Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation has announced $12.249 million in grants to charitable and not-for-profit organisation at its 97th Annual Meeting.
In response to the Black Summer bushfires in January and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Foundation activated its Disaster Relief Policy and identified significant health, social, community and environmental projects that would respond to the immediate needs of the community and required urgent funding. The Foundation also launched the COVID-19 Community Resilience Fund Account as a fundraising campaign.
The Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Catherine Brown OAM said, “As the community foundation for Greater Melbourne, we developed a new and rapid response to the needs of the not-for-profit sector who were facing an unprecedented increase in demand for services while also working to manage emerging issues.
“The focus for our grantmaking response was to ensure that the most vulnerable people in communities across Melbourne were a priority. In times of crisis, people who are already disadvantaged are often the most adversely affected.”
Between January and June, the Foundation provided $2.096 million in grants to 26 charitable organisations in response to the Black Summer bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Foundation’s grantmaking response was organised into four categories:
- Responding to the health impacts of COVID-19
- Scaling up community services to meet demand
- Supporting the resilience of charities, including charitable social enterprises and;
- Building back better as part of the recovery.
“The organisations we have funded and who we have been working with us this year are truly inspiring. Many organisations have undertaken transformational work as they pivoted to respond to the changing and challenging needs of the community.”
The Foundation also continued its grantmaking program for its four priority Impact Areas, providing grants across:
- Education and Employment $1.567 million
- Environment and Sustainability $1.954 million
- Healthy and Resilient Communities $1.962 million
- Homelessness and Affordable Housing $$2.823 million
“Thank you to our donors and supporters who have helped the Foundation respond to the health and wellbeing of vulnerable communities across Melbourne this year.”
Download the 2019/2020 Annual Report »