Impact Report
2023 - 2024
We audit our impact.
At Dog & Bone, we empower not-for-profit (NFP) organisations - clients and pro bono program recipients - to harness the full potential of technology, enabling them to fulfil their core mission. We also deliver substantial cost reduction opportunities that enable them to strategically reinvest the savings to where it matters most - the communities they serve.
The Impact Report is structured into 3 activity streams: Telco Projects and Management, Tech Advisory and Projects, and our pro bono Impact Program. We are proud of our achievements across 2023/24, in particular the following highlights:
$4.4M
TOTAL DIRECT IMPACT
114
NFP ORGANISATIONS WORKED WITH
$1.1M
IMPACT PROGRAM & DISCOUNTS
675
PRO BONO HOURS PROVIDED
Impact Framework
The impact framework supports our vision of 'a better world through technology'. It has 4 focus areas in which we drive impact into organisations. Through thoughtful decisions, and a commitment to continuous improvement, we use our resources together with these guiding principles to maximise our overall impact.
TIME
To expand the number of organisations we help, we created the Impact Program, this year providing 675 pro bono hours to the NFP sector.
MONEY
Having an impact means
more than just working with purpose-driven clients. We provided $4.4M of total direct impact to the NFP sector, including discounts and donations.
VOICE
We have a responsibility to use our influence and resources to advocate for issues of social impact, and hosting events championing the B Corp community.
EXPERTISE
We have a positive impact through delivery of great technology and telecommunications outcomes for our charity and NFP clients, improving their efficiency and effectiveness.
"Dog and Bone’s independence was a critical factor for engaging them for this project. This allowed us to ensure the advice that was given was not tainted by any pre-existing relationships with the vendors and provided us with peace of mind that the right solution was being put forward."
Jo Moloney
CEO, Sparkways
Our Clients
We are purposeful about who we work with. Empowering 114 NFP organisations, allows us to create exponential impact. In 2023-24, 100% of our client base was ‘for purpose’ organisations, including charities, health providers and local government.
Our clients work across sectors including poverty and homelessness alleviation, disability support, mental health care, carer support, employment services, health, childcare, youth support and indigenous support organisations.
Telco Projects and Management
Well-managed telecommunications help not-for-profits save money, manage devices, ensure teams get the services they need and stay on top of multiple vendor relationships.
During 2023/24, a significant portion of our activities involved telco management services and procurement projects. These activities focused on identifying and implementing cost and time-saving initiatives, resulting in over $3.3 million dollars in cost reduction opportunities. Through regular audits and specific projects, our clients benefited from significant cost reductions, clawing back millions of dollars in excess charges, cancellation of thousands of unused services and migration to better contracts.
$3.3M
COST REDUCTION IDENTIFIED
Achieved through:
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Telco management
-
Contract migration
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Vendor reviews
-
Consulting and implementation projects
Our Impact through Telco Management
SAVINGS
$447,017
-
Monthly monitoring of telco billing to ensure accurate invoicing and charges
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Identification of billing errors and incorrect charges
-
Chasing credits on behalf of clients from telcos
-
Cancellation of unused services
-
Transitioning clients to correct charity pricing
RESOURCING
$743,920
-
Proactively reduce the time required of NFP staff to manage telco
-
Develop and implement efficient processes to source and manage telco services and devices
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Liaise with telco vendors on behalf of NFP clients to reduce costs
-
Facilitate finance and admin functions such as cost centre reporting to reduce effort
USAGE MONITORING
$259,696
-
Monitor monthly usage to ensure all services are on appropriate plans
-
Identification and proactive management of unused services
-
Proactive cancellation of services unused for a period of time
-
Liaise with telco vendors and manage cancellations and correct billing, then chase any credits
PROCUREMENT
$53,865
-
Leverage our wholesale pricing to get the best value on new mobile devices
-
Develop device procurement strategies and streamlined deployment processes
-
Provide advice on leveraging tech funds for subsidised hardware for our NFP clients
Case Study
At the heart of mecwacare's drive to engage Dog and Bone was ensuring their resources were directed towards community services, keeping telco costs and overheads to a minimum. So confident of the opportunity, we guaranteed them a $400K telco cost reduction over 3 years.
"Dog and Bone's staff are genuine, professional and have a level of ethical responsibility that's rare, making them the sort of organisation we appreciate working with. The outcome was even better than expected. They demonstrated expert knowledge, standing up for mecwacare to secure the best prices possible."
Kendall Kilbride
General Manager IT Transformation, mecwacare
Key Impact Areas
Tech Projects and Advisory
Our Tech Advisory team focus on providing expert guidance and advice to our clients, specifically on how they can leverage technology to best deliver their organisational mission and mitigate challenges and risks they may face.
With our knowledge and expertise, our clients benefited in multiple ways. Some examples of our impact through projects include reduction of risk through security reviews, increasing efficiencies through new systems, improving communication through new intranets and improving governance through IT strategies.
