THOMAS LOPEZ
State Manager for Victoria and Tasmania at Australian Schools Plus
Awarded a Melbourne Business School Scholarship for the New Leadership Development Program, 2019
What sort of work does your organisation do?
The Schools Plus is a national charity. Our vision is that all young Australians reach their full potential through access to a great education. We were formed after the 2011 Review of Funding for Schooling (the ‘Gonski Review’) called for a much stronger focus on philanthropy in education. We help close the education gap caused by disadvantage, by connecting schools in need with donors who know the value of a great education. We make it simple, effective and tax-deductible to give to schools that need the most support. Carefully targeted funding allows schools and teachers to give students extra support, or to trial new ways to improve learning. Describe a typical day's work.
I don’t have a typical day, but my most important activity is building relationships between our supporters and Schools Plus. It is always great to share some time with people, foundations and companies that share my passion of giving every Australian student access to a great education. A day of mine might include meeting a supporter for a coffee, to discuss potential gifts and how to match their passion with what our goals as an organisation are. By far my favourite activity is taking donors to a school they support. It is amazing to see how the students and teachers are using their donation to improve the situation at the school. Every supporter who visits a school comes away feeling great about their gift and the teachers and students they helped. What were some of the key learnings from the course?
The biggest learning from the course is that ‘different is not difficult’. People are all unique and we all learn and work in different ways. If a colleague or a direct report has a different way of communicating, learning, or getting something done, it does not mean you should look at it as difficult. How has it impacted / changed / benefited your role and your organisation as a whole?
The leadership skills I learnt at the New Leaders Development course allow my leadership to have greater confidence in me and the team I am leading. We have a small team in Victoria, there are only two of us here, but we are expected to achieve a lot. The fact that our main office is in Sydney does mean we sometimes face communication challenges, but the skills I learnt in the course allow me to successfully navigate those issues. How did you come to be working in the not-for-profit sector?
It was a winding road to working in the NFP sector but looking back on it, I’m not surprised I’ve made it here. My career started in the military, where I learnt the important life lessons of working for more than myself and selfless service. After an eight-year stint in the military and several promotions, I left the military to start a more stable life. After the military, I started looking for a career and industry that would continue to live the values I had adopted. I had honestly never thought much about working in the for-profit sector and I thought I would end up working in the government. Instead I got my first role in the NFP sector and I immediately loved the sense of compassion, dedication and selflessness everyone possessed. Five years, and three roles later, NFPs are the right fit for me. What do you feel is most needed to sustain and build the impact of the not-for-profit sector?
The work of the Australian Scholarships Foundation and their supporters, is the work we need to build the impact of the NFP sector. The strength of the sector is our people and the dedication they show to their mission. Yet too often NFP staff go with little to no professional development. It seems like professional development is thought of as a luxury and as ‘overhead,’ instead of as a vitally important aspect of the organisation’s mission. NFP employees are often working in understaffed organisations, facing problems that are generational in scope. Why shouldn’t we give them all the tools they could possibly need to be as effective as possible? What is something interesting / unique / unusual about you?
In my military days I abseiled from a helicopter twice and because of that I am no longer a fan of helicopters. I don’t actually think I’ve been on a helicopter since then.
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