Meet our latest grant partners

In September, we renewed funding to two longer-term grant partners and committed to supporting three new grantees. While their work spans a broad range of social and environmental issues, all are seeking to transform unjust systems to enable new and sustainable patterns to emerge.

GiveOUT
Focus area: gender justice

Despite significant progress, LGBTQIA+ communities continue to experience disproportionate rates of mental ill health, isolation, homelessness and economic marginalisation.

LGBTQIA+ community-led solutions are best placed to tackle these ongoing challenges, however the LGBTQIA+ sector is chronically underfunded, receiving just 5 cents in every $100 philanthropic dollars.

GiveOUT is an LGBTQIA+ led organisation focused on increasing philanthropic dollars to rainbow communities and acting as a resource centre for all Australian LGBTQIA+ organisations and not-for-profits. In September, we reaffirmed our commitment to GiveOUT’s work, including its upcoming GiveOUT Day (Thursday 17 October) — an annual national day of giving to LGBTQIA+ not-for-profits.

We encourage our philanthropic peers to get behind the day — there are currently more than 50 organisations ready to receive your support. You can also choose to ‘Give to the entire Rainbow‘ and GetOUT will distribute your donations to all organisations. Together, we can help build a thriving LGBTQIA+ community sector in Australia.

Neighbours of Fish Farming
Focus area: environmental justice

Tasmania is home to a unique wilderness of astonishingly beautiful bays, inlets, beaches and rivers with incredible wildlife. But these natural wonders face a myriad of threats from industrial salmon farming. Our grant partner Neighbours of Fish Farming are the neighbours nature needs, including for one of its most vulnerable inhabitants.

An animal as old as the dinosaurs, the Maugean Skate has been pushed to the brink of extinction by industrial salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour.

“We have this unique animal in this unique waterway … it’s going to be the thylacine of the sea — the pre-historic animal that we absolutely let become extinct because of anthropogenic causes.” Read on

Climate Integrity
Focus area: environmental justice

Last year, we provided seed funding to Climate Integrity; now the project’s officially up and running, we’re delighted to continue our support.

Climate Integrity is advancing the call for credible, ambitious policy benchmarks for corporate net zero pledges and transition plans that raise the bar on business action, reduce greenwashing, combat the misuse of offsets and influence new binding regulations — ultimately contributing to faster and fairer emissions reductions and restoring public trust in climate action.

It’s a big agenda and Climate Integrity is not wasting any time. Since launching in February, it’s released two major reports: Risky Influence, detailing the legal implications of misaligned climate-related lobbying by Australian companies, and Net Zero Integrity, which found that several of Australia’s largest companies lack adequate plans for reducing their emissions in line with a scientific pathway.

As Climate Integrity makes clear, Australia still has a significant climate integrity gap – where net zero pledges are frequently unsubstantiated, lack credibility or are not 1.5 degrees aligned. ACCC is reporting a rise in corporate greenwashing and misleading claims and 30% of Australian companies do not intend to meet their own stated climate targets. Certainly, there’s a lot of work ahead. Our gratitude to Climate Integrity for taking up the challenge!

“It is unacceptable that some of the biggest companies in Australia are obstructing and delaying Australia’s transition to net zero, contrary to their public commitments. These companies are involved in every aspect of our lives, from groceries, planes, mobile networks and steel. Consumers, investors and shareholders deserve to know if a public net zero pledge adds up to much at all.”

— Claire Snyder, Director, Climate Integrity

Saltwater People
Focus areas: First Peoples’ justice; environmental justice

Saltwater People is a newly formed national alliance established to support First Nations groups in opposing invasive offshore fossil fuel developments in their Sea Country.

Many of these groups have been grappling with an overwhelming cycle of consultations, which are often presented in jargon and designed to intimidate and silence. The Saltwater People alliance is designed to address this power imbalance by providing a centralised support structure for Traditional Owners fighting industrialisation of their traditional waters.

Saltwater People will work on developing a shared understanding of the issues faced by Traditional Owners in protecting Sea Country, record Sea Country dreaming and songline stories, and create a base for supporters of this work. The alliance also plans to lend strength to First Nations people facing similar projects overseas and offer precedents for opposition to fossil fuel projects on cultural terms.

Resource Generation Australia
Focus area: economic justice

A record $2.6 trillion is expected to be transferred across generations between 2021 and 2040, with $1.1 trillion of that happening in the next decade. This shift in wealth offers a significant opportunity for philanthropy.

Resource Generation Australia (RGA) is taking on the task of organising the people who are inheriting this wealth in Australia to fight for social justice. This model is seeing rapid growth in the US, UK and Canada, but there is nothing yet like it in Australia.

RGA will be a network of young people with inherited, earned or future wealth. Their mission: to educate people with wealth about the roots of inequality and equip them to take bold action to redistribute wealth, land and power in solidarity with movements for social justice.

The Reichstein Foundation believes RGA has the potential to contribute to the growth and evolution of social change philanthropy in Australia, including for more and better funding for systemic change and economic justice, working alongside like-minded coalitions such as the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network and Australians Investing In Women. We’re excited to see what unfolds!