Fitted For Work launches a giving circle to bring donors ‘closer to the cause’

Fitted For Work is best known for providing job readiness for women experiencing adversity, but the charity does much more. As traditional fundraising becomes more competitive than ever, the charity has launched a giving circle to bring its many passionate supporters ‘closer to the cause’.

“We have a lot of supporters aged 30+, with the majority being women who are in the busiest time of their lives with families and careers,” said Donna de Zwart, Fitted For Work’s Managing Director. “They’re passionate about the cause and want to be involved, but don’t have capacity to volunteer. We wanted to find a way to engage with potential donors but give them agency around their involvement. The giving circle ticks all those boxes.

“It means that donors have a year-on-year commitment and will be involved in a deeper understanding about where the most need is for our organisation and clients. And they’ll learn about the giving process and where their contribution will make the most difference.”

Giving circles often fund a range of organisations, but not-for-profits are also finding them a rich opportunity to develop and grow their own community of supporters, funding different programs within the charity. Fitted For Work, which launched its giving circle at an event on 25 September, will present three different programs each year to its members who will be able to vote on where the funds go. There will be three membership tiers, ranging from $1020 per annum to $50 per annum, and the emphasis is on accessibility and flexibility.

Collective giving is on the rise and Philanthropy Australia is currently undertaking indepth research into the growth of collective giving. If you are involved in collective giving, we invite you to take our survey and add to our understanding of this exciting movement.

The Fitted For Work initiative had been on Donna’s mind and grew into reality after Fitted For Work’s Head of Philanthropy, Liz Trewhella, attended a session at the Philanthropy Australia Conference in 2024 called ‘The growth of democratised giving: where and how is it happening?’. The panel included Christine Darcas, of the Melbourne Women’s Foundation, Kathryn House AM of Impact100 SA and Sara Lomelin, CEO of Philanthropy Together, an organisation that supports the growth of collective giving in the US.

Liz loved the idea of a giving circle and followed up with Philanthropy Together to attend – getting up at 4am – its online workshop called ‘Launchpad for NFPs’. The website has a range of resources for individuals, groups and non-profits on how to start a giving circle. She also connected with Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia to understand its model and undertook desktop research.

“Sara talked about the concept of creating a community and movement that’s bigger than doing something on your own,” Liz said.

“We’re still seeing a lot of loneliness post-COVID and collective giving elevates the way in which people can connect to a charity. We hope to make Fitted For Work’s giving circle a positive, beautiful experience for the members that will bring them closer to the cause. People are looking for a way to be involved beyond giving money and have that feeling of belonging.”

Now in its 20th anniversary year, Fitted For Work supports women and gender-diverse clients re-entering the workforce, often after leaving a domestic violence situation or a long career break. It provides free styling services and programs with partners such as LinkedIn. These programs address confidence-building, CV writing, interview techniques and ongoing mentoring for up to a year after landing a job. The bigger picture, of course, is gender equality.

The charity has served more than 48,000 women and gender-diverse people to become job-ready and secure meaningful employment. It’s unlocked $86m in net economic benefits, according to its first Economic Impact Report earlier this year. It found that for every dollar invested in Fitted For Work, $2.11 is returned to the economy.

“We think that’s tip of the iceberg though because it doesn’t take into account the knock-on effects on health and wellbeing and contributions to society,” said Donna.

Fitted For Work’s cause, for Donna, is very personal. “I was married young and was in a dangerous relationship. I had two small children but the one constant in my life was work. Work provided me with income so I could put food on the table, but it also gave me a safe place. After that relationship ended, work healed me in lots of ways and I think we underestimate how important it is in our lives,” said Donna.

“I see the difference in our clients who say they have been able to buy their daughter her first bra or go on holiday for the first time or return to university. The positive stories are endless.”

Fitted For Work does not receive government funding but aims to be financially self-sufficient. It derives 44% of revenue from two social enterprises – the Conscious Closet, a shopfront opened last year and an early-intervention financial referral service, called Supervention, which is funded by a group of banks. Around 30% of revenue comes from major donors providing multi-year funding and the remainder from fundraising. Fitted For Work has also launched the Future Fund endowment, which has so far raised around $1.5m of a $5m target and innovated with social media campaigns such as Letter to My Closet that has reached 1 million users.

Fitted For Work was recognised last year as a finalist for the Telstra Business Awards. “We’re really proud of that because it was an acknowledgement that we’re a good charity, but also that we’re a smart business,” said Donna.

The big ambition is to remove the stigma that still exists around asking for help. “We want women everywhere to know about us and feel good about reaching out.

“It’s a legacy issue. We’re making changes for the next 100+ years because the trajectory of my children’s lives and their children’s lives, and those of all the women we’ve helped has changed for ever.”

Main image: Donna de Zwart in the Conscious Closet.

Learn more on the website: Fitted For Work Giving Circle – Fitted For Work

If you are involved in collective giving, we invite you to take in Philanthropy Australia’s survey to help us better understand how the field is growing.