FIA National Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 2022

FIA National Awards for

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Excellence in Fundraising 2022

AWARD WINNERS

Foreword

We are delighted to present the 2022 FIA Awards for Excellence in Fundraising.

We are delighted to present the 2022 FIA Awards for Excellence in Fundraising.

Suite 202, Level 2,

Welcome to FIA’s 2022 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

12 Help Street Chatswood NSW 2067 Australia

Contents

PO Box 642, Chatswood NSW 2057 Australia Phone: 02 9411 6644 Fax: 02 9411 6655 Email: members@fia.org.au Web: www.fia.org.au

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No part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, mechanical, microcopying, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of Fundraising Institute Australia. Readers are advised that Fundraising Institute Australia cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of statements made in advertising and editorial; nor the quality of goods and services advertised.

Foreword

3

About the Awards

4

Judges

5

Sponsors

6

Arthur Venn Lifetime Achievement Award

7

Young Fundraiser of the Year

14

Fundraising Team of the Year

16

Volunteer of the Year

18

Principal Award

19

Campaign Awards

21

Supporting Organisations

40

With a 22-year history, the FIA Awards celebrate the significant achievements of fundraisers, volunteers and teams behind outstanding campaigns. The Awards honour fundraisers who set new benchmarks for excellence, ethics and outcomes – the foundations of what is best practice for fundraising in Australia.

Only with the tremendous support of our award partners, Precision Fundraising and MonDial Telephone Fundraising, were we able to provide the streamlined processes to support our outstanding Awards. It is only through valued partners who invest in celebrating excellence that FIA can, in turn celebrate excellence in Fundraising.

We want to thank everyone who took the time to submit their entries and to recognise their colleagues for individual awards. We encourage you to enter future Awards so we can continue to showcase the sector’s depth of talent, creativity and impact.

FIA continues to take a leading role in promoting ethical best practice in the sector, and that also includes our Awards. To ensure entries were ethically presented and submitted, we continued with our audit system. This system sees a committee of senior fundraising leaders examine a selection of award entries to ensure the claims were valid. By doing this, we can ensure we reward only the best fundraising work and that we follow through on our promise to focus on ethical practice, transparency and measurability.

Our audit committee will continue its work to ensure members meet the stringent criteria. We have seen this year that our entries not only met those requirements but very much demonstrated excellence in fundraising.

The winner of this year’s Most Outstanding Fundraising Project was MS Queensland for their campaign Best at thank you. Telco Together took out the inaugural Fundraising Impact Through Technology award for Small Change Big Change; and Bears of Hope Pregnancy & Infant Loss

Support won the award specifically for small organisations, Impact on a Shoestring, for Choosing Hope - A Walk of Honour & Remembrance in support of bereaved families.

In 2022, we introduced an exciting new award - Fundraising Champion of the Year Award. This award recognises non-traditional fundraising advocates and supporters within an organisation. This extremely competitive category saw two winners announced: Cameron Kerr AO, CEO of Taronga Conservation Society Australia; and Sister Angela Mary Doyle AO, the face of Mater Foundation’s biggest capital fundraising ‘Catherine House’.

We are also pleased to announce the Young Fundraiser of the Year is Tom Hansford, Fundraiser of the Year is Carl Young FFIA CFRE and the winner of the prestigious 2022 Arthur Venn Lifetime Achievement Award is Roewen Wishart FFIA CFRE. In closing, we would like to thank our 40 judges from around Australia for determining this year’s very deserving winners, and for their contributions to celebrating fundraising excellence overall.

Congratulations to all our winners for 2022!

Ben Cox FFIA CEO, Gold Coast Hospital Foundation Chair, FIA Awards Committee

Katherine Raskob FIA Chief Executive Officer Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 3

About the Awards The FIA Awards for Excellence in Fundraising are a key component of FIA’s commitment to champion best practice in fundraising.

The Awards recognise and showcase the outstanding initiative, innovation, effort and success of professional fundraisers, volunteers and organisations. They celebrate fundraisers’ hard work and successes across the year, provide an opportunity for acknowledgement by your peers, and promote the role of fundraising in improving our society.

Campaign award submissions went through the judging process at the end of 2021. This culminated in a celebration of finalists at year end events within each state and territory.

The finalists were then submitted for further assessment by the National Judging Panel to determine the winners of the Most Outstanding Fundraising Project.

FIA fellow’s judged the Young Fundraiser of the Year, Volunteer of the Year and Fundraising Team of the Year submissions.

4 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

Judges The National Judging Panel assessed the submissions received for the Individual Awards for: •

Arthur Venn Lifetime Achievement Award

•

Fundraiser of the Year

•

Fundraising Champion of the Year

•

Most Outstanding Fundraising Project

All of FIA’s winners were announced and celebrated at the fundraising sector’s night of nights on Saturday 4 June 2022, during FIA’s 45th Fundraising Conference in Sydney.

All submitting organisations should be regarded as leaders in our profession. They represent the passion for the causes supported by each organisation and show their commitment to ethical, transparent and accountable fundraising.

FIA would like to thank the highly experienced and extremely knowledgeable panel of judges for the 2022 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising. Drawn from around the country, these fundraising experts gave their time to assess this year’s entries and determine the best of the best.

