QBE Foundation inclusion local grant winners 2023

Enabling resilience for our customers, communities, people, and partners is QBE’s purpose – and helping create strong, resilient and inclusive communities is the vision of the QBE Foundation in Australia and the Pacific.

Community resilience can come in many different forms, and across our regions a huge number of groups of all shapes and sizes contribute to the strength of their community. The QBE Foundation invites these groups to apply for a $40,000 local grant to help them achieve their goals across a range of meaningful initiatives.

To be eligible for a QBE Foundation local grant applicants must meet the selection criteria, including being a registered not-for-profit organisation based in Australia – or having initiatives working in Australia, New Zealand or the Pacific, and addressing issues in our local grant categories.

In 2023, a total of $440,000 was awarded to 11 community organisations across three categories – inclusion, climate resilience and employee choice – a category in which we invite our QBE colleagues to nominate an organisation that’s impacted them or their communities.

Here, we take a look at the inclusion category and the four community groups that have each been awarded a grant of $40,000.

QBE Foundation local grants – inclusion category

In our society, there are a number of groups of people who, for a variety of reasons, experience exclusion or are marginalised. Our inclusion category focuses on acknowledging and supporting those groups that are helping to lift the whole community with initiatives that may address issues such as reconciliation, accessibility, LGTBIQ+ issues, inclusion, mental health, and gender equality.

Each application was assessed through multiple rounds by the QBE Foundation Committee and subject matter experts.

“The inclusion category is incredibly important as it supports the work that some fantastic organisations undertake to help build equitable communities, and provide opportunities for sectors of the community that have encountered exclusion or have been marginalised,” says QBE Foundation Co-Chair Jon Fox.

Fellow Co-Chair of the QBE Foundation, Chris Esson, was thrilled by the work of the organisations and initiatives in 2023.

“It’s humbling and heartening to read about the community projects that are providing opportunities for those who need them most, and these types of projects are critical in helping build successful and resilient communities. We are so proud to support these groups make meaningful change in their communities.”

QBE Foundation 2023 inclusion category local grant winners

Arise Foundation

The purpose of the Arise Foundation is to provide skills development and job placement for women who are in the Recovery and Healing stage of surviving domestic and family violence (DFV). Unlike other services which provide crisis support such as emergency accommodation or trauma-informed survival services, Arise aims to help women move into the recovery stage by providing them with practical skills and training to equip them to seek employment and, ultimately, self-sufficiency. Their focus is exclusively on the sustainable financial independence and economic and mental well-being of women survivors of DFV.

Tasnia Alam Hannan, COO and Co-Founder of Arise Foundation, says, “There has been incredible work done to support survivors of family and domestic violence at crisis stage in Australia. However, there’s an identified need to continue that support holistically past the crisis stage to create sustainable pathways to recovery. The lasting effects of financial abuse are a significant factor in perpetuating cycles of violence. Survivors of financial abuse are often considered ‘unbankable’, with poor credit scores, low financial literacy, and inconsistent employment histories acting as barriers of access to their financial freedom.”

The $40,000 grant awarded to Arise Foundation will enable the organisation to support Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander women to undertake economic recovery programs specifically targeting digital literacy and employment-ready programs.

“Thanks to the support from the QBE Foundation, we will be able to provide our digital literacy program to 25 First Nations women, and our employment-ready program to 10 First Nations women, who are survivors of domestic and family violence,” says Fariha Chowdhury, CEO & Co-Founder of Arise Foundation.

Deadly Coders

The importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) knowledge and education is well documented, and Deadly Coders is a community-managed not-for-profit on a mission to ignite learning and career pathways in STEM to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary and secondary students across Australia.

Grant Maher, CEO of Deadly Coders, says,“Deadly Coders overcomes barriers that prevent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from completing their education, entering the workforce, and reaching their full potential and life prospects.

The 2023 $40,000 inclusion grant will enable Deadly Coders to run a series of STEM workshops for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Collaborating with indigenous experts who will provide mentorship, Deadly Coders will provide a hands-on and engaging curriculum.

“Indigenous perspectives can also bring unique insights to scientific research and technological innovation,” says Maher.

“Economically, a diverse STEM workforce is essential for Australia’s competitiveness on the global stage. STEM industries are rapidly evolving, and innovation often comes from diverse teams with varied perspectives, which is why we believed this application was so important and a worthy winner. We are so grateful to the QBE Foundation for also seeing its worth and supporting us with this grant.”

Little Wings

Our regional and rural communities across Australia play a huge role in our country, however, when it comes to healthcare, those communities often lack the direct access to essential services that others living nearer to major cities have.

Little Wings provides free, professional and safe flight and ground transportation services for seriously ill children in regional NSW, ACT and Queensland, meaning those children can quickly access the medical treatment they need.

“In some parts of the country, young children are hundreds of kilometres away from the medical services they need, which has time and cost implications for families,” says Clare Pearson, CEO of Little Wings.

“We began providing services to children undergoing cancer treatment at Westmead Hospital in Sydney, and have grown to provide services for people in regional and rural areas in three states.”

The $40,000 grant will enable the delivery of a program called Medical Wings, whereby Little Wings transports medical specialists by air and ground, from the city to the bush to deliver medical clinics.

“Some of the children have never seen a doctor, which is unacceptable as no child should be missing out on health care because of their postcode or circumstances,” says Pearson.

“By providing this program with the help of the QBE Foundation, we can begin to reduce that inequality, and help improve the health and well-being of children in regional and rural areas.”

Thread Together

Thread Together’s purpose is to provide clothing and footwear to those who need it most.

The not-for-profit does this across the country by saving brand-new clothing apparel and footwear from going to landfill.

“We work across Australia in regional and metropolitan areas to provide clothing to more than 2,500 people every week,” says Anthony Chesler, CEO of Thread Together.

“We work with over 2,000 charity partners and welfare agencies who are active users of our service. These include a large number of agencies that support First Nations communities across multiple areas of need, from homelessness to education, mental health and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

“A core group of people we help is women and children escaping domestic violence, many of whom have nothing, and the 2023 QBE Foundation grant of $40,000 will be used to support Thread Together’s Wardrobe and Capsule service – which is a physical wardrobe that is installed inside a women’s shelter.

“The clothing is presented beautifully and is available 24/7, thank you to the QBE Foundation for this support, further enabling us to achieve our purpose of restoring dignity to vulnerable people.” says Chesler.

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