On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Melbourne Women's Fund, CEO Catherine Brown delivered the following presentation at their annual grant awards celebration event.
The growth of giving circles in Australia has been an important factor in the increasingly strong interest from the community in collective giving.
Collective giving enables many people to become philanthropists.
Melbourne Women’s Fund is one of Australia’s most successful giving circles and this year it is wonderful to celebrate their fifth anniversary, an important milestone and one to be celebrated!
Melbourne Women's Fund co-founders Patricia Burke and Gillian Hund at the 2019 grant awards celebration.
On behalf of the Board and staff at Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, I would like to congratulate co-founders Gillian Hund and Patricia Burke for their leadership and vision in making the first five years of Melbourne Women’s Fund so successful.
The Foundation is proud to host Melbourne Women’s Fund by providing administrative, compliance, granting and governance support.
Over the last five years, Melbourne Women’s Fund (within the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Fund) has distributed $550,000 in grants to charitable organisations supporting women and families in Melbourne.
This level of fundraising and granting by the Melbourne Women’s Fund is an outstanding achievement.
Scarf Community announced as the 2019 Nurturing Grant recipient.
A grant from Melbourne Women’s Fund is much more than just money. It opens doors to new networks and builds supportive relationships for the new grant partner to help them achieve more.
Grant partners have reported that they have received new or increased funding from State Government and other philanthropic organisations since receiving their first Melbourne Women’s Fund grant.
This is an important role for philanthropy – going in early to support the testing of new solutions to address tough social challenges. We can de-risk projects for other funders who follow us.
2019 grant finalists pictured with Melbourne Women's Fund life member Susan Alberti AC (far left). Melbourne Women’s Fund is made up of committed and dedicated volunteers who work tirelessly to provide an inspiring and supportive environment for members to learn about social issues and philanthropy, pooling their funds to have the greatest impact.
Congratulations to this year's finalists for their inspiring pitches and to the members of Melbourne Women's Fund for another extraordinary year in giving.
Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation CEO, Dr Catherine Brown congratulating Melbourne Women's Fund on their 5th anniversary.
I would like to conclude with this insight from the introduction to the Australian Women Donor Network’s Gender Lens Toolkit:
…because of existing inequities, if we fund men and women equally, women will still be unequal. We therefore advocate an increase of specific funding for women and girls, not only because they are still disadvantaged, because, in the words of Jennifer Buffet, ‘women are half the population and the mothers of the other half’.
There is something especially empowering about a group of women working together with a shared vision to support positive change for women and families in Melbourne.
Congratulations on your first five years.
Dr Catherine Brown
Chief Executive Officer
2019 Melbourne Women's Fund grant recipients:
- Lighthouse Foundation - Signature Grant ($80,000)
- SCARF Community - Nurturing Grant ($30,000)