National Panel 1

Panel 2

Panel 5

Judges for Arthur Venn Lifetime Achievement Award & Most Outstanding Fundraising Project

Judges for Impact Through Events & Fundraising Impact Through Technology

Judges for Fundraising Impact Through Creativity

• Lucy Jacka, Cerebral Palsy Alliance • Christa Bayer, Lung Foundation • Elizabeth Davis FFIA CFRE, Human Foundations • Stephen Bastow, Cystic Fibrosis WA

• • • •

Panel 3 • Tessa Irwin EMFIA CFRE, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (Powerhouse) • Hazel Grunwaldt MFIA, Camp Quality Limited • Leo Orland FFIA (Emeritus) CFRE, Total Fundraising • Lisa Allan FFIA, The Smith Family

• Andrew Sabatino FFIA, Donor Republic • Francesca Cinelli FFIA • Nola Wilmot FFIA, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health • Kerry Cutting FFIA CFRE, Guide Dogs Queensland • Heiko Plange-Korndoerfer FFIA CFRE, Endeavour Marketing • Judith Ford FFIA CFRE, Heart Support Australia

Panel 4

State Panel 2

Judges for Best Pivot Campaign or Initiative & Supplier Team of the Year

• Bec Stott FFIA, Anglicare WA • Clare MacAdam FFIA CFRE, Baptist Care SA • Diane Kargas Bray AM FFIA, Diane Kargas Consulting • Ron Fairchild FFIA CFRE, Monash Foundation • Stephen Mally FFIA CFRE, FundraisingForce • Vicki James FFIA, Gold Coast Hospital Foundation

• • • •

Benjamin Cox FFIA, Gold Coast Hospital Foundation Jo-Anne Reeves MFIA, Parkinson’s NSW Inc John Burns, North Melbourne Football Club Katherine Raskob MIM GAICD, FIA

National Panel 2 Judges for Fundraiser of the Year & Fundraising Champion of the Year • Allan Godfrey FFIA, Royal Life Saving Society WA • Ben Holgate MFIA, Multiple Sclerosis Ltd. • Meredith Dwyer FFIA CFRE, FIA Board Chair, HomeMade Digital Australia • Sharon Elliott, Ethiopiaid Australia

Panel 1 Judges for Most Innovative Campaign & Best Supporter Experience • Christine Diamond MFIA CFRE, Vision Australia • Deena Yousif Dennis, The Smith Family • Aaron Crowther, St John Ambulance Western Australia Ltd • Rachel Murphy MFIA, Heart Foundation

Judges for Impact on a Shoestring & Best Strategic Partnership

• Ally Murray, The Wilderness Society Ltd • Cameron Glover, Interplast Australia & New Zealand • Jackie Evans FFIA CFRE, The Indigo Foundation • Vicki Rasmussen FFIA CFRE, Charlies Foundation for Research

Cassie Magin EMFIA Nicci Dent, Heart Research Australia Sharon Hillman FFIA, Beyond Blue Claire Baxter MFIA, Kidney Health Australia

State Panel 1

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 5

Sponsors Principal Award Sponsors

Young Fundraiser of the Year Sponsor

Category Sponsors

FIA Corporate Supporters

ARTHUR VENN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD The Arthur Venn Lifetime Achievement Award recognises an FIA Member who has made an outstanding contribution to FIA and the fundraising sector in Australia. The fundraiser should have shown consistent excellence and best practice through their actions, leadership and intellect.

Proudly sponsored by:

WINNER

ARTHUR VENN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Roewen Wishart FFIA CFRE

6 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

Roewen is a leading Australian authority on high-return fundraising strategies of for-purpose organisations, particularly major gifts and gifts in Wills. Roewen is a director of Xponential Group. With over 25 years’ fundraising experience, he brings deep analysis to overall development and review of fundraising strategy. His experience and passion encompass all areas of fundraising with a focus on strategy, major gifts, campaign development and gifts in Wills.

Roewen is dedicated in his quest to instil confidence to people who are committed to excellence and want to achieve results for a cause but need a methodical approach or a means to overcome hesitation to get there. He has mentored many in the sector: from emerging fundraisers to Board Chairs. Roewen has also continued to provide rapid and useful insights to the sector and organisations by challenging the status quo and asking simple questions with intuitive judgement.

Roewen was a member of the Fundraising Institute Australia (FIA) Board and remains a member of the FIA Code Authority, and Chair of the FIA Include a Charity Advisory Committee.

He has also been a Board member and volunteer advocate of Diplomacy Training Program, which provides training for human rights activists. He is one of Australia’s few internationally Certified Fundraising Executives (CFRE) and is a Fellow of FIA. He continues to advocate for this certification amongst fundraisers in Australia and is the NSW CFRE Enthusiast as part of the Champions Group. He has held numerous other Board and committee positions that go beyond his service to FIA. Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 7

FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR The Fundraiser of the Year Award recognises an FIA Member who has made an outstanding contribution to fundraising best practice and to FIA over the period of 5 years.

The fundraiser should have shown outstanding fundraising performance, best practice through their actions, uncompromising commitment to ethics, contribution to sector improvement and impact on the fundraising profession.

WINNER

FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR Carl Young FFIA CFRE

As Philanthropy and Fundraising Director at Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation, Carl is responsible for ensuring the Foundation’s fundraising programs are implemented in line with organisational strategy, policies, and budgets and in accordance with the FIA Code and guidelines.

His knowledge of the strategies that best guide successful fundraising has helped the Foundation to achieve sustained growth over the past five years, resulting in a 40% increase in net returns and 14.1% growth in donor base in that period. Carl takes a hands-on approach with his fundraising team and had a leading role in the following achievements of the Foundation: • Recruited more than 47,000 regular givers, generating $16m in the last financial year alone • Led the major gifts team to bring more than $34m over the past five years to the cause • Established a record number of confirmed bequestors • Helped raise $3.6m through Unite to Fight Cancer since its inception in 2018 His commitment to a “test and learn” culture fosters a strong, collaborative team. In addition to giving the Foundation a competitive edge by always seeking means to improving fundraising practices.

