Climate Integrity is helping to raise the bar on what genuine climate leadership looks like in corporate Australia.

Launching in 2023, the organisation advocates for policies, standards and regulations governing net zero commitments to be aligned with climate science, ensuring businesses make credible, accountable pledges rather than relying on greenwashing or misleading claims.

In just two years, Climate Integrity has delivered significant impact. It has lodged a high-profile ACCC complaint over Qantas’ alleged greenwashing, exposed corporate lobbying against climate policy through its Risky Influence report, and assessed the net zero targets of 10 of Australia’s largest companies, finding many falling short of global best practice.

More recently, the organisation has challenged industry support for major gas expansion, highlighted global ‘real zero’ leaders such as Fortescue, IKEA and Lendlease, and exposed the misuse of consultancy modelling to delay climate action.

We are proud to have backed Climate Integrity from the very beginning and to support its ongoing work through a multi-year commitment.

Resource Generation is a global network of young people with inherited, earned or future wealth. Its mission is to educate people with wealth about the roots of inequality and equip them to redistribute wealth, land and power in solidarity with movements for social justice. This model is seeing rapid growth in the US, UK and Canada, and has finally made its way to Australia. As a supporting partner, we’re excited to see what unfolds from here.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities know what’s best for their own futures, yet securing consistent, long-term funding that reflects their priorities remains a challenge.

That’s where First Nations Futures comes in — a trailblazing First Nations organisation we’ve proudly supported since day one. Through its innovative funding platform, people across Australia can contribute unrestricted funds directly to First Nations community-led projects creating intergenerational change for young people, climate and culture.

It’s more than just a funding platform — it’s about First Nations justice and redistributing wealth and power, shifting capital into the hands of those who have been systematically excluded from it.

In 2016, we provided the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network (Seed) with one of its first grants, enabling the network to invest in growing their base of support. Seed plays a critical role in Australia’s climate justice movement as the country’s first Indigenous-led organisation working to engage young Indigenous people in developing and leading solutions to the climate crisis.

Australians hold the record for the highest gambling spending per person globally, with a disproportionate impact on low-income earners. In 2015, we backed the establishment of the Alliance for Gambling Reform (AGR), which united long-term gambling reform advocates to bolster and grow their efforts to prevent and reduce gambling harm.

Over the past year, AGR has continued to advocate for the Australian Government to implement a raft of reforms, including the total ban on gambling advertising. We’ve supported this through our grant-making but also through shareholder advocacy and signing an open letter (PDF) urging both Government and Opposition to act.

In 2018, the Reichstein Foundation provided early support to get ACOSS’ Raise the Rate campaign off the ground. The campaign tackles poverty and inequality by raising the rate of Jobseeker and Youth Allowance payments. Throughout the campaign ACOSS ensured that people on low incomes were directly involved in policy, strategy and advocacy. Over five years the campaign has secured around $9.5 billion in additional social support for people on the lowest incomes. 

We continue to support ACOSS’s work, including its partnership with Melbourne Law School to deliver the Community Tax Project.

In the early 1990’s the Reichstein Foundation took a chance on the newly launched Victorian Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), now known as Environmental Justice Australia (EJA), and provided the funding needed to launch its strategic litigation and legal advocacy work. Thirty years on, EJA is one of Australia’s strongest climate justice advocates, using the law to protect nature and safeguard the environment. Our commitment to EJA has remained strong, and in 2014, when the EDO refined its approach and relaunched as EJA, we stuck by their side and provided support to help them through the transition.

In 1982, we provided vital funding to get the Koori Health Worker Training Program off the ground. One of the first of its kind in Australia, the program enabled First Nations community members to receive basic healthcare training through a partnership with the University of Melbourne. On returning to their communities’ program participants acted as liaisons between community members and healthcare providers, creating better access to – and trust in – formal medical services. We’re proud to have supported the program’s inception, enabling First Nations community members to bridge the gap in healthcare access.

The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) is working for an Australia free from alcohol harms — where communities are healthy and well, and where laws, policies and programs are fair, equitable and just.

