We made this happen

Five years ago, with your support, we started the Impact Fund to bring funders and changemakers together to tackle the biggest issues facing Australia. You shared our vision of giving in a way that reflects the kind of fair and sustainable country we all want to live in. 

A collective giving vehicle focused on social and environmental impact was an idea that was two years in the making, building on important work that had come before. But it was an idea whose time had most definitely come. 

Many of you got behind the Impact Fund because 2017 was a year to draw a line in the sand. We saw this most clearly with the win for marriage equality. The win was proof of what happens when Australians unite, and what can be achieved when we back good people to do good work. 

The Impact Fund has been backed by ambitious donors like you who wanted to see action on equality, democracy, Indigenous rights and the environment. 

You got behind big bold ideas like putting farmers at the frontline of the work to protect climate and five years on, Farmers for Climate Action is one of the biggest farmer representative groups in Australia. You gave the go ahead to back the Alliance for Gambling Reform, and within a few short years, major supermarkets were pulling out of pokies. And you were ready when the Australian Gun Safety Alliance asked for help to counter a growing gun lobby as it tried to wind back the National Firearms Agreement set up after the 1996 Port Arthur tragedy. 

2017 was a turning point for Indigenous recognition with the launch of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which Impact Funders supported early and wholeheartedly. Now in 2022, we are on the cusp of seeing an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in states around the country. 

Impact Funders also supported Apryl Day from the Dhadjowa Foundation to turn the tragedy of her mother’s death in custody in 2017 into an event that helped overturn public drunkenness laws in Victoria which unfairly targeted Aboriginal people. Apryl and Dhadjowa’s work continues to stoke the fire of the movement to stop Indigenous deaths in custody. 

Impact Funders and Partners are making change together on our journey towards a fairer and more sustainable Australia. By giving together through the Impact Fund, we are becoming a more powerful voice for the causes we believe in. 

This country often lauds the achievements of its sportspeople and celebrities. We invite you to celebrate a different kind of star: the activists and campaigners behind our 40 Impact Partners. 

You supported this vision of a collective giving fund. We can’t continue to grow this important work without you. Read on for how, together, we are shaping a future we can all be proud to hand on to the next generation. 

Maree Sidey, CEO and Eric Beecher, Chair