50 Lives 50 Homes: the modest grant that led to hundreds leaving homelessness
Peter Wilmoth
Fri, 28 Jun 2024
The 50 Lives 50 Homes project was conceived to help alleviate homelessness. Its name suggested its initial ambition, but support grew to include a collective of 30 community service agencies and the Western Australian Government. It wasn’t long before it outstripped its aim of helping 50 people into homes. It’s now 427 and growing.
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How a philanthropic consortium is helping young people out of homelessness
Allison Harding
Fri, 7 Jun 2024
A recent Foyer Foundation initiative with Hand Heart Pocket and others resulted in the Queensland government committing $320 million to youth homelessness accommodation and support services. Here, we look at how that collaboration between a consortium of philanthropists, impact investors and service providers worked. We also explore the broader impact of the foundation’s model supporting young people experiencing homelessness into stable housing, employment and education around Australia.
New gender-wise resource launched to support philanthropic collaborations
Philanthropy Australia
Fri, 26 Apr 2024
Australians Investing In Women (AIIW) and the University of Melbourne's Melbourne Social Equity Institute (MSEI) have launched a comprehensive resource to increase the impact of philanthropic and social investments.
Double shot of coffee and communities gives a boost to people experiencing homelessness
Nick Place
Fri, 16 Feb 2024
There are 40 community foundations across Australia, engaged in deeply connected and life-changing work at a local level. A powerful example is the Inner North Community Foundation that provided $20,000 to the big-hearted not-for-profit St Mary’s House of Welcome in Melbourne. The grant provided a coffee machine and barista training to provide long-term prospects to people experiencing homelessness.
Where home ownership is a stepping stone to independence
Sophie Marcard, Director, Marketing and Communications
Fri, 15 Dec 2023
Innovation is so often driven by the insights and passion that come from personal experience and this is the case for Glenn Keys AO and the not-for-profit social enterprise Project Independence. The affordable housing provider was established with philanthropic support and is dedicated to helping people with intellectual disabilities achieve the goal that every individual deserves – the pride and security of home ownership and independent living. The impacts extend beyond bricks and mortar, and Project Independence is an inspiring example of what can be achieved when we reimagine what’s possible.
Renting in Australia and the role of philanthropy
Erin Dolan, Program Manager, Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation
Fri, 15 Dec 2023
The state of the housing market has made finding safe, secure and affordable properties increasingly difficult for the near-third of Australians who rent their home. Housing insecurity can lead to homelessness and addressing this most fundamental of needs is the first step to good health, education, employment and an equitable society for all. Renting is not such a precarious option in other countries. What are the political and economic conditions that have led to Australia’s rental crisis and how can philanthropy do more to support renters and drive a systems-level shift? Erin Dolan, Program Manager at the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and Chair of Philanthropy Australia’s Affordable Housing Funders Network, provides her view.
Demystifying social impact bonds: the Arc SIB
Patrick Bollen, Manager, Impact Investing, Social Ventures Australia
Fri, 18 Aug 2023
Social Ventures Australia (SVA) has launched the Arc Social Impact Bond aimed at breaking the cycle of reoffending and homelessness, whilst expecting to deliver competitive risk-adjusted returns to impact investors. Pat Bollen, Impact Investing Manager at SVA, explains how social impact bonds work and the innovative collaboration behind the Arc SIB.
