A word from Amanda

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.

Philanthropy combined with smart activism can make a huge difference to our environment. On 3 May, new laws were passed to control tree clearing in Queensland. Congratulations and thank you to the AEGN members who backed the campaign with the resources needed to win!

The stakes for this campaign were high, with tens of millions of native animals, birds and reptiles dying every year due to tree clearing. Sediment and pesticide run off from the cleared catchments were polluting the Great Barrier Reef, already under immense pressure due to climate change. And at the same time as the Commonwealth Government was investing $1.4 million in emission reductions, Queensland’s greenhouse gas emissions were skyrocketing.

At the 2017 AEGN conference, Rob Purves spoke passionately about the need to support the campaign to see tree clearing controls reintroduced in Queensland. Philanthropic backing had ensured that earlier land clearing campaigning was successful, resulting in the introduction of tighter clearing controls by the Beatty Government in 2004. But the Newman Government had rolled back the controls and the rates of tree clearing had escalated dramatically since.

We all want wins for the environment more often, so this is a good opportunity to think about the key ingredients that led to success.

The campaign was led by an alliance of key environmental organisations; WWF, The Wilderness Society and Queensland Conservation Council. The Queensland RSPCA also played an important role in highlighting the extraordinary death and suffering of countless animals from tree clearing. Arguably no single organisation working on their own could have achieved the new laws.

The campaign objective was obvious and achievable. Clearing controls reduce the amount of tree clearing. The Queensland Government had tried to reintroduce controls but lacked the numbers to get the legislation through. The numbers changed following the 2017 state election and an opportunity was created.

The alliance planned and executed a professional campaign and they had the resources they needed to pull out all stops. This included big public communications initiatives, citizen science, and direct engagement with government. And this is where the support of AEGN members came in, with a crucial role played by Rob Purves and the Purves Environmental Fund.

When Rob Purves announced that he would commit up to $1 million for the tree clearing campaign, to be matched by AEGN members, the AEGN staff team were very excited– and a little nervous. This was the biggest challenge grant in the AEGN’s history and members only had a few months to raise the funds. But members dug deep, raising $774,500, which was then matched by Rob.

The AEGN is committed to increasing philanthropic support for the environment and this is an excellent test case of what can be achieved when a good plan and competent people are backed by adequate resources.

The tree clearing campaign isn’t over yet, with the clearing controls in NSW the next target. In the meantime, the Queensland victory is worthy of celebration and a good reason to open a bottle of champagne!

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.

On February 12, 70 amazing environmental leaders gathered at Melbourne University to help the AEGN develop a statement, to be used as part of our work to raise an additional $50 million over the next five years. By bringing together our members with leading experts and environmental campaigners, we were aiming to identify key environmental issues where philanthropic funding could make an impact.

Participants were very excited to hear the AEGN report that AEGN members has already achieved close to $11.5 million of the $50m target with the Purves Tree Clearing Challenge.

So what are the priority issues for philanthropy to respond to? Interestingly, there was little appetite to talk about particular issues. Rather, there was a focus on how to achieve change through communications, storytelling, civil society and making linkages between environmental issues and people. We were challenged to embrace and amplify the change that is already happening in significant and powerful ways.

Strong cross cutting themes emerged from the day including:

• Communication is key and needs to be values based and meaningful to all individuals.
• Grassroots community organising and engagement is essential to ensure decision makers are kept under pressure to respond.
• Being positive and solutions focused is critical as people are not motivated to act by fear but by a vision for a more sustainable world.
• The focus needs to be on the root causes of problems, not just the symptoms. This includes the consumer economy, deficiencies with our democratic system and the disconnect between people and nature.
• It’s imperative that we link with other sectors.
• It’s essential to collaborate with each other and other sectors.

A group of AEGN members is working with AEGN staff to distil the day into a statement to galvanise greater philanthropic giving. We are hoping to have it ready in the coming weeks.

The Ian Potter Foundation (TIPF) played an important role on the day, supporting the AEGN with resources and the thinking and planning in the lead up. We were all very excited to acknowledge that TIPF has added $10m to the $50m challenge by announcing that their major grants program from December 2018 to December 2021 will focus on the environment. These funds will go to:

• Reduce land based run-off that negatively impacts on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
• Support high quality organisations working to reduce the impact of climate change on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
• Support international and national science studies focused on the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef
• Support outstanding institutions and/or outstanding individuals seeking to better manage Australia’s fresh water resources in urban and regional areas.

