Reflections about medical research: philanthropy’s role
This week, Philanthropy Australia hosted a roundtable event with special guest Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert from the University of Oxford. Professor Gilbert is the co-developer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and she spoke about philanthropy’s role in funding medical breakthroughs. Mary Chackola, Philanthropy Australia’s National Engagement Manager for Victoria and Tasmania, reflects on the discussion.
Positive and negative changes to Australia’s social landscape: index
A new report from the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute has found noteworthy changes to Australia’s collective wellbeing over the past 15 years.The Australian Cohesion Index 2023 found enhancements in overall health and levels of education, alongside decreases in trust of the federal government and a decline in the sense of national pride and belonging.
Commitment to newborn health
Since former US President Bill Clinton founded the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in 2005, more than 9,000 organisations have launched 3,900 ‘Commitments to Action’ through the community’s unique model. At this week’s CGI meeting in New York, Australia-based Adara Group made an extraordinary Commitment to Action, which it hopes will save more than 7,000 lives. Audette Exel AO, Founder and Chair of Adara Group announced a $16 million (USD10.6 million) commitment to scale its AdaraNewborn health care model across multiple health facilities in Uganda.
Where dreams come to life
Melbourne Recital Centre’s Making Waves program offers Year 12 music students the opportunity to have their compositions brought to life by professional musicians on the same stage that has played host to many of the world’s great artists. This creates ‘instant career pathways’ in their minds – none of which would be possible without philanthropy.
Groundbreaking Gender Compass research set to shift the conversation
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.
How a new global giving network opens fresh opportunities for Australian donors
Give2Asia and the King Baudouin Foundation have launched a network that is a ‘catalyst for change’. Called Myriad, it connects global donors to global causes and makes cross-border philanthropy easier, safer and more effective, says Anita Toy, the founding Chief Representative of Give2Asia Australia.
From Brave to SEED: ‘Our country needs healthy families’
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.