Carl is dedicated to bettering the reputation of the charity sector. He works tirelessly to maintain face-to-face fundraising best practices through his involvement with the PFRA. Carl is indeed a worthy winner of this award having demonstrated exemplary fundraising results, the skills to overcome challenges, commitment to positively contributing to the sector and the desire to innovate in the pursuit of fundraising excellence.

8 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

YOUNG FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR The Young Fundraiser of the Year Award rewards a fundraiser aged 30 years or younger who has made a significant contribution to fundraising. The fundraiser should have shown consistent excellence and best practice through their actions, leadership and intellect.

A winner was selected from each state and territory and announced as the Young Fundraiser of the Year for that state/ territory. Winners from each state progressed through for national judging to determine the FIA National Young Fundraiser of the Year.

Proudly sponsored by:

NATIONAL WINNER

YOUNG FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR Tom Hansford

Tom is an exemplary team member of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Grants Team and continually demonstrates his commitment to supporting fundraising efforts through the delivery of a high-quality grants program.

Starting in the Grants team in mid-2020, he moved up to a coordinator position in early 2021. He has demonstrated exemplary interpersonal skills and a natural ability to engage with grant funders with proven results. He has particularly excelled in the management of large, multi-faceted grants such as the ASRC’s Stepping In State Government Grant and the ASRC’s Working for Victoria, $3.8m grant investment.

Tom has managed a number of grant relationships and is recognised for his responsiveness and commitment to maintaining the integrity of the grants program with strong financial acumen. Tom has developed strong links within the community and successfully identifies grant opportunities and matches them to funding priorities and programmatic outcomes.

High Commendation

Alexandra Dobbing MFIA

Tom works closely with the ASRC program delivery teams to ensure activities are delivered in line with the grant requirements and to develop high quality applications, reports and acquittals.

In the last financial year, the ASRC’s Grants Team recorded more than $4.8m in non-Government grant outcomes that were accumulated or expended. This was a record and Tom undertook this work completely on his own due to a four-month period whilst positions were being recruited for the team. He managed a portfolio of more than 110 grants with 130+ program obligations and ASRC’s has benefited greatly from his dedication.

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 9

FUNDRAISING CHAMPION OF THE YEAR Established in 2021, this award acknowledges the importance and highly valued contribution of ‘non-traditional’ fundraising advocates and supporters within your organisation. Designed to recognise that effective fundraising doesn’t happen in isolation, the award honours a member of your organisation (employee or volunteer) who does not hold a specific fundraising role, but whose efforts contribute to, facilitate, grow and support your fundraising success.

10 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

JOINT WINNER

FUNDRAISING CHAMPION OF THE YEAR Sister Angela Mary Doyle AO

Mater Foundation’s biggest capital fundraising ‘Catherine House’ commenced in June 2019 to transform the heritage Mater Convent into a purpose-built outpatient and inpatient service to support women with perinatal mental health illness, their babies and families. Sister Angela Mary, the ‘face’ of the campaign, was integral to the extraordinarily success of campaign. Sister Angela Mary is a 96-year-old Sister of Mercy whose love for Mater and belief in the service is comparable.

With no formal fundraising training, Sister Angela Mary has a supreme knowledge of relationship management. She has helped raise just under $15m towards a goal of $17.6m by the end of 2022. Her advocacy, practical fundraising support and championship of the campaign has been instrumental in generating much of the higher-value gifts.

She is involved at every point in the campaign, strategically and operationally and her contribution sees her engaging with donors, corporates, community fundraisers, Mater staff, volunteers and Boards. Sister Angela Mary’s energy and endurance is unrelenting and is only surpassed by her humility and her capacity to share the vision of Catherine’s House.

JOINT WINNER

FUNDRAISING CHAMPION OF THE YEAR Cameron Kerr AO

Cameron Kerr AO, joined Taronga Conservation Society Australia in 2001, holding senior roles in Marketing, Zoo Operations and then as Director of Conservation and Science. Cameron (Cam) was integral in the establishment of the Taronga Foundation and enabling the acceptance of donations to support the critical capital upgrades to exhibits and conservation work of Taronga. Cam was promoted to CEO of Taronga in 2009 and lead the rebranding exercise of Taronga Zoo becoming Taronga Conservation Society Australia, a leading conservation organisation that operates two conservationbased zoos.

Cam joined Taronga with no fundraising experience has over the years learnt what it means to be an effective fundraiser. Cam hosts all of the Taronga events; Vivid, Twilight, Zoofari gala ball, where existing and prospective partners and supporters are brought together to share in the nights entertainment whilst being cultivated and stewarded by him and the Taronga team. For every event, Cam researches the attendees and their relationship with the Zoo to identify what they love and connect with most about Taronga and so we can engage with them accordingly.

Since Taronga’s first capital campaign in 2010, Cam has grown in his love and support of the sector and has a genuine desire to develop his skills in fundraising. He invests time in being mentored before any major gift asks and understands that asking is a privilege and he’s happy to approach people to make a difference to Taronga.

She is a master storyteller, taking people on the journey of Mater’s Mission, herself living in the Mater Convent for decades and the iconic building now transitioning to provide a critical service for vulnerable women and their babies. Through her work with the Mater, the campaign goal will be met, and she will have contributed immensely to creating enduring relationships - both internal and external – to Mater.

