The Ian Potter Foundation Annual Grants Report 2021-22 (ISSN 2208-861X)

The Ian Potter Foundation makes grants nationally to support charitable organisations working to benefit the community across a wide range of sectors and endeavours.

GRANTS DISTRIBUTED SINCE 1964

$420+m

OUR VISION

A fair, healthy, sustainable and vibrant Australia.

OUR MISSION

Honour the legacy of founder and benefactor, Sir Ian Potter, and his commitment that the Foundation make a difference to Australia.

Maintain a tradition of encouraging excellence and enabling innovation to facilitate positive social change and develop Australia’s creativity and capacity as a nation.

Support outstanding charitable organisations, invest in Australia’s innovative and creative people, protect the environment and alleviate disadvantage.

CHAIRMAN

Mr Charles B Goode AC

GOVERNORS

Lady Potter AC, CMRI (Life Governor)

Mr Anthony Burgess

Professor Sir Edward Byrne AC, Kt

The Hon. Alex Chernov AC, KC

The Hon. Susan Crennan AC, KC

Mr Leon Davis AO

Professor Karen Day AM

Mr Craig Drummond

Professor Emma Johnston AO

Professor Richard Larkins AC

Mr Allan Myers AC, KC

Professor Brian Schmidt AC

Professor Fiona Stanley AC

About the Foundation

The Ian Potter Foundation was established in 1964 by Australian financier, businessman and philanthropist, Sir Ian Potter (1902–1994). The Foundation continues to be one of Australia’s major philanthropic foundations. Based in Melbourne, the Foundation makes grants nationally to support charitable organisations working to benefit the community across a wide range of sectors and endeavours.

Through its grants, the Foundation seeks to invest in Australia’s intellectual capital, encouraging excellence and supporting Australia’s talent: the visionaries, social entrepreneurs, scientists, academics and researchers, artists and teachers, and those who dedicate themselves to bettering our communities for the benefit of all.

Grants are made through program areas which reflect Sir Ian’s interest in the arts, and his visionary approach to issues concerning the environment, public health and medical research, education and community wellbeing.

In 2016 the Foundation’s Board decided to distinguish Major Grants from its Program Area grants. Through its Major Grants stream, the Foundation funds iconic or significant projects, most of which will not fit within defined program area funding guidelines. These projects are proactively sought out by the Foundation from which select applications are considered once a year by the Foundation’s Board of Governors.

Since 1964, The Ian Potter Foundation has contributed over $420 million to thousands of projects, both large and small. Led by its Board of Governors, the Foundation has a strong track record of funding projects that respond decisively to key issues and develop our creativity and capacity as a nation.

FUNDING PRINCIPLES

FUNDING PILLARS AND PROGRAM AREAS

The Ian Potter Foundation has four funding pillars that align with the four elements of its vision: Fair, Healthy, Sustainable and Vibrant. Within each pillar there are specific funding areas each with focussed funding objectives.

FAIR

COMMUNITY WELLBEING

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

HEALTHY MEDICAL RESEARCH

PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH

SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT

VIBRANT ARTS

The Foundation also manages The Alec Prentice Sewell Gift which continues to award grants through the Early Childhood Development, Community Wellbeing and Arts program areas.

Grantmaking across all program areas is underpinned by the following principles:

EXCELLENCE

We support organisations, programs and individuals who are outstanding in their field.

PREVENTION

To maximise the value of our grants, we try to identify and support projects that address the causes of any problems rather than treat the symptoms.

Supporting research is fundamental to this approach.

INNOVATION

We seek to fund programs and projects that take a new approach to solving problems, especially those that can be evaluated and have potential for expansion and further development.

LEVERAGE

Our grants have greater impact when combined with support from other sources such as other trusts and foundations, government, and business. We are happy to be one of a number of supporters of a program.

We encourage grantees to have collaborations and partnerships that facilitate combining knowledge and resources to achieve a shared goal.

LONG-TERM THINKING

We try to fund projects that will continue to have an impact well beyond the period of our grant. The long-term sustainability of the project is an important consideration.

SOCIAL LEADERSHIP

We aim to cultivate leadership in the Australia social sector that is highly skilled, well prepared and best placed to fulfil an organisation’s mission.

Chairman’s Report

Mr Charles Goode AC

GRANTS AWARDED

90 TOTAL VALUE $41,634,627 GRANTS PAID

102 GRANTS PAID $36,650,000

In the financial year ending 30 June 2022, thirteen major grants totalling $24,260,000 were awarded to significant medical research, public health, environment and community wellbeing projects.

The Foundation continued to make grants to increase the capability of organisations, usually organisations we have previously supported, to expand their activities in carrying out their mission to improve our society.

To this end, the Foundation is adding a stream of grantmaking that will develop flagship partnerships and initiatives to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing Australian communities. The Foundation plans to work with outstanding organisations and people to co-design and develop ambitious approaches to tackle these entrenched problems.

In partnership with other philanthropists, policymakers, industry sectors, community organisations and government, we aim to support multi-disciplinary teams to identify the important issues that strategic philanthropy can address. The approach will be evidence-led and involve consultation with government, industry sponsors and the not-for-profit sector. This new, dedicated stream of work will result in a series of Flagship Grants, becoming part of the Foundation’s current major grants program.

The Foundation envisages investing substantial funds in these Flagship Grants over an extended period. These grants will support ambitious efforts to deliver transformative impact on significant entrenched issues facing our community.

In the medical research area, the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery – a bold initiative to create a world-class innovation centre in Australia – was awarded $2.5 million to invest in developing its operational capacity, bringing our total donations to the Aikenhead Centre to $5 million. The University of New South Wales was awarded $2.5 million to establish and deliver the Centre for Future Health Systems, a flagship research centre in the Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct.

In support of Australia’s natural environment, the Foundation awarded the Invasive Species Council $2.5 million, investing in its aim to reduce the threat from invasive species on Australia’s ecosystems and agri-industry. A $2.5 million major grant was also awarded to Greening Australia to lead a national initiative to improve the availability of good quality native seed for land restoration, addressing the impact of biodiversity loss and climate change.

During the year, the Foundation continued to support arts organisations in a variety of ways, with eleven grants totalling $1.65 million. Creating Australia received an initial grant of $155,000 to support the development of a new online

The Ian Potter Foundation’s Board of Governors recognises that as the challenges facing Australia change and evolve, so the Foundation’s thinking and approach to philanthropy must also be prepared to change and evolve.

planning platform, TAKSO. Capacity building funding of $306,000 was awarded to The Australian National Academy of Music, a digital mentoring program ($130,000) was renewed at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image and both Dancenorth Australia ($240,000) and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra ($230,000) received project funding designed to support artistic development and leadership.

In the Community Wellbeing area, the Foundation continued its support for initiatives addressing homelessness and affordable housing. Homes for Homes was awarded a $1.25 million grant which will provide core funding to support the final development stage of the Homes for Homes model, which funds social and affordable housing driven by donations from the sale price of private properties. Unison Housing received $1.75 million towards the Make Room project, a partnership with the City of Melbourne, which will repurpose a Melbourne CBD building into specialist accommodation for the homeless, including 50 high-quality, independent living units, residential communal spaces, specialist practitioner rooms and a social enterprise space. The 13 major grants awarded in FY22 are further described on pages 10–13.

