The SVA Bright Spots Schools Connection is a Collaborative Leadership Development Network (CLDN) launched in 2014 by Social Ventures Australia. A review of international literature, presented in this report, shows that in recent decades, collaboration has become a priority in schooling and education reform across the globe, especially for disadvantaged school communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created confronting new challenges that will have immediate and lasting impacts. This report makes it clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded an already bleak future for the child protection system.

In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, there has been great concern about the future of the Australian charity sector, and the people it supports. This report calls for reforms to support the charity sector as post-COVID recovery partners – following findings that charities are one of the largest employers in Australia.

This report explores the different financial, legal and operational constraints that charities face, compared with commercial businesses, which make it harder for them to rebound.

This report forecasts that more than 200,000 jobs in the charity sector could be lost as a result of the COVID-19 crisis if financial supports, such as JobKeeper and lease and loan deferrals, come to an end in October.