How can we tell that we are making progress as a community or a society? And who should decide what “progress” looks like, and how it is measured?

These are important questions for a democracy as the answers affect the wellbeing of those in our communities and collectively as a country. 

Putting people’s needs, aspirations, and wellbeing at the centre of any policy development and decision-making requires developing more equitable and inclusive methods and approaches to data collection, analysis, and impact reporting. What is measured (and how) matters.

If we put communities at the centre of deciding what to track, how we collect data, and how this information is used and shared, we will not only develop more useful tools for positive change, but will also have more equitable approaches and a better chance of improving the lives of citizens and communities. 

Join us at our next Strengthening Democracy Learning Circle to: 

• Learn about the need to redefine progress and develop new progress measures informed by inclusive citizen engagement, stories, and lived experiences
• Understand how data collection has been used to maintain inequitable systems and perpetuate practices that exclude many of our lived experiences
• Gain insights into the work of organisations and social justice movements working on rethinking measurement and data collection for economic, environmental, and social progress. 

We’ll be joined by Mike Salvaris (Director, Australian National Development Index), Natasha Doherty (Board Director, Australian National Development Index), Doug Cronin (Co-Founder and Director of Strategy and Partnerships), and Colin Kinchela (Director of First Nations Engagement, Our Race).

Please note: This event will take place online via Zoom and in person at our Community of Giving, 6/126 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, 3002 at 12.00pm on 26 October.

Event information

Thursday 26 October
12:00pm – 1:30pm AEDT

This event will be held in person at our Community of Giving and online. Online registrants will be sent a link on the day to join via Zoom.

Speakers

Mike Salvaris, Director, Australian National Development Index

Mike has worked for the past 25 years as an activist, academic, and community researcher in the measurement of progress, well-being, and human rights, with many Australian and international organisation’s governments, including the OECD, and the governments of New Zealand, Canada, and Bhutan. Mike is Director at the Australian National Development Index (ANDI).

Natasha Doherty, Board Director, Australian National Development Index

Natasha is the founder and CEO of Ethicol, and has 20 years of experience in program and policy evaluation. She works with government and non-profit clients to inform evidence-based practices and policies to enhance the quality of life for Australians. Natasha has worked in Federal and State governments and was the lead partner for the Health and Social Policy Practice in Deloitte Access Economics.

Doug Cronin, Co-Founder and Director of Strategy and Partnerships, Our Race

Doug is the co-founder of Our Race Community and an ethical storytelling researcher and practitioner. He is currently undertaking a PhD looking into the power dynamics of storytelling. Simultaneously, Doug leads the development and implementation of the T.E.S.T. Framework, collaborating with people and organisations who value lived experiences as expertise.

Colin Kinchela, Director of First Nations Engagement, Our Race

Colin is a Gomeroi artist, storyteller and facilitator, residing on the Lands of the Burramattagal. After more than 20 years working across TV, film and theatre, Colin now leads Our Race Community’s work in changing how First Nations stories are constructed and told by applying the T.E.S.T. framework.

Katy Cornwell, Head of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning, Brotherhood of St Laurence

Dr Katy is the Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning at the Brotherhood of St Laurence. Katy holds a PhD in Econometrics and Business Statistics from Monash University alongside extensive experience in research, data analysis, monitoring and evaluation relating to poverty and disadvantage. She has designed and implemented data collection and measurement frameworks for a number of organisations, with a focus on learning and reflection.

Register

This session is open to Australian Communities Foundation fundholders and our friends in the philanthropy sector. Contact us to register.

The right to protest is a cornerstone of any healthy democracy. Protest rights are also fundamental to justice. For those of us with the least political and social power, protest can sometimes be the only avenue we have to get issues on the political agenda and have our voices heard.  

Since 2019, there has been a series of anti-democratic laws passed across Australia, including recent anti-protest laws in South Australia that threaten the right to peaceful protest. However, protests are likely to increase in scale and number as the climate crisis unfolds. We are on a collision course where governments will respond to dissent by criminalising activism, which will impact everyone – not just the climate movement. 

These laws which attempt to suppress and erode our democratic right to protest are slowly shrinking open civic space in Australia, in ways that can be very hard to reverse, and civil society is struggling to respond effectively to resist or wind back these regressive laws.  

If we don’t change how we work in this space, we’ll keep losing, and our democracy will keep eroding.  

Philanthropy plays a powerful role in supporting civil society’s ability to prevent new anti-protest laws from being legislated and in campaigning to wind back the worst of the existing laws through building policy alignment, consistent messaging, and stronger civil society networks. 