After seven years as the Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, Craig Connelly has resigned from his position to pursue a more flexible work arrangement that will allow him to spend more time with his family. Craig has elevated the quality of the Foundation’s grant making during his tenure. He has supported members of the Foundation secretariat to improve our capacity to assist many Australians through a much-improved approach to our grantmaking.

As Chief Executive, Craig has worked effectively with the Board, in all facets of the Foundation’s operations, in a professional, courteous and engaged manner. I thank Craig for his outstanding contribution to the Foundation and his positive contribution to Australia’s broader philanthropic sector.

I also wish to thank my fellow Board members and the Foundation’s staff for their continued hard work and commitment to The Ian Potter Foundation and its goals.

“In partnership with other philanthropists, policymakers, industry sectors, community organisations and government, we aim to support multi-disciplinary teams to identify the important issues that strategic philanthropy can address.”

Chief Executive Officer’s Report Craig Connelly

address a significant issue. We want to take this further.”

The feedback confirmed that many of our grantees see the non-financial support we already provide them as substantial and highly beneficial to their missions. We will continue to invest in and develop an array of non-financial support initiatives for our grantees.

We hope these efforts will be magnified as we start to implement a new Board-endorsed strategy – Flagship Grants. Through these new Flagship Grants, the Foundation anticipates investing substantial funds over an extended period to support ambitious efforts to deliver transformative impact on pressing and entrenched issues of real significance facing the nation.

Our newly appointed Major Grants Manager, Rohan Martyres, will work proactively to identify these significant issues and the role for philanthropy to play addressing them. The Foundation’s approach will feature genuine collaboration with other philanthropic organisations, the not-for-profit sector, government, and prospective partners appropriate to the issues being considered and continue to be underpinned by the Foundation’s funding principles.

Flagship Grant proposals will be research-based and evidenceled and will not come from open applications or an ‘invitation only’ process. Instead, the Foundation will consult widely to identify which issues our and others’ efforts might best support. We will then work with partners from various sectors and disciplines to coordinate multi-disciplinary efforts to coordinate activity and leverage resources across philanthropy, government, industry, research, and the charitable sector.

It is obvious that as we consider the scale and breadth of the many challenges facing this country – such as ecosystem threats due to climate change, health system challenges as the result of an ageing population, or the tectonic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on many sectors – there is no single organisation or group capable of solving one or more of those challenges alone.

The Ian Potter Foundation has experience working with a variety of like-minded partners on a range of recently funded initiatives, such as Watertrust Australia, the Australian Living Evidence Consortium and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. So, we understand the benefit of philanthropic foundations working alongside quality partners to address a significant issue. We want to take this further.

To do this well, we will connect and learn from others already undertaking this proactive approach to mid-scale strategic philanthropy in Australia and internationally.

CEO DEPARTURE

It is with a mixture of sadness, trepidation and excitement that I share with you my decision to resign my position as Chief Executive Officer of The Ian Potter Foundation.

As part of the Foundation’s desire to continue to learn and improve as a philanthropic funder, in 2021, we initiated the second external survey of our grantees and declined applicants with the assistance of The Centre for Effective Philanthropy.

“We understand the benefit of philanthropic foundations working alongside quality partners to

After almost seven years at the Foundation, I have been reflecting on the wonderful strides I believe the Foundation has made in that time, my own contribution, and how to balance my desire to continue to grow and develop professionally with my own personal circumstances.

My decision to resign is motivated primarily by personal circumstances, as I seek a more flexible professional role that allows me to continue to work in some capacity within the philanthropic sphere, while allowing me to spend more time with my immediate family as well as what I hope will be a growing brood of grandchildren in the coming years.

I believe the Foundation is in great shape. Our team is settled and functioning very well, our approach to our grantmaking is of the highest quality, with last year’s Centre for Effective Philanthropy survey results evidence of the continual improvements made over the past 5–6 years. There remains ample opportunity for a new CEO with a fresh approach to continue to develop many aspects of the Foundation’s vision and mission.

On a personal note, I cannot express strongly enough the joy I have experienced in this role. I have enjoyed learning from my Chairman, Mr Charles Goode AC, and from the Foundation’s inspirational and impressive Board members. I have been blessed to engage with and learn from an unbelievably diverse and impressive array of grantees, some of whom I now regard as friends, and I have had the support of an incredible cohort of philanthropic peers with whom I have developed deep professional and personal relationships.

Most importantly though, I have been honoured to lead and develop an amazing group of professionals who are the heart and soul of The Ian Potter Foundation, my team of amazing

work colleagues at the Foundation. To each of you, I simply say,“Thank You”, for being prepared to really knuckle down and work hard every day to ensure our efforts support many Australians to live a fair, healthy, sustainable and vibrant life.Your dedication to your roles has meaning and impact for many people in the real world. Of that, you should be immensely proud.

I know I am.

POST-COVID COLLABORATIVE FUNDING INITIATIVE

In 2022, The Ian Potter Foundation joined the Sidney Myer Fund, Gandel Foundation, Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, and Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation to create a pool of $2 million in funding to support the for-purpose sector, particularly the arts and social sectors to recover post-COVID.

The funding partners recognised that further innovation and adaptation would be necessary for organisations in these sectors to be resilient to achieve their respective missions. This funding initiative was designed to nurture innovation and support collaborations between organisations.

The three successful projects (see page 30) will support people facing disadvantage in to training and employment pathways.

Building the Nation’s Capacity

Australian communities and institutions have responded to health and environmental challenges in recent years such as COVID-19 and extreme weather events with tenacity, creativity, innovation and an increased preparedness to collaborate with likeminded partners.

There is now greater appetite than ever across sectors to both prepare for future challenges, but also to avoid them.

The Ian Potter Foundation will materially and substantially support this trend in two ways.

The Foundation is committed to dedicating further non-financial resources in the coming decade to ramp up the not-for-profit sector’s capacity and capability to address long-term entrenched issues and deliver programs to improve community wellbeing.

We have also launched a new stream of work – Flagship Grants – to help unlock the capacity and ambitions of the people and institutions that can make a transformative impact on issues of national importance.

INTRODUCING THE FLAGSHIP MODEL

Complementing our existing portfolio of major grants, our Flagship grants will be multi-year, high value investments in ambitious, collaborative initiatives to tackle some of the most pressing issues impacting Australian communities.

Flagship grants will be leveraged grants involving co-funding from a range of philanthropic actors, and non-financial support from others to amplify our collective impact. They will target specific issues where philanthropy and The Ian Potter Foundation can benefit a clearly defined cohort of Australians.

To deliver transformative impact, we will co-design initiatives with other philanthropic foundations, non-profit organisations, subject matter experts, policy and industry actors, and where relevant, people with lived experience.

To deliver effectively, we will work with outstanding organisations and outstanding people, working in multidisciplinary teams.

Ultimately, our Flagship grants will help the Foundation to leverage more of its financial and non-financial resources, alongside others, to unlock lasting impact and create a fair, healthy, sustainable, and vibrant Australia.

