Annual Report

The Bridge Connects’ reputation has continued to grow along with its impact and it is now supporting nearly 600 clients across Day Services, Your Supports, Getaways, Support Coordination and the newest service, Supported Independent Living (SIL).

To support growth whilst maintaining safe, quality, person-centred services, we restructured the Operations Manager role into two key areas – Day Services and 24/7 Services. This has enhanced capability, capacity and efficiency to support the changes needed following our acquisition of IDV. We also introduced Senior Support Worker roles at selected sites to meet demand.

Innovation and creativity were on show through the inaugural Illuminate Art Show at Macleod Day Service, and the premiere of The Bridge Big Brother film at Dandenong – supported through the Innovation Fund.

SIL occupancy has been a strong focus to ensure service viability into the future.

Following extensive refurbishments, vacancies were filled at Montmorency and Briar Hill properties. Preparations are underway for our Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) housing in Noble Park, due to launch in late 2025, and we have a number of people hoping to move into these houses as soon as possible.

Getaways, our recreation program, has expanded with longer interstate trips and new destinations for weekends away. We’ve been delighted with the increased client engagement from The Bridge North clients through weekends away, day activities and interstate trips.

Connects delivered over 301,000 hours of service in the last financial year – 25% increase on the previous year – broadening our impact across the communities we support.

The annual client and carer survey again produced positive feedback. These surveys are important as they guide us to continuously improve the quality of our service delivery.

I would also like to thank our amazing staff, volunteers and students who support and create opportunities for our clients to live their best lives and achieve their goals. Lastly, thank you to our clients, families and carers for your continued support and commitment to The Bridge. I know Connects will continue to strengthen services and deliver meaningful impact into the future.

Nicole Stribbles
The Bridge Connects – General Manager

The Employment team continued their ambitious journey to create more employment opportunities across all programs at The Bridge.

Our Social Enterprise set out to exceed 100 Supported Employees. This was achieved through the aquisition with IDV and a warehouse in the North, as well as welcoming 27 Supported Employees from another provider who ceased their warehousing operations. We now have over 130 Supported Employees across four social enterprise warehouses and two micro-businesses.

We’ve also seen a number of business partners – focused on environmental sustainability increase their operations through The Bridge Works sites. We have also welcomed new partners who share our values and mission in supporting people with disabilities to gain meaningful employment.

The Casey CALD Youth Program continues to thrive placing 17 job seekers into employment to meet the needs of the local community within the Casey City Council area.  The majority have stayed in these roles for more than 6 months. The Bridge is proud to continue this service to the residents of Casey for another three years and will conduct a social impact study at the program’s conclusion.

In March, our Cleaning Crew took on additional work cleaning our Head Office, Hub 31 and Your Job Now sites in Dandenong.. We now have two full crews and 15 Supported Employees working five days a week.

In June, The Bridge was awarded, for the second time in three years, the 2025 Community Impact Award presented by the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce, in a very competitive category of businesses vying for this prestigious accolade.

Our Disability Employment Services (DES) team have had a great year placing 13 clients into jobs, as well as collaborating with external NDIS providers to support their clients into employment but also placing our clients into work with NDIS providers!

Further, our DES team has worked very well with our Your Job Now and Works teams to support The Bridge clients into open employment.

Earlier this year, Youth Jobs Now changed their name to Your Job Now to remove age-based barriers. The team continues to support clients with employability skills and hands-on work experience for at least 12 weeks.

myDRIVESCHOOL also continues to help clients gain learner licenses through simulator-based training, building both skills and confidence on the road.

The Bridge Employment remains committed to empowering individuals and strengthening communities through meaningful work. By providing wraparound support, forging inclusive partnerships, and prioritising wellbeing, we are laying the foundation for an even brighter future.

David Kazakoff
The Bridge Employment – General Manager 

“Why We Support The Bridge” 
A Message from our Donors

“We have been aware of the work provided by The Bridge team for over 15 years and have always thought it to have a very satisfying ethos for all the people with disabilities or are disadvantaged who have been given the opportunity to work there in a happy and respectful environment. 

At the same time during their employment, they have also been able to learn new skills and make many new friends and contacts. 

We have now had several lovely visits to the Dandenong offices to see how our contributions have been used, and we have enjoyed meeting the staff and enthusiastic workforce.

Earlier this year, we asked the Mow and Mend team to maintain our Mulgrave medical suites. Our tenants are delighted to have a team on board who care about the end result and take great pride in their work.

The Bridge team have always been very receptive and proactive with donations over the years and we look forward to continuing our relationship.

For us, our relationship with The Bridge and all who work there, is a very positive part of our lives.”

John and Judy Brown (Donors – The Bridge) 

This year we celebrate The Bridge’s 55-year history and the one-year anniversary of the acquisition with Ivanhoe Diamond Valley (IDV), an organisation with a rich 70-year history of quality service delivery across the northern suburbs.

Now one ‘Bridge’ we thank all those who have been involved in advancing our collective focus and vision towards a connected society where people of all abilities achieve their full potential across our geographical footprint.

As we close out this year, we extend our thanks to Mary-Jane Stolp, CEO, for her leadership of The Bridge over the past four years and to Board Directors Sue Banks (immediate Past Chair), John Jeffries (immediate Past Deputy Chair) and Sue Hansford for their dedication and contribution to The Bridge over their 13, nine and four year tenures respectively, who are stepping down. We also thank David Mallinson, Treasurer, for taking on the role of Deputy Chair, as well as Board Directors Sally Bennett and Bernadette Doyle, who joined us from IDV to provide support and guidance as we build our new organisation.

