‘Giving circle magic’: The gift that grew and grew from a group of Melbourne women
Philanthropy Australia
Fri, 8 Mar 2024
This is a story of a giving circle and the impact of one of its gifts that grew beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. The initial $60,000 grant came from the Melbourne Women’s Fund to help an inner-city community organisation provide early intervention support for women in contact with the criminal justice system. A few years on, it has led to outstanding results and millions of dollars in government backing to expand the program across the city.
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Philanthropy Australia launches Women’s Giving and Philanthropy initiative
Patricia Burke OAM, Senior Advisor, Engagement & Philanthropy, Philanthropy Australia
Fri, 8 Mar 2024
As people across Australia gather to mark International Women’s Day, Philanthropy Australia celebrates by launching our Women’s Giving and Philanthropy initiative. Women’s philanthropy has emerged as a distinct area using innovative and creative methods to improve local, national and global communities. Pat Burke OAM, Senior Advisor at Philanthropy Australia and a key driver of this initiative, explains how it aims to grow and support women’s philanthropy with resources, research and inspiring stories as a key part of our mission to support ‘more and better’ giving.
‘Great example of female-led philanthropy’: Paula McLean’s $1m gift and the Stella Prize
Nick Place
Fri, 8 Mar 2024
It must have been a Zoom call for the ages. Philanthropist Paula McLean had left the board of the Stella Prize, Australia’s groundbreaking literary award for female writers, at the start of 2021. Later that year, board members informed her that they were planning to use the organisation’s 10-year anniversary celebrations to try to secure the remaining $2 million needed to endow the prize money in perpetuity. It was a bold target and they only had 10 months to achieve it.
‘Watch out – when women support a cause, they become activists’
Kimberly Downes
Fri, 8 Mar 2024
Philanthropic strategist Kimberly Downes is author of one of the few pieces of research into how women give in Australia. Here, she shares a story and some of the key findings. Despite women finding it difficult to consider themselves philanthropists, she says, but they instinctively look after those in the community and through philanthropy have the power to give hope.
Grace Forrest wins prestigious US award for anti-slavery work
Fri, 9 Feb 2024
Human rights advocate Grace Forrest is the first Australian woman to win the prestigious Roosevelt Foundation Freedom from Fear Award 2024. She founded Walk Free, under the auspices of the Minderoo Foundation, which produces the Global Slavery Index, the world's most comprehensive dataset on modern slavery. Grace is the oldest daughter of Andrew and Nicola Forrest and joins the likes of high-profile global advocates who have been honoured with the award previously, including Malala Yousafzai, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Larma and former German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Groundbreaking Gender Compass research set to shift the conversation
Fri, 15 Sep 2023
Plan International Australia has undertaken a first-of-its-kind research project, led by Dr Rebecca Huntley, that segments the broad Australian public into six groups based on their attitudes, behaviours and policy preferences in relation to gender equality. Supported by the Trawalla Foundation, it can be used by communicators, advocates and changemakers to meet people where they are, rather than where we think they should be, writes the chair Carol Schwartz AM.
From Brave to SEED: ‘Our country needs healthy families’
Dee Rudebeck
Fri, 8 Sep 2023
As origin stories go, Bernadette Black’s is highly compelling. Her drive to establish Brave Foundation as its first CEO – an organisation supporting young parents into education or work – was grounded in her own experience as a pregnant 16-year-old trying to navigate Centrelink. She found the experience profoundly unwelcoming and unhelpful, and it created a deep determination to one day change the system. Thirty years on, she’s doing that with SEED.