Our Impact through Tech Projects
REDUCE RISK & IMPROVE
SECURITY
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Undertake cyber security reviews and risk assessment
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Manage procurement projects to secure IT service providers for ongoing security support to our NFP clients
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Help charities select secure data storage systems
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Develop IT strategies to manage information and security governance
IMPROVE EFFICIENCY & SAVE TIME
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Automate workflows, forms and dashboards to help clients reduce manual handling and paper-based forms
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Select and implement cloud-based systems to store and manage client or member information
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Design and implement mobile device management systems to automate deployment of applications and reduce manual handling
IMPROVE COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION
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Design and build intranets to improve staff communication
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Select and implement unified communications platforms to support communication across organisations
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Review and advise on websites and digital strategies to improve online presence of our charity clients
SUPPORT GOVERNANCE & DECISION MAKING
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Provide CIO-as-a-Service and ongoing strategic advice to managers in our NFP clients
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Report to boards and management for ongoing IT performance
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Develop IT strategies and roadmaps to guide future direction
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Facilitate governance committees and advisory groups to make strategic IT decisions
Case Study
IPC Health, one of the largest providers of community health services in Victoria, engaged Dog and Bone to review their current technology environment and provide guidance on the future direction of their IT operations.
"The experience that the team from Dog & Bone brought to the project shone through, and the recommendations provided were reported in language that was easily understood by our leadership team."
Ian Holland
General Manager, Financial and Corporate Services, IPC Health
Impact Program
Pro bono projects to help not-for-profits make the most of technology, and maximise their impact.
At a glance
Over 20 years of supporting purpose-driven organisations maximise their technology and telco, we noticed many not-for-profits couldn't afford the professional services needed to amplify their community impact.
We restructured our Impact Program into themed rounds, enabling more NFP's to take advantage of our pro bono support. This year, we helped participants to identify substantial savings in the 'Telco Cost Reduction' round and empowered them to take control with our 'Cyber Security Resilience' round - contributing $1.1M to the sector due to the Impact Program and NFP discounts.
PRO BONO SECURITY WORSHOPS
$58,000
SAVINGS
IDENTIFIED
$702,825
PROGRAM RECIPIENTS
69
PRO BONO
HOURS
PROVIDED
675
Impact Project - Grant Recipients
Impact Grants
As part of this year's Impact Program, we delivered 9 pro bono grant projects to NFPs, to the value of $82,805. The key focus areas were Telco Reviews and Information Management, followed by Systems Review and IT Strategy.
Case Study
Social enterprise cafe, All Things Equal, was an Impact Program recipient. Rising costs of small, single purpose systems wasn't supporting their growth goals. We helped them to identify savings and better plan for the future.
Impact Round - Cyber Security Resilience
The Cyber Security Resilience round empowers NFPs to take charge of their security position. This year's round included a pro bono cyber security webinar that focused on the evolving risk and security challenges NFPs face.
All attendees were invited to complete a cyber security self-assessment questionnaire based on five key industry standards. A customised cyber security analysis report followed, with actionable items to improve their cyber security posture.
The final stage was a one-hour 'Q and A' pro bono workshop with one of our senior consultants.
Key recommendations included:
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Development of a cyber security policy
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Regular updating of software and systems
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Implementation of strong password practices
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Cyber security training
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Regular data back-up
PRO BONO
VALUE
$58K
CYBER SECURITY
REPORTS
44
PRO BONO
1:1 WORKSHOPS
28
“We greatly appreciate your willingness to support us to create change in the youth sector and drive collaboration between charities."
Simon Thurston, Chief Strategy Officer
Youth Impact Foundation/ Together 4 Youth Workshop
Impact Round - Telco Cost Reduction
The Telco Cost Reduction round was the ideal opportunity to give smaller NFPs an opportunity to optimise their telco spend and reduce the cost of their phone bills.
A customised telco cost analysis report was created for each participating NFP, featuring:
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a comparison of their existing telco costs against available pricing constructs
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a benchmarking analysis of similar sized NFPs
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cost reduction opportunities and recommendations.
Key recommendations included:
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Plan next steps with Dog and Bone's pro bono one-on-one session
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Migrate mobiles to new plans to access savings
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Set up service fund to buy new hardware
COST REDUCTION
IDENTIFIED
$702K
PRO BONO
REPORT VALUE
$15K
PRO BONO
1:1 WORKSHOPS
13
“Dog and Bone's expertise in navigating the telco's complex system and getting the data saved us a lot of time and was invaluable for our decision-making process. The team delivered on their promises of identifying significant savings.”
Peter Opie
Senior Manager ICT and Cyber Security, MS Plus
A Force for Good
For more than 20 years, we've been working with some of Australia's most impactful organisations to make the world a better place.
B Corp is the world's leading ethical business certification body, that measures a company's entire social and environmental impact.
Part of a global movement, our commitment to a sustainable and ethical business is reflected in the expansion of our Impact Program, which puts money back into purpose-driven organisations, allowing them to amplify their community impact.
103.8
OUR VERIFIED SCORE
We recertified our commitment this year, achieving a verified score of 103.8, in part reflecting our use of electric vehicles, green energy consumption and ethical and sustainable suppliers.
Celebrating our Impact
Our team are proud to celebrate the impact we've had this year, with some of the achievements for clients and the NFP sector including:
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Achieved $4.4M in total direct impact
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Identified $3.3M in telco savings
-
Conducted cyber assessments and pro bono security advice for 44 NFPs
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Contributed $1.1M in NFP client discounts, identified savings and pro bono projects, workshops and reports
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Achieved a net promotor score of 9.18
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Retained our B Corp certification
Partnerships are important to us, and we thank our valued clients, partners and Impact Program participants who have helped us maximise our social impact in 2023/24. The team and I are excited about what we can all achieve as a partnership together in 2025.
Matt Walton
CEO, Dog and Bone
Get in touch
We'd love to chat with you on how we can help through technology and telecommunications strategy, procurement and management.