St. George Foundation offering a $600,000 grant
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Charities and not-for-profits that are delivering better outcomes for children in Australia are welcome to apply for $600,000 over a three year funding course.
St. George Foundation’s Inspire Grant fund will favour charitable groups that prioritise children through innovative interventions. The $600,000 grant will be rolled out over a three year period, ensuring the not-for-profit remains sustainable to deliver its goals.
St. George Foundation CEO, Vanessa Barry, said the grant is designed to help those that are impacted by physical, social or economic disadvantage through programs that are innovative and provide alternative pathways to education.
“As our largest grant since the Foundation was established by St George Bank in 1990, our hope is that it will help fast track large-scale programs of work that are ground-breaking for children experiencing some of the toughest times in their lives. These programs also provide sustainable outcomes for children long into the future.”
The 2018 recipient, Whitelion, will use the funding to help at-risk young women stay in education. As an alternate approach to suspension or expulsion, the program aims to prevent young women from disengaging with education.
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Whitelion’s Director, Strategy, Communications and Marketing, Rowena Middlemiss, said: “The Inspire Grant allows us to provide at-risk young women with an alternative, highly supportive, innovative and flexible learning environment that will help them to reintegrate with mainstream education or connect them to new vocational pathways.”
The charity for this years’ grant must provide innovative opportunities for children that are experiencing disadvantage in Australia to reach their full potential and be either at a national scope already or with the potential for future national scaling.
Projects that demonstrate a positive impact on women and girls and those that focus on providing interventions for children at the age of 12 will be favoured.
2017 recipient, MissingSchool, is using the $600,000 for telepresence robots, a first-of-its-kind initiative in Australian schools. It is aimed at maintaining a connection for seriously sick or injured children who miss school for long periods of time.
Barry said MissingSchool has achieved so much in its first 16 months of the grant, with 47 robots already acquired and 49 students connecting to schools.
Barry said: “We are thrilled to be playing our part in helping revolutionise access to education through the introduction of this state-of-the-art technology on a national scale. The robots are helping seriously sick or injured children keep in touch with their teachers and importantly, maintain their friendships.”
The CEO of MissingSchool, Megan Gilmore, said the funding not only accelerated this innovative program but ensured it would become a long-term solution: “If it was not for the support of the St. George Foundation, this ground-breaking program simply wouldn’t exist.”
Applications for the 2019 Inspire Grant will close on Friday 8 March.
