Corporate Foundations Join Together to Fund Australian Charities

They may not be household names, but two corporate foundations from different sides of the world have joined forces in a one-off arrangement to provide funding for a number of Australian charities.

The Bennelong Foundation has joined with the Dubai Duty Free Foundation to make joint grants to three Australian charities.

The Bennelong Foundation was founded in 2002 by the Bennelong Group; a financial services company. The Melbourne-based charitable foundation was established to allow its founders to provide funds and resources to charities and worthy causes and to provide opportunities for people within the Bennelong Group to participate on an individual or group basis.

The Dubai Duty Free Foundation was founded in 2004 as a Not for Profit charity made up of volunteer employees and friends of Dubai Duty Free, with the aim of supporting charitable organisations within the United Arab Emirates and abroad.

Funding for the Foundation is provided primarily by Dubai Duty Free which donates a percentage of its annual turnover directly to the Foundation. Additional funds are raised through collection boxes located throughout Dubai Duty Free premises and from joint-initiatives with business partners.

The three charities that are benefiting from the collaborative funding are the Ponting Foundation, Family Life and Victorian Arabic Social Services.

Jeff Chapman, the Chairman of the Bennelong Foundation, says he’s thrilled about the opportunity to join with the Dubai Duty Free Foundation to support Australian charities, particularly at a time when demand for such support is increasing.

Chapman says given the Bennelong Group’s commercial links with Dubai, it was a great opportunity to increase the impact of their grants and to initiate the joint funding with the Dubai Duty Free Foundation.

Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free, says their Foundation was established several years ago with the aim of supporting needy causes, particularly those relating to children and congratulated Jeff Chapman on this initiative.

The joint grant to the Ponting Foundation (set up by cricketing great and Australian Captain Ricky Ponting and his wife Rianna) will support the charity’s work with children affected by cancer, and their families. Specifically, the grant will fund the establishment of an Exceptional Needs Assistance (ENA) program, with monies being used to provide financial assistance to families facing exceptional levels of need during the active treatment, palliative care or early bereavement phase of their cancer experience.

Family Life’s Community Relations Manager, Judith Latta, says the joint grant to Family Life will directly assist the charity to replicate an innovative and proven social business called YouthWorx, which provides at-risk young people with structured work experience in thriving up-market Opportunity Shop (Thrift Store), formalised retail training, personal support and a pathway to employment and community participation.

The Anti Racism Action Band (A.R.A.B) Program from the Victorian Arabic Social Services (VASS) is the other recipient of the jointly-funded grant from the Bennelong and Dubai Duty Free Foundations. VASS, a peak organisation that represents and addresses issues and concerns of Arabic-speaking background communities in Victoria, has received the grant for A.R.A.B, its unique, high energy, youth performing arts program based in Melbourne’s northern region.

Recognising that racism and gang culture amongst disadvantaged youth is also fuelled by low self esteem and lack of creative outlets, the VASS A.R.A.B Program is open to youth from any culture. It currently works with 200 young people from 50 cultural backgrounds aged between 12-25.

The General Manager of the Bennelong Foundation, Susan Frances says the co-funding means a total of $150,000 over three years to be shared by the three charities.

Frances says the decision to co-fund came as a way of recognising Dubai Duty Free’s twentieth anniversary in business.

The Bennelong Foundation is currently funding Australian charities in the area of youth (education and employment opportunities), crisis support and migrant community welfare.

For more information go to: www.benngroup.com.