Shifting systems: meet out latest grant partners

Across the country, our partners are building movements that shift systems — strengthening democracy, protecting the environment and advancing First Nations self-determination and economic power. Each brings deep expertise and a shared belief in justice and collective action.

First Nations Economic Empowerment Alliance

Australia has never had a comprehensive macroeconomic policy for First Nations peoples — a gap that has entrenched systemic disadvantage. Stepping into this policy vacuum is the First Nations Economic Empowerment Alliance, an historic collaboration putting Indigenous economic prosperity at the centre of the national agenda.

The first of its kind in Australia, the Alliance builds on two years of research by the Australian National University First Nations Portfolio and follows the Murru Waaruu economic outcomes report. This report called for a transformative shift in how governments and industry approach Indigenous economic empowerment; one based on wealth creation, not welfare.

The Alliance brings together leading organisations including the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, First Australians Capital, the National Native Title Council, the Self Determination Fund and others. Guided by an advisory group of prominent leaders, the Alliance combines deep cultural knowledge with decades of expertise in business, law and governance.

Together, they are advancing a broad agenda spanning fiscal and economic reform, institutional design, trade and cultural property rights — key levers to ensure First Nations peoples are recognised as partners in the economy.

For the Reichstein Foundation, supporting the Alliance is a natural extension of our long-standing commitment to advancing First Nations economic rights.

“For generations, First Nations peoples have been locked out of the economy and excluded from the economic prosperity built on Aboriginal land. As the Yoorrook Justice Commission found, economic justice and self-determination go hand in hand. The Foundation is proud to support the Alliance’s work to advance First Nations economic rights in Australia,” says Reichstein Foundation CEO Rachel Ball.

Environment Tasmania & Neighbours of Fish Farming

Environment Tasmania (ET) and Neighbours of Fish Farming (NOFF) are collaborating on the Save the Skate campaign to protect the Maugean skate — a 50-million-year-old ‘living dinosaur fish’ now found only in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour. Scientists warn the Skate is just one extreme weather event away from extinction.

The Australian Government’s own conservation advice identifies salmon farming as the primary threat to the species, calling for the urgent removal of farms from the harbour. In the absence of government action, ET and NOFF are driving investor and consumer advocacy to create change — pressuring Australia’s major supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, to stop stocking salmon sourced from Macquarie Harbour.

The campaign achieved global recognition in 2024 for securing the highest vote for a nature resolution and is gaining growing support from institutional investors, including super funds, ahead of the 2025 supermarket AGMs. Cutting this supply chain would strike at the heart of the industry’s business case and help save the Skate from extinction.

The Reichstein Foundation has supported ET and NOFF since the beginning — working in partnerships with the Sustainable Investment Exchange (which has provided the infrastructure for shareholder activism), joining supermarket meetings and purchasing shares in Coles and Woolworths to bring and vote for shareholder resolutions.

Together, we’re helping elevate the Maugean skate’s plight to the national stage, combining strategy, collaboration and advocacy to protect one of Australia’s oldest living species.

Common Threads

Co-founded by Dr Jackie Huggins AO, Millie Telford and Larissa Baldwin-Roberts, Common Threads is a First Nations-led organisation building collective power for justice, self-determination and systemic change.

Over the past five years, the team has led major movement-building and storytelling initiatives, from the groundbreaking Passing the Message Stick research to summits that have brought together hundreds of people in Magandjin (Brisbane) and Gimuy (Cairns).

In 2025, Common Threads officially launched as an independent, non-profit organisation. With an ambitious goal to raise and re-invest $100 million into First Nations-led movements over the next decade, Common Threads has set its sights on resourcing and amplifying First Nations leadership at scale. Its current priorities include:

• Action on climate: With COP31 likely to be hosted in Australia and momentum building for climate action, Common Threads is helping shape campaigns for climate justice.
• Action on Treaty and truth-telling: Common Threads is building a movement of mob and allies to create unstoppable momentum, beginning with Treaty in Victoria, where landmark legislation is now before Parliament.
• First Nations leadership and changemaking: By addressing the chronic under-resourcing of First Nations solutions and advocacy, Common Threads is creating the strategic backbone for leadership and changemaking across the country.

At its heart, Common Threads is about weaving together people, power and purpose to create lasting, systemic change — an ambition we share.

Australian Democracy Network

The Australian Democracy Network (ADN) is strengthening the foundations of Australian democracy by uniting more than 200 civil society organisations and over 13,000 individuals committed to democratic integrity, advocacy and civil liberties. Together, they campaign for a healthy and vibrant democracy.

Since ADN’s establishment in 2020, the Reichstein Foundation has been one of its earliest and most consistent supporters, providing multiple grants — both directly and through Mannifera — to help build a coordinated, resilient pro-democracy movement.

ADN’s work centres on protecting and strengthening public interest advocacy, building civil society capability and countering disinformation. It convenes the Stronger Charities Alliance, a network of more than 170 organisations defending the right to advocate, and trains advocates to engage effectively with government, influence policy and sustain robust public debate. ADN also brings together organisations working to ensure that protest remains a vital pillar of accountability and civic participation.

By connecting, equipping and mobilising Australia’s democracy movement, ADN continues to be a cornerstone of civil society, campaigning for a democracy strong enough to enable the progressive, systemic change that underpins the Reichstein Foundation’s mission.