CO-SPONSORS

Government, industry and regulatory bodies

DELIVERY PARTNERS

Outstanding non-profit teams and organisations

We anticipate our flagship partnerships will include inter-disciplinary teams from multiple organisations and sectors. We will adopt a ‘strategic philanthropy’ approach to unlock impact for decades after we ‘exit’ from any flagship initiative. This means co-designing approaches with a range of others to be ‘system aware,’ and involving potential ‘legacy’ partners from government, industry and other sectors from the outset.

DOMAIN EXPERTS

Academic research teams, sector peak bodies, community organisations

CO-FUNDERS

Public and private philanthropy

EXAMPLE PARTNERSHIPS ALREADY SUPPORTED BY THE FOUNDATION

We have already tested this strategic approach in previous years, through our involvement in:

• Sustainability – Watertrust Australia: A new institution that uses evidence-based, deliberative processes to rebuild trust, find common ground across communities, industry and policymakers to better manage water and water catchments. This initiative was seeded with more than $32 million over 10 years from sixteen Australian philanthropic foundations and bequests.

• Health – Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre: An alliance of medical research, academic and clinical institutions that forges new, collective approaches to improve cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and care. A range of organisations including philanthropic funds, helped secure $1 billion in Federal and State government funding for a new hospital site, and $60 million over 10 years in state funding for operations. The model is now being replicated in several other states.

We will also learn from the experience from other philanthropic foundations in Australia and internationally undertaking strategic philanthropy at this scale, such as:

• The UK-based Impact on Urban Health, which launched several £30m–£50m, decade-long initiatives in partnership with communities and private sector industries to make cities healthier places to live and work.

• The US-based Bezos Earth Fund which launched a US$43m Climate Equity Fund to help communities most affected to engage with and influence climate and carbon transition plans.

The US-based Ford Foundation which invested US$47million over 5 years to reduce levels of mass incarceration in the United States. This included successful community-led and data-informed techniques to disrupt pathways to prison, that have also been adopted in several places in Australia including the Maranguka Justice Reinvestment initiative in Bourke, NSW.

DEVELOPING FUTURE FLAGSHIP PARTNERSHIPS

Over 2022 and 2023, we will develop a small number of innovative, impactful proposals for consideration by the Foundation’s Board. Our co-design approach will include working with other philanthropic foundations and prospective partners who are interested in addressing a particular issue. We will do this through:

Partner consultation: Consulting other philanthropic funders, policy makers and industry leaders to identify common priorities and promising approaches to address pressing, entrenched issues

• Research and development: Engaging subject matter experts, practitioners and representatives of cohorts of Australians most affected to develop the most appropriate, evidence-based initiatives to deliver.

WHAT WE BRING TO THE TABLE

The Foundation will bring distinct assets and strengths –alongside those of other organisations – to flagship initiatives. These include deep domain-specific expertise and networks in Australia and beyond in specific program areas: health, sustainability, community wellbeing, employment, early childhood development, and the arts.

We have the requisite profile and reputation for constructive engagement to work with senior decision-makers in policy and industry, and we are adept at convening and partnering with others to identify critical issues where philanthropy can add lasting value.

Our team also possesses strong expertise in materially supporting research institutions and charitable organisations to deliver multi-year, multi-million-dollar initiatives. Finally, we are an experienced, transparent, and engaged co-funder that understands the importance of working as a genuine partner alongside others. We believe that helping a group of organisations to bring the best of our individual strengths and assets to bear can help create a collective impact that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Major Grants

During fiscal 2022, the Foundation committed significant grant funds to support various outstanding organisations to amplify their impact. A notable change in this investment is the increased proportion of funds allocated as capacitybuilding funding to support areas prioritised by grantees as part of their strategic planning process. Most of this funding is also provided over five years, as the Foundation strives to award grants that represent best practice philanthropy.

White Box Enterprises Ltd

Homes for Homes

GRANTS 13 VALUE $24,260,000

White Box – Core capacity growth funding

$2,500,000 OVER 5 YEARS

Since its inception in 2019, White Box Enterprises has helped create over 400 new jobs for overlooked and vulnerable Australians. The organisation has done this by successfully incubating three jobs-focused social enterprises, creating four new social enterprise jobs hubs in Victoria and Queensland and supporting 22 social enterprises through their advisory, finance and property services. White Box Enterprise is now at a critical point needing consistent medium-term capacitybuilding funding to enable the organisation to strengthen its current ventures and develop internal operational capacity.

This multi-year capacity-building grant will allow White Box Enterprises to grow and diversify its business income streams and allow a new phase of growth that will ultimately ensure that the ventures developed have the best chance of success.

This funding follows a 2020 multi-year grant ($450,000) to help the organisation develop its social enterprise pipeline. White Box Enterprises plan to launch two new social enterprises in 2023, scale-up their existing enterprises, and continue to manage Australia’s first Federal Government-supported Payment By Outcomes trial for jobs-focused social enterprises.

Homes for Homes: increasing supply of social and affordable housing in Australia.

$1,250,000 OVER 4 YEARS

This capacity-building grant supports Homes for Homes in scaling up its successful model for recurrent social and affordable housing funding. The Homes for Homes model raises funds by inviting property owners and renters to donate 0.1% of their sale price (or monthly rent) and granting these pooled property donations to Community Housing Providers to create social and affordable housing.

Homes for Homes has raised and granted $1.44 million to 17 community housing projects across Australia, providing affordable housing for 293 people.

This grant supports Homes for Homes to become sustainable by the end of FY29 when ongoing activities will be funded by drawing down a small percentage of donations.

Unison Housing Ltd

MAKE ROOM

$1,750,000 OVER 3 YEARS

The Make Room project is a partnership between the City of Melbourne (Council), Unison Housing, the Victorian Government, and philanthropic organisations to address the critical needs of people experiencing homelessness (rough sleeping) in Melbourne’s CBD.

The $20 million project will repurpose a Council-owned building in the Melbourne CBD into specialist homelessness accommodation, providing tenants with supported accommodation for up to 12 months with the requisite wraparound support services to prepare and transition them into longer-term sustainable housing

Unison (a Registered Housing Association) is a critical partner in the project, ensuring that residents receive support to address any issues that may have contributed to their fragile housing situation.

Greening Australia Ltd

Invasive Species Council Inc

Building a stronger Invasive Species Council to prevent extinctions and restore ecological health

$2,500,000 OVER 5 YEARS

The Invasive Species Council (ISC) is embarking on a multi-staged strategic initiative, focusing on organisational development to strengthen its impact on protecting Australia’s unique biodiversity. This multi-year capacity-building grant enables ISC to secure an additional 12–15 staff with expertise in invasive species analysis and management, policy reform, communications, fundraising, stakeholder partnerships, and community mobilisation.

The Foundation is also providing non-monetary assistance to identify other funders to leverage the Foundation’s initial financial investment into additional philanthropic and government funding that will be needed to sustain the ISC’s impact beyond the term of this grant.

University of Melbourne: Science

The Biodiversity Council: bringing transformative change through public awareness and empowerment

$1,000,000 OVER 4 YEARS

The Biodiversity Council will be Australia’s peak independent scientific voice for biodiversity, providing authoritative analysis, synthesis, and communication to transform public awareness and trigger action to protect Australia’s unique species, places and the ecosystems that sustain us.

Supported by behaviour change and communications experts, the Council will explain the consequences of environmental policy inaction and unsustainable practices in terms of threats to food security, health and wellbeing, clean air and water, and the livelihoods and lifestyles of future generations.

