The Seahorse Issue 46 May 2023

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

I am delighted to write my first update as the Chief Executive Officer ofThe Ian Potter Foundation.

I joined the Foundation in March and have spent time getting to know the wonderful team here, including meeting and interacting with members of the Board of Governors. I have enjoyed the opportunity to visit several of our grantees and learn about their great work in the community, and have also valued my meetings with a number of other philanthropic foundations.

CEO Paul Conroy visiting the PEEP program in Benalla, one of Tomorrow Today Foundation's placebased programs supported by The Ian Potter Foundation.

I still have many more organisations to meet in the coming months, but I do want to thank everyone for making me feel so welcome. I would particularly like to thank outgoing CEO, Craig Connelly, for spending time with me before his departure and assisting in a smooth handover

Coming from the not-for-profit sector, and before that, the commercial world, I have been immersing myself in learning about the unique requirements of managing a philanthropic foundation. I am also conscious of the responsibility that comes with the role - there are so many organisations and individuals doing incredible work in the community and it is incumbent on the Foundation and its staff to identify, and support, a diverse range of opportunities that will make a meaningful impact to the lives of current and future Australians.

I am particularly excited by yesterday’s Budget announcement from theAustralian Government supporting the Investment Dialogue forAustralia's Children (IDAC): a crosssector collaboration to improve the wellbeing of children, young people and their families by working withAustralian communities to reduce intergenerational disadvantage.

Importantly, the Investment Dialogue will support systemic changes, helping create a more integrated approach to supporting families. This is not just about aligning and maximising our investment into programs and projects; it’s about working in place in genuine partnership with communities to build on their strengths and leverage their insights to inform policy and system-level changes.

The latest round of major grants awarded by the Foundation reinforces our commitment to investing in large-scale initiatives. Details of these grants can be found on our website One worth highlighting is the $5 million grant towards establishing The Cumming Global Centre for PandemicTherapeutics to be housed at the Doherty Institute at the University of Melbourne.This important new centre has been made possible by a gift of $250 million from philanthropist Geoff Cummings.This cornerstone gift seeks 5:1 leverage from other funders and matched funding from visionary partners will be essential to the success of the new centre.The Ian Potter Foundation is proud to support the Doherty Centre in achieving its mission and encourage further philanthropic donations with this major grant.

Another development at the Foundation is the roll out of our new grant management system: GivingData.The decision to move to GivingData resulted from an exhaustive process of reviewing available systems that would meet our needs and also improve and simplify processes for our grant partners. GivingData has a strong track record, supporting many international foundations. We are confident this is the right move for us, and system implementation has already begun ahead of it going ‘live’at the start of July. Further details on this transition are given below.

I would like to thank everyone for the generous gift of their time and advice since commencing in the role, and I am excited by the opportunities both the Foundation and the philanthropic sector have to support the community in the future.

Paul Conroy

Government and philanthropy join forces

The Ian Potter Foundation welcomes the Budget announcements from theAustralian Government in support of the Investment Dialogue forAustralia’s Children: a cross-sector collaboration to improve the wellbeing of children, young people, and their families by working withAustralian communities to reduce intergenerational disadvantage.

We are proud to partner with Government and other philanthropic funders on this critical initiative. In addition to the Budget commitments made by the Government, philanthropic partners will contribute $100m over the next four years to begin the Investment Dialogue as we work towards a ten-year commitment of sustained investment, innovation and reform efforts.

All Investment Dialogue partners have a shared vision of contributing towards an inclusive and equitableAustralia where all children, families and communities can fulfill their aspirations.

Learn more

GRANTS ROUND UP

$22.8 million across 35 grants

The latest funding round (Round 1 2023) awarded $22.8 million in grants.

These comprised $14 million across five Major grants, $3 million across sevenArts grants, $2 million across 17 Medical Research grants, two Early Childhood Development grants totalling $1.7 million, and one Public Health Research grant for $480,000.

Read more

SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT

GivingData

Terrapin Puppet Theatre's 'A Not So Traditional Story' 2021. Image: Bryony Jackson

This short video provides a a preview of the Giving Data interface for applicants and grantees.

We're changing to a new grant management system

Our team are currently working on transitioning to GivingData to manage our grants, grantee relationships and application process. GivingData is a purpose-built grants management system designed specifically for the needs of grantmakers.

From a grantee perspective, GivingData provides an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that reduces application times and improves the reporting experience. For example, application forms will now include rich-text editing and be auto-saved.

Timeline

Our existing system will remain open to applicants and grantees up until Friday 23 June at 5pm (AEST). From that date, the current system will become read-only to allow for the migration of all data to the new system. We expect this migration to last 2–3 weeks, with our new GivingData portal being launched in early July

How does this affect grantees/applicants?

We will let all current grantees and those in the process of completing full applications know when they can log into the new system to set up their new login credentials and continue submitting reports, requirements and applications.

