Page 2552 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 2013
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Members will be familiar with the many and varied celebrations and events taking place in 2013 to mark our centenary. The impressive program of events would simply not be possible without support from a huge range of organisations—the ACT government, the Australian government, ActewAGL, the Commonwealth Bank, Capital Chemist, Deloitte, the NRMA, Canberra CBD Ltd, contentgroup, SBS, ABC, the Canberra Times and many more.
Specific philanthropic support has been provided in a number of centenary arts projects, and this support has been vital for those projects. That includes the Sidney Myer Fund support for one river, a project connecting Canberra to communities in the Murray-Darling Basin and the Yulgibar Foundation support for the catalogue of dreams, an original theatre work about the experience of young Canberrans in the justice and welfare systems. The foundation is also supporting the scentenary garden to benefit mental health patients at Calvary. The Thyne Reid Foundation supported Hipbone Sticking Out, at the Canberra Theatre, a highlight of the centenary’s Indigenous cultural program.
There has also been a lot of business support for philanthropy here in the ACT and it is important to recognise that businesses are already seeing the value of philanthropy. Influential former head of the Australian public service, Dr Peter Shergold, has spoken on how corporate giving has changed over a generation in the quietest of revolutions. Back in 2010, he noted that there was an increasing recognition that financial benefits can accrue from working with the community. Many companies have reported that employee recruitment and morale improvement have been achieved when they engage in community-based activities that are benchmarked and reported upon. But that is not all. In a world in which ethical consumers and socially responsible investors are flexing their muscles, reputational advantage has increasing value.
There are many examples of the business community’s strong philanthropic tradition. While larger organisations often have sophisticated philanthropic programs in place, often there is willingness to give amongst smaller organisations but an uncertainty about how to go about that.
In the ACT last month, the Deputy Chief Minister participated in the future for philanthropic partnerships forum which discussed a growing interest in the collaboration across sectors for philanthropic purposes. I look forward to hearing from the Deputy Chief Minister on this conversation.
Colleagues, in the 20th century philanthropy was often seen as the domain of wealthy individuals and large corporations, usually in America rather than in Australia. But philanthropy is now recognised as an activity we can all encourage and can all take part in. There is a growing recognition that we can all give back to our communities in different ways. And there is a growing recognition that giving our time and skills to an organisation or individual in need would not only improve their situation but also make us feel more connected to our own community.
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