Research and development to build best practice into native seed production in a changing world

$2,500,000 OVER 5 YEARS

Greening Australia is leading a national initiative to address the availability of good quality native seed for land restoration. This initiative comprises a capital works program to build 10 state-of-the-art seed production facilities and a research and development (R&D) component.

This capacity-building grant specifically supports the R&D project, which will bring together key stakeholders across the demand and supply sides of the native seed industry to create a coordinated research program and to share knowledge widely.

To date, the overall project has received $15 million from government for the proof of concept. Greening Australia will work collaboratively across the university research sector, NGO institutes, farming, and land management groups to ensure knowledge sharing.

White Box has become a pre-eminent organisation in the social enterprise sector and Australia’s leading social business incubator. It hosted the 2022 Social Enterprise World Forum in Brisbane featuring a range of high profile keynote speakers including Dylan Alcott AO. Image: White Box Enterprises.

Denman Prospect is Australia’s first Homes for Homes suburb. Every home in the development is registered with Homes for Homes and donations generated help to raise funds to increase social and affordable housing in Canberra. Image: Homes for Homes.

Long-serving staff member Samantha Craigie at Greening Australia’s Western Sydney Seed Production Area. Photo credit Nick Wood.

Monash University: Monash Sustainability Institute/ Climateworks

Capacity Building – Land Use Futures Program

$500,000

This single-year major grant of $500,000 provides core funding to allow Climateworks Australia to translate research into an action-oriented plan for its Land Use Futures work and increase the organisation’s existing foundational work capability.

Climateworks’ Land Use Futures project and Natural Capital Investment Initiative will bring land, food and biodiversity onto the net-zero agenda. Climateworks will focus on building an action agenda, scaling up communications for a broader audience, and improving network outreach to determine its work’s implications for decision-makers.

‘The real value in funding organisations is recognising that organisations like Climateworks spend every day, and every minute of every day, thinking deeply about the issue…and the best way to facilitate change as a funder is to empower those capable of delivering that change.’

SANE Australia

Transformation and Impact: Capacity investment in SANE’s vision for complex mental health in Australia

$2,500,000 OVER 5 YEARS

This multi-year capacity-building grant helps fund the development of key business enablers as part of SANE’s 10year vision and detailed three-year strategic plan. Specifically, it will help build its capacity through digital transformation and smart systems; to increase the number of people accessing programs and services and to continue to reduce stigma and discrimination through marketing and brand awareness; to develop its quality assurance and to deliver inclusive and innovative programs and services.

Evaluation and research are also supported to ensure SANE’s work is evidence-based, targets the greatest need and monitors trends in stigma and inclusion.

Hello Sunday Morning

Building Capacity for Growth

$2,500,000 OVER 5 YEARS

Hello Sunday Morning is an Australian organisation dedicated to helping people who want to change their relationship with alcohol by connecting individuals through an online peer community with integrated clinical support.

Alcohol use disorder is a serious and growing concern in Australia, further worsened by the pandemic, which has seen increased alcohol consumption across the nation during lockdowns.

Australian National University: College of Science

Transforming farming landscapes to be environmentally sound, economically productive and to enhance sustainability

$400,000 OVER 2 YEARS

The Sustainable Farms project has grown into a successful $10 million endeavour on the back of a 2016 grant of $2 million from the Foundation. This grant will assist in the completion of work as initially planned after significant challenges due to the 2019–20 bushfires and the COVID pandemic.

This grant will assist Hello Sunday Morning in building its capacity to continually improve the quality and safety of its services, build its workforce and leadership capability in online alcohol support services and improve system-wide knowledge and capacity of digital health solutions in alcohol support interventions.

— Craig Connelly, Philanthropy Australia Summit, ‘Land Futures – pathways to a sustainable food and land use system’, May 2021.

University

of New South Wales: Faculty of Medicine

Centre for Future Health Systems

$2,500,000 OVER 5 YEARS

Recognised as one of the best in the OECD, Australia’s healthcare system faces significant challenges, including increasing demand and healthcare costs, over-reliance on treatment versus prevention, and inequities in healthcare outcomes and access to services.

In partnership with clinicians, local health districts, government, industry, other universities, key community organisations and consumers, the UNSW Centre for Future Health Systems will design, implement, monitor, and evaluate solutions to address policy and service delivery challenges across the sector.

This $2.5 million multi-year grant is a foundational investment to establish an ambitious initiative that aims to address one of Australia’s most intractable health problems – providing an accessible healthcare system to benefit all Australians.

St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research

Bringing the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery to Life

$2,500,000 OVER 5 YEARS

Murdoch University –Centre & Institutes

Family Empowerment Across Life – Indigenous Growth: the FEALING Program

$1,860,000 OVER 5 YEARS

Murdoch University’s Ngangk Yira Institute for Change exists to improve Aboriginal health, wellbeing and social equity through innovative and translational research driven by the Aboriginal community through the Institute’s Elders’ Advisory Council and other forums.

This funding supports core research positions to deliver the Family Empowerment Across Life – Indigenous Growth (FEALING) Program, a central strategic focus for Ngangk Yira.

The grant also supports the Institute’s capacity to engage, develop and retain Aboriginal Researchers through mentoring and promoting early and mid-career Aboriginal academics and postgraduate students in a culturally supportive environment, with access to strong cultural and professional networks.

In 2016, the Foundation awarded St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research $2.5 million towards establishing the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD), becoming an early partner in this visionary initiative. As the physical premises of the ACMD move closer to completion, this further funding will support the ACMD executive to develop and implement the necessary structures (people, programs and equipment) to see this centre thrive.

Community Wellbeing

PROGRAM MANAGER

Dr Alberto Furlan GRANTS

18 VALUE

Long-term partner SisterWorks received a $325,000 capacitybuilding grant over three years to assist the organisation at a pivotal time in the organisation’s history. For eight years, SisterWorks has provided education programs and employment pathways to women from migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, so they have the confidence, skills, and knowledge to increase their economic and social inclusion. Significant growth and innovation over the last 12–18 months have seen the organisation expand its reach and impact with Sisters, adapting and responding to the challenges of COVID-19. This grant supports SisterWorks’ programs to reach more women across Melbourne and regional Victoria.

The Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) was awarded $250,000 over three years to support members of the Kangaroo Island community to build the knowledge, skills, and capacity of local volunteers to strengthen their local notfor-profit organisations. The bushfires of early 2020, followed by the pandemic, have resulted in volunteer shortages. FRRR will work with a local delivery partner to facilitate a consultation process to define priorities across 16 not-for-profit community organisations. This process will inform the delivery of a tailored program of skills development workshops and resource development, build collaboration opportunities, and form an ongoing support network.

Similarly, a capacity-building grant of $150,000 was awarded to Habitat for Humanity Australia SA for its ReStore social enterprise – a business that receives and sells new and used construction materials, hardware, garden and landscape items, household furniture and white goods. Supporting the establishment of ReStore will have a direct bottom-line impact, ultimately allowing Habitat for Humanity to use profits to build additional houses for South Australians in need.

