About Us
Australian Progress revitalises civil society movements, enabling them to win social and environmental progress and strengthen our democracy. Together with hundreds of partners, we ensure the community interest shapes our nation’s priorities. We work across three core pillars:
Skills
We transform the skills of community leaders - equipping them with advocacy expertise through:
Our prestigious Fellowship program with over 775 alumni from all corners of civil society.
Dozens of short trainings, workshops and masterclasses held every year.
Our annual International Guests in Residence program, bringing world leading change makers to Australia to share knowledge and skills.
Our study trips, connecting civil society leaders with social movements around the world.
Community
We foster community - building relationships, knowledge sharing, and inspiring courage through:
Our flagship conference, Progress, the peak event for Australian civil society.
Our biennial Leadership conference for 200+ civil society CEOs at Old Parliament House.
Our FWD+Organise summit, the primary gathering of digital campaigners and organisers.
Our online spaces connecting 1,000+ change makers.
Our 700+ person Fellowship alumni community.
SHARED Action
We drive shared action - catalysing new ideas, funding, research and strategic support through:
Our Progress Labs incubator that has launched 23 organisations to fill critical advocacy gaps in civil society.
The Economic Media Centre, coaching and pitching a diverse network of spokespeople to shift the narrative on economic justice.
Connecting philanthropy and advocacy, including our Rapid Advocacy Fund donor pool.
Strategic collaborations facilitating powerful civil society alliances.
Major narrative and messaging research projects.
Our Story
Australian Progress was founded in July 2012 as a major initiative to build civil society’s capacity to run winning advocacy campaigns and engage the public on the big issues facing our future. We were launched by a broad alliance of Australian civil society groups, including United Voice, Together, Australian Conservation Foundation, World Vision Australia, Cancer Council NSW and the World Wildlife Fund and a broad spectrum of other respected nonprofits.
In too many areas - from marriage equality, to climate change, to our engagement with the world - Australia was standing still or going backwards. To a significant extent this could be attributed to systemic weakness in civil society’s voice - a skills crisis, competition rather than collaboration, and a lack of investment in advocacy work.
In the years since we’ve made striking progress - as indicated by milestones such as the graduation of the 750th Progress Fellow; the hosting of our 5th major 1,000+ person Progress conference (in 2020, virtually for the first time), and the launch of our 23rd incubated organisation.
Australian civil society is now markedly more capable, more connected, and more courageous. We’ve created a category shaping organisation, raised over $8 million to date, and built a community of 8,000+ change makers from more than 400 of civil society’s most impactful organisations. We have led narrative research projects that have shaped the words used by campaigners across the country, connected philanthropy with impactful grassroots leaders to fund winning campaigns, and mentored the next generation of social change leaders. We’ve built a global reputation and closely guarded our independent, non-partisan role. We thank everyone who has been part of this.
While 2020 poses significant challenges for civil society, there’s no doubt that we are now stronger, more impactful and more united than ever before. This represents a strong foundation, but there is clearly so much still to do.
OUR APPROACH
ExpertISE
We are staffed by some of Australia’s most experienced and sought-after advocacy experts. Our programs are enhanced by decades of experience.
INTERSECTIONAL
We work at the intersection issues, bringing together social movements to build powerful alliances that tackle overlapping crises.
Committed to excellence
We are committed to operating with the highest degrees of professionalism, best-practice programs, communications, a renowned board, and great diligence with financial management.
Centring lived experience
We are focused on increasing accessibility for marginalised communities and those with lived experience of the issues – centring the voices of those closest to crises, and therefore closest to the solutions that are urgently needed.
Network Centric
We bind together a powerful network of 8,000+ individuals and 400+ organisations. We tap into their skills and capacities to extend our own, and build a strong sense of community.
Independent
We are non-partisan, nonprofit and do not engage in party politics. We believe democracy works best when the community is deeply engaged on the issues and its voice is heard.
