Welcome to Melanie Scaife, our new Engagement Manager
Melanie Scaife, Engagement Manager, Reichstein Foundation
We’re delighted to welcome Melanie Scaife to the Reichstein Foundation as our Engagement Manager. Working closely with our CEO Rachel Ball, Melanie will play a key role in delivering the Foundation’s communications, events and granting programs.
Melanie joins us from the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network (AEGN) where she worked in strategic communications — ultimately designed to support AEGN members protect nature and secure a safe climate through effective philanthropy. The Reichstein Foundation is a member and founding partner of the AEGN.
“Last year, Jill Reichstein and Lucy Larkins took part in a podcast series I worked on, the AEGN’s Giving Their All. Their conversation left an impression, one that stayed with me long after the episode went to air,” says Melanie.
“Their deep commitment to the Foundation’s mission, so beautifully encapsulated in just three words — change not charity — is inspiring and one I share. Over the past 50 years of granting, they’ve shown that philanthropy has the power to change systems and perspectives, and I look forward to helping them continue this work, which is needed now more than ever.
Key to this role will be fostering respectful and collaborative relationships with stakeholders in civil society and philanthropy, as well as amplifying the voices of the Foundation’s grant partners.”
Melanie has more than 20 years’ experience working in the for-purpose and philanthropic sectors, including through her own communications consultancy, where she worked on campaigns and projects for WWF, Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), Oxfam Australia, CSIRO and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, among others.
Melanie’s career began in the arts, and she holds qualifications in fine arts (painting) and communications, with postgraduate qualifications in international development and publishing and editing. She is an Accredited Editor with the Institute of Professional Editors.
Please join us in welcoming Melanie to the team!
