Philanthropy Hub
Australian Progress builds the capacity of civil society to achieve systems change. Our work is divided into three pillars:
Skills
We transform the skills of community leaders - equipping them with cutting-edge leadership and advocacy skills.
Connections
We foster community - building relationships, knowledge sharing, and inspiring courage.
Action
We drive shared action - catalysing new ideas, funding, research and strategic support.
To discuss philanthropic engagement with civil society, grassroots advocacy movements or Australian Progress please contact Kirsty Albion at kirsty@australianprogress.org.au – we would love to talk about how you can become involved in our growing community of philanthropists.
Below are a number of resources, guides and opportunities for the philanthropy community, as well as links to strategic advocacy donor pools we support.
INVESTING IN ADVOCACY:
A PHILANTHROPY HANDBOOK
Hearts, Minds, Power - a practice handbook for philanthropic investment in advocacy - was updated in April 2024 by Australian Progress founder and Key Moment Principal, Nick Moraitis. This booklet is the friend of the philanthropic funder – a practical guide to help translate a casual interest in investing in advocacy, into a successful practice. The guide starts by making the case for systems change work to help guide your conversations with others. Then, it looks at what constitutes ‘good practice’ in advocacy and discuss funding considerations related to specific tactics and types of organisations. Finally, the guide turn to issues related to your own philanthropic strategies such as identification, selection, structure, evaluation and risk-mitigation.
The Economic Media Centre
Greater diversity and representation will only happen in Australian media when we change who has access to media coverage. Our new Economic Media Centre explicitly challenges who sets the economic story in Australia by training and pitching-in diverse media spokespeople, real stories and delivering media pitching and messaging advice. We are establishing the Economic Media Centre to deliver three key services:
Media spokesperson training for people from grassroots communities and with lived experience of economic injustice.
Mainstream media outreach including daily pitching of trained spokespeople.
Economic narrative development, including research and strategic briefings.
Seed funding from the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation has allowed us to hire initial capacity to launch the project, but we’re now seeking an additional investment of $500,000 to hire additional staff, train dozens of powerful spokespeople and significantly scale our media outreach, communications research and narrative development.
Find out more at economicmediacentre.org.
If you are interested in hearing more about the Economic Media Centre, please contact Kirsty Albion - kirsty@australianprogress.org.au.
covid-19 Rapid Advocacy Fund
In response to the need to quickly inject funds into strategic advocacy related to COVID-19, we have established this important donor pool for philanthropists in partnership with ACOSS and the Australian Communities Foundation. Already the fund has pooled over $100,000 and made grants to 18 key grassroots groups responding to the pandemic.
Find out more at rapidadvocacyfund.org.
To contribute, email kirsty@australianprogress.org.au.
PASSING THE MESSAGE STICK
Passing the Message Stick is a two-year research project, to find messages that are effective in building public support for First Nations self-determination and justice. Led by First Nations advocates - Dr Jackie Huggins AM, Larissa Baldwin and Karrina Nolan - and backed by Australian Progress, Original Power, Getup and philanthropy, this ambitious project aims to reframe the story and win transformative change.
View the results of the research here, with a practical guide, report and interactive website. By shifting messages to centre First Nations strength and leadership, we can move beyond the entrenched deficit, and build widespread public support for self-determination and justice. The findings are for all First Nations advocates, organisations, spokespeople, journalists and grassroots change-makers - and there’s also a section for allies and ally organisations.
Together, we can create transformative change. Find out how you can support Passing the Message Stick to deliver workshops and ensure widespread uptake of the message research, by emailing kirsty@australianprogress.org.au
Proudly Supported By
Our work is generously supported by many leading foundations and philanthropists, including:
