Since 2018, PNI Foundation has been the major Funding Partner of the R U OK? “Are They Triple OK?” campaign, which aims to increase levels of peer and social support for police and emergency services workers and volunteers nationwide. The campaign’s free resource materials, originally developed in response to a Beyond Blue nationwide “Answering the Call” study into the mental health and wellbeing of Australia’s police and emergency services workers, have become highly regarded and widely distributed. To date more than 200 downloadable assets have been produced and more than 100,000 copies of 8 bespoke Conversation Guides – developed for each state and territory – have been physically distributed across the services.

In FY24 funding for Are They Triple Okay? is continuing to create resources that promote social support both at work and home, including case studies that reach “beyond the uniform” to help break down stigma within emergency services, increase social support and encourage conversations. Additional focus will also be directed at wider external promotion to reach volunteers and friends and family of emergency service workers and frontline responders.

“Are They Triple OK?” Champions will be nurtured through feedback from research and supported by a dedicated Champions Guide, with the learnings potentially applied to other campaign settings.

And R U OK? capacity building in regional and rural areas is being strengthened, through connecting with local organisations, suicide prevention networks and established community infrastructure via hosting “Locals Know Best” workshops. This commitment to “whole of community” responses is critical as the rate of suicide in rural Australia is growing more rapidly than that of cities, particularly as rural residents face repeated stresses due to droughts, floods, and bushfires on top of increased cost of living pressures.

The Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) is the only national foundation specifically focused on ensuring social and economic strength in remote, rural and regional Australia. This is achieved by connecting good will with good purpose, and aligning government, philanthropic and local community purpose and investment.

In FY24, the partnership initially established between FRRR and the Foundation in 2022 is continuing, focussed across three core programs helping to rebuild and strengthen regional communities:-

• Future Drought Fund (FDR) – supporting community organisations to develop locally generated initiatives that build strong social connectedness, strengthen social capital and support transformative activities to be more prepared for, and resilient, to the impacts of drought. Grants have been awarded to local grassroots community organisations in Narrabri and Goonumbla in NSW, Cornishtown in Victoria, Loxton in South Australia, and Wynyard in Tasmania.
• Disaster Resilient: Future Ready program (DR:FR) – aiming to support and strengthen the capacity and capability of remote, rural and regional communities to thrive and be resilient to the impacts of climate, natural disasters and other disruptions. Three Victorian communities have been selected after a roadshow and Expression of Interest process. They are: Whittlesea, Myrtleford and Korumburra, with their community programs to be completed in mid 2024.
• Strengthening Rural Communities (SRC) – providing small, localised grants to grassroot, community led initiatives that directly and clearly benefit local communities including recovery from national disasters such as Australia’s Black Summer bushfires. A new funding stream of “Prepare and Recover” has also been established, providing one easy point of entry to facilitate small grants for community groups. Across the SRC program, the Foundation has now partially or fully supported 12 initiatives, including to organisations in Kempsey NSW, Minlaton in SA, Nauiyu in NT, and Weemelah and Young in NSW.

All three programs align closely to the Foundation and Pinnacle’s interest in helping to drive sustainable social and environmental change, to secure and maintain the overall health and wellbeing of communities. This helps ensure that they can not only survive, but thrive in changing and challenging circumstances.

Domestic violence and sexual assault are by any measure the most common – and one of the most insidious – crimes committed in Australia. Enormous personal, social and productivity costs are associated in every instance.

For more than five years the Foundation has partnered with the NSW based Full Stop Australia (FSA), which is dedicated to putting a stop to sexual, domestic and family violence through support, education and advocacy. Funding helps FSA maintain the critically important Head of Advocacy position, which continues to advocate for law reform and in particular, reform which is is grounded in the lived-experience of survivors.

FSA seeks to create a consistent, national platform for local and state based sexual, domestic and family violence law reform and policy, with the ultimate aim of ensuring that every survivor of sexual, domestic and family violence receives the same support and experience regardless of location.

To that end, in FY22 and FY23 additional funding has helped FSA to establish the first National Survivor Advocate Program (NSAP) which is bringing together more than 150 people with lived experience of sexual, domestic and family violence from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds. Their voices are guiding the advocacy work of Full Stop Australia and helping to drive meaningful changes to policy, practice, and law reform in a safe and supported way.

