Part of the AEGN’s mission is to deepen members’ understanding of the many ways their philanthropy can support the environment — ultimately to maximise their impact. To this end, we produce a regular podcast series where members share stories of effective leadership for our planet, climate and future.
Bec Milgrom generously shared their story with AEGN CEO Amanda Martin in episode 2 of our podcast, broadcast in March 2023. Key take-aways from their conversation follow.
To listen to the episode and access a full transcript and show notes, head to our podcast page.
Seeking transformative, long-lasting change
Tripple directs most of its grantmaking into systems change work: “advocacy, policy, movement building, narrative shifting, shifting power … an area where our dollars can achieve transformative and long-lasting change”.
The time to give is now
“Our dollars have more impact now than they will have in a decade … we can reverse the effects of the worst impacts of climate if we have bold climate action, bold policy, bold legislature now.”
There is no climate justice without First Nations justice
“We can only be our best when we create a country where everyone can thrive … we need to be putting First Nations justice at the heart of all our work here in this country.”
Build community, build a network
“Tripple’s grantmaking framework prioritises high-impact First Nations organisations working on climate/environment. “It took us asking, who are you? What are you doing? What do you need? What’s going on?”
Be humble
“We are always learning how can we be better custodians, how can we be better partners, what does this look like, what are the shifting needs? We want to make sure that when we’re doing our grantmaking, we’re coming at it from a place of service.”
New to funding climate change mitigation/adaptation?
“Find your peers and just get started!” Tripple supports Environment Victoria, Climate 200, Our Islands Our Home and Environmental Justice Australia, among others — “super nimble, grassroots, community-driven organisations that are really lifting up the voices of those who are underserved and putting them at the forefront of new policy, new narrative, new actions”.
Measuring impact
“If we are supporting incredible people with amazing visions and the team knowledge, expertise and know-how to get stuff done, for me, that’s 90 per cent of knowing we’ve had impact.”
Advice for those starting out
“[Get] really clear on what your values are and decide from day one that you are going to deploy all of your capital in line with that set of values. Secondly, build a network of people who know way more about the spaces that you want to work in … We work really closely with both Groundswell and Australian Communities Foundation to help us [and] it absolutely goes without saying that the AEGN has been a massive part of this journey for us.”
We all want to walk together towards this just and sustainable future. What does it look like to live in service of that? … What do you have? What are you uniquely placed to do? And probably most importantly, who are you asking what they need?
Bec Milgrom, Executive Director, Tripple
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