive to donors and can mean larger or more frequent donations.
CFD also helped Mad Mob to develop a 5-year business plan, outlining a clear direction for the corporation, including a roadmap to diversify funding sources and become sustainable in a way that will effectively meet the community’s needs.
‘As an organisation we don’t talk about ourselves much – we talk about community successes,’ says Vicki. ‘We had to learn to talk ourselves up for grant applications and funding submissions, and CFD helped us do that.’ Most recently, CFD worked with Mad Mob to lodge several funding submissions aimed at supporting their administration and program delivery. At least 2 of these have been successful due to advice from CFD, and Mad Mob now has increased confidence and skills to seek funding on their own.
You can keep up with Mad Mob through their Facebook page.