Issue 50, September 2024
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At Benefolk Foundation's launch of the Expert Bar, Paul Conroy joined a panel discussion on reimagining capacity building for the social sector alongside Peter Walton, CEO of Lord Mayor's Charitable Fund, and Katherine Ellis, CEO of Leadership Victoria.
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
Since I last wrote, there have been some comings and goings here at the Foundation. Professor Sir Edward Byrne resigned from The Ian Potter Foundation's Board of Governors effective 30 June 2024, as he has taken up the position of President of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in SaudiArabia.
The Foundation’s Governors and staff thank Professor Byrne for sharing his experience as a leading neuroscientist and clinician and as a highly regarded administrator of higher education and research institutions inAustralia and internationally. In addition, his broad interest in the arts allowed him to provide unique and thoughtful insights into our grantmaking in this area.
Since our last newsletter inApril, we have also had a few changes in the management team. Our Public Health and Medical Research Program Manager, Lauren Monaghan, recently joined Diabetes Victoria as Manager of Policy, Strategy, and Research. Likewise, our Communications & Engagement Coordinator, Nina Beer, left us in May to take up an exciting new career opportunity
Bianca Suparto joined us in June to take on this role, providing communications support for The Ian Potter Cultural Trust andThe GeorgeAlexander Foundation (managed by The Ian Potter Foundation). On behalf of the team, I thank Lauren and Nina for their contributions over the past 5-7 years. We will miss them but are excited for them as they take the next step in their careers.
More recently, I was delighted to assist one of our grant partners, Benefolk Foundation, in launching a new service designed for the social sector Expert Bar, along with Benefolk's Community Well resources, addresses the lack of support available to social sector leaders, especially emerging CEOs, and the significant gap in accessible, prompt, and affordable support in bite-sized conversations and consultations. Often, CEOs just need 45-90 minutes with a subject matter specialist to get time-critical advice, and Expert Bar makes this possible.
Many funders want to support their social sector partners in building capacity and capability, but the sheer number of organisations makes this difficult to do at scale. Our grant to Benefolk to assist in the development of Expert Bar and the Community Well translates to support for the wider social sector and multiplies the impact. I encourage all social sector leaders to familiarise themselves with Benefolk's resources and services.
This month, we completed our second funding round for 2024. The Foundation awarded just over $4.5 million to 16 organisations in Environment and Medical Research grants. More details on these grants can be found in our Grants Round-Up. We are currently finalising plans for our 2025 Funding Rounds and expect to share dates for open rounds in late October
Paul Conroy
Good Arts = Good Mental Health
PM gets a dose of arts
Early in September, the GoodArts Good Mental Health (GAGMH) campaign kicked off around the country receiving excellent media coverage. Even the Prime Minister got involved on Nova Radio drawing his dog, Toto.As GAGMH's lead researcher, Dr Christina Davies, says, "You don't have to be good at art, for the arts to be good for you."
The GAGMH project is supported by anArts grant from the Foundation awarded in 2021. The campaign has been endorsed by the WADepartment of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. Dr Davies has also been interviewed widely across print, radio and TV including Channel Nine in WA, promoting the campaign.
Watch interview
GRANTS ROUND UP
$6.5 million in grants this round
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took part in the GAGMH campaign on Nova Radio in Perth.
An Environment grant will support the Odonata Foundation create the Odonata Academy
In September, the Foundation awarded $4.5 million in Environment and Medical Research grants
These comprised 5 Environment grants totalling $3,162,500 and 11 Medical Research grants totalling $1.4 million. In theArts program, $1.6 million was allocated to the Ian Potter Creative Fellowship Program (in collaboration with the Sidney Myer Fellowship Program) and $296,112 toThe Ian Potter Cultural Trust for its latest round of EmergingArtists grants.
FUNDING ROUNDS
Round 1, 2025, is by invitation only. Dates for open call funding rounds in 2025 will be made available in late October 2024.
Please monitor our website for updates.
GRANTEE ENGAGEMENT
Workshops & resources
Preview the features of Benefolk's Expert Bar via this short explainer video.
