The Seahorse, Issue 36, December 2019

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The gala opening of the newly refurbished Ian Potter Queen's Hall at the State Library of Victoria

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Building capacity and creativity It has been another busy year at The Ian Potter Foundation. We have successfully transitioned to new funding guidelines aligned with our vision for a vibrant, healthy, fair and sustainable Australia. In partnership with The Myer Foundation, we have launched an exciting initiative to establish an independent water policy centre and are now actively seeking other funders to join this undertaking.

I have also had the pleasure of attending the opening of several significant capital projects that the Foundation has helped to fund through its major grants stream. In May, The Ian Potter Performing Arts Centre opened at Monash University’s Clayton campus and in June

the new Melbourne Conservatorium of Music housed at The Ian Potter Southbank Centre Subscribe Past Issues Translate in the heart of Melbourne’s arts precinct was officially opened. In July, I attended the opening of Orygen’s new Youth Health Centre in Parkville and just earlier this month I joined our Chairman, Mr Charles Goode AC, and other Board members to celebrate the opening of The Ian Potter Queen’s Hall, part of the State Library of Victoria’s Vision 2020 project to renovate and re-invigorate this 160-year-old public institution.

Standing in the newly refurbished Ian Potter Queen’s Hall, I reflected on the enduring nature of this major capital project and the important part that philanthropy plays in supporting great public institutions to continue to meet the needs of the wider community.

Next year, we look forward to seeing the completion of several more capital projects supported by the Foundation’s major grants – The Hedberg at the University of Tasmania, the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, the Sunshine Skills Hub at Victoria University and Queensland Ballet’s refurbished Thomas Dixon Centre.

Each of these projects will realise new state-of-the-art facilities that will provide improved educational opportunities and communal spaces designed to foster community engagement and connection, and ultimately be a source of inspiration to the wider community.

In supporting these projects, the Foundation is fulfilling its mission to support outstanding Australian institutions to pursue excellence and develop Australia’s creativity and capacity as a nation.

On behalf of the Board and our staff, I wish you all a safe and happy festive season and look forward to a productive and rewarding 2020.

Craig Connelly CEO

Subscribe Issues GRANTSPast ROUND UP

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$3.6 million across 9 grants In this funding round, nine grants totalling $3,610,000 were awarded. These included two in the Major grants stream, one Early Childhood Development grant and five Community Wellbeing grants.

Find out more about this round's grantees on our blog or see the complete list in our Grants Database.

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FUNDING AREAS

Fair pillar opens March 2020

Next funding round The next funding round will open on Monday 30 March 2020 for Community Wellbeing and Early Childhood Development both within the Fair pillar.

Applicants should review the Funding Guidelines for the relevant area carefully before calling the Program Manager to discuss their Expression of Interest. EOIs close Friday 17 April at 5:00 pm AEST. Check the Funding Rounds page on our website to see all relevant dates.

Funding rounds

IN THE NEWS

Grantees in the headlines

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Vision 2020 reveals State Library of Victoria's hidden jewel

The Jewel in the Crown The Ian Potter Foundation congratulates State Library of Victoria on the completion of the Vision 2020 project. The Foundation's Board of Governors were particularly delighted to attend the Library’s Night Under the Stars Gala event to mark the re-opening of the beautifully refurbished Ian Potter Queen’s Hall – the jewel in the crown of the State Library’s Vision 2020.

Chair of the Foundation’s Board, Charles Goode AC, explained the reasons for the Foundation’s support in his speech at the Gala event saying it was an easy decision for the Foundation to support the Library’s Vision 2020 project with a $10 million grant which would ensure Queen's Hall being restored to its "original purpose as a superb reading room, offering people from all walks of life an opportunity to access a world-class collection of literature and other educational resources."

Read coverage in 'The Age'

BackTrack founder celebrated as Local Hero The Foundation congratulates BackTrack Youth Works' founder Bernie Shakeshaft on being named NSW's Local Hero in the Australia Day Awards. Although honoured as a Local Hero for his work supporting at-risk boys, the BackTrack story has now reached the whole country thanks to the documentary BackTrack Boys released in 2018. The film, now available on DVD and streaming services, continues to impact audiences through its moving storytelling of how troubled young lives can be turned around with the right support.

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Reef Life Survey commences Lap of Aus Past Issues

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With the support of highly trained citizen scientists, Reef Life Survey has embarked on a circumnavigation of Australia to re-survey 500 reef sites around Australia's coast and offshore islands. The marine data gathered by these experienced divers will contribute to understanding changes to populations of over 1000 fish, coral, sea urchin, mollusc and crustacean species and be the foundation for the Commonwealth State of the Environment Report.

