UPDATED: In Australia, 94% of all donations go to just 10% of Australian charities, leaving grassroots charities struggling to find donation opportunities for new projects and initiatives. This is where The Funding Network Australia swoops in to help with regular crowdfunding events.
Last year, The Funding Network Australia made A$939,238 in revenue from pledges at events. CEO Kristen Lark tells Azzet the amount made at a single event can range from $350,000 to under $100,00, but charities experience benefits from more than just the donations.
“We really look to provide a platform for grassroots charities to meet people that might want to support their work in a variety of ways,” she says.
“Often they meet people at our events that go on to have a huge impact on their organisation, and lots of expected and unexpected ways, we’ve even got stories of a lot of big funding coming after.”
Most of their donations come from their crowdfunding events.
Their most recent crowdfunding event was their Equity and Inclusion event, which raised a total of A$90,900 for three charities on Thursday, 15 May. This is in part thanks to the Snow Foundation and a private family foundation, which matched every donation up to $10,000.
Lark says the main aim of the organisation is to both create connections for grassroots charities and help people find smaller charities to donate to.
“Australians are extremely generous, but it’s hard to find grassroots organisations,” Lark says.
“What we do is, by going through our selection process, identify the highest potential organisations at a critical time in their journey.”
Who pitched?
The three organisations that pitched at the Equity and Inclusion Event were the Springwood Neighbourhood Centre Co-Operative (SNCC), Women’s Resilience Centre and the Remote OpShop Project.
Lark says these charities were chosen as they address the theme of the event in a “real and tangible way across Australia”.
“We really think that they are directly addressing three of the kind of core social issues that Australia is facing right now,” she says.
For all three initiatives, this was their first time ever pitching at a large crowdfunding event.
Remote OpShop Project CEO and founder, Tanya Egerton, tells Azzet that while this was her first time pitching at this scale, she has done plenty of pitches in the past.
The project provides essentials to remote First Nations communities through community-run op-shops and regional reuse hubs in 30 communities and has earned $32,100 to expand their op-shops in the Kimberly region.
“The Kimberley itself is thriving, and there are over 15 op-shops in that region, and some of these communities are cut off for six months of the year when they experience flooding during the wet season,” she says.
Egerton says she decided to pitch for The Funding Network Australia because she has worked with them before and appreciates the work that they do.
“I've been to their events in the past, and I've also had training from them in the past and I just think they're an exceptional organisation that builds not just the capacity of those pitching but also the funding pipeline for grassroots organisations,” Egerton says.
Egerton says they receive funding through a variety of streams, including philanthropy, government grants and their donor network of 45,000 supporters.
The Women’s Resilience Centre and SNCC had hoped to raise $30,000 for their organisations.
The Women’s Resilience Centre helps to destigmatise domestic violence and helps women and children find pathways to help both online and in person and earned $30,500 at the crowdfunding event.
Women’s Resilience Centre CEO, Gabrielle Morrissey, says the organisation hopes to use the funding to extend their work to regional areas in NSW through providing a travel-based caseworker.
“The $30,000 would definitely help us get on the road for at least half the state,” she says.
“We would reach 1000s of women, and then simultaneously, we're also talking to people and hoping to get a van.
“We're looking for a van we can turn bright yellow and make it our pop-up shop and let people know we're in town.”
The pop-ups in regional towns would be places where people could donate clothes and find out more about how they can either help the organisation or what the organisation can do for them.
Morrissey says the organisation's funding is purely based on donations and philanthropy, since the government only provides funding for crisis-related and prevention programs, but does not provide grants for long-term recovery.
This led them to pitch for The Funding Network Australia when they saw the Equity and Inclusion Crowdfunding event.
“It's very competitive to get into being selected, and I thought, what we're trying to do matches the theme so perfectly with equity and inclusion,” she says. “Is it fair or just that women get different levels of help depending on their postcode?”
SNCC General Manager, Rosemary Bishop says they hope to use the $28,300 donated to them to provide more intergenerational programs through reducing waitlists and increasing service to other areas.
“It would allow us to put on another good quality program,” she says.
“More than that would enable us to spread. We would like to spread the capacity to deliver the service to other providers and other community centres.”
Their main goal is to increase older people's connection to the community through socialising them with children.
“We've seen the impact of it on older people's community connection and their joy, and it's reduced their depression, increased their wellness,” she says.
“We've also seen with children, increased capacity to socialise, to regulate their emotions, and the joy they have in connecting to their older person.”
The program receives funding through donations and philanthropy, but also through the Primary Health Network, which is a Commonwealth-funded pilot.
“We get some money from them for this, because they see it as so important for reducing the ill effects of isolation and depression,” she says.
The Funding Network Australia event next moves to Brisbane on 3 June and Melbourne on 17 June with more Equity and Inclusion themed events.
