MenuThe Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) has tonight announced Kathy Havers CFP® from Catalyst Financial Group in Melbourne, as the winner of the 2016 Future2 Community Service Award. Ms Havers also won the Award in 2014.
FPA CEO Dante De Gori said, “Kathy is a well-deserved winner of this award. Her tireless commitment to community service and philanthropy through her volunteer work with remote indigenous communities, and helping other families living with disabilities, is nothing short of inspirational”.
The Future2 Community Service Award recognises FPA members who have made an outstanding contribution to improving the circumstances of the most socially excluded or financially disadvantaged members of the community in a pro-bono, volunteering or community service capacity.
Ms Havers is Director of the Kindred Spirits Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that supports Aboriginal people and their communities. In this part-time volunteer role she has held for eight years, she manages projects that empower people in remote areas of Australia.
Ms Havers also helps establish entities focused on enterprise development in these remote communities. These entities are established as co-operatives with aboriginal community organisations, with the aim for them to be members and ultimately take over the governance. In the early stages of development, Ms Havers leads the business strategic development teams and acts as Responsible Officer and Finance Manager.
In addition to this, Ms Havers provides support to Bulleen Heights Specialist School (BHS) for children with autism. For the past nine years she has been a School Councillor, and President for the last four years. She is involved in overseeing the financial management of School Council funds and actively working on additional fundraising.
“I am so fortunate that my day job allows me to actively assist people improve their life outcomes. In the not-for-profit world, the objectives are the same; improving the prospects for wellbeing of all people and all communities, every day. I am honoured to receive such an award, as the people I’ve met and the projects I have had the privilege to be a part of, and to impact, is by far my greatest personal achievement and an amazing personal reward already.” said Ms Havers.
Ms Havers has a son who is severely disabled and living with autism. At the school she conducts regular seminars for families living with disabilities, applying her own experience to provide strategies to make their difficult pathway easier and more planned.
The Future2 Community Service Award was presented at the Future2 Gala Dinner of the FPA Professionals Congress.
