BREAZE

Greetings fellow BREAZErs!

Some of you may not have picked up on the news that our fantastic Executive Officer, Lisa Kendal, is off to Ireland for 18 months, where her partner Anthony has accepted a position as an osteopath. Lisa and Ant and the kids are heading off in September. It’s been a bit of a delightful rush for all concerned: they’d been planning a touring holiday within Australia and Ant was surfing the Net looking to find a temporary replacement person for his job when he saw the position in Ireland advertised... a flurry of application, interview, etc and suddenly it was the BREAZE Committee having to get busy advertising a vacancy!  

Meantime, Lisa has been showing me all the exciting activities of Transition Town Kilkenny; I suspect she’s already booked into some, so we’re looking forward to a steady flow of news and ideas – if not a ‘sister’ climate change group relationship being formally established at Lisa’s instigation. I’m sure all BREAZE members join me in thanking Lisa for her tireless work and wishing the family a fantastic time in Ireland! As a parting gift, BREAZE have offset Lisa’s return flight to Ireland and have also taken the liberty of enrolling Lisa in a local gallery-run mosaic workshop, which I’m sure she’ll love.

I am excited to announce that we’ve appointed a new Executive Officer to take over from Lisa. Geoff Adams is preparing to take the plunge and leave behind a position at state government environmental department DSE, where he works with the community engagement sector. Geoff juggles a number of interests including outdoor education, Camp Cooinda, sustainable building and sustainable transport. Having facilitated a number of BREAZE planning days over the years, Geoff, who lives locally with his partner Sarah and two young children Cosmo and Mieke, is well initiated and is looking forward to steering the good ship BREAZE.

A handover has taken place and Geoff will start his new role on August 2nd, while Lisa finished up on July 22nd.
The other important piece of news I’d like to share picks up on my comments last month about our review of governance structures and receipt of legal advice on how best to ‘arrange’ our affairs. BREAZE differs from many other climate change groups because we have a large commercial income. This wasn’t something that we planned from the beginning, but as we’ve continued to respond to the demands of both members and the general public, our ‘trading arm’ has grown to a considerable size.

The Committee decided that it was best to separate BREAZE not-for-profit activities from our large-scale commercial activity, so we have set up a company (called BREAZE Enterprises Pty Ltd) through which our commercial activities will be run. BREAZE Enterprises Pty Ltd is wholly owned by BREAZE Inc and any profits from BREAZE Enterprises Pty Ltd will be directed to BREAZE Inc and assist us toward our goal of zero emissions. The new company has been established and commenced trading on July 1, 2010.

Staff and volunteers are working hard to set up the systems necessary to run the two entities smoothly, including the establishment of a new Board for BREAZE Enterprises Pty Ltd.  While this change won’t have much impact on you as existing members, it is an important step in our growth; creating a clear distinction between BREAZE Inc role as a not-for-profit charitable organisation and BREAZE Enterprises Pty Ltd as one of a number of commercial organisations in the growing ‘green economy’.

warm regards,
Steve Burns