EOTYA 2024 Winner: Louise Baxter

When people ask Starlight Children’s Foundation CEO Louise Baxter who inspires her, she says they usually expect her to say someone famous. But her answer couldn’t be further from a Hollywood A-lister or billionaire entrepreneur.

"I am inspired every day by the seriously ill children and young people we support," Baxter, who has been with Starlight for nearly two decades, tells The CEO Magazine.

Starlight’s vision is deceptively simple: a future where everyone experiences a happy childhood. But it’s also undeniable that this not-for-profit is genuinely delivering on that promise, excelling in its ability to brighten the lives of the seriously ill and hospitalized children and young people that it serves.

"Happiness matters because happiness in your childhood is the strongest determinant of how you perform in education, employment and long-term healthy life behaviors," explains Baxter, who was named CEO of the Year Not-for-Profit at The CEO Magazine’s 2024 Executive of the Year Awards as well as runner-up for Overall CEO of the Year.

"Kids who are seriously ill have their ability to be happy significantly impacted. Starlight is there to brighten their lives."

With such a clear goal underpinning every aspect of the Starlight Children’s Foundation’s operations, it’s unsurprising that all employees feel united in delivering that purpose.

"The fact that we are so authentic through the organization and that people are so aligned and committed to our purpose is what I believe makes us achieve the way we do," she says. "I’m proud of that growth, that achievement, that clarity.

"Every decision we make, we pose one question: ‘What would be best for the children and young people we support?’ That gives us such consistency across the organization."

Partners for change

This year marks 15 years since Baxter stepped into the role of CEO and yet, in many ways, she is only getting started. With ambitious aims for Starlight to expand its reach, spreading happiness to even more children and creating tangible societal change in a myriad of ways, Baxter is driving improvements across every business metric at Starlight.

In 2023, the organization saw a 48 percent increase in the number of positive experiences Starlight gave children compared with the year prior, and revenue grew by 22.5 percent to almost US$33.7 million.

"We measure our impact on society through social return on investment," Baxter explains. "For every US$1 invested into Starlight’s hospital programs, there is a return of US$5.70 in value to the community. This has grown from US$3.10 when first analyzed, and our satisfaction scores from children and families are 9.3 out of 10."

Starlight continues to increase its number of multi-year agreements and is currently managing more than 340 collaboration partners. Mutually beneficial partnerships across the corporate sphere see initiatives, such as the Starlight and Cash Rewards initiative where a company gives one percent of its profit, investment in its time and one percent of equity to Starlight.

Creating experiences

Recent highlights have seen the launch of ‘Starlight Moments’ – creating experiences to lift the spirits of families managing children at home in palliative care, engaging children in remote communities and increasing healthcare participation rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, as well as incredible interactive collaborations with Disney and LEGO and guests including Ed Sheeran, The Matildas and Bluey.

By utilizing digital platforms to benefit even more children, ‘Planet Starlight’ was also rolled out across Australia.

"It enabled seriously ill children to connect virtually with Captain Starlight for fun, laughter and joy anytime, anywhere," Baxter says. "We achieved 40 percent above reach targets, with 125,536 connections."

Starlight also focused attention on rebuilding and modernizing its Livewire Online community, providing teenagers dealing with serious illnesses – and the isolation and anxiety that often comes with it – with much-needed peer-to-peer support.

In the face of such impressive growth, however, Baxter also admits that it’s a particularly challenging moment for not-for-profit organizations relying on donations, given the cost-of-living crisis. And yet, the demand for Starlight is ever-increasing, too.

"The future is about the growth of our programs because the more clinicians that recognize the value of positivity, of positive distraction and positive psychology in delivering improved health outcomes, the better," Baxter says. "And we can only continue to do that with increased funding. So therein lies our challenge."

A caring culture

In a bid to continue spreading the word about Starlight and expanding its orbit, Baxter has nurtured a culture where every team member feels equipped and empowered to engage others through the medium of storytelling.

"I introduced the ability for team members to ‘Get Connected’ with the impact of Starlight first-hand," she says. "This enables everyone to have – and importantly, share – their own personal stories. This authentic connection translates into more powerful and genuine engagement with donors, partners and the public."

Yet, Baxter also emphasizes that it can be confronting to work alongside seriously ill children, which is why Starlight prioritizes the mental health of its employees to such a high degree.

"Nearly 15 years ago, I brought in the training of everyone at Starlight in positive psychology," she says.

"Our team needs to have the tools to top up their own cups. It’s not just one-off training either, we have refresher training and we touch base. If people work in the hospital environment directly with the children, they might have a daily debrief and then a weekly debrief because they’re facing things and they need to be able to talk to someone about that."

But Baxter adds that the positive psychology isn’t only for those on the frontline; rather, she recognizes that every single employee could benefit from these practices.

"For us to be an authentic organization, we really needed to be doing this right across the team," she says. "And we absolutely did it to ensure our team members could be their best selves in their lives. We did not do it with a work-first perspective."

Shine for purpose

Baxter is proud that Starlight has been well ahead of the curve in this regard, but there is also increasingly a push toward mental health programs being part of all workplaces, irrespective of industry.

"We are still working on our culture every day," she adds. "Everything we do for the children and young people is about supporting their mental health, wellbeing and resilience through positive psychology. And ultimately, supporting our team with that is also what drives our high performance."

While many companies have a vast list of values they espouse, Baxter proudly declares that at Starlight, they only need one – to shine.

"We shine for our purpose, and we shine by being exceptional and bringing our best selves to Starlight," she says with a smile.

"It means that at any moment, it doesn’t matter if you’re in our finance team or a Captain Starlight, you can always say, ‘How can I shine even more brightly to improve the lives of seriously ill children?’

"It’s what we do every day, and every employee knows what it means for them, no matter what they’re doing."