Over 30 years and amongst a career in consulting and property, Nick advised four Qld environment ministers, ran WWF in Qld and is now President of the Australian Marine Conservation Society. At WWF he secured 6 Acts of Parliament and over $1bn in funding.

Nick is passionate about the solutions to protect the Reef – in farming, fishing and energy. He maintains networks on both sides of politics and with stakeholders.

As Chairman of Heath Group, and in his career, Nick has first hand giving experiences with conservation, NRM, Indigenous, education and disability groups.

Now working part time to spend more time with his young family, Nick is interested in learning from AEGN members – and possibly over a wine! – to expand his family’s giving.

Catherine Brown. CEO Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and AEGN board member

The Canadian Environmental Grantmakers Network Conference was an inspiring event  held in a very inspiring setting – the Kinnear Centre for Innovation and Creativity at the Banff Centre.  I have selected a few highlights to share with other AEGN members.

Connecting technology such as AI, blockchain and mobile apps with the solving of environmental problems is an emerging area of interest for some forward-thinking foundations. The WWF Canada watershed project (funded by the Gordon Foundation) and the Acquhacking program (initiated and funded by the de Gaspe Beaubien Foundation) were presented in detail. It was exciting to consider the potential to scale of environmental projects through technology.

Thsaving from extinction of the bison (buffalo) through the Yellowstone to Yukon Y2Y conservation corridor initiative is a decades long project that has been supported by government, community and philanthropy. Long term supporters have included The Calgary Foundation, Vancouver Foundation, Wilburforce Foundation, Woodcock Foundation and Banff Canmore Community Foundation.  The return of bison to Banff National Park is seen as critical from a biodiversity perspective and is also significant from a cultural integrity perspective for local Indigenous nations. The achievements are amazing – including bison being airlifted into Banff National Park by helicopter from Yellowstone National Park. Next year, the bison will roam free in Banff National Park. A quote from the Y2Y website: Today, Y2Y is recognized as one of the planet’s leading mountain conservation initiatives.

The Indigenous nations in Canada are extremely active in renewable energy projects (wind, hydro and solar). Between them they own more than $17 billion in renewable energy assets. Ownership of renewable energy assets is regarded by the indigenous nations as providing opportunities for the democratisation of energy as well as many social, economic and environmental benefits.  The wonderful presentations by Indigenous leaders were powerful and thought provoking.

I was fortunate to take part in a panel on Sustainable Communities with the McConnell Foundation and F20. Future Cities Canada is a major program being led by the McConnell Foundation, Evergreen Foundation and Community Foundations of Canada with many participating partners. An extract from their website explains the program: “Future Cities Canada is a collaborative platform that harnesses the momentum for change already in progress in cities. It brings together people, ideas, platforms and innovations from across sectors to address two of the most pressing issues of our time: inequality and climate change and their consequential challenges facing cities.”

Collaboration is widely accepted as being critical to tackling complex environmental problems. Several excellent presentations dealt with ‘stretch’ collaboration – or working with people you don’t agree with, as articulated by Adam Kahane of Reos Partners (global negotiator), and evaluation approaches suitable to collaborative systems change initiatives. One example of collaboration was the recently announced grant of $102 million from the Manitoba Provincial Government for biodiversity conservation, which will be administered by the Winnipeg Foundation in partnership with the Winnipeg Heritage Conservation Association and the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation. The fund is paid for by carbon-tax revenue. Partnerships between government and philanthropy are clearly growing in Canada.

So, some strong themes of innovation and collaboration and a lot of inspiration to bring back to Australia to share with other environmental Grantmakers.

Photo: Jessie Boylan
Mark Wootton,
Anne Kantor AO,
Milan Kantor, Eve Kantor

By Amanda Martin

My job is always interesting – but occasionally I have the privilege to witness truly brilliant philanthropic gifting.
In mid-July 2018 I was lucky enough to be invited to morning tea at Government House with Victoria’s first and current female Governor, the Honourable Linda Dessau AC to celebrate the recipients of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize – the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 “for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons”.  This is the first Nobel Peace Prize for an organisation born in Australia.

Why was I there and what did this have to do with philanthropy you may well ask?

In 2006, I was working for Eve Kantor and Mark Wootton’s foundation, the Poola Foundation. At this time, Mark and Eve decided to fund a proposal from the Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia) in Melbourne and its international federation, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, for a new idea. This was ICAN.

