Spotlight on Sexual, Domestic & Family Violence

One of the Foundation’s five core focus areas is Sexual, Domestic and Family Violence. Funding helps facilitate legislative reform and long-term recovery, together with advocacy for the power of lived experience, for abuse sufferers and survivors.

The Foundation formed a partnership with Full Stop Australia in FY17. Full Stop Australia is one of the country’s leading sexual, domestic and family violence response and recovery services. Funding has consistently allowed Full Stop Australia to maintain the critically important Head of Advocacy position, which has continued throughout 2024 to advocate for state and federal law reform and in particular, reform which is grounded in the lived-experience of survivors.

Funding has also enabled Full Stop Australia to establish the first National Survivor Advocate Program (NSAP) which brings together people with lived experience of sexual, domestic and family violence from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds. Throughout 2024, the NSAP’s voices have been essential in guiding the advocacy work of Full Stop Australia, helping to drive meaningful changes to policy, practice and law reform in a safe and supported way.

The Foundation, together with Five V Capital, also supports RizeUp Australia. 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. The organisation’s 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 2024 Five V helped 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 has been directed towards furnishing homes for victim-survivors emerging from traumatic circumstances, creating sanctuaries of comfort, support and security.

The Foundation funded RizeUp’s Health and Wellbeing Hub which offers victim-survivors access to essential psychological, medical and dental services, addressing the enduring effects of trauma. This innovative program bridges the gap between crisis intervention and sustained recovery, emphasising trauma-informed care to support victim-survivors on their journey to healing.

In recognition of the challenges facing women seeking emergency accommodation, a one-off donation of $30,000 was made in June to the Sydney-based Women’s Community Shelters (WCS). WCS collaborates with local communities to establish new safe crisis accommodation options for women and children. WCS is offering a new and ground-breaking ‘tri-partite’ funding model in which government, philanthropy/business and community all work to provide funding to establish and operate shelters.