In addition to this we heard that, subject to Board approvals, TIPF and The Myer Foundation are aiming to undertake a detailed scoping study to identify whether a new organisation that solely focuses on how Australia’s fresh water resource is managed is needed. It just goes to show what can happen when you put out a challenge to funders!

There were many great ideas for funders to fund and options for the AEGN to bring about a more collaborative sector and I look forward to sharing them with you shortly.

If you would like to discuss how you might participate in the $50m in 5 years challenge please give us a call. We would be happy to chat about options.

Catherine is the author of Great Foundations: a 360° guide to building resilient and effective not-for-profit organisations. She has commenced a PhD by practice related research related to philanthropic foundations and innovation at Swinburne University. Catherine has held Victorian Government Board appointments as Chair or Deputy Chair of organisations in health, women’s affairs and cemetery management.

How does the LMCF operate?

We are essentially a community foundation, set up in 1923 by Sir John Swanson, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne at the time. The initial goal of the foundation was to coordinate fundraising for Melbourne’s hospitals, which were struggling to cope with the influx of people returning from the first world war with injuries and other health issues.

Since then we’ve grown through some very large bequests and people donating to us and setting up sub-funds. We now give out close to $10M in grants annually, run programs like Youth in Philanthropy and the Affordable Housing Challenge and provide donor engagement services.

The LMCF is the largest and oldest community foundation in Australia and our corpus and distributions are growing.

The focus areas of the foundation are education & employment, environment & sustainability, health & resilient communities and homelessness & affordable housing. Within this, we have a focus on the big challenges facing Melbourne.

We look at our funding through a climate lens. How can we maintain a great city as the climate changes and becomes more unstable, and how do we stop climate change getting worse and live more sustainably?

When did you develop an interest in the environment?

My whole family has always been interested in the environment. I spent a lot of time in National Parks as a kid. Dad, who is from Kenya, had a goal to visit every National Park in SE Australia. I was a member of the Junior Field Naturalists.

As a lawyer, the first voluntary work I did was to help the Victorian Environment Defenders Office (now Environmental Justice Australia) to obtain DGR status when they set up in 1994.

Can you tell us a little about your early working life?

I started my career in general and commercial law. I liked my work intellectually, but I didn’t feel I was making enough difference. I wanted to do something with more meaning. Then in my mid-twenties I saw a job advertised at the MS Society. From there I spent the next 11 years in not for profit in-house legal and management roles.

What sparked your interest in philanthropy?

While I was CEO of the Brain foundation (now BrainLink) we received funding from The Myer Foundation for a phone support service. The program was on the edge of falling over, but with the grant we were able to re-design and keep it going. It still exists today. That small grant of $30,000 turned the organisation around as we then obtained more re-current funding and developed new programs. I saw that the right philanthropic funding at the right moment could make a big difference.

How did you start your career in philanthropy?

In 1999, I was approached by Helen Morris, who was then the EO of the Sidney Myer Fund. Helen was working with Baillieu Myer to set up the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR).

Baillieu Myer had an idea that rural Australia, which was facing tough times, would benefit from a national foundation with a rural and regional community and economic development focus. I helped to establish FRRR, including setting up the community foundation program, and have stayed in the philanthropic world ever since!

What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given on running a community foundation?

The Rural Development and Community Foundations Initiative really shifted my thinking on what community foundations can achieve. It was a capacity building program for rural US community foundations, run by the Aspen Institute and funded by The Ford Foundation. I could see that by connecting the financial and social capital in a community you could make a community more resilient and able to tackle its own local challenges. And it really democratises philanthropy – everyone can give as they can and be a philanthropist though a community foundation. It’s a brilliant model.

What trends do you see in philanthropy?

I think we will see more systems philanthropy, where the funding and institutional support goes to strengthen networks of organisations working on similar issues and supports thinking at a bigger level about how issues can be tackled across sectors. For example, the LMCF has funded the Sustain food network, the Transforming Housing partnership and the Homelessness Service Coordination project (since taken on by the State Government).