Join us at our next Learning Circle, presented in partnership with Mannifera, the Reichstein Foundation, and Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network, to:

• Understand the passage of recent anti-protest laws that have spurred greater public engagement, creating the preconditions for a national civil society-led movement 
• Learn about Australian Democracy Network and Human Rights Law Centre’s plan to create the infrastructure and coalitions needed to stop new anti-protest laws passing, and wind existing ones back 
• Hear how philanthropy and civic engagement can work together to strengthen our democracy.

We’ll be joined by Saffron Zomer (Executive Director, Australian Democracy Network), Ray Yoshida (Democracy Campaigner, Australian Democracy Network), David Mejia-Canales (Senior Lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre), and Jill Reichstein OAM (Chair, Reichstein Foundation).

Please note: This event will take place online via Zoom and in person at our Community of Giving, 6/126 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, 3002 at 12.30pm on 10 August.

Event information

Thursday 10 August
12:30pm – 2:00pm AEST

This event will be held in person at our Community of Giving and online. Online registrants will be sent a link on the day to join via Zoom.

Speakers

Saffron Zomer, Executive Director, Australian Democracy Network

Saffron is a lawyer, campaigner and political strategist with more than a decade of experience leading law reform campaigns. Prior to the Australian Democracy Network, Saffron was Government Relations Manager at the Australian Conservation Foundation. She spent several years living and working in the US, where she held a range of campaign and government relations roles. In 2017, Saffron co-founded and led the Hands Off Our Charities Alliance which secured critical changes to the 2017 Electoral Act amendments to protect the rights of civil society organisations to engage in advocacy.

Ray Yoshida, Democracy Campaigner, Australian Democracy Network

Ray is an experienced organiser, campaigner and changemaker with a decade of experience in Australian social movements. Previously he was the co-director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Australia’s largest youth advocacy organisation. More recently he played a leading role in the Hands Off Our Charities alliance where he successfully coordinated a campaign to stop draconian attempts to silence Australian charities.

David Mejia-Canales, Senior Lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre

David Mejia-Canales joined the Human Rights Law Centre in August 2022 as a senior lawyer focusing on defending the rights of refugees and people seeking asylum and on protecting democratic freedoms. Prior to this, David was a policy adviser in the Commonwealth Parliament working on legal system reform and on justice issues impacting First Nations people, including ending deaths in custody, raising the age of criminal responsibility, and protecting Country.

Jill Reichstein OAM, Chair, Reichstein Foundation

Jill’s involvement with social change philanthropy grew from her early involvement with the first women’s refuge in Victoria and with the community childcare movement. As chair of the Reichstein Foundation since 1987, Jill has been active in developing strategic partnerships and alliances towards growing progressive philanthropy as well as mentoring and resourcing new donors who are seeking to clarify their own philanthropic direction. Jill has sat on the boards of the Trust for Young Australians, Igniting Change, the Australian Women Donors Network and the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network.

Register

This session is open to Australian Communities Foundation fundholders and our friends in the philanthropy sector. Contact us to register.

Elevating the voices of communities facing socio-economic disadvantage 

The Economic Media Centre identifies and equips spokespeople on economic issues, and connects them with journalists to get their voices into mainstream media.

Issue

During the pandemic in 2020, community voices were missing from the media coverage of economic issues in Australia’s major daily newspapers. The prevailing narrative centred on key messages of austerity, funding cuts and the burden of government debt, reinforcing a narrative that looking after people is costly and unsustainable. While many civil society groups had policy solutions to address the challenges presented by Covid-19, they could not get traction in the media.

Response

The Impact Fund provided core funding for the launch of the EMC in 2020 to begin identifying and training spokespeople from different backgrounds and support them to engage with the media effectively. The EMC now helps place media stories that draw on a diverse range of people with economic expertise and knowledge, alongside people with lived experience, to speak to the critical economic issues facing Australia.

The Impact Fund community provided further funding in 2022 to support the Economic Media Centre to work more closely with ACOSS one of its founding partners. ACOSS has unrivalled access to key decision-makers in the Federal Government and exceptional media reach.

Progress update

UPDATED MARCH 2022

• Building media expertise in the civil society sector: EMC has so far delivered media training to 330 media spokespeople, which has directly resulted in securing nearly 6,000 media stories.
• Influencing public policy and debate: EMC played a key role in building public pressure that resulted in the Federal Government committing $3.4 billion for women’s health, safety and economic wellbeing in the May 2021 budget.

