Event: 19 April 2024
FRRR was proud once again to join Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Community Foundations Australia and Australian Communities Foundation in sponsoring the Community Philanthropy Award at the recent Australian Philanthropy Awards.
This year, the selection criteria was updated to shift the emphasis away from community as solely place-based, instead seeing community as being based around culture, shared experience or issues. There was a desire to place greater emphasis on community involvement and participation in its own development –this was reflected in the selection criteria around ‘people-led development’ and ‘power sharing’. With these changes, it was hoped to recognise any forms of philanthropy that centre people and communities as decision-makers and investors in their own development.
The evaluation panel included FRRR’s Program Manager for the Investing in Rural Community Futures (IRCF) program in Leeton, Junee and the Nambucca Valley, Nancy Sposato, and Community Engagement Producer at our partners at the ABC, Kirra Hampson.
Nancy said that all the applications were fantastic. “I felt very privileged to be able to learn about them all and was very inspired. It would be wonderful to profile them all as a wonderful resource for others working in the community philanthropy space to explore, learn from and connect to. I really valued reading all the applications and the diverse ways people are tackling fundraising and equally wonderful to see the value placed in raising knowledge and social capital in communities,” she said.
“I really enjoyed the robust conversations between the panel around the purpose of the award and which entries were aware of and implementing people-led design and power sharing in their approaches.
“I was also fascinated by the issues that applicants were attending to – youth initiatives, early childhood learning, mental health, health research and awareness, disaster response and preparedness, homelessness, domestic violence and support for the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Kirra said that she is relatively new to the world of philanthropy. “I really learnt a lot about what philanthropy is and specifically what community philanthropy means. There were a few applications that definitely hit home for me and my lived experience. As a proud Woi Wurrung and woman who identifies as Queer, applications specifically seeking to improve the lives of First Nations people and the LGBTQIA+ community were ones I was very happy to see.”
The winner of the Community Philanthropy Award was the Ampilfy Pride Fund, which was established in 2022 by Aurora Group and GiveOUT, two LGBTIQ+ led community funders, to help to tackle the challenges and barriers still facing vulnerable members of the LGBTQIA+ community in Australia – poorer mental health, isolation, homelessness, and social and economic marginalisation.
It was also wonderful to see Terry Snow AM and Ginette Snow, partners in FRRR’s IRCF program, receive the Leadership Award and to see The Bibbulmun Fund (a sub-fund of the Fremantle Foundation), recognised for their work in supporting First Nations communities.
Thanks too to Philanthropy Australia for convening these awards which recognise and celebrate the impact of philanthropy.
