On the value of a well-educated Australia and getting involved

I grew up in a family where both my parents were actively involved in the community as volunteers, and so I always believed it was a responsibility that I had as well. I was involved in a few things during my early years, but it wasn't until my husband Brett, and I decided to start a foundation that I actively became involved in giving. 

When our kids were young, I knew that I wanted our family to grow up in a community that was prosperous, cohesive and a vibrant place to live. But there were things that Brett and I felt weren't being done as well as they could be, and we wanted to do something about it. One of our philosophies at the foundation is, “if not you, then who?” If there's something that you think needs to be changed, then perhaps you need to get involved. 

We always wanted the Foundation to be something that our family could be involved in, and it has certainly influenced a lot of our dinner conversations and activities together. Our children have grown up with it and now our daughter has been a Trustee for over 17 years, and our son is involved with the Scholar’s programme. I think we all need purpose in life and if we're fortunate enough to be able to feed ourselves and look after our families, then we need to be doing something proactive in the community.

From the very start of the Foundation, we wanted to be strategic and really focus on one area so we could get to know it well and be part of the conversation. We chose education because we felt that it was the best avenue to help people achieve their potential and lead purposeful lives, but also because it contributes to the broader community. When a community is well educated, there is less pressure on health, welfare and justice systems and more able to help those in need

Obviously, education is a very broad sector, and we work across the spectrum, providing scholarships for teachers and high achieving students through to providing opportunities to students in more challenging communities.

We are social venturers, so as well as supporting organisations that are doing great work, we also initiate our own programs where we identify problems, bring different people together to work out solutions and then trial and scale new ideas if they were successful. 

And I think that the three main initiatives we started, is where we have had the most impact. So that’s our Scholars and Next Gen program, our CoderDojo program, which has had over 150 free out-of-school learning clubs for young people to teach themselves how to code and the EDvance School Improvement Program where we work with school leaders in disadvantaged communities over three years to build their capacity and provide the best education for their kids.

I'm still overwhelmed by how much dysfunction and disadvantage there is in a wealthy country like Australia, so there’s definitely a need for us to be involved. There are so many good people doing great work out there and one of the most difficult things is having to choose what not to support. Which is why I think it’s important to be really focused on what you do, so you can make the right decisions and be as impactful as possible.

Also, when we're looking at the community, we know that the big issues are complex and multi layered. So, when we choose to focus on one programme addressing an issue, whether it's a geographic area or a sector issue, we need to know what other people are doing. Even if you're not collaborating directly, being knowledgeable about what else is happening and what other people are doing means that you can be aligned and hopefully head in the same direction to have a greater impact.

The other big learning is around working with governments and the public sector. Our politicians are elected by us, so we have the right and an obligation to inform them about what’s needed. We can’t just say, “Oh, it’s fine, the government will look after it.” It’s not fine and we need to be active. In a lot of cases, politicians and public servants want to know what's happening and there’s a growing culture in Australia around how important philanthropy is - it’s a force that can make change happen.

In terms of the Foundation, we're going to continue focusing on education because we still think it’s the core of society. We're looking a lot more at technology and AI, which is obviously having a huge influence on how we live our lives, but we’re interested in how this can be used to help educators reduce their workload and be more effective in their teaching. And we also want young people to understand how they can be creators with technology rather than just consumers. 

We want to keep collaborating with other organisations and government and we’d like to see more people get involved, in both the giving side but also in having a say in the things that matter to them. A big part of our work will be raising awareness about the value of education, because when you live in a good society it’s easy to take education for granted. If we're going to grow and develop, we need to be a smart nation and value our education.