What the Impact Fund’s support means

“The Impact Fund connected us with funders who understood the crucial role that people with lived experience can play in shifting debate for a more inclusive economy.” – Kirsty Albion, Executive Director, Australian Progress

Read case study in Making Change Together: Five years of the Impact Fund

Grants

• 2020 ‘Reimagining Australia’ Large Grants round: $110,000 in core funding
• 2022 Collaborations Large Grants round: $106,500 in core funding

Reducing undue corporate influence and protecting the right of charities to speak up

The #OurDemocracy campaign is a nationwide movement of people and organisations who want a healthy Australian democracy which works for us, not just for the powerful few.

The Stronger Charities Alliance was formed in 2017 in response to a number of bills which would have silenced charities on issues of national importance. The vision of the alliance is of a thriving not-for-profit sector, where charities are empowered to advocate for lasting change in pursuit of their charitable purposes.

#OurDemocracy: Issue + Response

With our climate at crisis point and the global pandemic increasing the gap between rich and poor, we need a strong democracy more than ever. We need a democracy that can deliver the outcomes that will protect people, the planet and future generations.

Politicians have little incentive to strengthen weak lobbying and political donation rules and the lack of a federal anti-corruption watchdog means powerful industries wield disproportionate influence in our democracy – they are getting outcomes that put their profits ahead of the wellbeing of everyone else.

The #OurDemocracy campaign was developed by three organisations – the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) and the Australian Democracy Network (ADN), together with the input of over 30 more. These core organisations continue to develop the solutions and work on the campaign, but just as our democracy belongs to all Australians, the #OurDemocracy campaign is a movement of people and organisations passionate about making our democracy fairer for all. 

The Framework for a Fair Democracy has been endorsed by organisations that work right across the spectrum of important issues–from environmental organisations, human rights advocates, health groups to churches– with each taking action to see it become law.

Stronger Charities Alliance: Issue + Response

Charities and community groups make an enormous contribution to the public good whether through running a homeless shelter, tackling family violence, or protecting the environment. Yet in recent years we have seen powerful actors make repeated attacks on the charity sector’s ability to speak up on such issues. Through the Hands Off Our Charities Alliance, ADN and HRLC work with the charities sector to resist attacks on our ability to advocate and to promote positive reform.

The HRLC enhances the capacity of civil society to effectively and collectively respond to new threats with expert legal analysis and advice. For example, in 2021 in response to new regulations which could have seen charities deregistered for supporting protest actions, the HRLC obtained advice from senior counsel on the regulations as soon as they were made public, published an explainer and gave online briefings to help organisations understand how the new rules would impact their work, drafted the HOOC joint submission to government opposing the rules, and helped lead on overall strategy to make sure the regulations were ultimately scrapped.

Shining a light on dark money in politics

Big Deal is a wake-up call about the frightening extent to which money has infiltrated politics. Christiaan van Vuuren is an everyday Aussie – a comedian with provocative instincts, but also a father with a keen sense of fairness and justice. 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.

Issue

Significant money is being provided to political parties in the form of donations that have the potential to bias political action. Together both major parties have taken over $100 million from corporate donors since 2012. Current laws limit what needs to be reported to the public. This makes it hard for Australians to get a clear line of sight to who is providing funding and what influence they might be having on political decisions.

Response

Supported in development by Shark Island Institute, the team at Jungle Entertainment began work on a documentary – what became Big Deal – to build public awareness of the scale and implications of unchecked political donations. ACF worked with the production team to link the documentary to civil society stakeholders, including members of the #OurDemocracy campaign – a campaign seeking to engage the broader public to push for reforms to make the Australian democratic system stronger, fairer and more representative.

Progress Update

UPDATED MARCH 2022

• The film has so far had an audience reach of over 5.3 million in theatres, online, on the ABC and in media coverage. 
• The promotion of the #OurDemocracy campaign via the Big Deal documentary has so far led to 12,000 active members.

What the Impact Fund’s support means

“Impact Funders came on really early and made all the difference to the quality of the story we could tell… they totally understood the power of this film.” – Leeanne Torpey, Big Deal Impact Producer

Read case study in Making Change Together: Five years of the Impact Fund

Grants

• 2019 Large Grants round: $172,000 for development of impact campaign

Protecting Australia’s gun safety laws

The Australian Gun Safety Alliance (AGSA) is a broad coalition of voices representing the interests of the community in ensuring that we maintain vigilance on issues of gun safety.

Issue

When the Impact Fund supported the establishment of AGSA in 2017, the gun lobby in Australia was gaining influence in the debate over gun safety legislation. Without a strong alternative voice to that lobby, there was a real risk that Australia’s gun safety protections would be watered down. 