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 11

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

This award acknowledges the significant and highly valued contribution made by volunteers to the fundraising profession. It honours a volunteer who has assisted through their efforts and dedication of time to an organisation and fundraising cause.

A winner will be selected from each state and territory and will be announced as the Volunteer of the Year for that state/ territory. The winner from each state will go through for national judging to determine the FIA National Volunteer of the Year.

State Winners •

Betty Webb, The Smith Family (WA)

•

Josie Dincel, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation (NSW)

NATIONAL WINNER

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR Betty Webb Nominated by The Smith Family

Betty Webb has been volunteering with The Smith Family since 2001. She is the quintessential quiet achiever, never drawing attention to herself and her achievements but always focused on the cause and how she can best support the students and families in need.

Betty supports the WA State office providing vital back-end support to the office staff including operations, administration and fundraising roles.

Retiring from a full-time customer service role, Betty began volunteering with The Smith Family. Her service-focused background has led to her becoming an integral member of the team. Betty prefers an early morning schedule and works two days a week. She’s in bright and early and we are always welcomed with a cheery smile and warm hello – we affectionately refer to these as “Betty days”.

Betty leads in a stoic and consistent manner. She actively honours all those around her and is not afraid to embrace change and take on learning new skills. She contributes in so many different ways from providing her world-famous home cooked sausage rolls for an event or embracing new changes in office recycling. She has certainly saved the day on more than one occasion when resources are lean in super busy times.

True to Betty’s character she has reassured us she will never let us down. It is this dedications and unfailing sunny disposition that make her a standout and highly valued part of the organisation.

Proudly sponsored by:

12 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 13

FUNDRAISING TEAM OF THE YEAR

The Fundraising Team of the Year category recognises internal fundraising teams working across a variety of campaigns to support the ongoing work of the organisation. The focus of the award is on teamwork and leveraging internal resources to achieve the organisation’s fundraising objectives.

A winner was selected from each state and territory will announced as the Fundraising Team of the Year for that state/ territory. Winners from each state progressed through for national judging to determine the FIA National Fundraising Team of the Year.

State Winners •

Cancer Council NSW (NSW)

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Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research (WA)

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MS Queensland (QLD)

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Royal Flying Doctor Service Victoria (VIC)

NATIONAL WINNER

FUNDRAISING TEAM OF THE YEAR Royal Flying Doctor Service Victoria Fundraising & Philanthropy Team

High Commendation Proudly sponsored by:

MS Queensland

RFDS Victoria’s vision is to ensure Better Health, Wellbeing and Social Connection for rural communities as we believe all three components are essential for individuals and communities to thrive. This mission is 94% funded by the efforts of the fundraising team.

As well as increasing connection with our supporters, the fundraising team prioritised wellbeing and team connection as an antidote to the pandemic. The strong team culture is critical in driving the delivery of our key professional strategies but also personally in the sense that team members found new levels of individual resilience to deliver great fundraising outcomes.

The positive team culture directly translated to the best fundraising performance on record with a gross revenue of 11.8m against the target of 8.3m. The team’s high levels of adaptability in the continuously changing landscape allowed them to innovate, experiment, and quickly take advantage of new opportunities.

This ensured we maintained vital services for communities and advanced the fundraising strategy, despite gloomy sector wide predictions. Our proudest collaborative achievements in FY21 include: • An industry leading 12-month retention rate of 65% for face-to-face regular givers (IVE benchmarking 2021) • A 23% growth in major giving revenue • Effective advancements in data stewardship and analytics • People-centric leadership and a proactive and extensive wellbeing, team building and professional development program The overall breaking down of internal silos and improved communication and understanding has had enormous impact on our fundraising outcomes and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

14 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 15

PRINCIPAL AWARD

MOST OUTSTANDING FUNDRAISING PROJECT The most outstanding entry across all campaign categories

WINNER

MS Queensland Best at Thank you

MS Queensland has taken a strategic approach to their supporters’ experience which is embedding in its 2025 Fundraising Strategy. The mission – to be the ‘Best at thank you’.

Historically, MS Queensland has raised the majority of its funds through physical events and lotteries. The 2025 Fundraising Strategy included the diversification of revenue streams to relieve pressure from maturing programs and improve long term sustainability. The mission to be the best at thank you became the central focus for this strategic approach - our guiding star.

This approach saw a considerable investment into the resources needed to establish a gifts in Wills program and grow the Individual Giving programs ethically and sustainably. The Individual Giving programs, whilst not raising the majority of funds, became the spine of the fundraising program and where this donor centric culture and mindset was born.

Retention became the number one priority even over donor acquisition. The focus became fully on providing an exceptional supporter experience. This mission gave the fundraising team a clear and simple goal and also helped facilitate conversations internally.

Proudly sponsored by:

Stakeholders within MS Queensland were able to easily understand the mission and why it was important to the wider business. Since the implementation we’ve been able to gain more clarity and understanding on where supporters’ funds were impacting.

This allowed us to report back on the tangible difference our supporters were making in a genuine and authentic way. This has helped to improve donor trust and has built deeper donor loyalty.

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16 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

FINALISTS

MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN For fundraising campaigns that challenge the status quo

Proudly sponsored by:

18 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

This award recognises campaigns that challenge the status quo and show courage in trying a different or revolutionary approach to drive fundraising success. Innovation may include use of new or ground-breaking ideas; use of new technology; or the use of previously untried or untested strategies/activities to achieve fundraising success.