To support growth and unwavering focus on delivering outstanding client experience, we repurposed and introduced new roles. These include a NDIS Claiming Team Leader, a Projects Officer, a full-time Safety Business Partner, Company Secretary, Social Enterprise & Micro-Business Manager, and a 24/7 Services Operations Manager.

We continue to work closely with government and peak bodies and thanks to a grant from Carers Victoria, we launched Bridge 2 Connect Carers. This free networking and support group is designed to empower carers with valuable resources and new opportunities across the North and Southeast.

Acknowledging the rapid pace of change in today’s world, we remain dedicated to purposeful innovation and continually improving the systems and processes that drive the future growth of our high-quality, person-centred services. To support this commitment, we have developed both an Artificial Intelligence (AI) framework and an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework.

We finalised our five-year strategic direction to 2029, to ensure we stay focused on the things that are important to the community and the support to be able to provide that. Highlights include:

• Certification as a Great Place To Work
• 26% of our leaders completed their certificate IV in leadership and management
• Surveys demonstrated continuing high levels of client/carer satisfaction
• Development of The Bridge’s first documented property strategy with external advisors    

Looking ahead, our priorities include:

• Expanding open employment services at five new sites in the Monash region as part of Inclusive Employment Australia 
• Commissioning Specialised Disability Accommodation houses
• Embedding our Employee Value Proposition

As we move into 2026 a key focus will be the evolution of our service model ‘The Bridge Way’, to ensure all services are place-based, linked with community and delivered through integrated, person-centred approaches. To do this successfully, we look forward to consolidating and developing on partnerships to provide the wraparound support for individuals and their families.

We look forward to sharing updates through our socials, website, and newsletters and we welcome your input and feedback.

In closing, we would like to pay tribute to all of you who access our services at The Bridge – you are why our organisation exists. A sincere thank you to our employees, students, and volunteers for their dedication and to our business partners, supporters, and donors who enable us to innovate and enrich the connectivity across the communities we serve.

With our thanks,

Siân Slade, Chair

The past financial year was a period of significant transformation for The Bridge. As noted previously, the merger with IDV in October 2024 has substantially broadened our service reach with an increase in the number of sites we operate as well as the number of services provided. From a financial perspective, this was one of the key drivers of the change in our results.

For the financial year, The Bridge recorded a net surplus of $4.4M. Although this represents a strong result, it does not reflect the ongoing performance of business operations as the result includes a one-off $6.3M surplus from the acquisition which was recognised as part of IDV joining The Bridge and also a one-off impairment related to property development costs of $1.45M. Excluding these has the true underlying deficit at $477,000 (FY 2024 deficit $799,000).

Included in this deficit are essential investments in new systems and transitional costs to align operations under a single organisation. These costs were required to build a strong foundation to ensure operational efficiency and effectiveness as we look towards the future.

Over the coming year we will prioritise stabilisation of operations and preparing for future growth opportunities.

Profit and Loss

Income $30,958,000 (including Gain on Acquisition) (FY 2024: $16,748,000)

Excluding the gain on acquisition, income has grown by $7.5M in FY 2025. The increase in income is mainly attributable to IDV’s acquisition and subsequent expansion of our services. Income from our Day Services increased by $4M as Macleod and Greensborough sites are now operating under The Bridge. Similarly, Works income increased by $1.6M through the continued growth from its existing sites as well as the addition of a site in Thomastown acquired through the merger with IDV.

Supported Independent Living, a new income stream post-acquisition, contributed $1.8M, providing growth and program diversification aligned with our expanded footprint.

Expenditure $26,604,000 (FY 2024: $17,547,000)

Expenditure increased by $9M in FY2025, primarily due to a $6M increase in staffing costs. This was driven by a larger workforce following the acquisition, as well as the need for additional personnel to support the expanded scale of our services. The increase also included one-off costs of $456,000 (acquisition costs) and $1.45M (construction cost impairment).

During the year, The Bridge invested $95,000 in innovation projects aimed at exploring new ways of working to enhance business operations and improve service quality for our clients.

Balance Sheet

Park Grove Development Property

Ongoing construction at the site amounted to $312,000 for the year. In addition, the properties were impaired for $1.45M, primarily due to delays and other challenges. We expect the houses to be completed and sold by the end of FY 2026.

Cash

Cash and investment balances have increased compared to the prior year, ensuring adequate liquidity to facilitate the timely completion of Park Grove and support the ongoing investment into organisational growth.  At the year end, cash and investment reserves totalled $6.8M (up $1.2M):

Cash $1,904,000 (FY 2024: $962,000)

Investments $4,877,000 (FY 2024: $4,601,000)

Net Assets $19,265,000 (FY 2025: $14,912,000)

Net assets have increased by $4.4 million in FY 2025. This growth reflects the positive impact of the IDV acquisition, which has expanded our service capacity and underlying asset base through new sites and properties. The Bridge is financially well positioned to invest in future growth, support innovation and to achieve the vision of delivering more services to more people with disabilities and disadvantage.

Note: All amounts are rounded to the nearest thousand dollars. Amounts presented in millions are rounded for readability. 2025 Audited Financial Statements are available in a supplementary document.