Our focus areas
Strengthening Democracy is one of our five key focus areas, guiding the way we give at Australian Communities Foundation.
Making a difference
Big Deal 2019 Grantee Partner
In 2019, the Impact Fund raised $150,000 for an impact and outreach campaign for the upcoming documentary Big Deal: Is our Democracy for Sale?, directed by Craig Reucassel.
Upcoming social impact documentary, Big Deal, follows comedian and father Christiaan Van Vuuren (A Sunburnt Country, Soul Mates, Bondi Hipsters). Christiaan is proud of his country, its peaceful society and its sound political system. So proud, in fact, that he might be a little complacent. Smug, even.
Big Deal begins with Christiaan mocking the fact that the US democracy has been taken over by big money, but he soon realises that the situation in his home country is not all that different. A wake-up call about the frightening extent to which money has infiltrated politics, Christiaan’s unlikely journey shows us why we should care, and how we might work together to ensure our democracy is safeguarded from being sold to the highest bidder.
Progress on Strengthening Democracy
The Alannah & Madeline Foundation
Gun control and community safety
$60,000 (2017 – 2019)
- Australia’s first coalition for gun law reform established, bringing together 30 organisations to provide a credible alternative voice to the gun lobby on firearms policy for the first time
Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility
Using shareholder activism to build civil power in capital
$150,000 (2018 – 2020)
- Increased pressure from Qantas shareholders for the airline to cease its involvement in the forced deportation of people who have sought asylum in Australia
Public Interest Journalism Initiative
Securing a strong and viable future for public interest journalism in Australia
$150,000 (2017 – 2019)
- One of Australia’s only independent initiatives focused on public interest journalism established and supported to undertake research on its decline, particularly in regional areas
Give to the Impact Fund
Support the work of our country’s leading changemakers for a fairer and more sustainable Australia.