In 2013, two friends by the names of Peter Baines OAM and Larry Fingleson sat down for a coffee. During the catch up, Peter presented Larry with a question – how could he make a more sustainable difference to charities in Australia.
Having helped many charities over the years with the odd bit of advice and professional support, Peter wanted a way of making a bigger, more sustainable difference to the non-profit sector.
For Larry, the answer was simple – why help one charity at a time, every now and again, when you could help several charities at once in a structured and highly engaging way.
And so The Growth Project was born – an innovative program that aims to positively impact 100 charity leaders and 100 business leaders over the course of five years to 2020. By bringing together individuals, companies and philanthropists with charity leaders, Peter, Larry and all the team at The Growth Project are achieving their goal helping charities maximise the positive impact they have on the world.
Larry and Paul go back over 20 years to the time when Larry and Felice were living in London. The seed was planted when Larry shared with Paul his vision for proliferating The Growth Project outside Australia, during a flying visit to London in 2016.
Fast forward to 2018, Paul was ready to take up the challenge, but needed someone to share the responsibility and the heavy lifting that lay ahead. Nicole agreed to become a founding partner of The Growth Project UK and the call was made to Larry, who answered the phone with the immortal line: “Paul! I’ve been expecting your call!”
The Growth Project is a separate UK legal entity which operates under a legal agreement with The Growth Project in Australia. It is also in the process of becoming a UK registered charity. It will adopt an almost identical approach to The Growth Project, with a stated aim of helping charity and business leaders over a three year period.
The Growth Project UK launched its first UK programme in March in 2020. The 2021 programme is now underway and we are already planning for 2022!
An experienced entrepreneur, Paul is Founding Partner of a thriving SME advisory business based in London, England. Paul is passionate about helping small to medium size organisations achieve greater success, so it was only a small step to put his passion to work for emerging charities through a social enterprise like The Growth Project.
Nicole is an Organisational Psychologist with over 25 years of international experience enabling organisations to achieve greater results by igniting and leveraging their people. She is also a business entrepreneur and a Director of Lumina Learning Global. Nicole is passionate about making a difference in this world and feels that The Growth Project provides a perfect opportunity to make a broader difference in areas of most need.
Laura has worked in the Marketing & Advertising industry for 18 years.
With a specialism in Marketing for Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding, Laura's niche is helping companies develop a marketing plan to help hire and retain quality talent for the long-term.
Having worked at LinkedIn for 7 years until 2018, Laura has a strong knowledge of how to maximise the platform for hiring, marketing and sales. Since then, Laura has worked as an independent LinkedIn consultant.
Initially Laura came on board with The Growth Project to advise on a LinkedIn marketing strategy, however once she has learnt about the purpose of the organisation, was compelled to get more involved with the Programme and is now helping with Operations too.
An independent business psychologist, Jono’s mission is to help individuals, teams and organisations improve. With a background in managing treeplanting crews in the Canadian wilderness, he now splits his time between The Growth Project and Founding his own business, Team Improvus. Jono is thrilled to support the development of leaders from both the for-profit and for-purpose sectors.
With a background in Film and Television coordination, Jessica has a knack for the creative arts, organisation and team collaboration. She has recently embarked on founding her own health business where she aims to empower others to strengthen their lives with physical fitness and mental health. She splits her time between her business, The Growth Project, Lumina Learning and collecting her favourite indoor plants. She is honoured to support and learn from the leaders in this remarkable project.
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registered charity number: 1184261