Welcome to three new not-for-profit partners

In addition to the new charity partnerships with an Environment focus, in June 2021 the Pinnacle Charitable Foundation Board approved applications for funding to three new charity partners, which together with funding from two Affiliates, totals $140,000.

We are delighted to introduce these three new charity partnerships and the programs Pinnacle Charitable Foundation and Affiliates will be enabling.

Lighthouse Foundation – $40,000 in funding for Outreach/On For Life program as well as the Youth Resource Centre Hub, jointly funded with Spheria Asset Management

The Lighthouse Foundation has a vision to provide a safe home and community for homeless kids to belong, heal and thrive. Based in Victoria, the charity supports and cares for some of Australia’s most vulnerable kids who typically come from backgrounds of long-term neglect and abuse. Spheria will be supporting two programs with the Lighthouse partnership including:-

1. The Outreach/On For Life program, that supports kids through their first year of independence with a series of formal Individual Development Plan meetings; and
2. The reopening of the Youth Resource Centre Hub in 2022, a central hub of operations that provides a drop-in and critically important connection centre for the formerly homeless young people, based in a converted warehouse adjacent to the East Richmond train station

Through the Lighthouse Foundation, more than 1,000 kids have secured the assistance they require to achieve a lifelong sense of belonging, the opportunity to heal and the capacity to thrive. Spheria and the Foundation look forward to supporting even more homeless kids belong through this impactful new partnership.

NASCA – $40,000 in funding for CareerFit program, jointly funded with Firetrail Investments

For over 25 years, NASCA (National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy) has worked closely with communities to strengthen cultural pride and identity, and build life skills, personal development and long-term resilience. NASCA is a 100% Indigenous governed and led organisation that works in collaboration with schools and communities for meaningful and lasting engagement.

Funding from the Foundation and Firetrail is being directed towards a new NASCA initiative, a residential “CareerFit Camp” for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The camp will bring students enrolled in Year 10 – 12 to gather in Sydney at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern, with the aim of helping to empower these young students to map their own careers and futures.

YWCA – $60,000 in funding for the Pathways to Independence Program

YWCA were approached as a potential charity partner after a majority of Pinnacle employees voted to support the social area of “the crisis around homelessness amongst older women”. In Australia, there are 240,000 women over 50 experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness (HAAG and Social Ventures Australia, 2020), with only 10% of homelessness services specifically catering to women in the 50+ age group.

The Foundation is supporting the YWCA “Pathways to Independence” (PTI) Program in Sydney, an outreach service dedicated to trying to alleviate this situation. This targeted, flexible outreach program aims to enable clients to return to independent living in a place of safety, with the tools and the infrastructure to rebuild their lives.

In 2022, with additional support, the program is seeking to go beyond immediate, basic safety and shelter (such as crisis accommodation, bedding, white goods and groceries) and offer long term value-added assistance (such as vocational training, work experience placements, financial education and social connectivity).