$2,606,000

FEATURE GRANTS

Good360 Australia Ltd

Capacity Building Supporting Good360 Growing its Revenue Base

$150,000 (ONE YEAR)

This capacity-building grant supports Good360 to grow its revenue base with the aim of securing a long-term government funding commitment. Good360 is an organisation that is well-known to the Foundation. In the past six years, Good360 has demonstrated a capacity to effectively match excess first-hand goods destined for landfills with people in need. Working through corporate partners (source of firsthand products) and thousands of local charities (access points to people in need), Good360 facilitates a growing distribution of products to unmet demand/need.

Good360 is seeking sufficient government and business support to make them the primary financial backers of the Good360 business model.

This year, the Community Wellbeing program continued to seek opportunities to support successful programs to build capacity with a mix of grants to new and existing partners working with and for vulnerable Australians.

Conscious Creative Limited (HoMie)

HoMie Capacity Building

$105,000 OVER ONE AND A HALF YEARS

HoMie is a Melbourne-based streetwear clothing brand founded in 2015. It applies 100% of its profits towards supporting young people affected by homelessness or hardship, equipping them with the skills, confidence, and experiences to be more work-ready and better prepared for their future. A dynamic social enterprise, HoMie supports young homeless people (16–25 years) to achieve employment through an eight-month paid Retail Certificate III training course and paid employment with trained partners, including major retailers such as Bonds, Champion, Nike and Disney.

HoMie’s approach has several benefits:

• It allows vulnerable youth to train and work because they are supported with their most pressing needs by specialist services.

It exposes young people to mainstream employment, providing disadvantaged youth with real wages which allow them to exit supported accommodation and enter the private rental market.

• It builds social inclusion and diversity in the mainstream workforce.

Free To Ltd

Commercial Cooking Employment Pathway for People Seeking Asylum and Refugees

$225,000 OVER THREE YEARS

Free to Feed is a non-profit catering and food experiences (workshops, cooking classes) social enterprise founded in late 2015 out of concern for the barriers facing newly arrived people to social and economic inclusion as they seek to resettle here in Australia.

The Commercial Cooking Training and Employment (CCTE) project engages new migrants, people seeking asylum and refugees, empowering them to overcome barriers to social and economic inclusion through training and employment in commercial cookery. As a result, participants benefit from being part of a network of hospitality and catering organisations that offer non-exploitative, stable and properly remunerated employment.

Interestingly, an opportunity to nurture and support new talent from diverse backgrounds has emerged due to the impacts of COVID-19, which have created labour shortages (because of restricted international travel). CCTE participants will be wellplaced to fill these positions reshaping these workplaces to be more inclusive and diverse.

Early Childhood Development

The Early Childhood Development program continues to fund innovative programs and sector initiatives in early childhood (0–8 years old), particularly programs that recognise and foster parental engagement in their children’s learning and development.

One such program supported by the Foundation since 2017 is the WA Child Development Atlas (CDA), an interactive tool that geographically maps data on children and young people across WA originally developed by Telethon Kids Institute in Perth. The Atlas contains over 100 health, development, and service-related indicators to create community health and wellbeing profiles.

Now housed at the University of Western Australia: Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, the CDA is mapping multiple datasets relating to children to inform policy, service delivery and community development to enhance the wellbeing of children and families in WA. The CDA already has 550 registered users and has been demonstrated to numerous local government communities, service providers, NGOs, and government agencies.

In FY22, the Foundation awarded a $600,000 grant providing a further three years of support towards Phase 2 of the Atlas’ development, which will focus on implementing feedback and improving the functionality of the CDA, ensuring it becomes a truly valuable tool for WA communities. The Australian National Child Health and Development Atlas is based on the CDA, and any lessons learned from Phase 2 of CDA will be transferred to this national project.

PROGRAM MANAGER

Nicole Bortone GRANTS

10 VALUE $3,828,500

FEATURE GRANTS

Centre for Policy Development Limited

Early Childhood Development (ECD) Initiative: Implementing a New National Guarantee for Young Children and Families

$1,000,000 OVER 5 YEARS

In 2020, in response to growing evidence about the importance of the early years, the Centre of Policy Development (CPD) established its Early Childhood Development (ECD) Initiative with support from the Minderoo Foundation and The Ian Potter Foundation. The ECD Initiative aims to elevate children on the national policy agenda by developing a vision for an integrated ECD system that will benefit children, families, and communities, particularly those facing disadvantage.

In November 2021, the Starting Better report was released, outlining the steps necessary to guarantee an integrated early childhood development system across Australia.

This $1 million grant over five years will support CPD to extend upon this initial work continuing to coordinate the ECD Council, which has representatives from close to 40 organisations and departments across the sector. This funding will also enable CPD to work with partners to deep dive into some of the policies proposed in Starting Better, producing a bank of policy papers to support implementation. The focus of the additional papers will be on implementation issues, including system design, investment, place-based approaches, outcomes and data, and the ECD workforce.

University of Melbourne: Melbourne Graduate School of Education

Educational and Developmental Gains in Early Childhood (EDGE): Evaluation of Universal 3-year-old Kindergarten in Victoria

$1,000,000 OVER 5

YEARS

Established in 2019, the Research in Effective Education in Early Childhood (REEaCh) Hub at the University of Melbourne prioritises quality, equity and leadership in early childhood education and is committed to translating highquality research into real-life solutions so that all children can realise their potential.

The REEaCh Hub, in partnership with The Front Project (TFP) and with support from the Victorian Department of Education and Training, will evaluate the impact and effectiveness of Victoria’s implementation of universal three-year-old kindergarten and whether it reduces the developmental gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children at school entry. The evaluation includes interconnected domains: impact on children, policy design, economic analysis of the costs and benefits, and understanding changes in pedagogy and learning.

There is a hypothesis that providing universal access to two years of kindergarten will improve outcomes for all children, particularly for children experiencing disadvantage.

Currently, there is insufficient Australian evidence to convince policymakers and the broader community of this. This project directly addresses this question by researching the impact of Victoria’s rollout of three-year-old kindergarten on children’s learning and development and disseminating the findings to government, the early childhood education sector, and the community more broadly.

The Alec Prentice Sewell Gift

The Song Room Limited

Building Capacity for Increased Growth and Impact at The Song Room

$750,000 OVER 5 YEARS

This capacity-building grant will allow The Song Room to implement its strategic plan over the next five years, strengthening its leadership capabilities to sustain and scale existing programs while piloting new initiatives and partnerships to meet the growing needs of young people and their school communities. Their evidence-based programs have been shown to significantly improve educational outcomes (such as attendance, academic grades, numeracy, and literacy) as well as social and emotional wellbeing outcomes for participating children.

The Song Room’s vision is that all Australian children have the opportunity to participate in music and the arts to enhance their education, personal development, and community involvement.

Public Health Research

In April 2021, the Health committee decided to refine and improve the funding guidelines for Public Health Research to ensure this program area attracted high quality research proposals in the following areas of interest to the Health Committee and the Board.

1. Improving health outcomes for Indigenous Australians

2. Prevention of anxiety, depression and substance abuse in older Australians, and

3. Prevention of chronic ill health and disease including obesity, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes through the amelioration of common determinants and risk factors.

Priority is given to applications that demonstrate a clear commitment to:

• Early and mid-career researcher involvement in the research project, detailing the intended duration of support for nominated individuals (i.e., the extent of tenure security)

• Cross-institutional collaboration, as appropriate

• Community consultation and engagement in the design and delivery of the project or program.