ICAN, a tiny community organisation based in Melbourne, wanted to lead a civil society campaign culminating in the negotiation and adoption of a United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  It was a big vision from a new organisation with no track record, that needed substantial seed financial support over multiple years.

The Poola Foundation, on behalf of the late Tom Kantor and Mark and Eve, resolved to give ICAN a chance to realize the vision, and has continued to fund the organisation over the last fifteen years.

Mark and Eve’s giving demonstrated all the best qualities of philanthropy: they trusted good people, they took on risk and stayed with it over a long period, they shared a courageous vision and they gave core funding. Over time, the extended Kantor Family also gave to ICAN.
And all that led to a Nobel Peace Prize!

On 7 July 2017, by a vote of 122 to 1, the historic Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted at the UN in New York. This treaty provides a categorical and comprehensive prohibition of everything to do with nuclear weapons and provides a pathway – the only currently defined pathway – for all states to fulfil their obligation to achieve and sustain a world free of nuclear weapons. It will enter into force when 50 states have ratified. As of 25 May 2018, 58 states have signed and 10 have ratified the treaty.

Heartfelt congratulations to Eve, Mark and the extended Kantor Family.

Another major focus of the Trust is the use of communications and media to better inform the wider public about environmental issues. Sandy joined the AEGN to seek opportunities to make stronger impact through co-funding key projects with other members.

Sarah replaces Sylvia Admans who retired this January.

Rebecca Chew has been appointed as Program Manager for the R E Ross Trust’s environment program. AEGN members may have met Rebecca last year when she filled the Program Manager role in a maternity leave capacity.

Louise Kuramoto has been appointed Head of Philanthropy and Impact at the Australian Communities Foundation. Louise was previously Program Manager for the environment program with the R E Ross Trust.

Congratulations to Sylvia Admans for a stellar career in philanthropy

We congratulate Sylvia Admans for her strategic, collaborative and thoughtful 19 year career in philanthropy. Sylvia was most recently CEO of the R E Ross Trust for 7 years and prior to that spent a decade as CEO of the Foundation for Regional and Rural Renewal. Both organisations are long standing AEGN members. This January Sylvia retired from paid work but continues to be involved in the world of philanthropy as a Director of the inner North Community Foundation and a Committee Member of the Give Where You Live Foundation, Innovation Grants Committee.

Sylvia is particularly proud of two projects that resulted from her time at the helm of the R E Ross Trust. In 2013 the Hilliview Bushland Reserve was created when a 47 hectare parcel of pristine bushland was transferred from the R E Ross Trust to Cardinia Shire Council with a Trust for Nature conservation covenant. At the time this was the largest gift of bushland by a philanthropic Trust to a Melbourne Council for more than 50 years. More recently the R E Ross Trust made a $0.5M impact investment in new social enterprise ecotourism venture ‘Wildlife Wonders‘ located in Victoria’s Otway ranges.

In parting Sylvia says, “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my career in philanthropy and look forward to staying on the periphery of the sector.”

The AEGN and many of our members have signed onto an open letter seeking a major overhaul of the Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform Bill 2017. Coordinated by Philanthropy Australia, the letter raises the profile of philanthropic funders in the debate over the bill.

Flagged as a bill to prevent foreign interference in our democracy, the Electoral Funding Bill instead bans foreign philanthropy from funding charitable advocacy and creates new classes of entities which would be subject to the electoral laws. Australian trusts and foundations could be impacted by this reform in a number of ways, including:

• Being classified as a Political Campaigner or Third Party Campaigner, which would then require registration with the Electoral Commission and being subject to tough and onerous compliance provisions.
• Having your personal details shared with the Electoral Commission by charities which are registered with the Electoral Commission.

This interview between Philanthropy Australia CEO Sarah Davies and Hugh de Kretser, CEO of the Human Rights Law Centre, gives a good overview of the concerns about the Bill.

Earlier this month, the AEGN made a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters which was charged with reviewing the Bill. We are continuing to track the progress of the advocacy in Canberra, where sector representatives have been targeting the Opposition and the cross bench. You may be interested to see some of the resources developed by the coordinated charitable campaign:

Hands off our Charities website online petition

Hands off our Charities video

This is a very active and dynamic space and the AEGN will keep you informed about key developments and activities you might like to be involved with.

Power of Advocacy – new publication

Philanthropy Australia has launched a new publication which makes the case for philanthropic support for advocacy. Funded by the Reichstein Foundation and The Myer Foundation the publication promotes advocacy on the basis that:

• It’s more effective to tackle root causes than symptoms
• Advocacy supports the public interest, balancing out private interests around public policy
• It enhances the impact of ‘on the ground’ activities.