Finalists

WINNER

MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN

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Children’s Cancer Institute Children’s Cancer Institute’s CEO Dare to Cure

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Lighthouse Foundation #BREAKTHEPATTERN

Lighthouse Foundation

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Plan International Australia Girls Education & Empowerment Fund

#BREAKTHEPATTERN

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Royal Flying Doctor Service (Western Operations) Flying Doctor Day

Team Lulu Harrison Michelle Michie

When COVID-19 forced the cancellation of our 2020 4upDay campaign, the Lighthouse Foundation set about designing a campaign that would not be subject to location and number restrictions.

Reflecting on the new circumstances, it was clear that mobile devices and online communication forums were playing an even greater role in people’s lives than before the pandemic. So, our strategy focused on screen savers, social media banners and zoom backgrounds as forms of under used digital real estate. Our strategy was to offer a visual digital gift to acknowledge a donation providing benefactors with a symbol of their support to share on social media.

Lighthouse Foundation has always had strong links to the art world.

Art therapy can help traumatised youth who lack an emotional vocabulary, a non-textual language to express emotions. Lighthouse has a long history of using positive images and bright colours to convey hope so, it made sense to invite two of our artistic supporters also synonymous with cheerful colours and beautiful optimism, Ken Done and Cassie Byrnes, to join our campaign.

The application of these insights produced the #BREAKTHEPATTERN campaign.

While proud to have raised more than $191,000, the biggest achievement has been expanding brand awareness. Our social media engagement has increased by 769% and more than five million people have seen our campaign. Our brand has been recognised as credible and trustworthy in campaign appraisals such as The Design Files article which began; Lighthouse Foundation is a seriously impressive organisation. They do some AMAZING community work that deserves our support!

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 19

FINALISTS

BEST SUPPORTER EXPERIENCE For organisations that understand and demonstrate exceptional supporter care and experience

20 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

This award recognises the successful development and implementation of bestpractice donor or supporter experiences. The supporter experience should offer donors deeper engagement with beneficiaries, impact and outcomes; bring them closer to the cause; maintain their interest; extend their support; or increase their lifetime value – just to name a few. These experiences should reflect a deep understanding of donor insights integrated with organisational strategy. This award also recognises the use of effective donor experiences through multi-channel engagement.

WINNER

BEST SUPPORTER EXPERIENCE

Finalists

MS Queensland

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Children’s Cancer Institute 2020/21 Regular Giving EOFY Campaign

Best at Thank you

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MS Queensland Best at Thank you

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Surf Life Saving Western Australia SLSWA Beach Champions

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World Animal Protection The Protector (quarterly newsletter for Animal Protectors)

MS Queensland has taken a strategic approach to supporter experience embedding exceptional supporter experience in the 2025 Fundraising Strategy with a mission to be the “best at thank you”. Historically MS Queensland has raised the majority of the funds needed through physical events and lotteries.

In FY20 the team launched the 2025 Fundraising Strategy to diversify revenue streams, relieve pressure from maturing programs and improve long term sustainability. The mission to be the best at thank you became the central focus for this strategic approach - our guiding star. A considerable investment into the resources was needed to establish a gifts in Wills program and grow the Individual Giving programs ethically and sustainably.

A donor-centric culture and mindset was driven from the Individual Giving programs.

The mission to be the best at thank you was born out of providing exceptional supporter experience to supporters, moving the focus to retention as the number one priority over new donor acquisition and to lead the way in the fundraising sector.

This mission gave the fundraising team a clear and simple focus point. It also helped facilitate conversations internally. Stakeholders within MS Queensland were able to easily understand this mission and why it was important to the wider business. Since the introduction, we’ve been able to gain clarity and understanding on where supporters’ funds were being used. This allowed us to report on the tangible impact our supporters are having in a genuine and authentic way. This has helped to improve donor trust and has built deeper donor loyalty.

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 21

FINALISTS

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVITY

This award recognises the implementation of effective creative to drive fundraising success. Creativity in fundraising can be demonstrated through the application of powerful creative such as compelling messaging, imagery or branding to achieve strategic fundraising impact. Creativity can be expressed through various channels, including video, visual storytelling and online/offline integration.

For campaigns that inspire through creativity

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Asylum Seeker Resource Centre ASRC Telethon on World Refugee Day

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CBM Australia 2021 Save Sight “Hope Grower” Campaign

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Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research Perkins Steps to Better Health Campaign

Finalists

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Proudly sponsored by:

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Surf Life Saving Western Australia SLSWA Beach Champions

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The Smith Family “I had no idea” - The Smith Family – Child Sponsorship DRTV Campaign

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UNICEF Australia Nomii the UNICEF Reindeer’s Christmas Delivery

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22 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

Royal Flying Doctor Service Victoria Flying Doctor Memory Lane – The memory of a lifetime

Wayside Chapel Wayside Chapel’s Winter Appeal 2021

WINNER

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVITY Asylum Seeker Resource Centre ASRC Telethon on World Refugee Day Team Sam Biddle Catalina Portilla Laura Arroyo Sarah Napier Erin Leach Alan White MFIA CFRE High Commendation

Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research The Smith Family

June 2021 marked the ASRC’s 20th year of being a ‘Home of Hope’ for people seeking asylum and the 6th ASRC Telethon on World Refugee Day (June 20) - the orgs flagship brand and fundraising event. The Telethon is a powerful campaign to engage Australians on the refugee issue and give people a way to participate in the solution (by making a donation) - helping create a more welcoming, inclusive and fair Australia for refugees. It is also an opportunity to amplify the voices of refugees.