PROGRAM MANAGER

Lauren Monaghan GRANTS

2 VALUE $1,190,000

In 2022, the Public Health Research funding round was also moved to Round 3 (which opens mid-year with grants awarded in December) to prevent clashes with the timing of NHMRC and MRFF submissions.

This change in timing of the Public Health Research funding round, resulted in the Foundation considering only invited applications in FY22.

Deakin University: Research Institutes and Centres

DIGITAL-YOUTH: An Intelligent Systems Approach to Monitoring Harmful Online Advertising to Children and Youth

$590,000 OVER 3 YEARS

With young people’s exposure to the digital world ever increasing, so too is their exposure to harmful marketing, including unhealthy foods, tobacco, e-cigarettes, alcohol and gambling. Unequivocal evidence demonstrates that routine exposure to these products normalises their use and increases life-time risks of adverse health outcomes. Nevertheless, the online marketing environment is virtually unregulated, internationally.

This grant supports the DIGITAL YOUTH project, which aims to quantify, for the first time, children and young adults’ total exposure to, and engagement with, harmful online marketing. The project will scale up a world-first, proof-of-concept, automated system capable of identifying and coding images related to unhealthy foods, e-cigarettes, gambling and alcohol. The system collects online screen capture data from three cohorts of children and young adults (between the ages of 8 and 25) as they go about their digital lives. quantifying their exposure to, and engagement with online marketing of unhealthy foods, e-cigarettes, alcohol and gambling.

The George Institute for Global Health

Scaling-up Reduced-Sodium Salts to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke: Influencing Government, Market and Communities

$600,000 OVER 5 YEARS

The George Institute for Global Health (The George Institute) is a world-leading independent medical research institute headquartered in Sydney. Its mission is to improve the health of millions of people worldwide through innovative approaches to prevent and treat non-communicable diseases and injuries.

The Food Policy Team at The George Institute aims to reduce death and disease caused by poor diets, in particular the over-consumption of salt, in Australia and overseas. In 2013, the Institute was designated as a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Population Salt Reduction, in recognition of its leadership in reducing salt consumption globally. Their remit is to support countries to implement and evaluate strategies to reduce population salt intake in line with global targets, including through a range of innovative approaches such as the use of reduced sodium salts.

With this funding, The George Institute will work in partnership with governments, the food industry and communities to support increased uptake of reduced-sodium salts by consumers and food companies. The project builds on the institute’s previous research to translate strong evidence into policy and practice and aims to increase the uptake of reduced-sodium salts to the level required to save thousands of lives and millions of dollars in health costs in Australia.

Medical Research

The Foundation aims to advance understanding and improve the treatment of major diseases by supporting leading Australian research institutes, universities and teaching hospitals to undertake innovative biomedical research.

The Medical Research program focuses its support on the provision of equipment and capital infrastructure to support outstanding research groups. Over six decades, the Foundation has fostered lasting relationships with many medical research institutes that are now considered leaders in their field. One such group is the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) at The University of Melbourne which has led the way in the treatment of trachoma in Indigenous communities on the back of its world-class research program. To support CERA’s ongoing research effort, this year the organisation was awarded $100,000 to purchase a state-of-the-art optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) machine to enable imaging of retinal blood vessels in unprecedented detail for new biomarker discovery. This will do away with the need for intravenous injection of contrast for angiography – a time consuming and unpleasant process for study participants that carries a risk of life-threatening allergic reactions.

The Foundation is always keen to identify new partners in the medical research sector. Hence, this year saw Ear Science Institute Australia receive their first-ever grant from The Ian Potter Foundation. A further three institutions – Curtin University, Lions Eye Institute and Western Sydney University – were awarded their first-ever Medical Research grant from the Foundation.

The Foundation is also highly supportive of the acquisition of cutting-edge equipment to Australia as demonstrated by the grant to the Australian National University to bring MERSCOPE technology to Australia.

These grants all help elevate the medical research capacity in regional areas outside eastern seaboard of Australia.

PROGRAM MANAGER

Lauren Monaghan

GRANTS

15 VALUE

$1,800,000

FEATURE GRANTS

Australian National University: ANU College of Health and Medicine

Bringing MERSCOPE Technology to Australia

$150,000

This grant was awarded to purchase the MERSCOPE – the first of its kind in Australia. The MERSCOPE Spatial Transcriptomics system will provide ANU researchers with the ability to visualise spatial patterns of hundreds of gene expressions not currently possible in Australia. The system is a game-changing genomics tool for in situ analysis, providing a streamlined workflow from sample preparation through data visualisation for broad applications in both fundamental biology and medicine.

Bringing the first MERSCOPE system to Australia will launch new institutional, national, and potentially global collaborations with initial research focused on pervasive medical issues as diverse as cancer, blindness, and birth defects.

Lions Eye Institute Limited

Advanced High-Resolution Nikon AX R Confocal Imaging Platform for Translational Biomedical Research

$100,000

This is the first Medical Research grant awarded to Lions Eye Institute (LEI) by the Foundation. The first of its kind in Western Australia, the Nikon AX-R confocal microscope with fast high-definition imaging, has an AI-based automated set-up and wide-field scanning capabilities. This equipment will provide a more accessible and affordable imaging suite, allowing LEI researchers and their collaborators to expand their capacity to discover scientific breakthroughs to prevent blindness.

Western Sydney University: School of Medicine

Linking Individualised Cell Signatures and Personalised Medicine

$195,000

Established in 2007, Western Sydney University’s School of Medicine is a relatively new medical school where researchers work across all modes of research to address local challenges. Funding was awarded towards the purchase of a BD FACSymphony™ A3 Cell Analyser to characterise disease-specific changes in diverse populations of Western Sydney to build up precision medicine expertise critical to developing personalised responses to the expanding needs in metabolic disorders (e.g., type II diabetes), mental health (eating disorders) and oncology (improved targeting of immunotherapies).

The Foundation is pleased to assist the School in building a lab to support population health research, with a focus on chronic disease due to the disproportionate burden of chronic disease (cardiovascular disease, obesity) in the western suburbs of Sydney.

Environment

The Environment program supports ambitious and transformative environmental initiatives focused on strengthening the environment sector, applied environmental science research, on-ground conservation of natural resources and preservation of threatened biodiversity and ecosystems.

This year’s grants comprise projects which aim to scale up successful models, shape best practice and employ new technologies for proof of concept.

The Foundation also continues to form new relationships with established organisations while consolidating existing partnerships that have generated real impact.

For example, a first-time grant of $330,000 over three years was awarded to the Albury Conservation Company (ACC) to apply the baseline monitoring data it has been collecting since 2018 to on-ground actions to help maintain viable populations of threatened species in Albury-Wodonga.

ACC’s vision is for Albury-Wodonga to become a regional city ‘blueprint’ for successfully balancing urban growth with protecting critical habitats for threatened species.

The Foundation also supported the Port Phillip Ecocentre to expand its program of activities designed to shape best practice under Victoria’s new environmental laws. This $427,000 grant over four years will assist the organisation in creating several new roles to boost its capacity to deliver information and advice and meet the demand for a community sector voice in cross-disciplinary environmental activities.

