Meet out latest grant partners
Save the Skate campaign collaborators Phoebe Rountree, Jess Coughlan, Kelly Roebuck and Adam Verwey outside the Coles Group AGM in November 2024.
Making change happen takes passion, determination and time. That’s why several familiar faces feature in our latest grant round, as we extend our support to this formidable group of changemakers, all of whom have big plans for 2025.
First Nations Futures
Focus area: First Nations justice
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people know what’s best for their communities, yet there are few opportunities for their initiatives to receive consistent long-term funding that responds to their needs and priorities. This is set to change with First Nations Futures, an innovative funding platform that gives everyone in Australia the opportunity to provide unrestricted funds for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-driven initiatives.
“It’s our second year of operating and we’ve had a massive year,” says First Nations Futures Board Director Rona Glynn-McDonald. “We’ve redistributed $320,000 to eight partners who are creating change in their communities across this continent and surrounding islands.”
The platform’s growing network of First Nations partners all align with the organisation’s focus on strengthening and investing in future generations, with each funding commitment made through the platform allocated equally to partners to support their community-led solutions.
“We’ve also run several campaigns this year, including Redistribution Week, which is about growing the pie of philanthropy from general Australians but also the upper end of town,” says Rona. “This campaign centred the voices of five amazing First Nations leaders who are creating mechanisms for redistribution through labour, land, wealth and power.”
First Nations people and culture are strong and resilient and thrive when they can set their own course. That’s why First Nations Futures is such a critical initiative. We’ve been with the platform from the start and are delighted to extend our core funding for a further two years.
Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE)
Focus area: gender justice
All Australians deserve to live free from alcohol harms — including women and children.
State and territory governments around Australia have the power to keep them safe by better regulating the way alcohol is marketed, sold and delivered into homes. But intensive lobbying by alcohol companies, which wield significant influence in the corridors of power, is stopping this from happening.
That’s why the recent commitment made by First Ministers to review every state and territory’s liquor laws is a vital opportunity for decision makers to prioritise the prevention of violence against women and children.
The Prime Minister has also acknowledged that tackling the impacts of alcohol on violence is a priority. This is the result of years of work by victim survivors and advocates who have shared their stories and called on leaders to acknowledge and act on alcohol’s role in violence.
Australian evidence shows greater access to alcohol increases the risk of violence, and the largely unregulated explosion in online sales and delivery has only added fuel to the fire.
With the Reichstein Foundation’s support, FARE will work with every government to ensure victim survivors are heard and that alcohol laws prioritise women’s and children’s health and wellbeing.
Environment Tasmania
Focus area: environmental justice
Tasmania is home to a globally unique species that emerged 60 million years ago — the Maugean Skate. But right now, the skate is fighting for its existence against the polluting foreign-owned salmon farming industry in its only remaining habitat, Macquarie Harbour. Estimates indicate as few as 40 adult skates remain.
Since December 2023, we’ve been supporting Environment Tasmania’s Save the Skate campaign, and it has achieved so much over the past year — launching the Business Alliance for the Maugean Skate, alerting the UNESCO World Heritage Committee of the skate’s plight and helping to rally over 120 Coles and Woolworths shareholders to stop an extinction emergency.
“Together with our allies, we lodged the world’s first shareholder resolution to prevent a species extinction. Our resolution put forth to Woolworths and Coles Group shareholders received the largest vote for a nature risk resolution this year,” says Environment Tasmania’s Vice Chair, Kelly Roebuck.
“The message sent to the boards of the major supermarkets is clear: that it is time that they take responsibility for their own-brand salmon’s impact on the 60-million-year-old Maugean Skate.”
Environment Tasmania’s skate resolution is one of the first globally to challenge companies on their impacts to nature — setting a precedent for years to come that investors expect companies to take nature risk seriously.
“I’ve had the privilege of working closely with Environment Tasmania on the Save the Skate investor campaign throughout 2024, and thanks to its strategic and collaborative approach and convening power, the organisation has achieved significant wins — but critical work remains to be done,” says Reichstein Foundation CEO Rachel Ball.
The Reichstein Foundation’s latest grant ensures Environment Tasmania’s campaign has the backing it needs to continue.
Solar Citizens
Focus area: environmental justice
In Australia, nuclear energy is not compatible with home solar and will lead to home solar being switched off — a massive economic blow to the 4 million Australians who have invested $25 billion into their home solar.
We’re backing Solar Citizen’s ‘Defend and Extend’ campaign to urge the Australian Government to build on our country’s great home solar track-record and provide support for home batteries so that Australians can harness their rooftop solar energy day and night and create energy grid stability. We need to remove barriers to rooftop solar for more Australians and harness rooftop solar’s potential to drive down the cost of living and carbon emissions.
Solar Citizens is well placed to make this case, as an independent, community-based organisation working to protect and grow renewable energy and transport in Australia.
350.org
Focus: First Nations justice, environmental justice
Australia’s extraction and export of coal and gas is a major contributor to the global climate crisis. For decades, Traditional Owners have been resisting the extraction of these resources on their land, and today, a growing movement is pushing back against the fossil fuel industry’s influence.
350.org seeks to harness this movement and build grassroots support for climate action. It organises in electorates where climate concerns are high, and where MPs have the power to influence government policies on fossil fuels — the organisation’s efforts aiming to apply electoral pressure to push for stronger climate policies.
One of 350.org’s key initiatives is the Our Islands Our Home campaign led by Torres Strait Islanders. This campaign uses storytelling, art and culture to unite communities in both the Torres Strait and mainland Australia — celebrating Torres Strait Islander culture and continuing their long-standing resistance to extraction.
In March 2025, 350.org will build on this campaign by hosting a series of storytelling events. These events will amplify First Nations voices, sharing personal stories, music, dance and art to raise awareness of the impacts of fossil fuel projects. The goal? To inspire Australians to stand in solidarity with these communities and take action to stop harmful fossil fuel projects.
These events will highlight the direct impacts of extraction but also motivate new audiences to act on climate change, working together to protect the environment and First Nations communities — an outcome we’re delighted to support through the Lore Germain bequest.
