By Jillian Kirwan-Lee, Head of Partnerships

While it’s always good practice to thank your partners, it is usually done privately – in letters or acquittal reports, in phone calls and emails or in face-to-face meetings – and occasionally, at an event or in media releases launching a new program. And rightly so.

But we want to take this opportunity to publicly give a shout-out to the Origin Energy Foundation. While there are other organisations that we have worked with for much longer – and to whom we are equally grateful – in the case of the Origin Energy Foundation we have worked with them in multiple ways – not just in a funder / grantee relationship.

This is a great example of the value of funders and grantees building trusting relationships, which support open and transparent conversations, as called for in the Paying What It Takes report.

The Origin Energy Foundation first partnered with FRRR in 2013 on our Back to School program. This initiative, now in its final year as a stand-alone program for FRRR, saw us provide $50 vouchers through a network of community foundations and community-based delivery partners to ease the financial burden on families at the start of the school year, ensuring that children in need had the basics required to start the year with the best possible chance of being engaged in their education. 

It’s a program that has had a significant impact, enhancing access to education for thousands of students and in the process, helping to build stronger, more vibrant and sustainable remote, rural and regional communities. As one recipient family put it, “My daughter is no longer embarrassed to go to school now that she has a new uniform and is no longer made fun of.” It’s hard to believe that $50 vouchers can do that – but they can, especially when additional support is wrapped around it.

We’ve experienced something similar with the Origin Energy Foundation. While they provided multi-year funding to the program for over a decade, supporting more than 20,000 families along the way, the Foundation has provided FRRR with so much more.

They advocated for us, introducing us to other organisations that could come on board as partners and writing about the importance of supporting education in remote areas in articles in mainstream media. Their staff supported the program, with matched donations through workplace giving and they shared impact stories through their employee communication channels. They helped us promote the program and its impact externally too, gifting us space in The Big Issue magazine, as well as paying for a trusted videography partner to work with us to develop two campaigns to help with additional fundraising. And when crises hit, like the Black Summer Bushfires, they contributed to an additional round of the Back to School program for students in affected communities to ensure children’s education didn’t suffer.

But perhaps most importantly, they put their trust in FRRR and provided flexible funding to direct the donations where they made the most difference, believing that we knew how best to support those that we work with.

Such collaboration and care are rare, with the philanthropic sector often directing support towards those areas that are meaningful to the funder, rather than what is needed by the community.

We take that locally-driven yet holistic approach in our own granting, as do the groups that we partner with on the ground. For example, as one of our community partners put it, “The vouchers allow us to keep an eye on the disadvantaged students and provide additional wellbeing support. Our students that receive support often do not display overt behaviours that would indicate the level of financial distress in the home. Each connection made through the vouchers allows the family to open up and share their stories, which at times has allowed us to connect them to other services in the community. Picking up the vouchers from the front office means we can connect with families that often don’t come into the school or are reluctant to meet with us.” Like the Origin Energy Foundation, we trust them to get the support where it’s most needed.

While FRRR will no longer be running the Back to School program, several Community Foundations will take it forward, customising it to meet the needs of their local community. We will have an ongoing role in building capacity of those groups, as we transition the program to local management.

Instead, FRRR will redirect our educational investment through small grants, which we know offers more flexibility to local groups to support their community in the most appropriate way.

So, while this current phase of our partnership with Origin Energy Foundation is coming to a close, we remain connected as we strive for better educational outcomes for young people living in remote, rural and regional Australia.

In the meantime, our deep thanks and appreciation to Origin Energy Foundation, for taking a flexible, generous and trusting approach for all you do for young Australians in need.

More than $770,000 in vouchers distributed

Students and families in remote, rural and regional parts of Australia will start the 2022 school year with a little extra support, thanks to the generosity of FRRR and its donors, and the Community Foundations and groups helping to distribute the more than 15,700 Back to School vouchers across the country.

FRRR’s Back to School (BTS) program partners with community groups and Community Foundations to provide $50 gift vouchers to local families in need. The vouchers can be redeemed at select national retailers or local businesses for school essentials like uniforms, shoes, school bags or stationery.

Now in its 18^th year, the BTS program has worked with community organisations in rural communities to distribute more than $10.7 million in BTS vouchers and help in excess of 216,000 students and their families get what they need to start the school year on a positive note. This includes families that have been impacted by natural disasters such as 2019-20 Black Summer Fires, flooding events, and the economic impact of the COVID pandemic. 

Sarah Matthee, FRRR’s General Manager Partnerships & Services, said that the Back to School program continues to give a helping hand to rural families doing it tough.

“The unique aspect of the BTS program is that it taps into the deep understanding and the trusted relationships that local organisations have within their communities to ensure that these vouchers go to families most in need of the support.

“For many rural families, schooling and finances continue to be impacted by the pandemic. Although fifty dollars may not seem much, that little bit of extra help can go towards easing their worries in some small way,” Ms Matthee said.

In some communities, local Community Foundations also got behind the BTS program, with FRRR and its donors offering to match local donations, dollar for dollar. This year communities raised almost $63,000 in local fundraising across the country. Thanks to this community support, together with funds from the Origin Energy Foundation, FRRR was able to provide an extra 2,514 vouchers. One hundred percent of all donations to the program go directly into purchasing a $50 voucher to support a primary or secondary school student in need.

Eyre Peninsula Community Foundation, in South Australia, has worked with FRRR since 2009 to distribute BTS vouchers to local students and their families.

Garry Downey, Chair of Eyre Peninsula Community Foundation, said that the organisation sees huge need to continue to help families start their children off well-prepared for their learning years.

“The support of the FRRR program is truly valued, and their willingness to match locally donated funds creates an outstanding opportunity for Eyre Peninsula residents and businesses to boost the impact for local kids.”

You can see the full list of recipient organisations and the more than 100 remote, rural and regional communities that will benefit from these vouchers below.

BTS vouchers are funded through the support of FRRR donor partners, which include Portland House Foundation, Perpetual Foundation – Julian Flett Endowment, News Corp Australia, Fire Fight Australia Fund, Counter Point Community Services (Cycle Recycle), Bertalli Family Foundation, UNICEF Australia and Origin Energy Foundation, as well as private and individual donors.

For more information about the program, visit https://frrr.org.au/back-to-school/.

To support grant programs like this through FRRR, you can make a tax-deductible donation at frrr.org.au/giving/.