The Sydney Institute of Marine Science Foundation (a longterm partner of the Foundation) was awarded $598,000 over three years towards the Botany Bay Project, which aims to integrate management with ecosystem protection to ensure a sustainable future for this ecologically diverse and culturally and economically important region that is under intense urbanisation pressures.

PROGRAM MANAGER

Louise Arkles

GRANTS

13 VALUE

$4,129,300

FEATURE GRANTS

Central Victorian Biolinks Alliance Inc.

Local to Landscape: Building a New Model for Transformative Landscape-Level Ecological Restoration

$495,000 OVER 3 YEARS

Central Victorian Biolinks Alliance aims to accelerate landscape restoration in the region, responding to the urgent need for large-scale ecosystem restoration to meet the species extinction and climate change challenges. To achieve this, the Alliance need to expand their staff capacity. This will enable the organisation to strengthen its Local-to-Landscape pilot sites to demonstrate how landscape repair can be undertaken efficiently and effectively.

The Alliance will also build a business model to leverage government and private donor investment in strategic community-driven partnership conservation.

Derwent Estuary Program Limited

Using Revolutionary Real-Time Analyser Technology to Inform Best Practice Environmental River Management in Tasmania

$246,000

OVER 3 YEARS

The Derwent Estuary Program (DEP) is a regional, not-forprofit partnership between the Tasmanian Government, local governments in the Hobart region, industry, scientists, and the community. DEP’s mission is to undertake and share science about the River Derwent, enabling informed decisions to ensure the river has a healthy and diverse ecosystem that supports recreational and commercial use and is a source of community pride and enjoyment.

This project aims to use novel in-situ real-time analyser technology developed by the University of Tasmania in partnership with industry to revolutionise water quality monitoring in Tasmania. The project will trial robust, autonomous, low-cost units that provide water quality data in real-time. The River Derwent catchment has a history of land-use change and is home to a variety of water-dependent industries, making it a perfect test site.

This grant funds the procurement, installation, and maintenance of six analyser units as part of a three-year demonstration trial. It is hoped this trial will encourage and assist government and industry in adopting improved water quality monitoring and reporting practices and ultimately lead to better protection of the Derwent River.

Rainforest Rescue

Powering up the World Heritage Daintree Rainforest’s New Nursery to Support Large-Scale Restoration

$305,300 OVER 3 YEARS

Rainforest Rescue is building a new native rainforest tree nursery and expanding its capacity from propagating 12,000 trees (from an astonishing 180 species of rainforest plants) per annum to an estimated 75,000 in 12 months and up to 150,000 per annum in three years to keep up with growing demand. This grant supports Rainforest Rescue to increase its staff capacity and output – for seed collection and propagation – over this transition period until the projected income from expanded seedling sales starts to flow in 2024.

The Daintree Rainforest has suffered significant degradation through land clearing and agriculture for many decades. As commercial agriculture becomes less sustainable and economic markets such as carbon and reef credits begin to value environmental benefits, Daintree restoration becomes more economically viable and attractive. To both support and take advantage of these opportunities, conservation organisations need significantly more locally sourced, genetically appropriate trees as soon as possible.

Rainforest Rescue has established itself as an expert in wet tropics rainforest restoration, with solid examples of past successful purchases and regeneration projects, 22 of which have achieved permanent protection with Nature Refuge Status.

Arts

The Arts grants awarded in FY22 fell into two categories: grants supporting innovative new programs; and grants supporting current partners to continue to deliver successful programs. These grants aimed to support arts organisations to develop resilience, re-engage with audiences and strengthen professional development programs.

Three highly successful leadership and mentoring programs received additional funding. Dancenorth Australia was awarded $240,000 over two years towards its Artistic Capacity and Leadership Development Program. Dancenorth had previously been funded by The Ian Potter Foundation to facilitate three years of professional development programs for the independent contemporary dance sector. This twoyear program extension allows Dancenorth to ramp up its fundraising capability and supports the employment of the Dancenorth ensemble artists.

Similarly, Guildhouse Incorporated received $66,000 over two years in renewed funding for its Catapult mentorship program. Catapult connects South Australian artists with mentors from across the country to develop skills, realise new projects and allow time to develop their practice. This capacity-building grant provides for an additional dedicated staff member who will provide regular touchpoints for mentors and mentees, helping structure the program and build peer connections.

Another recent and highly successful program run by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) was also awarded $130,000 in renewed funding. ACMI’s pilot CEO Digital Mentoring Program delivered in partnership with The Australia Council for the Arts received a considerable level of interest, demonstrating the need to continue the program for a second iteration. This grant supports the program to scale up providing opportunities for Australian arts executives and decision-makers to develop digital mindsets.

PROGRAM MANAGER

Louise Joel GRANTS

12 VALUE $1,652,000

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Pty Limited

University of Western Australia: Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences

Good Arts, Good Mental Health: Campaign, Dose-Response Message, Programs and Professional Development

$300,000 OVER 3 YEARS

This multi-year grant will support the University of Western Australia (UWA) to build a cross-sector collaborative research initiative between the arts and health sectors. The project aims to provide professional development for arts and cultural organisations to assist them in developing and delivering artsled health-promoting experiences for all Australians.

Conducting Academy – National Program Expansion

$230,000 OVER 3 YEARS

The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO) will expand the Australian Conducting Academy to a nationally networked professional training program in partnership with major symphony orchestras in each Australian state. This three-year grant supports TSO’s plan to expand their existing Academy program to provide national, high-quality training pathways in conducting.

Program participants will be given a breadth of experience across the partner orchestras over the 12-month training. In partnership with state orchestras, TSO is looking to ensure that conductors have transferable skills that are suitable across all music forms.

Deakin University: Faculty of Business and Law

Changing Organisations to Diversify Arts Audience

$100,000

This grant aims to support Deakin University to research and develop resources that will assist arts and cultural institutions to develop their organisational practice to meet the needs of a broader cohort of Australians.

Deakin University hopes to leverage their confirmed research partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts to expand their focus and attention to several key areas of interest: geographic determinants of arts attendance and access (peri-urban, regional/remote); young people and their families; Culturally and Linguistically Diverse groups; First Nations and deaf/disabled audiences.

There is now strong evidence supporting the mental health benefits of participating in recreational arts and culture (e.g., singing, painting, creative writing, concerts, art classes) for the general population and priority groups such as Indigenous Australians and older adults. The University of Western Australia will develop programs to effectively utilise the arts as an enjoyable, cost-effective, non-pharmacological method for improving Australians’ mental health and wellbeing.

The UWA research team will be guided by health promotion theory and practice. In consultation with partners in health policy, health promotion, the arts sector, and the wider community, the research team will create a co-designed, evidence-based, arts–mental health wellbeing campaign (dose-response message), professional development programs and demonstration projects.

Even though arts participation is high, Australians engage at levels insufficient to achieve mental wellbeing benefits (less than 20mins/day). The project will promote how arts can be incorporated into our daily lives, and provide opportunities for arts engagement via a series of demonstration projects that pair arts organisations and health agencies that test mental health–arts promotion messages.

