NOVEMBER 2023

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We've recently returned from an inspiring and fun weekend retreat with the Snow Entrepreneurs - now 17 of them! The second cohort of nine visionary social impact leaders was announced last month and we look forward to sharing some retreat photos and stories in our next edition.

Our new staff member, Bhanvi Anand joined us on the retreat as she'll be playing a key role in supporting the Entrepreneurs with Alex and looking after our catalytic impact investments as Portfolio and Partnerships manager - welcome Bhanvi! 

In other good news, my father Terry Snow AM, co-founder and chair of The Snow Foundation, has become the third recipient of the Hands Across Canberra Canberra Philanthropy Award, in recognition of Terry’s lifetime dedication to helping those in need. 

Also in Canberra, board member Scarlett Gaffey facilitated a panel event with education experts who've led their schools to a significant improvement in student performance. This followed the results of the Equity Economics literacy report we funded, revealing that a significant number of students in the ACT are struggling to meet literacy benchmarks.

Voice to Parliament Referendum - we're saddened that this tremendous opportunity has been lost. We invested a lot of time in striving for a successful referendum and are very proud to have stood up for our values and beliefs. We will continue to listen to First Nation leaders and communities on First Nations justice and increase investment in First Nations communities and programs with a focus on self-determination and sustainability. This commitment is echoed by the philanthropy sector, as voiced at the recent Philanthropy Meets Parliament Summit – a very successful gathering that saw Government and Philanthropy working together to double giving.

Collaboration was also at the core of my recent presentation at the World Heart Federation Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) World Congress in Abu Dhabi, with 450+ people across 52 countries. We had encouraging feedback and validation from global leaders about the important work we are contributing to with several key partners to #endRHD.

At the Congress, we spoke of our community work including partners such as Orange Sky who are creating impact with their commitment to healthy hygiene and self-determination. In 2018 we supported a remote mobile laundry feasibility study, followed by the 2019 launch of a mobile laundry in the remote NT community of Maningrida - there are now mobile laundry vans working in 13 remote communities. We chat with Orange Sky founders Nick and Lucas below.

Enjoy the read!

Best wishes,

Panelists from L to R: Anu Gomanju, - NCDI Poverty Network, Kathmandu, Kenya McAdam & Henrinque Thomas – Australian Champions4Change, Erini Tokarua from Cure Kids, Fij & Vicki Wade 

 RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE WORLD CONGRESS ABU DHABI

The Congress highlighted the global energy and commitment to eliminating this neglected disease that affects 40 million people (mostly children/youth) and takes over 300,000 lives each year globally. It exists mostly in low-income countries where poverty is widespread, yet in our high-income Nation, Australia’s Indigenous communities have some of the highest rates.

In the ‘Snow’ symposium, we shared our collaborative community focused support over the past decade, in particular the scabies elimination project, the Deadly Heart Trek and Champions4Change – outlined in our flyer here.

A huge shout out to the awesome First Nations champions we supported to attend, and to the Australian panel we facilitated – Dawn Casey of NACCHO, Prof Jonathan Carapetis of Telethon, Vicki Wade of Heart Foundation, Dr Bo Remenyi and Dr Gavin Wheaton of Deadly Heart Trek - and to so many within the Australian RHD sector for showcasing world-class work being done to #endRHD. It was evident that Australia is highly regarded for its work with world-known leading doctors, Indigenous leaders, researchers and scientists.

Many thanks to our expert panel moderated by Speech Pathologist and Snow Foundation Director Scarlett Gaffey; Lachlan Yeates, Principal at Cranbourne Primary School, Sean Rutledge – Principal at St Francis of Assisi Primary School, Jessica Colleu Terradas – a Churchill Fellow. Thanks also to Monique Egan – A/Principal at St Vincent Primary School and Manisha Gazula, Principal at Marsden Road Public School (not pictured)

 IMPROVING STUDENT OUTCOMES - EXPERT PANEL EVENT

This event spotlighted schools who've rapidly lifted the performance of students. The expert panel of impressive principals shared their school's transformation process, including getting research into the classrooms. The students (especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds) have thrived and achieved excellent results.

The event follows the important Equity Economics report we funded which revealed one in three 15-year-old students in the ACT fall below the national proficient standard for reading. Change is needed.

Terry Snow AM was presented the 2023 Canberra Philanthropy Award by Chief Minister Andrew Barr. 

"Humbled and honored" said Terry when presented with the Canberra Philanthropy Award for 2023 from Hands Across Canberra (HAC) for outstanding lifetime dedication to improving the lives of those in need.

Yes23 campaign co-chair and Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman, Rachel Perkins has issued the call online. Source: AAP / BIANCA DE MARCHI/AAPIMAGE

REFERENDUM REFLECTIONS

We're proud to have campaigned alongside First Nations leaders and remain hopeful for the future. Here's a few bright spots, amongst the devastating loss:

• A much-needed national conversation has been had
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait voices were elevated - the Nation now knows and respects many more prominent First Nations leaders
• Our collective understanding that more must be done to improve Indigenous outcomes was made clear, despite the vote
• New friendships were forged across Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, growing our empathy and understanding of our different cultures
• The campaign increased awareness of issues specific to Indigenous people including rheumatic heart disease
• Support to Constitutional Recognition and Voice grew to over 6.2 million supportive Australians (40% of Australia) coming off a low base of mostly just Indigenous people (3%)
• Indigenous communities voted Yes, reminding the Nation, that’s what was wanted
• Grassroots volunteers rose to over 50k, with 80k volunteers on polling day - more volunteers on any campaign in Australian history 
• We are glad we hosted many education events, and had many conversations about Indigenous history and Constitutional Recognition

Links:

• The Week of Silence message – shared by Indigenous leaders spoke of a bitter irony that people who had been here for 235 years refused to recognise those whose home it had been for 60,000 years
• Joint Statement from philanthropy group 

CANBERRA FOUNDATIONS COLLABORATIVE
LEADERSHIP SEMINAR

The Canberra Foundations Collaborative’s third capacity-building seminar took place in mid-November discussing Leadership.

We’re so grateful to the expert panel who shared leadership styles and approaches: Lavinia Tyrrel - Karinya House, Glenda Stevens - Fearless Women, Andrew Turvey - Together 4 Youth and Cal Bruton - Bruton Basketball Foundation. Attendees from local for-purpose organisations had a great afternoon of learning and networking.

MEET OUR PARTNERS: Q&A WITH NICHOLAS AND LUCAS, ORANGE SKY

How would you describe Orange Sky?

Orange Sky started back in 2014 when the two of us tried (and failed twice) to put a washing machine and dryer into our van Sudsy with a mission to provide clean clothes and conversation to our friends doing it tough in our local Brisbane community. Orange Sky has always been built on innovation, creating meaningful and safe spaces for our friends, and above all else giving things a crack! We are a team who are here to show up and lend a hand, an ear and a shoulder for our friends and each other every day.

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