After five years in the UK, including three years at social change organisation the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Camille Furtado’s search for a role that would bring her home to Australia came with clear criteria.

“I wanted to find a role that would marry my deep commitment to social justice with my experience in strategic programs that support grassroots organisations and leaders to do their best work in realising a more just society,” Camille explains

The Director of Philanthropy role at Australian Communities Foundation (ACF) was the perfect fit.

Growing up as the bi-racial daughter of migrants who encouraged critical thinking, Camille’s commitment to social justice was nurtured from an early age.

“I often joke that my sister and I were never up to date with the latest episode of Home and Away or Neighbours, because the ABC 7 o’clock news and the 7:30 Report took precedence in our household,” Camille explains.

“Whether it was what was happening in the classroom or school yard, or issues of local, national or global significance, we were fortunate to be exposed to deep conversations about exclusion, welcome, discrimination and othering and the notion of the common good.”

Camille’s first personal encounter with social injustice happened while she was in high school.

“I was in Grade 11 when then Prime Minister Howard announced he would ‘stop the boats’ and turn back refugees and people seeking asylum,” she says. “That’s when I really saw xenophobia and hatred on a mass scale and I started to realise that the world isn’t a nice place for everyone – that it requires people to stand up in solidarity with others.”

That exposure set the trajectory for a career committed to social justice and informed by the two core values of love and justice “to ensure we make society better for us all.”

Heading up the Philanthropy team at ACF, Camille views her role in two parts. The first is ensuring the Philanthropy team supports and engages members of the donor community and their giving to causes that will bring about social change.

The second, she says, is “convening and working with civil society organisations to understand the initiatives they’re working on, the challenges they’re up against and how a mobilised community of givers could support their work.”

“We live in a time of urgency and possibility,” Camille continues, “and in that context I’d like to see philanthropy think deeply about its position in an ecosystem of social change actors and how philanthropic institutions and individuals can use their position to unlock the resources needed to meet the moment.”

Part of this, she says, involves understanding that social change takes time and requires long-term core funding. It requires seeing the value in the supporting infrastructure while also creating space for conversations about measuring change and impact.

“I’d like our team to support our donor community to think of themselves as agents of change,” Camille says. “I’d like to help them see their role in the wider ecosystem and how their contribution through their fund is creating change. If we achieve that, then I think we’re doing our job at Australian Communities Foundation.”