Philanthropy can fund network infrastructure and support – the glue that gets people together to make things happen.

Do you think philanthropy will grow?

Most likely, but philanthropy has to be agile and respond to new issues to remain relevant. And we need to get better at explaining the impact of what we’ve funded.  If we don’t we will be gazumped by other models, such as social purpose, for-profit organisations and online fee for service crowdfunding campaigns.

We need to preserve the spirit of altruism in Australia. In theory, with the intergenerational transfer of wealth, philanthropy should grow. But it would be nice to think that culturally the commitment to give back would grow too.

What about funding of the environment?

I think that we will see the proportion of philanthropy going to the environment increase. The need to deal with the big environmental challenges now will become a mainstream understanding. These environmental problems are social problems as well. If you don’t have food security, you don’t have good food and you’re hungry. And this impacts everything – you can’t learn at school if you have poor health.

What led you to add a climate lens to LMCF grantmaking?

It was the insight I gained from attending the COP21 Funder Initiative, which was coordinated by the European Climate Foundation and the US Environmental Grantmakers Network. After hearing so many presentations from health experts, Ministers of Health, farmers, and people from the Tuvalu Islands and Madagascar talking about their lived experience of an increased incidence of malaria and sea level rise, it was clear to me that climate change transcends everything. It was also very inspiring to see foundations and cities around the world doing fantastic things and business getting involved.

What are your thoughts on impact investing?

I am a great believer in the Philanthropy Tool Box. Foundations should use tools beyond granting to make a bigger difference. If there are impact investment opportunities that align with our priorities and have solid potential for both a social/environment and financial return, then I think we should look at them.

Are there any recent LMCF-funded projects that you would like to highlight?

I’m particularly proud of our funding of Environmental Justice Australia to work on the Yarra River Protection Act. The funding enabled them to engage community groups all along the river and ensured the voice of the community was heard while the legislation was developed. The Act combines traditional owner knowledge with modern management practices. It’s an amazing piece of legislation for Australia.

The Foodprint Project is another brilliant project. To understand Melbourne’s food bowl and to know that we can produce around 80% of our fruit and vegetables within the peri urban fringe and 41% of all our food is amazing. It’s something to protect as the populations grows. We need to make sure it is drought proof through recycling water.

Why did you join the AEGN Board?

Ive always thought that the AEGN is a very effective organisation. I think that even more now that I am on the board and can see how much a small team achieves. Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation had lots of practical help from the AEGN when we were working on our first strategy for environmental philanthropy and used the Giving Green Guides. I love the clearinghouse and co-funding. It’s a very engaged group of philanthropists and I think Amanda and Jill have done a great leadership job.

I also joined as I have a lot of experience in not for profit governance and with environmental organisations so I thought I could make a contribution.

What makes you worried? I worry about Melbourne’s food bowl. It’s so fundamental. When you hear about farmers going through extreme droughts in other parts of the world you wonder if that could happen to us. I also worry about the health impacts of climate change.

Favourite plant: I have two, both trees.  An Australian native, the Pincushion Hakea and I also love the Forest Pansy.

Favourite animal: My dogs. I have two Labradors, a black 6 year old and a chocolate brown puppy that is 10 weeks old and brings a lot of joy (and chaos!) to the family.

Most amazing holiday: Cycling in the Loire Valley and more recently cycling the Central Otago trail in New Zealand. When I was in my 20s, trekking in Kashmir and Ladakh before the border area was closed.

If you could invent a technology what would it be: Achieving 100% renewable energy at an affordable price for everyone.

You can read Catherine Brown’s blog here.

Earlier this year the AEGN visited the Latrobe and Hunter Valleys to learn what is needed to support these communities to achieve a just transition to a new economic future. Justin Maxson, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation and Lisa Abbott, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, came on the journey with us and shared their deep knowledge of just transitions in the Appalachian region of the US.

We now have two videos available of interviews with Justin, Lisa and Mark Randazzo from the EDGE Funders Alliance. Listen to Sue Matthews of the Mullum Trust in conversation with these leading transitions practitioners, talking about the role for philanthropy and what communities do to drive a just transition.