Response

Founding members of AGSA recognised that a national response was required to counter this threat and sought to build a national coalition of broad-based community and professional organisations to advocate for the protection of Australia’s gun safety framework. Initial members articulated a clear vision and approach for organisations to work together on the issue, and engaged in a series of discussions with organisations with an aligned interest in gun safety, leading to the formation of the Australian Gun Safety Alliance.

Progress update

UPDATED MARCH 2022

• The establishment of a strong, broad-based Alliance to advocate for gun safety: AGSA is now made up of over 30 organisations across Australia and acts as a strong and recognised voice for gun safety. 
• Influencing policy dialogue and debate: AGSA is now a recognised gun safety voice at the policy table and is influencing policy decisions, including the implementation of a permanent National Firearm Amnesty in 2021.

What the Impact Fund’s support means

“We bring those voices to the table when it comes to firearm safety, and we will forever be thankful to the Impact Fund community, who saw an opportunity to take this need off the page and into action.” – Stephen Bendle, Convenor, AGSA

Read case study in Making Change Together: Five years of the Impact Fund

Grants

• 2017 Large Grants round: $70,000 for seed funding (over two years)
• 2020 ‘Supporting Our Partners’ Covid-19 Agile Grant: $20,000 in core funding

Protecting the integrity of our accountability institutions

The Centre for Public Integrity is an independent think tank dedicated to preventing corruption, protecting the integrity of our accountability institutions, and eliminating undue influence of money in politics.

Issue

A perceived lack of integrity in Australia’s political and bureaucratic processes and the erosion of accountability institutions have led to public concern that politicians and public servants do not always act in the public interest. Reform is needed to strengthen confidence and trust in liberal democracy and the rule of law.

Response

The Centre for Public Integrity is designing a National Integrity Commission with a broad jurisdiction and strong investigative power, and working on reforms including caps on political donations and electoral expenditure.

Protecting public interest journalism

Established in 2018, the Public Interest Journalism Initiative (PIJI) is investigating a sustainable future for public interest journalism. PIJI envisages a sustainable and diverse public interest journalism landscape in Australia. Through research, the organisation helps move Australia towards achieving this vision.

Issue

The news media landscape in Australia is experiencing an unprecedented industry disruption, resulting in news media closures and industry consolidation. Those shifts have raised concerns about media diversity and access to public interest journalism, particularly in regional and rural Australia.

Response

PIJI was established to build awareness of the role of public interest journalism and the threat to it; research options to address that threat; and lobby government to support the industry to transition to a new, sustainable model of operation. In collaboration with the Susan McKinnon Foundation, the Impact Fund provided funding to support PIJI’s initial setup, launch and ongoing operation.

^{Disclosure: Eric Beecher, Chair of Australian Communities Foundation, is also on the Board of Public Interest Journalism Initiative.}

Creating the best version of Australia

Australia reMADE is an independent, not-for-profit leadership network that promotes a radically hopeful vision of what’s possible, and the systems-change needed to create it.

Issue

Imagine you have woken up in the Australia of your dreams. What is it like?

In 2017 Australia reMADE asked this question to people all over the country – with nothing to sell, no politician to elect and no agenda other than to listen deeply.

Australia reMADE started these conversations because “if we are going to grab hold of our country and move things closer to the way we would like them to be, we need to know what we want.”

Response

Out of these conversations has come The Vision – a vision for the country we can be, inspired by individuals from all walks of life. The Vision includes nine pillars – the foundations for the future we collectively want. Australia reMADE has continued this work with their Public Good project, creating a practical and values-led framework for leaders.

Developing an effective digital rights ecosystem in Australia

Reset Australia is working for better policy to address digital threats to Australian democracy in two ways:

• First, Reset develops and promotes a public policy agenda that sets fair rules and standards for Big Tech companies that align with democratic values in Australia.
• Second, Reset works to build public support for an internet that serves democracy – explaining the issues, co-creating solutions and building public support for change

Reset Australia is an Australian affiliate of Reset, an initiative working to counter digital threats to democracy across the world.

ISSUE

In early 2020, the Impact Fund became increasingly aware that the rapid evolution of digital technology was outpacing the policy changes needed to support its responsible use. A number of organisations were working on digital rights issues, but the ecosystem of digital rights actors was only just emerging and was under-resourced. There was little coordination and few donors were funding in the space.

RESPONSE

The Impact Fund with ACF fund Mannifera provided a small grant to Reset to convene a digital democracy roundtable to analyse the issue and scale the threat to democracy, develop an ecosystem map of interested organisations, institutions and decision makers, and identify coordinated strategies that could be taken up collaboratively by organisations within the ecosystem.

Reset is continuing to raise awareness and advocate for better policy to address digital threats to our democracy.