Between November 2011 and June 2013, the Office for the Community Sector, in partnership with Small Business Victoria and the Small Business Mentoring Service, delivered the Business Planning for Not for Profit Program.

The Program featured ten business planning seminars and individual business mentoring sessions across Victoria to support not for profit community organisations improve business practices.

This business planning and mentoring helped the Friends of the Bendigo-Kilmore Rail Trail to operate more efficiently, increase membership, and work towards achieving future major goals.

One such future major goal of the Friends group is to have a Wallan to Heathcote Rail Trail created. This trail would not only link with the O’Keefe Rail Trail plus a number of other trails in regional Victoria, it could also link those trails directly into the Melbourne metropolitan trail network.

With the current cooperation of the Mitchell Shire Council and the City of Greater Bendigo Council, plus possible funding support from the Victorian State Government and the Federal Government, this proposal could become a reality for the benefit of regional communities and businesses.

Click here to read and view more about this case study and that Business Planning for Not for Profit Program.