Funding Rounds Watch video
Benefolk Expert Bar launched
Earlier this month, Benefolk Foundation launched its innovative new service, Benefolk Expert Bar, an online consultation service designed to make it easier for not-for-profits to access capacity and capability-building support.
Benefolk is a professional services intermediary focused on the social sector. Its mission is to provide paid, low-cost, subsidised, and free services and resources to the sector Through its Community Well, an online content and training hub, Benefolk has already engaged with more than 15,000 organisations to improve workforce wellbeing and build resilience for the sector
Expert Bar extends on these resources by providing on-demand organisational support and capacity building for senior staff and leaders in the sector. Social sector organisations can book consultations of 45, 60 or 90 minutes with trusted specialist consultants across 200+ capability areas.All proceeds help build capacity and capability-building solutions, such asThe Community Well and Expert Bar.
Grantmakers, donors and funders can subsidise social sector organisations to access the Expert bar by purchasing vouchers for the service.
Find out more
New Grantee Welcome Workshops
New grantees will be invited to in-person or virtual Welcome Workshops in October. You will receive an email inviting staff to attend.There will be an opportunity to discuss the development of yourTheory of Change or Program Logic in more detail after the workshop.
For those unable to attend, please let our Research and Evaluation team know, and they will arrange a separate catch-up.
If any of our current grant partners have new staff who would like to attend one of these workshops, please contact your program manager or XimenaAvalos Mendez to arrange an invite.
TIPFEP 2024 now available
The Ian Potter Foundation Evaluation Panel 2024 was updated and published in June and is available on our website.
Centre for Stories CEO, Caroline Wood AM, has been named Western Australian of the Year in theArts and Cultures category
Caroline WoodAM is the co-founder and CEO of the Centre for Stories based in Perth. She has pioneered a safe and inclusive space for underrepresented and marginalised communities to share their narratives through written and oral storytelling.
Recognising the exclusion of diverse writers from the competitive publishing world, Caroline established the Centre to provide inclusive support and mentoring opportunities for emerging writers from minority backgrounds.
Beyond the Centre for Stories, Caroline has contributed significantly to the WAarts scene through various projects, including co-founding Margaret River Press and the Australian Short Story Festival. She is a current board member of Creative Australia.
Congratulations to White Box Enterprise CEO Luke Terry on being selected as this year’s Helen LynchAM LeadershipAward recipient.
Offered to one Westpac Scholar annually, the award was established last year in honour of Helen LynchAM, a founding director of the Westpac ScholarsTrust and a long-time advocate for diversity and inclusion throughout her trailblazing career
Recipients ofThe Helen LynchAM LeadershipAward – chosen from 830 alumni of Westpac Scholars – receive a bespoke leadership development experience valued up to $10,000. Luke is the second recipient following last year’s inaugural winner, Laura O’Reilly OAM.
The Ian Potter Foundation has supported White Box Enterprises since its inception.
GRANTEE AWARDS
National Game Changers Awards
Chance Creators See more
GRANTEE AWARD
Congratulations to the following social enterprises on being recognised in the
2024 SocialTraders' Game
awards
Social procurement impact partnership of the year (Vic & Tas)
Winner: SisterWorks XYarraTrams
Certified social enterprise (Vic & Tas)
Winner: Sue Boyce -Ability Works Australia
IPF NEWS New Staff
Bianca Suparto joined us in June 2024 as our new Communications & Engagement Coordinator.
Bianca holds a Bachelor ofArts and a Masters degree inArts & Cultural Management fromThe University of Melbourne. Born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, she moved to Melbourne to be a part of the city’s diverse and vibrant arts scene.
In May, Chance Creators Group, parent of Fruit2WorkAus and Recycle4Change, was named the winner in the 2024 Shared ValueAwards 'Enhancing the Community' category.
Fruit2Work and Recycle4Change are social enterprises with a core mission to provide employment and support to individuals with justice system experience, working to reduce reoffending and create a safer society through their successful reintegration into the community.
Established in 2014, the Shared Value Project (SVP) is the peak body encouraging and enabling the adoption of shared value inAustralia. SVPis part of a global alliance, includingAfrica, India and Hong Kong.
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 the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work. We pay our
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