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The Australian philanthropic sector's peak (or umbrella) membership body, Philanthropy Australia, has played a significant role in shaping sector responses to COVID-19 and influencing government policy initiatives regarding the voluntary sector. This research note explores four key actions taken by Philanthropy Australia, with a particular focus on policy advocacy. It highlights how 'policy windows' provide opportunities for voluntary sector peak bodies to demonstrate policy entrepreneurship, secure desirable policy outcomes and show their value to members, government and other stakeholders. 'Bad times' require new and innovative policy responses, and this research note provides insights into how voluntary sector peak bodies can shape policy and practice responses to major crises.

Although co-design is acknowledged as an emerging tool in public administration for use in program or service system design, it has not been widely applied to complex policy spheres, such as law and regulation. In the context of policy development for the field of social enterprise, we explored the use of co-design as a facilitation method to elicit end-users' experience of regulation and to generate options for reform. Specifically, this involved the use of LEGO® Serious Play® to understand end-user views on legal structures following a push by policy advocates in Australia for a structure to serve the needs of social enterprise, similar to that available in the United Kingdom. The article makes two contributions to research on co-design in public policy. The first contribution is methodological. We offer insights into the application of co-design to a new area, law and regulation, finding that co-design is useful for generating bottom-up insights into the regulatory preferences of end-users but has certain limitations as a tool for research and policy development, notably in relation to the feasibility of the insights it may provide. The second contribution is uncovering empirical insights into end-user preferences regarding how regulatory reform might improve the policy environment for social enterprise development in Australia and beyond.

When disaster strikes, our instinctive response is to make things better, not only as individuals but also as groups, organisations, communities and major institutions within society. With increasing climate-related disasters and the potential for future global pandemics, philanthropy will continue to play an essential role. Yet our knowledge of how philanthropic responses to disasters are motivated, organised and received is fragmented. This book is a step toward curating our existing knowledge in the emerging field of 'disaster philanthropy' and to building a robust base for future research, practice and public policy. The authors highlight unknowns and ambiguities, extensions and unexplored spaces, and challenges and paradoxes. Above all, they recognise that philanthropic responses to disasters are complex, conditional and subject to change