In May, the Tasmanian Community Fund had the pleasure of hosting 17 community sector organisations in Campbell Town, for part two of the 2023 Project Presentation Day series. The first part of the series was held in Longford during March, with 14 organisations taking part.

The purpose of the project presentation days is to provide an environment for funding recipients to share information and ideas, and provide an update to TCF Board and Staff. It is also an opportunity to facilitate connections and hopefully future collaboration, across the community sector in Tasmania. Each presenter provided an overview of their funded project, and depending on their stage of delivery, focused on either the issues at the heart of their project and what they intend to deliver in the future, the impact the project is having on participants, or their learnings and reflections, including the plan to sustain their work for the longer term.

Whilst every project is nuanced and unique, there were many common themes across the two days. These themes include the importance of well executed and considered co-design processes, the power of effective partnerships, and that utilising a strengths-based approach to working with, and supporting participants, can lead to positive outcomes and indeed cultural and community change.

We were also fortunate to have Adrian Smith from communications consultancy CorComms in attendance to meet and connect with participating organisations. TCF work closely with CorComms to bring our funded projects to life through story telling and celebrating the many successes TCF funded projects achieve. Adrian provided his observations from the day, as well as some tips for effective communication, at the end of each day and his wisdom and advice was highly beneficial.

We thank all participating organisations for shining a light on some of the issues, and importantly solutions, that will play a part in improving community wellbeing and reducing barriers to learning for the Tasmanian community.