There are some terrific case studies of impactful advocacy which has been supported by philanthropy, including some environmental examples. Check here for a video presentation and to download the report.

As the battle escalates between our voices and those of vested interests, our NGOs are increasingly under attack. While AEGN members quite rightly celebrated the federal government’s decision not to proceed with the proposal to oblige environmental DGRs to allocate 25-50% of their donations to environmental remediation, other things were afoot. The day after this decision the new ACNC Commissioner was announced. A number of AEGN members expressed concern about Gary Johns’ appointment to the role, in light of his outspoken criticism of philanthropy and the non- government sector. Philanthropy Australia made a statement responding to this which the AEGN supports. There is also new draft legislation on the table which targets charitable advocacy and bans foreign philanthropic donations for advocacy (see Esther Abram’s article in this newsletter).

So what can you do to keep our NGO sector strong and effective?

The first thing you can do is to use your giving so it supports organisations through this challenging time. A recent paper called What the Green Groups Said: Insights from the UK Environment Sector put out by our sister organisation in the UK, the Environmental Funders Network, has some excellent tips for funders and very closely matches recommendations from surveys of Australian NGOs undertaken by the AEGN.

So, if you are wondering how you can make sure the NGO sector stays strong and effective in 2018 think about these funding options:

• To support a more strategic, responsive, innovative and collaborative sector, funders need to provide more core support with more unrestricted grants and full-cost recovery awarded to organisations over longer-term periods.
• Policy and advocacy work are key to the sector’s effectiveness; they are hard to raise money for and need more grant funding.
• The sector needs investment in communications expertise – in terms of messaging, behaviour change and connecting with people’s values.

The second thing you can do, beyond your giving, is commit to continuing to use your influence to change public policy for the better. Let your family, friends, colleagues and peers know your opinions. The AEGN will be working with all of our members to give you a chance to voice your concerns and articulate your vision and the solutions you know will bring about environmental sustainability. And why not ask your favorite NGO how else you might help them beyond your giving. You never know where this might lead you!

Robin has a background in finance and investment and is Chairman of Vintage Capital. He is a director and co-founder of Blackwall Property Group, a subsidiary of WOTSO, one of Australia’s largest operators of co-working spaces. Robin mentors at Incubate and manages a small portfolio of investments in technology companies. He qualified as Australia’s 7^th Master of Wine in 1997 and Glenguin is consistently rated in the top 5% of Australia’s wineries by quality. He paddles in the harbour and ocean, is a keen sailor, follows geopolitical events closely, and has been the Australian Ambassador for Singularity University of Mountain View, California, co-founded by Google and NASA.

Robin’s approach to environmental giving is similar to business investment – try to back the right people, nurture the talent and be patient.

How did you become interested in funding marine projects?

I spend a lot of time on the water and Rita has been picking up plastic at Clifton Gardens daily for 35 years. Also there are established areas of Sydney Harbour National Park all around the harbour and Sydney’s coastline, and yet between Port Stephens and Jervis Bay there is almost zero “no take” protection for our marine habitat. I connected with the Australian Marine Conservation Society in 2014 and looked at what they were doing and advocating for and decided to support their campaign for a Sydney Marine Park.

What is it about this issue that you would like others to better understand?

People say to me, “Robin, what are you on about, the harbour is much healthier than it was 30 years ago!” That highlights for me that people haven’t thought through this issue properly. 30 years ago there were open sewage outfalls off North Head, toxic industrial waste going into the Parramatta River, lead-based antifoul on boats, commercial fishing, little control over big industrial vessels, voiding tanks, ‘through the hull’ toilets on boats were also legal. All those things are gone now, so our harbour is no longer nearly as toxic as it was, but the authorities still tell us not to eat any fish caught west of the Harbour Bridge and to eat no more than 100 grams per week maximum of fish caught anywhere else in our harbour. So right here in our “Emerald City” we have the opportunity to set an example to all Australians and the world, and preserve and protect in perpetuity, by establishing some fully protected zones in and around Sydney’s waters. It seems obvious yet the only fully protected areas are 20 hectares in Cabbage Tree Bay (which has no enforcement) and a single hectare at Ship Rock in Port Hacking. This is less than 0.00001% of the close coastal waters stretching from Port Stephens all the way to Jervis Bay.

Are there any lessons learnt from funding this project?

