Mark Trevaskis

My responsibilities: The prime role is leadership, but I’m also involved in fundraising, HR, managing finances and training.

Our team: We have four employees and more than 170 volunteers in New South Wales and Victoria.

Our greatest challenges: Shifting people’s views towards social inclusion of those who have an intellectual disability. We have to walk the talk by including those with this problem in all aspects of our organisation. It’s a constant challenge to rethink and create new ways to do this. Like many other small non profits, we struggle with fundraising and building awareness.

Differences between the NFP and private sectors: I think there are increasingly more similarities between them. Best Buddies seeks to operate with the same levels of transparency, accountability and integrity as the corporate sector. The latter is trying to be more inclusive of its staff. Core motivation may be a key difference, but I see both moving to a middle ground as the private sector takes on more corporate responsibility and the NFP sector becomes more market aware. There is so much we can learn from each other.

Tips for volunteers: Be passionate about what you do. Try not to limit yourself to just what you know. Think outside the square - you may find some unexpected rewards.

What I find most rewarding: Seeing people have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Acceptance and inclusion is so important to us all, and we help to provide this for people with an intellectual disability. There is nothing like having a great friend.

What drew me to Best Buddies? The opportunity to work positively with people from all walks of life. I feel very lucky to work with such a creative, committed and fun team.