Further support has helped FSA begin planning for a national online hub and information gateway for victim survivors. As part of this “Healing Pathways” initiative, resources have been developed around how survivors can engage safely with the media, with guides produced around mitigating defamation and engaging in law reform advocacy – helping to empower survivors who wish to speak publicly of their experiences.

Numerous reports and studies – including the experiences and legacy of COVID-19 lockdowns – indicate that prevention and early intervention strategies to address mental health concerns in young people are critically important in preventing these escalating and becoming crippling. Following Antipodes’ connection with ReachOut through acting as a fund manager for Future Generation Global Investment Company (FGG), the Foundation is proudly supporting ReachOut together with Antipodes for the seventh year.

ReachOut has long been a recognised leader in developing modern, innovative mental health and wellbeing programs that deliver support in the most relevant way for young people to access. ReachOut has become an intuitive and digital service that connects people via online peer-support communities, one-to-one chat with trained peer workers, and data-led personalised experiences.

In FY24 support from the Foundation and Antipodes has helped ReachOut to conduct research to identify what the parents of young people need, and for which types of parents/carers ReachOut is the right type of support service. Modelling based on this research – combining parenting style, demographic factors, and personal experience of mental ill-health – provides significant insights into the challenges faced by parents and carers of 12–18 year-olds. This information will help inform ReachOut around where and how to focus service positioning, communications and marketing, to ensure the organisation is effective in helping parents support the young people in their lives.

batyr, meaning hero, is named after the famous talking elephant in Kazakhstan, and “exists to give a voice to the elephant in the room – mental health”. batyr believes that every young person in Australia should feel equipped and empowered to take charge of their mental health and wellbeing. By training a generation of young people with the tools, education and support systems to navigate challenging times, they can thrive and grow into independent, confident and happy adults.

Employees across Palisade have a strong belief in addressing issues around youth mental health – especially in regional locations – and in fostering education as a pathway to future wellbeing. batyr is therefore an ideal partner as the organisation draws on young facilitators with “lived experience” of mental health challenges to deliver peer to peer messages in schools and universities around resilience, hope and action within communities. Programs aim to engage, educate and empower participants.

The Foundation and Palisade are together supporting batyr for a sixth year to continue building networks and delivering batyr@school programs in the Central West region of NSW, with this year’s eight programs including Orange, Parkes and Peak Hill. batyr’s presence, reach and impact across the region has been steadily increasing, with these experiences and learnings now being adapted to other communities in regional NSW struggling with the effects of drought, bushfires, high cost of living pressures and the legacy of Covid-19 lockdowns.

Funds in FY24 are also expanding the online advocacy project for community leaders piloted in FY22, which is being adapted into a digital online platform housing not only modular training for advocates but also offering further resources for schools, teachers, parents and other stakeholders. This will primarily support those on the “Being Herd” workshop waitlists and those who are not yet ready to share their stories but still want to be involved, to become skilled in engaging young people and their wider communities with mental health awareness and initiatives. These online resources will have a significant long-term impact on batyr’s regional engagement strategy, which is likely to increasingly rely on advocacy roles to promote and drive batyr learnings and community interactions.

Based at Westmead in Sydney, CMRI is a world-leading independent research institute dedicated to discovering how to prevent or treat birth defects and diseases. As Australia’s first medical research facility dedicated to children, CMRI has been helping to save the lives of children for over 60 years. The award winning institute has built an international reputation for high impact research dedicated to tackling the leading causes of death in children: cancer, congenital disorders (birth defects), and genetic diseases.

Following input from employees across Plato and Resolution Capital, the Foundation will for a seventh year join with both fund managers to partner with CMRI in 2024. Combined donations will support a new research project: Targeting cancer cell immortality to improve treatment of aggressive cancers. CMRI’s research is laying the foundations for development of new therapeutic approaches, which specifically target the molecular pathways that allow cancer cells to replicate without restraint (replicative immortality). This replicative immortality is a fundamental property of most cancers, and is enabled by molecular mechanisms that function to maintain the length of chromosomal-end structures (telomeres). The activation of a telomere maintenance mechanism in cancer cells establishes Achilles heel-like vulnerabilities, that CMRI aims to exploit in the development of new cancer therapies.

The ILF’s purpose is to invest in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities to provide the tools and resources they request to shape the direction of their children’s literacy futures. Through collaborative investment in Community and meaningful strategic partnerships, the ILF supports sustainable and positive change in Indigenous literacy through the supply of books and a focus on the publication of Indigenous content.

