Seeding Strengths: Supporting youth-led First Nations movements

FYA Seeding Strengths is designed to shift resources to First Nations young people and their communities through grant-making, increasing philanthropic connections and supporting initiatives to secure ongoing sustainable funding for long term change.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and their campaigns, movements and projects need financial backing to win campaigns, and achieve the self-determined, long term change they want to see.

To date, Seeding Strengths has redistributed $200,000 to youth-led First Nations movements. First Nations young people (aged 16-35 years) applied for grants between $2,000 to $50,000 to support core funding for existing or new campaigns, movements and projects across four impact areas:

• Truthtelling and storytelling
• Decolonising and re-Indigenising
• Building and strengthening movements, campaigns and global solidarity
• Facilitating vision creation

Every grant is a project self-determined and run by young First Nations people, with cultural governance and accountability. The grants are decided by FYA’s First Nations Governance Group. In addition, recipients are provided advice and training by experts in the First Nations Team to help them succeed. So far Seeding Strengths has supported campaigns and movements including Save Lee Point, Justice for Walker, Gamilaraay Next Generation, and many more.

In 2024, Seeding Strengths is seeking $50,000 to match their commitment of $50,000 (total of $100,000) to redistribute over the next 12 months to young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations fighting injustice and building Blak power.