Media Release
Australian businesses and wealthy individuals needed to put more energy into improving the social economy of this country, ourcommunity.com.au Chief Executive Rhonda Galbally, AO, said today.
Ms Galbally said recent Federal Government tax changes that encouraged the growth of more family, business and individual philanthropic foundations cleared the way for Australian businesses and wealthy families and individuals to do more to support community and non-profit groups.
"Australians give on average about $210 compared to $1000 in the United States. That gap has often been blamed in part on the legislative restrictions which have made family philanthropic foundations less attractive in this country but I don't agree with that," Ms Galbally said.
"I don't think businesses have devoted enough serious brainpower - or money - to fulfilling their social responsibility. Now that the rules have changed there are no excuses for not giving something back."
"What we need to see is a revolution in both how much is given and to what.
"Rather than just supporting high-profile causes, let's set up foundations that support innovative grass-roots community projects, such as the development of a neighbourhood house, expanding the services of a local health support group or supporting a youth counsellor in their town or suburb."
"It means actually taking an interest in their community rather than just signing a cheque, ticking the box marked "social responsibility" and moving on. There are so many good projects out there that would provide real benefits to local communities but need funding, in some cases quite small amounts, to get off the ground."
Details of all philanthropic and corporate foundation grants funding as well as State and Federal Government grants is included in the monthly Easy Grants newsletter produced by www.ourcommunity.com.au, an online resource for Australia's 700,000 community, education and non-profit groups.
Ms Galbally said many groups lacked the confidence or expertise to prepare their own funding proposals and submissions. As a result, www.ourcommunity.com.au had also produced a new book, How to win a Philanthropic Grant, which would help community groups tap into the millions of dollars of philanthropic funds available.
How to Win a Philanthropic Grantcontains information to help groups:
- identify which grants can help their project
- research and collect background material for their proposal
- clarify the components of grant applications
- advise on ways to write the application
- assist in managing the relationship with funders.
How to win a Philanthropic Grant is available from www.ourcommunity.com.au , in either hard copy or downloadable pdf format.
"Easy Grants newsletter helps them to keep track of all the philanthropic grants funding on offer while the book provides the second half of the equation - and that is knowing how to write the application and gather the back-up evidence," Ms Galbally said.
"Too many great ideas that can truly benefit the community are never taken up solely because the proposal is not quite up to scratch or in the right format. This book will help to prepare a confident, well-researched submission."
How to win a Philanthropic Grant is available for $24.95 for members of ourcommunity.com.au or $34.95 for non-members. Membership of ourcommunity.com.au is FREE to genuine non-profit groups. For more information on the book visit www.ourcommunity.com.au or call (03) 9320 6800.