Five V and the Foundation are commencing their partnership with ILF in FY24, and together are supporting three inspiring programs:

Book Buzz – aims to develop familiarity and engagement with books for children under five through a daily dedicated Story Time session, so children can develop critical pre-literacy skills. It also provides the funding for many remote Communities to translate popular books into First Languages, allowing children to start their literacy journey with books in languages spoken in their homes.

Book Supply – distributing 120,000 books per year, Book Supply is the largest curated list targeted to the specific needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. Access to books in remote Communities is challenging, as there are often no libraries or bookstores. Book Supply provides new, culturally relevant books to remote Communities across Australia. Schools, community health, and women’s centres can also order books to distribute to children and families.

Community Publishing Project – supports communities to write and illustrate their own stories in languages of their choice. These stories are created by adults and children in a Community and published by the ILF. The books are then gifted back to the Community to share with children and families. These books are highly desired because they often share a local story that a Community is familiar with and in a language they speak at home.

Resolution Capital is partnering with several organisations addressing different aspects of disadvantage currently experienced by young people across Australia.

One of these is Yalari, which since 2005 has shown an unwavering commitment to provide quality educational opportunities for Indigenous children from remote, rural and regional areas of Australia. Scholarships commencing in Year 7 are currently offered at 20 partner boarding schools across Australia, with Yalari providing students with holistic support and guidance through to Year 12 and beyond.

For the past five years Resolution Capital and the Foundation have supported Yalari’s annual Orientation Camp in January, which is the starting point for all new Year 7 students embarking on their boarding school journey. The Camp paves the way for a smooth transition from primary education and living at home to a secondary education at a boarding school. Students are given the opportunity to learn about boarding school life in an environment where they feel safe, can be inquisitive and share the journey with others both their own age and older.

In addition, Resolution Capital is sponsoring a young Kamilaroi student from Moree on her boarding school journey at Sydney’s Kambala in Rose Bay. Starting in year 7 in 2021, Lilli is a proud participant in the Rosemary Bishop Scholarship Program. In 2024 Lilli will commence year 10 with Resolution Capital’s ongoing support.

Mirabel believes that every child deserves a childhood filled with love, hope and belonging. A highly respected children’s charity operating for 25 years, Mirabel has a mission to break the destructive cycle of drug addiction. This is achieved through the delivery of proven programs for children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to their parents’ illicit drug use, supported by crisis intervention and parenting assistance for the kinship carers who largely take on the responsibility of raising them.

With the support of the Foundation, Firetrail and other funders, Mirabel commenced an Intensive Youth Support Program in the Hunter Valley region in NSW in 2021. This incorporates two key elements; preventative actions aimed at working one on one with families experiencing a crisis regarding a child’s behaviour, and therapeutic group activities which bring children and young teens together in a regular format, to connect with each other based on shared experience.

In 2021 Resolution Capital also initiated a partnership with Mirabel, in support of the wonderful “Big Day Out” events for children and families. In FY24 employees from both Resolution Capital and Firetrail will continue to volunteer at these special days, while funds from Resolution Capital will facilitate two other initiatives. These focus on offering peer support groups for grandparents and kinship carers, as well as social inclusion experiences for small groups of children and young people with similar interests and passions. .

The Foundation has supported the Alzheimer’s Research Australia (ARA) with Spheria Asset Management since 2019, and in FY22 Resolution Capital also formed a partnership with ARA. Together all three organisations are committed to supporting Alzheimer’s research, with ARA undertaking research and clinical trials aimed at exploring advances in diagnosis and treatment, with the ultimate aim of finding a cure for this debilitating disease. With 1,800 Australians diagnosed with dementia every week, the disease remains the second leading cause of death in Australia.

The joint partnerships have provided significant support to Alzheimer’s research aimed at understanding cell biology and very early-stage changes at the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, especially around gene mutation.

In FY24 funding will continue to drive research focused on developing a simple and non-invasive blood test to assess the levels of specific blood-based  Alzheimer’s disease related biomarkers, which has the potential to detect the presence of the disease well before symptoms appear. This could be a “game changer”, allowing therapies to be introduced early when they are most effective, with the ultimate goal to improve quality of life and delay placement in aged-care facilities.

