QBE Foundation employee choice local grant winners 2023

QBE’s mission is to help build strong, resilient communities, and through the QBE Foundation, we are able to support not-for-profit organisations to deliver initiatives that are incredibly important in the lives of individuals and communities.

Each year, the QBE Foundation local grants program awards a number of $40,000 grants to organisations across three categories – climate resilience, inclusion and employee choice. This year, a total of 11 grants – totalling $440,000 – were awarded to help some incredible organisations continue their vital work.

While organisations needed to apply for grants in the climate resilience and inclusion categories, the employee choice category is slightly different.

As the name suggests, we invite our Australia based colleagues to apply for a grant in collaboration with a charity they work with, or feel passionately about.

Applications went through multiple rounds of assessment. The judges sought to understand the community's needs and the potential impact of the nominated project.

Finally, in the employee choice category, the nominations were presented to our QBE colleagues, who were asked to vote on the application they believed deserved to receive a $40,000 grant.

Three organisations, Giant Steps, MedEarth and Team Sports 4 All, were chosen, and QBE Foundation Co-Chair Jon Fox says he was thrilled by the range of nominations.

“The QBE Foundation local grant program is a way for us to support local organisations, outside of our charity partnerships, who are making a positive impact in our communities. There are so many groups across the country that are positively impacting people’s lives.

“It’s humbling to be in a position in which we, as the QBE Foundation, can support some of these initiatives, and the employee choice category is naturally one that is very close to the hearts of our people here at QBE.”

Fellow Co-Chair Chris Esson says the employee choice award demonstrates the breadth and variety of initiatives that are active every day.

“The nominations in the employee choice category are all groups and projects that are affecting the lives of the people who work at QBE,” he says.

“Through the experiences of our people in the Australia and Pacific region, we get to learn about groups that are doing extraordinary work that directly impact our people – these are groups that help make communities stronger and better, and it’s important they’re supported.”

Employee Choice Category Winners

Giant Steps

The charity’s transdisciplinary program combines occupational, speech and music therapy with special education and psychology to improve participant outcomes.

The children and adults enrolled at Giant Steps have profound autism, a level of intellectual disability and mental health concerns which require intensive one-on-one support.

Phillippa Talbot, Director of Communications, says, “At Giant Steps we seek to ensure that each individual has the opportunity to reach their potential and live as independently as possible, overcoming the many challenges autism brings.

“Giant Steps also seeks to provide support to families through home and sibling programs, round-the-clock crisis support, parent training, overnight camps and respite.”

The $40,000 local grant from the QBE Foundation will support Giant Steps’ Becoming Me project, which helps individuals understand their sexuality, particularly in relation to personal identity, emotional regulation, interpersonal relationships, hygiene and puberty.

“The Becoming Me program has been developed in-house due to the significant gap in the market,” explains Talbot.

“Typical teaching strategies, such as theory-based lessons with reading content, are not suitable, and even animated visuals and vignettes must all be uniquely designed.

“Building foundations with our students and their families from an early age and allowing them to grow with appropriate knowledge of self-awareness throughout multiple developmental stages on the path to puberty, adolescence and into adulthood is key to establishing a level of independence and safety in the community.

“We are so grateful to the QBE Foundation for this grant that supports us to undertake this important work.”

MedEarth

Access to medical equipment and supplies is something we take for granted in many areas of Australia. However, in remote areas of Australia, and further afield in developing countries, getting access to medical equipment and supplies is significantly more difficult.

Enter MedEarth, an environmental and humanitarian charity that reduces medical waste by recovering usable medical equipment and supplies from hospitals and medical suppliers that would otherwise be destined for landfill and redistributes them to communities, and organisations in need.

“Since it was founded in 2013, MedEarth has recovered over 322,000 kgs/1635m3 worth, or $7.2M of usable medical items from 66 health services, impacting the lives of more than 6,000,000 people,” explains Co-founder Laura Taitz.

“Health care is not only a fundamental human right but also a key pillar of socio-economic development. Using the surplus recovered, we match our inventory to the needs of communities by partnering closely with both domestic and international partners to ensure people get what they need.”

Integral to MedEarth’s operation is its warehouse, which enables it to store recovered items until an appropriate recipient is found. The $40,000 local grant from QBE Foundation will fund increased warehousing, operational and courier costs, enabling the organisation to work with hospitals outside of its traditional greater Sydney footprint.

“Until now, our focus has been the greater Sydney area, but we are now targeting hospitals outside of Sydney, in Victoria and Queensland, thus increasing our transport costs,” explains Taitz.

"Thank you to the QBE Foundation for this grant – it will enable us to further reduce the amount of usable medical items that end up in landfill. Not only does this help access to medical equipment, but it also reduces landfill, which helps the environment and boosts sustainability, too.”

Team Sports 4 All

Sport can play an important part in the lives of young people. However, the costs involved in participating can be prohibitive for the more than half a million Australian children who live in welfare-dependent households.

Team Sports 4 All (TS4A) is a Melbourne-based charity that believes in the power of sport – in particular sporting club communities – to positively impact people’s lives, and aims to help ensure disadvantaged kids don’t miss out.

“TeamSports4All’s mission is to bridge that financial gap and enable kids from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in team sports by paying for things such as registration, insurance, uniforms, footwear, clothing, and equipment,” explains Simon Davie, CEO.

“Taking part in team sports has been proven to help reduce social isolation, prevent a sedentary lifestyle and support a growing sense of self-belief, confidence and sense of self-worth.”

As well as providing the initial funds to enable participation, TS4A also provides ongoing support and funding to ensure participation continues over multiple seasons, ensuring the benefits compound.

The $40,000 local grant from the QBE Foundation will enable an additional 68 children to benefit from the scheme, which can have a profound long-term impact.

“We want them in a ‘good gang’ – their sporting club – and our great hope is that by funding these kids to play a team sport, we change the trajectory of their lives and give them a better chance. In doing so, we hope that when they become adults and have their own children, they are no longer socioeconomically disadvantaged, and their kids do not need the support of TS4A.”

Learn more about the 2023 local grant recipients in the climate resilience and inclusion categories, or visit QBE Foundation to learn more about the work the Foundation does in the community.