JOY BLOG

31 Jul 2017

July CEO Update

It’s so exciting to get to start off with a massive thank you to everyone who helped us exceed our 2017 Radiothon target and in fact, make Radiothon 2017 the most successful JOY fundraiser ever! As you all know – over 50% of our revenue comes from memberships, donations and other fundraising activities and every single person here at JOY is incredibly grateful to you for contributing. We raised over $304,000 from 1^st May – the 30^th June – an amazing effort.

For the second year in a row we have welcomed Holden as our major prize partner and this year we gave away an Astra. Skott from Katherine was the lucky winner and he took possession earlier today in Darwin. JOY presenter Ben Graetz from urban Dreaming was in Darwin to help hand over the keys. I would like to say thank you to the whole team at Holden who are so enthusiastic about our partnership and were able to get Skott’s brand new car all the way to Darwin in less than 3 weeks.

We asked the JOY presenters to share their stories and I hope you all enjoyed what the team put together to share with our listeners about why we still need JOY. I was particularly awed by the voice of our listeners – talking about why JOY is still necessary for them personally and it is a great reminder of not only have far we have come as a community but also where we still need to help and support each other.

Over the next couple of months you will hear some changes to the way JOY reports on news and current affairs. While we will continue to provide breaking news bulletins and more in depth interviews and reports on what’s happening in the world – we will be engaging directly with issues of law reform that will directly benefit our community. We have a great suite of news and current affairs programs that already do a fantastic job but here at JOY we want to get right amongst it so keep your ears peeled.

We have some great events coming up that we would love to see you at: JOYs inaugural Art Auction is on the 10^th of August and will consist of an awesome selection of art from Queer artists. This is your chance to get your hands on an original piece of artwork while supporting a local queer artist and JOY.

Northside Bizarre is scheduled for the 21^st of October at the Laird Hotel in Gipps St Abbotsford. This will be our 8^th Northside Bizarre working with the team at the Laird and the VAC to bring you a fun day or auctions, food and an array of other delights.