Courtney Talbot: On everyday philanthropy and standing up for what you believe in 

Watching my dad give to community groups. Whenever my brother and I were part of sporting teams or doing Army Cadets, Dad would always support those organisations.

Making an impactful difference. I'm a lot more strategic now than when I first started out. I like getting involved with smaller organisations and difficult, unsexy causes that aren't popular or well profiled and throw more support around those. Because, for whatever reason, certain organisations do get more support and more profile than others, but it doesn’t mean they are more important. I like to even things up a bit where I can.

A couple of years ago I set up my own foundation. I also look after my father's foundation. Dad was a passionate Queenslander. We both are. There are a lot of parallels there and it’s fantastic that I get to continue his legacy. But what I do is different and my own thing. I predominantly focus on Queensland, as well as social injustice and issues that reflect my life stage. Since having children, I do a bit more stuff in the child space. I give mainly through the foundation but I also give personally to unregistered organisations. For example, I’ve been involved with rowing and supported a number of athletes in the lead up to the Rio Olympics. Sport is something that doesn’t get much attention in this space. People see athletes as not being as worthy recipients of philanthropy because every other cause comes before it. But full-time athletes often sacrifice everything for their sport and earn absolute peanuts.

I'm probably a bit more direct in what I do these days. Moving into more of the unsexy areas and standing up stronger for the things I believe in. It is hard to stand up for what you believe in when you're a young female voice just starting out in giving. But every year, the more I give, the more I get involved with organisations, the more my confidence grows.

When I first started giving, I would prefer to do it anonymously. Not because I wasn't proud to be associated with that organisation but more out of fear that I was going to be asked for money all the time, which does happen. However, to encourage other people to give, I need to show that I put my money where my mouth is. I will never ask anyone to support an organisation, a cause or a project that I'm not significantly supporting myself.

When I first joined the Queensland Library Foundation, I was young, 29. It was my first philanthropic board position and I felt a bit overwhelmed. What did I have to contribute? It took me a while to find my feet but I launched a campaign that we've now been running for nine years to not only raise money for the State Library but to also increase the number of donors. At the time I didn't have any connections for big philanthropic gifts, I wasn't able to make big gifts on my own, but I did have a network of friends and colleagues. So instead of finding one person to donate $10,000, I used my network to ask people for a hundred dollar gift. And that’s how we raised $10,000 in the first year. Now we're getting around $50,000 a year and we've raised around a quarter of a million through that campaign. Something that started off with me feeling overwhelmed has built slowly over time. Everything makes a difference. I think so much more can be done through everyday philanthropy.

When dad set up his foundation, he wanted to focus on Queensland because he felt that, particularly in New South Wales and Victoria, there was more old money, more foundations and that organisations were better funded down south. I still think we have a long way to go in Queensland but there are more and more people setting up foundations and there is a lot more structured giving than even five years ago. 

We probably need a better network to connect all those people and organisations and encourage more dialogue around needs and how we can better fund and support that. Because it's just small breakout groups now. There is still an attitude that philanthropy is something wealthy people do. That it's not an everyday person thing. A lot of people in my networks have the capacity to give a small amount. It’s about inspiring and encouraging them to do that in a way that will make a difference.

I think Australia more broadly can do more. I've spoken about this a lot. I believe there’s always an option to give, get or do. If you can't give, are you able to get through your networks or what skills do you have that you can lend to an organisation? Everyone has something that they can do within their community.