What is Latitude about?

If you speak to anyone in the social, human and health services areas they will tell you that we just can't seem to get the best ideas to the people who truly need them, at the time they need them. Many people in our community seem to constantly cycle through hard times rather than climb out of them. What's more, this challenge isn't unique to Australia. Why is this? Well, there are many reasons for this, but one thing Dale and Russ agree on is that we can't and shouldn't accept status quo. We can do better. 

​So, what are we doing about it?

Dale and Russ came together around the idea that to solve social problems we need to find the best possible solutions and then we need to give these ideas the resources they need to flourish. We reckon you can look at this problem a bit like a funnel - we need a multitude of ideas going into the top of the funnel and then a smart, quick and cost-effective way of sifting through them to identify which ones will work in which locations and with which people and communities. Then, once we have found them, we need to get them out there, fast.
Dale and Russ are partnering in Australia and internationally to build this social solution 'funnel' so that we can get the right solutions to the right people as fast as humanly possible.

Our collective experience means we understand

Baptcare
Better Hearing Australia
Port Philip Housing Association
Sacred Heart Mission
Seek Volunteering
Alkira Centre
​Care Choice
Churches of Christ
Haven Home Safe

Department of Health and Human Services (Vic)
​Royal Children's Hospital
World Vision Australia
Uniting Care
Good Shepherd Australia
YMCA (NSW)
​Reach
​Save the Children
​Jewish Care

Bupa
​COTA Australia
ACOSS
Brotherhood of St Laurence
Benetas
​City of Whitehorse
Mind Australia
​Beyond Blue
GOC Care

Latitude Team

Dale  Renner

dale@latitude.network

Dale @ LinkedIn

Dale is management consultant with 18 years experience advising organisations across a range of industries, including energy, finance, education, health, tourism and social services. He specialises in strategy, innovation and marketing, and runs the innovation systems part of Latitude Network. A childhood in Central America formed his sense of social justice, and he has been working for the last few years on helping social service organisations develop new services, develop growth strategies, and prepare for a more competitive social sector. He has degrees in Law and Economics, and lives in Melbourne.

Russ Wood

russ@latitude.network

Russ @ LinkedIn

Russ has an MBA from Melbourne Business School, is a former adviser to State and Federal Government ministers, a former exec at a leading national charity and is currently Vice President at Eating Disorders' Victoria and Company Secretary at the Social Impact Measurement Network of Australia (SIMNA).
​A lightning-bolt moment for Russ was the ABC Learning/Goodstart Early Learning deal completed back in 2008-2009.  Here was a commercial provider of child care services, ABC Learning – in administration – being bought out by a consortium of not-for-profit, government, for-profit and ‘social’ investors. The thought that we could combine the best of charity, investment, private businesses, philanthropy and government in getting better social outcomes and STILL compete financially with the big end of town   …   Wow!