Recent research results by ARA have provided promising validation of initial work – subsequently applied within in a broader cohort of patients – which have been accepted for publication. Funding will enable the development of specific assays (test kits) for the blood biomarker project. To date, the ARA research team has undertaken their initial work using commercially available assays. Given the success of their findings however, the team now needs to develop unique testing kits tuned to their own requirements, which can also generate considerable savings.

Since 2020, the Foundation has supported the Kindness Factory with its mission to make the world a kinder place, focusing on community, schools, and businesses. Kindness Factory draws on scientific research which demonstrates that kindness boosts the immune system, allowing us to live longer and live a more enriched life. Kindness is the opposite to stress – which creates tension in the nervous system, pushing our bodies into flight or fight mode. Kindness on the other hand, relaxes the nervous system, guiding it into rest. Stress is linked to mental illness; kindness is protective towards mental illness.

The Kindness Curriculum – created in 2020 – is built around 12 attributes of kindness and was initially designed as a free resource to help schools embrace this mission around increased global kindness. It has been expanded to incorporate a professional development workshop series for teachers via a Kind Schools Network which gives access to exclusive content, Kindness Factory ambassadors, kindness community activations and special experiences.

Support is directed towards the ongoing development, refresh  and continual upload of content for Network members, which now houses an annual fee for service offering – based on the 12 attributes of kindness (aligned with primary school age children), as well as masterclass videos for teachers and a resource library. New resources in 2024 will support classroom delivery, such as teacher slide packs, and suggested term-based scope and sequence for whole school delivery.

The team has also engaged with education providers to commence a robust independent research project in 2024, looking at the effect of Kindness Education on social and emotional wellbeing, and pro social behaviour of primary school children.

FY24 is the third year the Foundation is supporting YWCA Sydney’s frontline “Pathways to Independence” (PTI) program, providing emergency shelter for older women facing a crisis in homelessness. PTI has a specific focus on single, older women over 50 who are often facing homelessness – and the complex issues surrounding it – for the first time, and who are increasingly facing a system with a shocking lack of affordable housing.

According to the YWCA, only 10 per cent of homeless services specifically cater to women in the 50+ age group. Across Sydney, the PTI outreach, rehousing services, holistic case management and skills workshops offer older women support to build strategies and resilience and to feel safe and secure. The program contributes to positive life outcomes, and prevents older women from becoming entrenched in the vicious cycle of homelessness.

In FY24 the Foundation is continuing to provide additional support over and above meeting clients’ initial needs – such as crisis accommodation, bedding, white goods and groceries – and offering long term value-added help such as vocational training, work experience placements and financial education. These skills help improve women’s longer term capacity to sustain  independent living, while enhancing self esteem, confidence and community connections.

Together with Firetrail Investments, the Foundation formed a partnership with NASCA in 2022. Since 1995 NASCA has been embedding cultural knowledge into evidence-based programs that support young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to reach their full potential, supporting them to make positive, self-determined choices for their futures.

Support has been specifically directed to the CareerFit Conference – which was held in Sydney in May 2023 for the second consecutive year. The Conference  brought together 48 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders students enrolled in year 10-12 for four days. The aim was to help empower these young students to map their own careers and futures, and to explore and investigate options and opportunities open to them.

Engagement from Firetrail also included a 2 hour workshop – “Money, Monopoly and Magnificent Views!” – facilitated by the team in their office. Using fast paced games of Monopoly to introduce broad monetary concepts, students were guided through the basics of sound money habits to help prepare them for the challenges of earning and managing money after leaving school.

Following the success of the event over the past two years, FY24 funding will continue to support the CareerFit Conference in May 2024, attended by a new cohort of students. This will build on positive feedback around the value of the conference in helping to foster a positive sense of direction for NASCA students as they start to determine their future pathways, as well as building an ecosystem of corporate engagement and connectivity.

As a further way of supporting acutely disadvantaged young people, in FY22 the Foundation and Spheria established a new, Victorian based partnership with the Lighthouse Foundation. Lighthouse helps young, vulnerable people in Victoria who are homeless, and who typically come from backgrounds of long-term neglect and abuse. More than 1,000 children  and young people have secured the assistance they require to achieve a lifelong sense of belonging, the opportunity to heal and the capacity to thrive.

Within a safe home and a community to belong to, these young people are nurtured by the Lighthouse Model of Care – a holistic therapeutic treatment program drawing on over 60 years of empirical research into human development.