The ASRC Telethon is held at the ASRC invites celebrities to take phone donations.

The telethon is streamed live on social media. Money raised funds ASRC’s frontline services which support 7,000 people annually. Facing even tighter event restrictions than previous year the organisation set an ambitious goal to raise $1.5 million. A compelling creative campaign would be required to cut through the cluttered tax-time charity market to achieve objectives and compensate for the fact that less Ambassadors were able to support the campaign this year due to lockdown restrictions.

Changes to the campaign proposition, strategy and creative were made in 2021, centering the campaign around refugee voices and explicitly positioning support of the event (via a donation) as an act of advocacy - to make change possible. These changes were made in line with a new strategic direction by the organisation to centre and amplify the voices of lived experience in all activities.

The new proposition “Stand for welcome. Stand for change. Stand with refugees.” combined with striking visuals and compelling video creative that amplified the voices of people seeking asylum, spoke to shared values and call to action of “It’s time for change” was rolled out across an integrated marketing campaign in the lead up to the event and content during the live streamed event through interviews, panels and other supporting digital communications like eDM and SMS/MMS. This was the most successful Telethon on record - raising more than $1.67 million, exceeding target of $1.5 million with +5,000 donors (the most ever!) standing in solidarity with refugees and making change possible.

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 23

FINALISTS

IMPACT ON A SHOESTRING Small budget, big impact

This award recognises fundraising that achieves significant impact when limited investment is available. This includes limited operational budgets and human and other resources that deliver fundraising success. Ideally suited to smaller charities, this award is for campaigns or activities with a campaign budget of up to $50,000.

Finalists •

Bears Of Hope Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support Inc Choosing Hope - A Walk of Honour & Remembrance in support of bereaved families

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Bendigo Health Fundraising & Foundation How a Christmas Appeal evolved a centre for paediatric excellence

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Engineers Without Borders Australia EWB On the Ground Appeal

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Glaucoma Australia End of Financial Year Appeal 2021

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Launceston City Mission City Mission Winter Appeal

WINNER

IMPACT ON A SHOESTRING Bears Of Hope Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support Inc Choosing Hope - A Walk of Honour & Remembrance in support of bereaved families Team Abby Dante Jennifer Thomas Toni Watson GoFundraise High Commendation

Bendigo Health Fundraising & Foundation

24 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

Choosing Hope is a walk of honour and remembrance in support of bereaved families. These walks are not only a fundraising campaign, but a support program designed to connect bereaved parents and families to a larger community, offering peer-to-peer support.

The sense of community is incredibly important to the Bears of Hope Theory of Change with reducing isolation a crucial outcome. Before COVID hit, Bears of Hope had booked seven in-person Choosing Hope Walks across Australia but we had to rethink how the event could take place in the ‘new normal’.

Embracing the virtual world, Choosing Hope Walk Your Way was launched and turned into the most successful and inclusive Choosing Hope campaign yet.

To keep costs down, the fundraising team of three created all the design and marketing elements, from online resources for participants to share across a range of digital platforms. Thankfully a credit was utilised to create a dedicated new website specifically to showcase the campaign. This was critical as the expenditure could not have been justified at such a high-risk time particularly with other cancellations of other events impacting our revenue.

Approaching a long-time corporate supporter for a prize donation for the highest fundraiser, helped motivate participants and drove recruitment. The printer for the campaign kindly posted the t-shirts and caps to participants on our behalf which was a great help. Money raised from our walks is primarily to fund national counselling and support group services but with our 2020 result, more Bear Support Packs were provided for at least 1,115 bereaved families across Australia.

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 25

FINALISTS

BEST STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP Working in partnership to achieve more

This award recognises highly successful partnerships that achieve mutual benefit and fundraising success. This includes partnerships between charities and groups such as companies, trusts, foundations, community groups, media outlets, individuals, ambassadors and other NFPs. Finalists •

Australian Red Cross Australia Post & Australian Red Cross – Supporting communities before, during and after disasters

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Australian Red Cross & Save the Children Red Cross / Save the Children / QBE Global Disaster Relief and Resilience Partnership

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Brotherhood of St. Laurence Brotherhood of St. Laurence and Citi Foundation: Youth Employment

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McGrath Foundation McGrath Foundation, Cricket Australia and the SCG - a True Partnership

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The Salvation Army The Salvation Army & Woolworths Group: S.T.A.N.D partnership

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The Smith Family Ampol and The Smith Family

WINNER

BEST STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP Brotherhood of St. Laurence Brotherhood of St. Laurence & Citi Foundation – Youth Employment Team Elmina Joldic - Brotherhood of St Laurence Louise Lindsay - Citi Foundation

High Commendation

Australian Red Cross & Save the Children The Smith Family

26 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

The Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) and Citi Foundation first partnered in 2015, driven by a strong desire to improve youth employment systems and outcomes in Australia. The partnership has involved Program funding of $1.95m and importantly a deep engagement with Citi employees.

Citi Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Citigroup. It works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. They award grants to non-profit organisations that give young people a positive experience when transitioning to work or further education.

BSL is a social justice organisation working to prevent and alleviate poverty across Australia with a vision that, irrespective of background and circumstances, young people will have the chance to achieve their educational goals, find a job and live a fulfilling life.

For six years, Citi Foundation has been the sole funding partner in the delivery of BSL’s Creating Futures for Youth program.

As part of Citi Foundation’s global response to the economic devastation caused by COVID-19 lockdowns, the Foundation approached BSL in 2020 with funds to provide immediate support.

