Philanthropy Leadership Summit 2025 – draft program released!
Amid much anticipation and registrations filling fast, Philanthropy Australia is excited to announce the first round of program highlights for its Leadership Summit 2025. They include keynote speaker, the international author and ‘polycrisis’ expert Professor Thomas Homer-Dixon, Australian social commentator Dr Rebecca Huntley, highly regarded MCs from the Australian sector, stimulating lightning talks and much more.
Philanthropic collaboration puts Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands
The Spinifex Foundation SA (Spinifex) began implementing a project in 2023 called Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands: Responding to COVID-19. This innovative initiative was First Nations-led and supported by three philanthropic organisations including the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR). Jo Kemp, FRRR’s then Philanthropic Services Manager, shares some key learnings on behalf of the group.
Sector leaders react to Gates Foundation’s historic plan to spend down US$200bn
Bill Gates has announced that the Gates Foundation plans to spend its endowment and ‘virtually all’ of his personal wealth totaling US$200 billion in the next 20 years to accelerate its mission of ‘saving and improving lives around the world’. Here, four leaders from the Australian philanthropic sector, Daniel Petre, Audette Exel, Peter Johnstone and Maree Sidey react.
Smart Collar, the service dog innovation that could ‘save charities millions of dollars’
Imagine having a toddler and trying to predict the grades they’ll achieve in high school. This is akin to what animal behavioralists face when assessing which puppies are suitable to be trained as Assistance Dogs. But game-changing new technology, which three Australian charities are helping to develop, could make assessment possible up to a year earlier, creating unprecedented savings.
The Wyatt Trust: How we embedded lived experience into funding practice to change outcomes
The Wyatt Trust has released a report on its learnings from the first four years of its journey to embed lived and living experience of financial hardship in its grantmaking, program design and beyond. In this Q&A, CEO Stacey Thomas shares key reflections to inspire and encourage others to explore this work more widely.
What funders need to know about the Centre for Inclusive Employment
Philanthropy Australia’s Disability Funders Network and the Jobs and Skills Funders Network (JaSFN) are holding a joint session to discuss the work and practice of the recently launched Centre for Inclusive Employment. As work in diversity, equity and inclusion comes under threat around the world, network co-chair Dr Kirsty Nowlan writes that this is a critical time to consider philanthropy’s role in this space.
Calling all leaders! Play it forward or pay it forward!
Philanthropy Australia recently launched the Philanthropy Leadership Summit 2025: Leadership for our times. Thank you to those of you who have already submitted an expression of interest. The Canberra Summit always sells out and we are committed to having a diverse and dynamic audience. We invite you to register your interest, and/or forward on the information to leaders you believe should be in the room.