The Asthma Foundation of Queensland is pleased to release its 2010 – 2015 Corporate Plan.  The Plan approved by the Board of Directors outlines the Foundation’s Vision, Purpose and Values committing our efforts and resources towards service delivery, research and evaluation.  Supporting and assisting people with asthma will be our first and most important organisational priority.  The Asthma Foundation of Queensland is pleased to work in partnership with our national body, Asthma Australia, and other Asthma Foundations across the country to deliver a strong national voice for people with asthma.  Much of the plan is driven by the Board’s desire to see greater efficiency and effectiveness at both a State and National level and therefore ensure the maximum amount of funding is directed towards assisting people with asthma through a diverse suite of services and a targeted research program.

The Foundations Chairman, Associate Professor Charles Mitchell said, ‘The next five years are a period of significant and fundamental change for the Foundation as we commit our efforts towards service delivery as our first and most significant priority.  People with asthma will come first.”

The Plan and Vision are a result of extensive consultation over the past 4 months with Board Members, staff, volunteers, key funding bodies, Asthma Australia, donors, the medical profession in particular asthma specialists and the broader public.  Listening to people with asthma as consumers from right across Queensland shaped the plans’ six key management areas:  Service delivery and Program Development – Research and Evaluation – Partnerships and Strategic Alliances – Profile Building – Productivity – and People and Performance. 

Highlights of the Plan include:- 

• increasing our research and scholarship funding over the next five years with a growth target of $5million in the Foundation’s Research Corpus;

• expanding the Foundation’s Regional Asthma Educator Network with five new staff to be employed to work in regional Queensland acknowledging we need to do more outside of South East Queensland;

• delivering a culturally appropriate asthma support program for hard to reach communities particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people;

• growing our membership and profile through a new Triple A Membership Program with free membership for people with asthma, their caregivers and people interested in supporting the Foundation;

• restructuring our asset holdings to leverage additional revenue from this source whilst building on our strong commercial services division particularly the Recycling Enterprise;

• developing a new management information system and integrated information technology platform which supports staff and provides the most up to date and accurate information to people with asthma through a variety of mediums;

• introducing an Asthma Champions Program to recognize the invaluable contribution of volunteers; and

• empowering our staff through professional, personal and leadership development programs;

“The Plan is both challenging and ambitious and sets a very clear strategic direction in the lead up to the Foundation’s 50th Anniversary in 2015” said the Foundation’s CEO Mark Brooke, “The staff, our volunteers and I are very much focused on working collaboratively to improve the health and well being of people with asthma.”

The Foundation’s Plan can be downloaded by clicking here.

Performance

We aspire to a culture of individual and collective excellence.

Advocacy

Medical Research:

For 40 years the foundation has been proactive in medical research into the causes of, and potential cures for, asthma. This commitment has led to many breakthroughs in the understanding of asthma within the medical and broader community. 

The foundation currently sponsors seven medical research projects, and the foundation's research expenditure commitment now exceeds $1.6 million.