This partnership has incubated significant systemic change in youth employment. The Foundation has enabled BSL to gather enough evidence to influence national youth education, training and employment policy, as well as secure financial support from government and other significant philanthropic bodies. This has culminated in the development of BSL’s National Youth Employment Body, delivered in communities across Australia, and a federally funded training and employment program for young people.

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 27

FINALISTS

IMPACT THROUGH EVENTS

This award recognises outstanding achievement in fundraising through conducting a special event. Special events should show exceptional development of strategy, efficient execution, clear event uniqueness and significant ROI for the organisation.

Bringing people together for greater impact

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Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) Feast for Freedom (2021)

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Cancer Council NSW The Longest Day

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Children’s Cancer Institute Children’s Cancer Institute’s CEO Dare to Cure

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Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research Walk for Women’s Cancer

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Leukaemia Foundation Light the Night 2020

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Soldier On March On with Soldier On

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Wayside Chapel Wayside Chapel’s Long Walk Home 2020

Finalists

WINNER

IMPACT THROUGH EVENTS Cancer Council NSW The Longest Day Team Cancer Council NSW Campaigns Unit The Longest Day Working Group Members Cancer Council NSW Stakeholders Funraisin Elevate Fundraising Spark Foundry High Commendation

Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research

28 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

A few years ago, Cancer Council started to experience a flattening in growth across its events portfolio. Realising the landscape was shifting, with so may similar events we explored ways to diversify our supporter base by connecting with new audiences who were passionate and engaged.

Knowing golfers are competitive by nature and identifying a gap in the market; we launched a fundraising challenge event specifically designed for them, ‘The Longest Day’, a personal challenge event that pushes golfers to complete 72 holes in one day enabling them to level up the game they love and tee off for a cancer-free future.

Whilst classic golf events are synonymous with charities, this event had a difference; it asks participants to sign up with their mates to complete the challenge on the day of their choice. The first of its kind in peer-to-peer golf events in Australia, the event has minimal logistical costs, meaning more funds going towards our mission.

In the first-year trial, the event attracted 40 players. They raised an incredible $40,000.

After developing the strategy, improving marketing plans, developing relationships with local golf clubs, and taking feedback from the golfers onboard, the 2020 campaign raised an incredible $1.5m. ROI was an impressive 17:1.

The campaign continues to grow from strength to strength, attracting more players helping us to drive fundraising impact messaging and embed secondary messages including sun safe, health and nutrition to educate our golfers on reducing their cancer risk. It’s a true diamond in our portfolio of events.

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 29

FINALISTS

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE For fundraising campaigns and initiatives that adapted and excelled through a crisis

Proudly sponsored by:

2020 and 2021 have been unique years for fundraising due to the bushfire and COVID-19 crises. This award recognises fundraising campaigns or initiatives that have been pivoted in response to a crisis situation. The ‘pivot’ can be the change or adaptation of an existing campaign or initiative due to a natural disaster e.g. relocating or taking a traditional fundraising event online or virtual such as a ride, walk or run; changing the case for support and donor segmentation of a direct mail campaign in response to a crisis.

Finalists •

Bears Of Hope Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support Inc Choosing Hope – A walk of honour & remembrance in support of bereaved families 2020

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Catholic Mission Socktober 2020

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Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation Uniting and empowering the community to Fight Cancer their way, during a time of isolation, lockdowns and travel restrictions

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The Salvation Army Turning the Red Shield Appeal doorknock into a digital one

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Wayside Chapel Wayside Chapel’s Long Walk Home 2020

WINNER

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE Wayside Chapel Wayside Chapel’s Long Walk Home 2020 Team Project Lead: Kamila Chylewski Project Team: Chris Lewis, Laura Henry, Emilie Corish, Janine Huan, Jess Long, Liz Lipinski, Amelia Szulerecka, Amanda Perkins, Alex Wong Elevate Fundraising FunRaisin Hyper Active Merchandise

Long Walk Home (LWH) is a 28km fundraising walk that raises funds for Wayside Chapel to provide support for people experiencing homelessness. The live event was piloted in 2018 then continued as a mass participation event in 2019. 408 walkers raised $345,000 walking from Parramatta to Kings Cross.

In 2020, the physical event was pivoted to a virtual walk due to COVID restrictions. It was a huge success with 2,461 people registering across Australia and the world and raised over $1m for Wayside Chapel.

The significance of the 28km is that, in an average week, a person experiencing homelessness walks 28km looking for help, food, and a safe place to sleep. This strong tangible link meant that participants felt like they were walking in the shoes of those experiencing homelessness and became much closer to the cause and Wayside Chapel’s mission. Strategically, pivoting Long Walk Home to a virtual event transformed it to reach a significantly broader audience, lowered barriers to participation and increased its appeal to a much wider geographical area than previous years.

The virtual walk provided unlimited spaces for participants to register, whereas the original physical walk was capped for logistic reasons and provided a way for the broader community to feel they were playing their part in helping to support those in crisis and those without a home.

The fundraising result was a three-fold increase from the previous year – a staggering growth during one of the toughest pandemic years. In 2020, LWH raised $1,025m versus $345,000 in 2019.

30 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 31

FINALISTS

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY For campaigns that utilise technology to drive fundraising outcomes

This award recognises the exceptional use of technology to create or strengthen campaigns and drive powerful fundraising outcomes.

Campaigns acknowledged in this category have either; utilised technology that is new or previously unused by their organisation, or creatively refined or adapted existing technology to achieve fundraising success. This could include the use of digital technology, AI, CRM, NTFs, cryptocurrency, social media, or other technology.