Facts & Figures 2021–22

Grants approved by funding area

Grants

Grants List

The following grants were awarded in 2021–22

COMMUNITY WELLBEING

EARLY

State Schools' Relief Inc

University of Melbourne: Melbourne Graduate School of Education

University of Western Australia: Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences

Access 1,000

Educational and Developmental Gains in Early Childhood

(EDGE): Evaluation of Universal 3-year-old Kindergarten in Victoria

Developing and implementing the WA Child Development

University of Wollongong: Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Play + Learn Together

Albury Conservation Co Ltd

ENVIRONMENT

Applying science to on-ground action for conservation of Albury Wodonga's threatened wildlife

Australian Council of Learned Academies Limited Development of a comprehensive business case supporting Australia’s Energy Transmission to 2050

Australian Network for Plant Conservation Inc.

Conserving our national plant treasures: guidelines for collecting, storing and growing Australian plants for restoration

Central Victorian Biolinks Alliance Inc. Local to Landscape: Building a new model for transformative landscape-level ecological restoration

Climate and Health Alliance

Derwent Estuary Program Limited

Griffith University

Port Phillip Ecocentre Inc.

Impact Enhancement Grant - Using Health to Advance National Climate Commitments at COP26

Using revolutionary real-time analyser technology to inform best practice environmental river management in Tasmania

Development of sustainable biofertilisers applications to combat eutrophication

Shaping best practice under Victoria’s new environmental laws

Rescue Powering up the World Heritage Daintree Rainforest’s New Nursery to Support Large-Scale Restoration

Tasmanian Land Conservancy Inc

Integrating citizen science and private land conservation to conserve Tasmania’s natural heritage

The Trustee for Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Looking inside' rainforest seeds

The Trustee for Sydney Institute of Marine Science Foundation

The Botany Bay Project: integrating management with ecosystem ecology to ensure a sustainable future

University of New South Wales Tracking ecosystems and adapting management to change

MAJOR

Australian National University: College of Science Transforming farming landscapes to be environmentally sound, economically productive and to enhance sustainability

Greening Australia Ltd Research and development to build best practice into native seed production in a changing world

Hello Sunday Morning Building Capacity for Growth

Homes for Homes Homes for Homes: increasing supply of social and affordable housing in Australia

Invasive Species Council Inc Building a stronger Invasive Species Council to prevent extinctions and restore ecological health

Monash University: Monash Sustainability Institute/Climateworks Capacity Building - Land Use Futures Program

Murdoch University: Centres & Institutes Family Empowerment Across Life - Indigenous Growth: the FEALING Program

SANE Australia Transformation and Impact: Capacity investment in SANE’s vision for complex mental health in Australia

the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery to Life

of Melbourne: Science The Biodiversity Council: bringing transformative change through public awareness and empowerment

Box – Core capacity growth funding

MEDICAL RESEARCH

of a Mass Spectrometer

MERSCOPE technology to Australia

Centre for Eye Research Australia Limited

Curtin University of Technology: Faculty of Health Sciences

Ear Science Institute Australia Incorporated

Lions Eye Institute Limited

Monash University: Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Queensland University of Technology: Faculty of Science and Engineering

St Vincent's Hospital (Melbourne) Limited

Non-invasive retinal angiography to enable sight-saving eye research

PerkinElmer Operetta CLS imaging system for high throughput, high-content analysis of cells and tissues

Benchtop Scanning Electron Microscope/SmartCoater for the assessment of silk bioscaffolds, nanogel therapeutics and patient cells

Advanced high-resolution Nikon AX R confocal imaging platform for translational biomedical research

A high efficiency whole animal imaging system for the development of targeted cancer therapeutics

Medical device assessment facility using resin histology

The light sheet microscope. Enabling the ACMD to conduct world leading microscopy research

The Trustee for Lifehouse Australia Trust DNA Amplification and Tissue Reconstruction for Regenerative Medicine Therapy

The University of Queensland: Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

University of Sydney: Faculty of Medicine and Health

University of Tasmania: College of Health and Medicine

University of Western Australia: Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Laser capture microdissection to empower cancer discoveries, improve diagnosis, treatment and outcomes in amyloidosis patients

Laser capture microdissection microscope for spatial molecular profiling of tissues

Acquisition of a VS200 Research Slide Scanner for the College of Health and Medicine

A mechano-microscope to advance regenerative medicine

Western Sydney University: School of Medicine Linking individualised cell signatures and personalised medicine

PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH

Deakin University: Research Institutes and Centres

DIGITAL-YOUTH: An intelligent systems approach to monitoring harmful online advertising to children and youth

The George Institute for Global Health Scaling-up reduced-sodium salts to reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke: influencing governments, markets and communities

SECTOR SUPPORT

Australian Academy of Science

Re-envisioning the Role of the Australian Academy of Science in Contemporary Australian Science and Policy

Philanthropy Australia Ltd Capacity Building Supporting PA’s Blueprint to Double Structured Giving by 2030

SEWELL GIFT

The Song Room Limited Building Capacity for Increased Growth and Impact at The Song Room

1 – Scoping work for Together for Youth collaboration

POST-COVID COLLABORATIVE FUNDING INITIATIVE

The following grants were awarded from a funding pool of $2 million provided by Sidney Myer Fund, Gandel Foundation, The Ian Potter Foundation, Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, and Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation (see page 7).

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Craig Connelly

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Rohan Martyres

Major Grants Manager – Flagship grants

Dr Alberto Furlan

Senior Program Manager – Community Wellbeing, Partner Relations

Louise Arkles

Senior Program Manager –Environment

Nicole Bortone

Senior Program Manager –Early Childhood Development

Lauren Monaghan Program Manager – Medical Research, Public Health Research

Louise Joel Program Manager – Arts, The Ian Potter Cultural Trust

Mairead Phillips The George Alexander Foundation

Paula Cruz Manrique Program Officer

RESEARCH AND EVALUATION

Caroline Henwood Research and Evaluation Manager

Ximena Avalos Mendez Research and Evaluation Officer

COMMUNICATIONS

Sara Hearn Communications Manager

Nina Beer Communications & Engagement Coordinator

ADMINISTRATION

Gail Lewry Administration Manager

Sue Wilkinson Administration Officer

Nicole Hunter Reception and Office Coordinator

FINANCE

Anna McCallum Chief Finance Officer

Viktoria Kritharelis Finance Officer

Finance & Investment

During the financial year the Finance Committee met on four occasions and the Audit Committee met on two occasions.

MEMBERS OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE IN 2021–2022 WERE:

Mr Anthony Burgess (Chair)

Mr Craig Drummond

Mr Charles Goode AC

Mr Allan Myers AC, KC

The Hon Alex Chernov AC, KC – resigned February 2022

MEMBERS OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE IN 2021–2022 WERE:

Mr Craig Drummond (Chair)

Mr Anthony Burgess

Mr Charles Goode AC (by invitation)

Mr Allan J Myers AC KC

The Board extend their appreciation to Pitcher Partners who provide audit services to the Foundation and administered entities.

Directors have approved a distribution budget of $33,350,000 for IPF in the 2022–2023 financial year. The corpus of The Ian Potter Foundation is invested in a diversified portfolio including listed investment companies, managed funds and ETFs. The corpus is managed by members of the Finance Committee.

1. Investment income in FY21 includes The Margaret Reid Kingston Bequest

2. Future commitments includes current and non-current combined

3. Net assets – Total assets less liabilities (excluding grant commitments)