Funding in FY24 is being directed to establishing the Lighthouse Peer Support Program. Lighthouse believes that providing support to young people is essential, especially during challenging times. Many young people face a range of issues, such as mental health concerns, social isolation, and disconnection from their community. Peer support can be a valuable tool for young people who are struggling, as it provides them with a non-judgmental space where they can talk to someone who has shared similar experiences.

Lighthouse Foundation’s Peer Support Program has two main goals. Firstly, it aims to amplify the voices of young people in Lighthouse decision making, ensuring that youth perspectives are valued and integrated into organisational systems and processes. Secondly, it seeks to unite and provide support to young people through a network of individuals who have lived experience of homelessness and Lighthouse Foundation’s programs.

In June 2021, together with Riparian Capital Partners, the Foundation initiated a partnership with the Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust (PCT) and their Leadership Program (Women). The Trust bridges the gap between people, science, and the environment, and was founded on the philosophy that to improve Australia’s water and environmental management, we need to enhance the link between good science and effective policy making.

Through developing leaders in the water sector and raising the level of discourse – by facilitating, convening and enabling – the PCT empowers others to be effective communicators and advocates. The PCT Leadership Program (Women) is a bespoke program designed by women, for women, as recognition that women are under-represented at the leadership table, particularly across the STEM, policy and governance fields. Participants in the program are already established leaders from diverse backgrounds and careers, and this transformative leadership program empowers them to build positive influence and impact in their leadership journey.

In FY24 the Foundation and Riparian Capital Partners assisted PCT to bring both the 2023 PCT Leadership Program (Women), and the Graduation aligned events to South-East Queensland for the first time. PCT was able to use its usual Program structure, with experiential learning opportunities giving the group a rapid deep dive in self-awareness, self-leadership, and team leadership. Operating in the new Queensland location opened new opportunities for the Program during the group’s intensive week long Session 1 held in September. For example; connecting with Country and community through time spent in deep listening, the chance to experience an Ugarapul Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony, and the sharing of local lore stories.

Session Two of the 2023 Program was hosted in Brisbane, and as a result, PCT focussed the group’s policy project work on the 2032 Olympics, with arranged meetings and briefings with Olympic stakeholders. The group project – assigned by each PCT Program – is a key ingredient of the leadership development process and requires the group to explore current and complex policy matter with impacts across the environment, industry, government, and community. In this case, the opportunity to be in Brisbane and connect in-person with the place and people associated with the project topic of the Olympics, has taken the learning to a new level.

The cohort successfully presented their project report at their Graduation Ceremony in November, again in Brisbane, and shared their key learnings from both individual and group perspectives.

Photography below by PCT Fellow Tanya Doody.

RizeUp is a nationwide organisation dedicated to partnering with front-line specialist agencies and the community to provide tangible, life-changing support for families affected by domestic and family violence. Their core mission revolves around driving awareness of the prevalence of domestic and family violence within Australian society, and more crucially, generating practical assistance that offers families hope, support, and the means to break free from the cycle of violence.

In FY24 Five V will help fund the cornerstone of RizeUp’s endeavours – the ‘Homes Program.’ Founded on the belief that the journey to live a life free from violence begins with having a safe, comfortable home, funding will furnish homes for families emerging from traumatic circumstances, creating sanctuaries of comfort, support, and security.

The Foundation will fund RizeUp’s Trauma Recovery Hub, created to ensure families impacted by domestic and family violence can access specialised trauma recovery assistance and general medical attention, without the fear of being unable to cover either the Medicare gap or the full cost.

SANE offers a range of free digital and telehealth support services for people over 18 years of age with complex mental health needs, and their family, friends and carers. The organisation also provides support to people with intellectual disability, autism or acquired brain injury and mental health issues.

SANE has three goals:

• End mental health inequity through systemic change
• Eliminate stigma, discrimination, and social exclusion
• Equal employment and economic opportunity

In 2024 Five V Capital will help fund the implementation of a Safety, Risk, Management and Planning Module which will enable SANE counsellors to better support those who are risk of harm or suicide ideation.

The funding will enable SANE to invest in sophistication of its system so that when counsellors are managing crises, responses are more integrated, support better prevention and improve SANE’s response at an organisational level.

The Foundation’s funding will be directed towards digitising SANE’s Peer Ambassador and volunteer programs. This will allow SANE to improve the quality, compliance and efficiency of its programs and build their systems to scale up volunteering opportunities in the future to continue to raise awareness and reduce the stigma around complex mental health issues. Learn more about SANE at sane.org