2025-26 Impact Report

This year was one that exceeded our expectations and brought together an incredible array of folk to create projects of that matter.

Our work continues to focus on helping leaders, organisations and communities collaborate on projects of social and environmental significance, often requiring people to work across siloes, sectors and jurisdictions. As such, the work presented in this report is not just ours. It is the work of so many people and the relationships we've built.

We impacted areas including river governance, housing and homelessness, mental health, and social resilience for drought-affected regions.

The numbers:

• 983 people reached through our workshop and programs (up by 35% on the previous year)

• 36 workshops or programs delivered, most of which were 2-day sessions

• 57.5 workshop days

• 25 coaching clients

• 23 organisations supported and served

• 100% of surplus reinvested into pursuing our mission

• $30,000 in low-bono and pro-bono services provided

• $1000+ donated to charity

Special shoutout to our partners and clients in this work:

• Australian Rural Leadership Foundation

• Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust

• QLD Government Department of Environment Science and Innovation

• Regional Australia Institute

• Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation and the Lake Eyre Basin Traditional Owner Alliance

• Empower Foundation

• Lives Lived Well

• DisCO Consulting

• Brisbane Youth Service

• Kulintja Kutju

People

Our work is built on collaboration. This year we actively built on an expanded our team of collaborators, facilitators and coaches. Each person brings specialist skills and experience. Read more about our collaborators here and reach out if you are interested in getting involved in our work.

First Nations Commitment to Action

We feel privileged whenever we are invited to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations. This is about more than reconciliation - it represents a commitment to supporting self-determination. Our work in this area is guided by our principles and we are grateful to learn from the incredible leadership of Elders wherever we go.

This year we were able to serve several organisations and communities through a combination of paid, pro bono or low bono consulting:

• Kulintja Kutju Empowered Communities

• Empower Foundation

• Ability Agriculture

• Lake Eyre Basin Traditional Owen Alliance

Case Study: Lake Eyre Basin Traditional Owner Alliance

This work was led by Mithaka Elders and it was our privilege to walk beside them and learn as we went. Mithaka Elders are the traditional custodians for channel country in what is now known as Far West Queensland. They continue to care for and protect the rivers that feed into what they know as Kati Thanda (the Lake Eyre Basin).

There are at least fifteen Traditional Owner groups who care for Country within the Lake Eyre Basin, spanning what is now Queensland, Northern Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. Lake Eyre Basin is a globally significant ecosystem, with many of the rivers feeding it being amongst the only environmental in-tact desert river systems remaining in the world.

Mithaka have been responsible for advocating on behalf of the Diamantina, Georgina and Cooper Creek river systems, successfully protecting them from large-scale mining and agricultural impacts. Mithaka's work has been successfully achieved through leading cross-industry partnerships.

It was our privilege to support their convening of ten Traditional Owner groups from across the Queensland region catchments to form the Lake Eyre Basin Traditional Owner Alliance, another step towards greater protections and shared custodianship. We hosted a two-day workshop in Brisbane with Elders come into town for this work, including the opportunity to meet with stakeholders from the Queensland Government.

Case Study: Kulintja Kutju, Central Australia

We continued our work with Kulintja Kutju this year. Kulintja Kutju is one of ten Empowered Communities across Australia, based in Mparntwe Alice Springs and supporting communities across the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, which includes 26 communities across 350,000 sq kms.

Benny was again invited to work with alumni to prepare for the design and delivery of the program, supporting the facilitators virtually and by visiting the region prior to the sessions.

The Aṉangu facilitators were incredibly inspiring to work with and we are very proud to have learned from them while supporting this work.

Leadership that Breathes

Leadership that Breathes was a dynamic immersion into the neuroscience of collaborative leadership. This event was co-created between Benny Callaghan and Elena Kingston-Bedford at Pause & Play People Solutions, and brought together leaders and leadership development professionals to explore innovative ways of building leadership capability.

We successfully ran the first event in October 2025 with a follow-up in August 2026.

 Planet

Core to our work is supporting organisations and communities working on projects with environmental significance. A key relationship in this work was with the Queensland Government Department of Environment, Science and Innovation's (DETSI) Office of the Great Barrier Reef and World Heritage.

Case Study: Reimagining River Governance

Benny Callaghan partnered with Maria Rosier in 2025 to deliver a masterclass on Reimagining River Governance at the International River Symposium.

This masterclass built on the work Benny had been doing with Maria and the team at the Office of the Great Barrier Reef and World Heritage at Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation. The masterclass brought together policy makers, scientists and Traditional Owners to explore collaborative systems approaches for intergrated catchment management.

This workshop led to our work with George Gorringe of Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation in supporting the establishment of the Lake Eyre Basin Traditional Owner Alliance.

The theoretical underpinnings of this workshop also led to the selection of Systems Collaboration Partners as the design and delivery partner for the Murray Darling Basin Leadership Program, being delivered in partnership with the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation in 2026 and 2027.

Environmental Sustainability & Impact

One of the dynamics of our business is that number of clients we serve across Australia, often in rural, regional and remote areas that lack the kinds of services and supports we offer.

Flying is not something to boast about. This year we managed to reduce the number of flights from the previous year from 46 to 31, by:

• Focusing on building our presence in Brisbane and Southeast Queensland

• Engaging as much as we can virtually

• Building a collaboration pool we can refer business too.

When on ground, we preference walking and using public transport wherever possible. When using Uber, we choose Green.

Where possible, we look for suppliers who share our commitment to sustainability. An example is choosing a carbon neutral internet provider.

How We Fund the Work We Do

Revenue by Sector

Nonprofits made up more than half our revenue through a number of partnership and contractor relationships.

Our Corporate revenue largely came through an engagement supporting the leadership team at Insurance House, helping build their ability to work collaboratively across the organisation. This organisation has a strong focus on rural and regional Australia, which was a strong values fit with other work we do.

Government work was primarily with DESI and the Murray Darling Basin Authority.

While First Nations often fit in the nonprofit legal structure, we wanted to call this out specifically to support our principle around this sector's own self-determination and in recognition of the growing impact they make in the Australian and global economy.

Revenue by Focus Area

Most of our work in the drought resilience space was supporting the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation in program design and facilitation in several communities across Queensland, NSW, Tasmania and South Australia.

Some of our work crosses several focus areas. For example, our work with the Rural Adversity Mental Health Program has strong reach across regional NSW and impacts drought resilience.

First Nations communities are also found across and provide immense leadership within water and environment, drought resilience, and with youth and young people. In this sense, displaying very interconnected work in a pie graph is not fully representative of the process and impact of our work.

Financial Performance

100% our revenue is generated via sale of services. In 2024-25 we received zero grants or donations. 100% of surpluses have been reinvested in the fulfilment of our social and environmental purpose.

Pro and low bono value added

We seek to make our services accessible to communities and organisations who most need support. As such, we provided discounted services to several clients and partners, totalling approximately $30,000.

We'd love to hear from you if you are interested in learning more about our impact and or partnering with us on future collaborations.

Onwards,

Benny

Benny Callaghan

Director and Chief Collaborator