In June 2024, the Reichstein Foundation backed FARE to seize an unexpected opportunity to progress alcohol regulation reforms to reduce men’s violence against women and children. Our funding enabled FARE to assist survivors of domestic violence participate in public and direct advocacy.

In September 2024 at National Cabinet, First Ministers agreed to review every state and territory’s liquor laws to prioritise the prevention of violence against women and children. 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.

FARE is closely monitoring how each jurisdiction is progressing against this commitment. In the meantime, we continue to support FARE’s work to drive strong reforms and positive change at the state and territory level.

In 2025, our Save the Skate campaign partners, including Environment Tasmania, Neighbours of Fish Farming and SIX, turned up the shareholder pressure on big supermarkets Coles and Woolworths.

Together, they’re campaigning to get these big companies to stop sourcing salmon from Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast — the only home of the threatened 60-million-year-old Maugean skate.

Their campaign urged the supermarkets to assess the impact of their farmed seafood on threatened species like the skate — and Coles listened and acted! They shared the information for everyone to see in their Sustainability Report. Plus, they stopped putting the misleading “responsibly sourced” labels on their Own-Brand Tasmania salmon.

At Woolworths, over 34% of shareholders defied the Board to vote in support of our campaign partners’ shareholder resolution. It’s the highest nature-based shareholder vote globally, and a solid increase on 2024’s 30% vote.

We’re proud to be part of this history-making campaign bringing the plight of the skate and the issues regarding salmon farming in Tasmanian waterways to a global audience.

For decades the Reichstein Foundation has been backing organisations fighting on the frontlines for LGBTIQ+ rights and equality. And in 2017 the tireless endeavours of LGBTQ+ rights advocates across Australia, including a number of our grant partners, yielded a historic outcome – enshrining the right for same-sex couples to marry into law. The Reichstein Foundation put considerable resources into the YES campaign and helped to coordinate a collective response from foundations and private donors in support of marriage equality. 

Tom Snow from YES central, wrote that, ‘Quite simply, this result would not have happened without philanthropy. It has been critical.’

In 2021, we backed the Hands Off Our Charities Alliance, which has since become the Stronger Charities Alliance. The coalition, comprising over 120 charities under the coordination of the Australian Democracy Network, strives to safeguard the ability for not-for-profits to engage in advocacy. After years of dedicated campaigning, the alliance achieved a significant victory by successfully bringing down legislation that could have given the government authority to shut down charities engaged in advocacy. This achievement proved crucial in preserving civil society, free speech, and the integrity of our democracy.

In 2013, the Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre settled a landmark racial profiling suit against Victoria Police, forcing them to review their training and field practices to put an end to racial profiling and discrimination. The Reichstein Foundation provided the legal team with the resources they needed to carry out in-depth research and data analysis, which formed the basis of evidence for their litigation. 

“We turned to Reichstein in our hour of need. It was one minute to midnight. Without that funding, we would have had to withdraw from the case. When it truly mattered, they were there.” – Peter Seidel, Arnold Bloch Leibler’s and lead litigator on the case. 

Watch their story: Changing The Rules Doing Social Justice Philanthropy 

In 2018, our support played a pivotal role in the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s (AMCS) efforts to safeguard the Great Barrier Reef against further degradation and hold the Australian and Queensland Governments accountable for its rejuvenation. AMCS focused on advocating for a revision to the UNESCO World Heritage climate change policy, overseen by the UN’s World Heritage Committee.  This action prompted a notice to the governments that without intervention the reef could be added to the Committee’s endangered list, resulting in reputational damage and tourism decline. The governments were compelled to oversee a comprehensive management plan aimed at restoring the Reef’s vitality. 

In 2008, we provided support to the Yorta Yorta Nation and Friends of the Earth to establish the co-managed Barmah-Millewa National Park. This move, recognized as one of Australia’s Top 50 Philanthropic Gifts, ensured that the Yorta Yorta Nation had the management rights they needed to protect and govern their ancestral land. With other partners, a total of $180,000 was invested into creating 200,000 hectares of new red gum conservation areas and national parks, including a ban on logging and cattle grazing in these areas. 

Read more about the other big wins we’ve helped make possible in our annual reports below.