Our Impact
Turning Intention to Good
The Foundation seeks to supports organisations through both grant-giving and community-building initiatives.
We focus on identifying what would ‘shift the dial’ on important issues affecting local communities. Through a close working relationship with community and partner organisations, we determine where we can have the most impact. We believe it is important to support the smaller grassroots organisations who seek to make a difference in their own right.
Through our grant giving program, we aim to empower these smaller organisations to grow their own impact, which, in turn, benefits community on a broader and wider scale. The support we provide helps them to grow capability and capacity, which, ultimately benefits us all.
Youth Mental Health
The past work of the Foundation has helped, amongst other things, the identification of what would shift the dial on youth mental health in our community. We had extensive conversations with young people, youth workers, psychologists, and youth advocates to determine where best to provide our support and what would really make a difference.
The outstanding community participation in the youth mental health fundraising Spin-a-thon event is a great example. As a grassroots community fundraising event, we successfully raised over $43,000 to date for four amazing youth mental health charities operating on the Northern Beaches. The event sees teams come together and ride (on stationary ‘spin’ bikes) on Manly Corso to raise money for local youth mental health charities.
Our grant recipients:
Postvention Australia
We contributed $22,500 to Postvention. This funding will pay for an educational tool addressing issues specifically around suicide bereavement to be developed and tested by stakeholders. This process includes LMS testing and 100 free licences to be distributed among the Northern Sydney community.
The National Centre for Childhood Grief
We contributed $16,540 to the National Centre for Childhood Grief to train their counselling team in new techniques. This will fund trials with 10 grieving children and families from Northern Sydney, providing each child with three free counselling sessions and access to group programs. Parents and carers will receive one free session, one family group session, and ongoing support.
Grief Garments
We have contributed $18,552 to Grief Garments. The grant will fund two online gatherings, a full day in person workshop and an exhibition to display the garments made on Suicide Prevention Day. Money will cover facilitation of all events, sewing and crafting supplies needed for the garment transformations and cost of venue for the workshop and exhibition.
Waves of Wellness
We contributed $25,000 to the Waves of Wellness program to provide the opportunity for 40 young people who needed support with mental health to participate in the evidence-based surf therapy program.
Dance Health Alliance
We provided a $7,500 grant to Dance Health Alliance for the “Dance Like No One is Watching” Program to establish a video library and online classes keeping thirty seniors and others engaged in dance and movement.
Harrison Riedel Foundation
We contributed $30,000 to Harrison Riedel Foundation to upgrade their ‘Your Crew App’, which is designed to foster and encourage accountability and help-seeking among youth.
Empowering Parents in Crisis (EPIC)
Our grant of $23,050 to EPIC provided over the phone, in person and video link peer-support to parents and carers of teens in crisis. The project will provide two programs that interlink to ensure parents and carers of at-risk teens are supported, informed, and gain access to community connection.
Rize Up
We provided a $17,500 grant to cover the cost of comfort packs for children affected by family and domestic violence in Northern Sydney.
Top Blokes
We provided a $30,000 grant to expand to Northern Sydney and promoted their program through our own mental health campaign.
One Eighty
We contributed $24,299 to One Eighty to establish ‘Open Up’ Northern Beaches, which is a unique group peer-support program for youth mental health. Open Up sessions allow participants to build protective factors which are important in preventing the risk of suicide.
Guniwirra
We provided an $18,500 grant to Growing Cultural Connections through Aboriginal Ancestral Footsteps to support a group of young Aboriginal mothers and their children to experience excursions to Sacred Sites for Aboriginal Women and support to develop a framework to measure and record outcomes.
Marion St Theatre for Young People
We provided a $20,000 grant towards the production of a ground-breaking theatre production by the Marion Street Theatre for Young People, bringing together fathers and sons to support vulnerable young people and promoted their program through our own mental health campaign.
We Care Connect
We supported We Care Connect with a $10,000 grant to their wheels on the bus program that gave 307 disadvantaged families prams, car seats, carriers and sixteen newborn-suitable car seats. We also mentored to develop an outcomes measurement framework.