Any grant requirements previously submitted (such as the original application, supporting documents or progress reports) will NOT be available in GivingData.

We strongly recommend that organisations with open grants download these documents and files from our current system prior to 23 June.

FUNDING ROUNDS

Dates to note

Date changes in Rounds 2 and 3 in 2023

There are two date changes for Round 2 and Round 3. Dates have moved forward to allow for our transition to a new grant management system.

Round ProgramArea

Community Wellbeing

Date Change

2

Early Childhood Development

3 Arts

Public Health Research

Public Health Research – Round 3

Full applications due: Tues 30 May 2023

Expressions of Interest close: Weds 21 June 2023

EOI outcomes advised from Mon 24 July 2023

Public Health Research calls are limited during this round, as Lauren Monaghan (Program Manager) will be travelling to overseas conferences in May and early June.

Organisations wishing to submit a Public Health Research EOI in this round who still need to organise a call with the program manager will be able to submit details of their proposed EOI via a form on our website These submissions will be reviewed and responded to via email by Lauren while she is travelling.

Funding Round dates for 2024

Dates for Round 1 2024 are now available on our website.

GRANTEE ENGAGEMENT

Welcome Workshops

The next grantee welcome workshops will be held online over the next few weeks. Organisations that have just received a grant should have received details on the workshops they should attend.

If any of our current grant partners have new staff who would like to attend one of these workshops, please get in touch with your program manager to arrange an invite.

Details of Welcome Workshops.

TIPFEP 2023 is coming

This a quick reminder that The Ian Potter Foundation Evaluation Panel for 2023 will be released in June. We will announce its release via our website and social channels.

Congratulations to Magabala Books on being the 2023 Oceania winner of the Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publisher of theYear at the Bologna Book Fair

This is fantastic and well-deserved international recognition for the strong children's book list published by Magabala Books based in Broome, WA.

The Ian Potter Foundation supported Magabala Books with anArts grant in 2020 to implement a cadetship program to provide on-the-job training, professional development and sustainable employment for two Indigenous publishing cadets.

ARTS - Grantee news

Good Arts, Good Mental Health

To mark International Happiness Day on 20 March 2023, the University of Western Australia (UWA) publically shared TheArt and Science of Mental Health and Wellbeing webinar held last October It includes a presentation on the Good Arts, Good Mental Health project supported through anArts grant from the Foundation in 2022.

GoodArts, Good Mental Health is a crosssector collaborative research initiative between the arts and health sectors. The project aims to provide professional development for arts and cultural organisations to assist these organisations in developing and delivering arts-led health-promoting experiences for all Australians collaboratively

There is now strong evidence of the mental health benefits of participating in recreational arts and culture for the general population and priority groups

Paper launched in February 2023

Ensuring youngAustralian children have the best possible start to life requires children and families to have equitable access to quality services.The creation of co-located child and family-focused hubs is gaining momentum aroundAustralia. These hubs integrate variations of health, education, social care (including legal and financial), and social support providing a ‘front door’to services.

The newly established National Child and Family Hubs Network seeks to support the current 80 defined hubs across the country, build the evidence base around hub models, and support improved collaboration and learning between hubs to prevent and reduce duplication and accelerate sustainable and effective practice.

The network, supported through an Early Childhood Development grant from the Foundation, has published a paper exploring what is meant by a child and family hub, identifying core components that underpin the delivery of these hubs that have emerged fromAustralian and international research.

such as IndigenousAustralians and older adults.Through this project, UWAwill develop programs to effectively utilise the arts as an enjoyable, cost-effective, nonpharmacological method for improving Australians’mental health and well-being.

ECD - Grantee news Supporting refugee children

FY22 Annual Report released

Learn about the new developments at the Foundation in our latest annual grants report.

During fiscal 2022, the Foundation awarded 90 grants totalling $41.6 million and paid $36.6 million across 102 grants.

Western Sydney University's Knowledge Translation website has been launched. The site provides a range of resources to support early learning of refugee children and their families.Akey component of the site is a series of seven videos that highlights some key insights of the centre facilitators and hub leaders in the project.The series is called Settling Softly based on the central idea of providing a ‘soft’entry point, where newcomers could feel safe and supported as they learn about their new home.

This resource was supported by a 2020 Early Childhood Development grant from the Foundation.

Learn more

ECD - Grantee news Evidence for Learning

Evidence for Learning, incubated within Social VenturesAustralia (SVA), has released a series of new resources to

support early childhood educators in responding to challenging behaviours. These resources are based on the latest Australian and international research evidence on strategies for educators in Early Childhood Education Centre settings working with 2–5-year-old children.

Resources include tip sheets offering practical guidance and strategies for educators and webinars.

We produce this quarterly e-newsletter to keep our friends and associates up to date with all the news and recent grants made by The Ian Potter Foundation.

We acknowledge theTraditional Custodians of the land on which we work. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.

Copyright © 2023 The Ian Potter Foundation, All rights reserved.

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