Helping in the pursuit of happiness

Leisure Networks at work

Imagine being told as a child that you could not participate in a sporting activity because Mum and Dad just can’t afford the fees. Imagine being disabled and never having the experience of joining in on recreational activities. For some of us that would be hard to imagine. For Rob McHenry and his organisation this is not only unimaginable but unacceptable.

Rob McHenry is the CEO of not for profit organisation Leisure Networks. Leisure Networks give people of all abilities a chance to discover and pursue their aspirations. They provide opportunities for people to be physically active and healthy in a number of ways including participation in sport, and recreation, combined with a variety of leisure activities.

Leisure Networks has a strong focus on assisting young people with disabilities. They also help less advantaged primary school aged children. Children are able to participate thanks to the support of Leisure Networks who assist recreational, sports and community organisations. Grants are also offered for equipment, clothing and membership fees.

Rob says “Funding is always tight and any savings really do help the community. We discovered we were all over the place with our software which was creating a risk to our organisation. We were recommended certain applications to fix the problem – however the cost was going to be unaffordable. Luckily we were referred to DonorTec and from there fixing it just became such an easy process. The support was unbelievable. We were blown away with the service.”

Leisure Networks chose to use Microsoft Project Professional 2010 as their project management software. This enables their managers to stay informed and control project work, schedules and finances. Project teams have become more aligned and therefore more productive through comprehensive reporting, guided planning, and the use of flexible tools. “Applying for these huge grants, which we used to knock up with Microsoft Excel – Microsoft Project has enabled us to apply for and manage successful projects and to do this with much more of a competitive edge. It is the tool we now use to guide our projects and has been terrific for our reputation” says Rob.

They also opted to utilise Mailshell Antispam software to stop from being bombarded daily with junk E-mail. Rob says of Mailshell “Everything is under control now and it has just saved us so much time.” Mailshell software recognizes spam as a moving target and is constantly adjusting its problem solving procedures accordingly. “Since this has been utilised we have gone from daily complaints from staff regarding spam to zero complaints.”

“Thanks to the people from Microsoft and Mailshell for get behind small not for profits - it’s just sensational. We tell as many people as we can about the DonorTec program.”

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