“Growing up in that kind of culture, it was quite normal to step out of your comfort zone to help someone else. There was no kind of payback for it – it was normalised at a very young age,” shares Australian Communities Foundation (ACF) Fundholder, Lara Jeyaretnam.
For Lara and her husband, Terence Jeyaretnam AM, giving has been part of their lives long before either of them thought to call it ‘philanthropy’.
Both of Sri Lankan heritage, their respective journeys to Australia have shaped the way they see community, service, and their place in the world. Terence came to Australia with his family as a refugee, leaving the war-torn country more than 40 years ago. Lara spent the first 16 years of her life in Singapore before migrating to Australia with her family.
Growing up across countries and cultures shaped the different lenses through which Lara and Terence see the world. Their experiences have given them an understanding of both privilege and scarcity – perspectives that continue to shape how they think about generosity and what it means to give.
A spirit of service
Today, Terence works in sustainability and climate consulting, and has served on many boards over the years, including Amnesty International Australia, Australian Conservation Foundation, and the Biodiversity Council.
“I’ve spent much of the last 30 years involved in environment, climate and human rights, contributing my time in different ways across organisations and boards. For me, giving has never just been financial,” says Terence.
For me, giving has never just been financial.
Lara is a dentist, although her studies have also taken her through science, psychology and a Masters of Environment – varied interests connected, she says, by a longstanding desire to serve others.
“Volunteering is something I’d seen all my life,” she says. Growing up surrounded by people for whom helping others without expecting something in return was simply part of life, Lara credits these early examples with shaping her own instinct to give.
Joining a giving community
This spirit of service has been steady throughout Lara and Terence’s lives, with volunteering forming an important part of their giving alongside financial support.
The couple initially established a structured giving fund with another philanthropic services provider. Their approach at the time, Terence recalls, was relatively simple: “We would make our donations, and that was about it.”
Their move to Australian Communities Foundation came about naturally through mutual connections and a broader alignment with ACF’s values. “With ACF, there have been many more opportunities to engage, meet people and be part of a community,” says Terence about their decision to move and establish an ACF Named Fund.
Lara echoes the value of connecting with others through giving, “There’s a real sense of community and camaraderie at ACF. You have the opportunity to learn from people and to evolve.”
There’s a real sense of community and camaraderie at ACF. You have the opportunity to learn from people and to evolve.
Getting closer to the work
If the move to ACF broadened their sense of giving as something shared, Lara’s involvement with the organisation, Bridging Lanka, has made it deeply personal.
Bridging Lanka is a small, volunteer-run organisation creating sustainable change by empowering communities through education, health, social development, and economic empowerment in Sri Lanka.
Lara discovered the organisation by complete chance: “I was searching for an organisation where I could take my kids – I thought it was going to be locally based,” she says, smiling as she speaks about the organisation based in the Mannar District of Sri Lanka. Her involvement with Bridging Lanka grew quickly from donor to board member, volunteer, and passionate advocate.
“There was something about Bridging Lanka that really resonated with me,” says Lara. “It was the connection to Sri Lanka, but also the way they work. It’s very grassroots, very connected to community.”
For Lara, the organisation’s grassroots nature is part of what makes it so powerful, but as she witnessed throughout the COVID lockdowns, it also leaves it vulnerable.
“A lot of NGOs didn’t survive the lockdown,” Lara recalls. “Large organisations have more of a buffer, whereas small organisations can disappear.”
An experience that’s reinforced Lara and Terence’s commitment not only to supporting Bridging Lanka through their own giving, but to helping build greater financial resilience around its work.
Building for the long term
With a foot in both worlds – as Fundholders and as close supporters of Bridging Lanka – Lara and Terence saw an opportunity to connect the organisation with ACF.
That introduction has since led Bridging Lanka to establish a Future Fund with ACF, providing a vehicle through which the organisation can build an endowment and strengthen its financial sustainability over the long term.
For Lara, the importance of that long-term support comes back to what she has seen on the ground.
“When you’re there, contributing to the work, the people become an extension of your family,” she says. “You become so intertwined with everything that goes on, and the philanthropy becomes more meaningful.”
That proximity has also informed Lara’s advice to fellow funders. Getting to know an organisation personally, she says, can provide a much deeper understanding of what funding makes possible – particularly for smaller organisations that can make limited resources stretch a long way.
You become so intertwined with everything that goes on, and the philanthropy becomes more meaningful.
“It’s great to give to big organisations, but it’s also nice to give to organisations that are not seen so much but are creating huge impact where they are.”
Passing on an abundance mindset
For all that Lara and Terence have put into their careers, volunteering and philanthropy, another motivation sits at the centre of their giving: their three children.
Part of Lara’s original search for an organisation like Bridging Lanka was a desire to expose them to experiences beyond their own.
“I didn’t want them growing up seeing the world with only just one lens,” Lara says. “I felt that they were very privileged to grow up in Australia, and I wanted our kids to understand that there are other places where life is harder.”
“Our hope and dreams are that the kids will take over our Fund one day, and not just give, but add to it and get more involved,” Lara says.
Ultimately, what Lara and Terence hope to pass on is less a prescribed set of causes than an orientation towards the world: a sense of purpose, generosity and responsibility to others.
We’re trying to instil that in our kids – a desire to give and to see things with an abundance mindset.
“We’re trying to instil that in our kids,” Lara says. “That desire to give and to see things with an abundance mindset, rather than one of scarcity.”
For a giving journey that began with the simple idea that helping others is part of life, perhaps that is the most fitting legacy of all.
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