This important undertaking received excellent media coverage. Follow their journey via the #LapofAus hashtag on Facebook or Twitter.

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SECTOR ENGAGEMENT

Sharing and learning

Welcome Workshops expand The latest Grantee Welcome Workshops held in September and October were attended by 114 participants from 84 organisations. The purpose of the workshops is to review grantees’ KPIs, timelines and outcomes while generating specific strategies for evaluation, collaboration, leverage and dissemination.

Due to the increased number of grantees participating, the workshops are now organised around program areas, enabling them to be more focussed. All new grantees are invited to attend a Welcome Workshop shortly after they receive their grant. We now also invite back current grantees to facilitate networking and sharing of learnings across the NFP sector.

Summer Subscribe Pastpodcast Issues

goes live!

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The Ian Potter Foundation Summer Listening Series is a four-episode podcast which aims to share insights from the philanthropic and not-for-profit sides of the social sector. This series forms part of an ongoing podcast series by Lumin that will shine a light on the stories and skills that the social change sector needs to be effective.

All four episodes have been released and can be found via Spotify or iTunes or the Lumin website. The Ian Potter Foundation wish to thank Think HQ and Lumin for their support and assistance in producing this series of podcast.

Listen now

A Sustained Vision The Foundation’s Annual Grants Report for 2018–19 is now available online. The report presents a review of the year’s grants, reflects on the Foundation’s vision for a vibrant, healthy, fair and sustainable Australia and how this vision will guide our future grantmaking.

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Grantee news

Resilient Catchments project

The Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University launched the Building Catchment Resilience Project at the 2019 International River Symposium in Brisbane on 22 October.

At the launch, our CEO Craig Connelly said this project has "the potential to harness community knowledge by

Grantee awards

Sustainability is the winner

It is awards season again and this year many of our grantees have received awards acknowledging their important contributions in many sectors. However, the common theme is recognition of achievements in and passion for sustainable practices; environmentally and socially.

Award winners include Green Connect

engaging with local communities so that Subscribe Past Issues people feel empowered and included in the design of what will be a sophisticated tool – one that has the potential to benefit themselves directly, as well as their neighbours and the wider community."

The Foundation commends Professor Stuart Bunn and his team at the Australian Rivers Institute, as well as the

(winning several awards), Homes for Translate Homes, YWCA Australia and Fred Hunter, a board member of Karrkad Kanjdji Trust and Warddeken Land Management.

We congratulate all the award winners and nominees for their commitment to making Australia a vibrant, healthy, fair and sustainable society.

Queensland Government and project partners on taking the bold decision to invest in this exciting and innovative project.

Learn more

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Staff News

Street Soccer 2019

Darwin Harbour Scorecard Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) recent $125,000 Science grant was announced in late November by NT Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, the Hon Eva Lawler, in conjunction with the release of the draft Darwin Harbour Strategy 2019-2024 for public comment.

“This grant will support researchers to undertake a collaborative, community-led process to ask stakeholders to identify what outcomes and indicators are important for Darwin Harbour,” said Professor Karen Gibb, Co-Director of CDU’s Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods.

The Potteroos took to the soccer pitch again this year in the annual Street Soccer tournament hosted by Justice Connect Homeless Law and The Big Issue.

Some minor injuries were sustained by Potteroos players but once again the team exhibited their tell-tale teamwork to score several goals across four matches.

Welcome to new staff

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Introducing two new staff members who

Clontarf comes to Melbourne

have joined the Foundation in the last few months.

Nicole Hunter (left) has taken up the role of Receptionist/Office Coordinator and

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Viktoria Kritharelis (right) has joined as Finance Officer.

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Christmas closure

Time for a break

In November, our staff were thrilled to welcome this year's graduates from the Clontarf Foundation Academies at Cairns State High School, Bentley Park College and Gordonvale State High School.

The Clontarf alumni gave us a wonderful presentation explaining the values and skills they have gained through the Clontarf program and shared their plans for future training and employment.

We'd like to thank the State Library of Victoria for helping us host this event and providing a tour of the Library for our special guests.

Wishing all our grantee partners, their staff, and our colleagues in the philanthropic sector a vibrant, healthy, fair and sustainable festive season.

Our office will be closed from Monday 23 December until Monday 6 January.

We produce this quarterly e-newsletter to keep our friends and associates up to date with all the news and recent grants made by The Ian Potter Foundation.

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