CASE STUDY • EDUCATION
How Three Videos Helped Neighbourhood Houses Victoria
Make National News
Neighbourhood Houses Victoria is the peak body representing over 400 neighbourhood houses and community centres across Victoria. When changes to Australian taxation law threatened to overwhelm the not-for-profit sector, their COO Cameron MacRae partnered with Deakin University to build a free resource to help NFP managers navigate the new requirements.
To bring it to life, they needed video. They called Fixon Media Group.
CLIENT
Deakin University & Neighbourhood Houses Victoria
YEAR
2023
LOCATION
Melbourne, Victoria
SECTOR
Education
SERVICES
Brand Films
THE CHALLENGE
A complex legal change.
From July 1, 2024, the Australian Taxation Office required non-charitable not-for-profits with an active ABN to lodge an annual return to confirm their eligibility for an income tax exemption. For large organisations with legal and accounting teams, this was manageable. For the hundreds of small neighbourhood houses across Victoria running on tight budgets and volunteer labour, it was a crisis.
Many faced the real possibility of closure simply because they lacked the resources to understand what was being asked of them. The challenge was to cut through the legal complexity and give NFP managers clear, accessible guidance, before the July deadline hit.
THE sOLUTION
Three films. One free tool. No NFP left behind.
Cameron MacRae developed a free compliance tool in partnership with Deakin University to guide neighbourhood house managers through the new requirements step by step. Fixon Media Group was engaged to produce three short videos with Cameron as the on-screen guide, forming the visual and instructional core of the tool.
Each film focused on a specific aspect of the new requirements, breaking down complex legal language into plain, actionable steps that any manager could follow regardless of their financial or legal background.
To make the content as accessible as possible, we incorporated on-screen text overlays and carefully selected b-roll throughout, giving viewers visual anchors that reinforced the spoken guidance and ensured the information landed clearly.
The result was three films that turned a potentially overwhelming subject into something any neighbourhood house manager could watch, understand, and act on.
THE RESULT
National headlines. Real-world impact.
The tool launched to a response that exceeded all expectations. Neighbourhood Houses Victoria and Deakin University made national news, with the project covered by ABC News, ABC News TV, and The Accounting Times, reaching an audience far beyond Victoria and generating significant interest from NFPs across Australia.
The films played a central role in communicating the tool’s purpose and making it approachable for the managers who needed it most. For a project built to serve a community sector under genuine pressure, that reach mattered enormously.
MOVING FORWARD
Video in service of the community.
When a brief is genuinely in the public interest, and when the people behind it are as committed as Cameron and the Neighbourhood Houses Victoria team, the work takes on a different kind of meaning.
The films continue to support the tool and the sector it was built to serve.
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Ready to build something like this?
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