‘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.
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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.
English Family Foundation named Runner-Up in global Catalyst 2030 Awards
Fri, 15 Dec 2023
The English Family Foundation has been honoured for its work in supporting social entrepreneurs at a global event, the Catalyst 2030 Awards for Systemic Change 2023. The Foundation was awarded Runner Up in the category of Overall Best Donor last month at the gala event in London, hosted by Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, at his private residence, Spencer House.
COP28: How philanthropy is advancing women’s climate action leadership in the Pacific
Michelle Higelin and Flora Vano
Fri, 1 Dec 2023
As the UN Climate Change Conference 2023 - COP28 - gets under way, Philanthropy Australia was pleased to partner with Groundswell Giving and ActionAid Australia to hear from Ralph Regenvanu, the Vanuatu Minister for Climate Change Adaptation. Here, ActionAid Australia's Executive Director Michelle Higelin reflects on insights from the event and the importance of backing women-led action.
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.
‘Sharing knowledge will create generational change’
Fri, 25 Aug 2023
Kayla Baker-Peris is a proud Yolngu, Yawurru and Kidja woman born and raised in Darwin. She is an alumnus of the Yalari Indigenous scholarship program, which supported her until graduating from Kambala Girls School in Rose Bay, Sydney, in 2018. Below, she shares her experiences of being one of the first Indigenous students at Kambala and how the scholarship changed her life.