It’s too early to tell but if business experience is a guide, ‘don’t quit’ seems appropriate at this stage. Oceans produce most of the oxygen in our atmosphere. A dead ocean would result in the end of life on earth as we know it. To me, protecting our oceans and marine life is the standout, pressing environmental issue of our time, but it’s also one of the most difficult. You can buy land and put a fence around it and if we could do that in the ocean, that’s what I’d do, because it’s more effective than advocacy, certainly in the short/medium time. And yes, I am worried that in a world focused on short term outcomes, this issue won’t be adequately addressed. But we should not give up.

Was there a lightbulb moment that changed your perspective about marine conservation?

In 2014 we were visiting Silicon Valley and had the fortune to spend a day with Tod Bensen who was the Chair of WildAid – the highly successful NGO devoted to stopping the illegal wildlife trade. Their motto is: “When the buying stops, the killing can too”. WildAid was catapulted onto the global stage when Tod and his team decided to target shark finning. I learnt a lot that day by listening to Tod.

When my grandson Alex was born nearly four years ago, it was a seminal moment. You think about your grandchildren in a different way than your children. With your own children, you are just getting on with getting through the day. But by the time your grandchild is born, you think, “How do I explain that on our watch, we the boomer generation, we had it all, had a 50 year incoming economic tide, took maximum advantage and didn’t even have to serve our country in war; so how come we left the planet in such a mess?”

What keeps you awake at night?

To me, the big issue of our time is getting through this bottleneck of maximum population and at the same time bringing an additional 2 to 2.5 billion people from poverty through to the middle class – people who want stuff in addition to water, food and shelter. We will probably reach a plateau of about 9.5 billion people and then it will fall away. You can’t stop that, it’s going to happen.

We think we’ve got demands on the environment now – wait till this happens. The issue is what kind of environment will be left in the 21^st century? The great biologist E.O Wilson who is arguably the father of evolutionary biology said, “How many species will make it through this bottleneck?” We will make it most likely. How many will make it through with us? How many totemic species? How many rhino and elephants, whales and fish? What kind of world will it be in 2100?

Robert May (an Australian scientist who has been President of the Royal Society and Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Govt) says we are destroying the book of life before we’re even reading it – we are losing species before we even discover them, often at a microbial level.

Superficially it is the most wonderful time for a child to be born (longest life expectancy, highest standard of living, lowest level of violence etc), and we have been the most fortunate generation on earth. All of these wonderful things, but it’s come at a price. What are we going to do as we go through this period? I want to be able to explain what we did on our watch. For me, this is the most important issue facing our generation.

Tell me about your property in the Hunter Valley?

When we bought the property 24 years ago it had been used for cattle grazing. Nothing denudes landscape like cattle and sheep who eat the emerging trees and bushes, spreading noxious fireweed and saltbush everywhere they go. Most of the property, including nearly 2km of riverfront, is now given over to the regeneration of native bush and we have thousands of trees where previously there were only 30 or so old ironbarks! We have resident kangaroos, wallabies, geese, native ducks, wombats and lizards not to mention the goannas, snakes and abundant birdlife. The area under vine represents less than 15% of the land, and vines are only planted on the gravel and ironstone slopes, plus a patch of sandy loam over red basalt at the bottom of the hill.

What is your favourite plant?
I have two – the baobab and the Spear Lily.

What is your favourite animal?
Again, I have two! The humpback whale and the leopard.

What is your favourite place?
Home.

Who has inspired you lately?
The team at Australian Marine Conservation Society and the team who managed Cassini which revealed never-before seen events which are changing our understanding of how planetary systems form and what conditions might lead to habitats for life.

At the 2017 Philanthropy Australia awards in April, the Inagural Environment Award (sponsored by the AEGN) went to The Ian Potter Foundation for the Reef Life Survey in Tasmania. The Myer Foundation won the Award for Best Large Grant to ClimateWorks while Ian Darling was named Australia’s leading philanthropist.

The Environmental Grantmakers Association 2017 Annual Fall Retreat will take place in Seattle from September 24 – 27. The retreat will explore the relationships linking urban and rural areas and consider the role of cities in nurturing connections, fostering equity and sustainability. Read the retreat’s vision statement.

Sarah Buckley is the new Executive Officer at the Trawalla Foundation taking over from Thea Snow who was holding the Interim Executive Officer role while the Foundation was recruiting.

Rebecca Chew fills Louise Kuramoto’s role as Program Manager at the R E Ross Trust while Louise is on maternity leave.

Environmental groups will be among those who benefit from Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s $400 million philanthropic donation announced in May, the biggest in Australia’s history.