Finalists •

Lighthouse Foundation #BREAKTHEPATTERN

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Telco Together Foundation Small Change Big Change

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Proudly sponsored by:

32 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

World Animal Protection Digital Acquisition Gifts in Wills Campaign

WINNER

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY Telco Together Foundation Small Change Big Change Team Renee Bowker Warren Sainsbury Cameron Foley Michael Goschnick Carin Lavery High Commendation

World Animal Protection

Small Change Big Change (SCBC) is an on-bill donations program in the telecommunications industry whereby mobile and broadband customers can choose to add a $1, $2 to $5 donation to their monthly bill. For customers to donate via their telco bills, SCBC have worked with technical billing system partners and providers to outline key technical and workflow considerations that allow partner organisations to implement a zero-rated GST line entry into their billing and customer management software programs.

This then allows for the generation of a tax-deductible donation receipt through their bill once a customer opts into the program. Once the technical billing platform supports the donation, SCBC works closely with Telco partners to promote a donation call to action through their existing marketing channels.

Telco partner staff are offered a shared journey with donors through the SCBC Workplace Giving and volunteering programs. Small Change Big Change works directly with Telco partners to capture additional key donor metainformation that allows for strategic marketing and conversion support and includes information on donor sales channels.

The Australian Telecommunications industry currently has 32.5 million mobile phone subscribers and 14.7 million internet subscribers. The SCBC program provide a simple low-cost donation avenue that can significantly increase charitable fundraising in Australia.

100% of donations raised by the program are collected by the partner organisations and remitted to the Telco Together Foundation in support of a wide range of education and engagement programs designed to promote good mental health, a strong sense of identity and connection beyond connectivity.

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 33

FINALISTS

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR To be nominated by a member charity

This award recognises suppliers who have delivered significant outcomes for member organisations through fundraising campaigns and activities. Nominated by member charities, the relationship, ethics, management and fundraising outcomes will be considered.

Finalists

WINNER

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR

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Adflex Marketing Nominated by Royal Life Saving Society WA

Donor Republic

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Donor Republic Nominated by Foodbank NSW & ACT

Nominated by Foodbank NSW & ACT

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Engage & Experience Nominated by Vision Australia

High Commendation

Foodbank have been working with Donor Republic since FY16 when we fundraised $300k a year, had a donor base of only 165 and no fundraising strategy. By FY21, the program achieved over $6.6M with more than 78,000 donors. Last year alone, we exceeded our budget by $2M net. That result enabled nine million meals delivered to people in need here is NSW & ACT last year.

We credit this success to our deep partnership with Donor Republic and consider them an integral part of our team which is owing to our success. They helped us grow our income and donor base through diversifying our portfolio. In 2016 we only had one revenue stream – events. Today, we have a huge suite of channels in play. Key program areas are now usually above benchmark. Cold response rates are over 6%, second gift rates have been over 50% (to name a few) largely due to Donor Republic’s approach.

Donor Republic have helped us to further develop our proposition – hunger in Australia. In 2016, hunger was seen as an issue in the international aid arena but hunger in Australia was not widely known. Through development of key marketing materials, Donor Republic has helped us spread this message so that Foodbank are now seen not only as a logistics and distribution company but a humanitarian organisation that cares about the welfare of struggling Australians.

Donor Republic are dedicated to the not-for-profit sector. Founded by a passion for continuous improvement to donor and consumer centricity, we love Donor Republic’s constant support to ensure we achieve the results we need.

Adflex Marketing Engage & Experience

34 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 35

Submitting Organisations

Sponsors

Thank you and congratulations to all of the organisations who entered the FIA Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 2022.

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Amnesty International Australia Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Australian Red Cross Bears Of Hope Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support Inc Bendigo Health Bendigo Health Fundraising & Foundation Brotherhood of St Laurence Bush Heritage Australia Camp Quality Can:Do 4Kids Cancer Council NSW Canteen Catholic Mission CBM Australia Charlies Foundation for Research ChildFund Australia Children’s Cancer Institute CommBank Staff Foundation

36 Awards for Excellence in Fundraising

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Cure Brain Cancer Foundation Curing Homesickness Destiny Rescue Engineers Without Borders Australia Ethiopiaid Australia Foodbank NSW & ACT Foundation for Surgery, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Glaucoma Australia Gold Coast Hospital Foundation Greenpeace Australia Pacific Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research Hobart City Mission JDRF Australia Karrkad Kanjdji Trust Launceston City Mission Leukaemia Foundation Lifeline Australia Lighthouse Foundation

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MacKillop Family Services Marymead Mater Foundation McGrath Foundation MS Queensland ntegrity PayPal Giving Fund Australia Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation Plan International Australia Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Foundation Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section) Royal Flying Doctor Service (Western Operations) Royal Flying Doctor Service Victoria Royal Life Saving Society WA RSPCA Victoria Soldier On

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Stepping Stone House Surf Life Saving Western Australia Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation Taronga Conservation Society Australia Telco Together Foundation The Fred Hollows Foundation The Girls & Boys Brigade The Leprosy Mission Australia The Salvation Army The Smith Family The Wilderness Society UNICEF Australia University of Newcastle Variety Queensland Vision Australia Wayside Chapel Wesley College World Animal Protection

Principal Award Sponsors

Young Fundraiser of the Year Sponsor

Category Sponsors

FIA Corporate Supporters

Awards for Excellence in Fundraising 37

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Principal Award Sponsors