Philanthropy is the key to the Australia We Want

A new report, funded by the Equity Trustees Company philanthropic Foundation, and produced by the Community Council of Australia (CCA) reveals disturbing data on how well Australia is performing against a number of values and goals prioritised by charity sector leaders.

The Australia We Want report was launched at the National Press Club in Canberra on 27 October 2016, and is confronting reading. It is the first report of its kind, benchmarking States and Territories against each other and national averages on key measures including incarceration and suicide rates, perceptions about safety and corruption, volunteering and giving levels, income inequality and educational attainment.

However, Equity Trustees, one of Australia’s leading independent trustee companies with a thriving Philanthropy division servicing more than 450 trusts and foundations, is committed to empowering change through philanthropy.

“This report presents stark and troubling data, but it is within our ability to improve on these results,” said Tabitha Lovett, General Manager, Philanthropy and Not-for-Profit Services.

“Equity Trustees distributes more than $70m of philanthropic funds each year to charities and not for profits, so we see firsthand the desire on the part of individual and corporate philanthropists to tackle the issues that result in inequality, disadvantage and fear. This Report helps us understand those issues better and target our response – and to help those who want to see change, direct their philanthropic funds in the right way for the most impact.

“Philanthropy made the funds available for this work to be done, and it will also be part of the solution.

“Our experience in working with hundreds of philanthropists during their lifetime and beyond, is that we must continually seek to understand what factors contribute to these troubling results, what works, what is broken and which interventions or initiatives will ultimately improve future findings.

“The great freedom of philanthropy is that it allows anyone to contribute to the community and look for ways to play a role and it shifts the conversation from problems to solutions and  empowering change without having to wait for government, business and ‘the economy’ to act.

“This Report is only the first step. Equity Trustees looks forward to working with the CCA and the sector it represents, to continue to report against these indicators and seek to improve upon its current findings,” she concluded.

Read The Australia We Want Report