On the power of financial literacy and offering what you have

There are two things that come up for me. Firstly, the community element of being a First Nations person and growing up in a Christian family who went to church every Sunday. Life was never just about us as individuals; it was always framed around our role as part of a community.

Growing up, my family didn’t have a lot of money, so the focus of our giving was never financial. But my aunty, uncle and mum all offered up their skills to serve other people –sometimes it was as simple as cooking a meal or being by someone’s bedside in hospital. My mum suffered with mental health issues because of her background as a First Nations woman, and yet she still served other women in the community who were suffering from mental health issues or domestic violence, and she also ran an Aboriginal homework centre.

My earliest memories of giving are deeply embedded in my childhood along with a desire to serve the people around me, with whatever skills I have. It’s something that’s been reinforced culturally through the system of reciprocity which is the belief that the welfare of your community is a reflection on how you are doing personally. Even now, when I'm in a good career and earning money, if the people around me aren't doing well, then I’m not doing well. 

A desire to see First Nations communities uplifted. I'm still not from a wealthy family, but I have a lot of skills that benefit mob, so I sit on boards for not-for-profit First Nations organisations and give my knowledge and capability, especially around governance and risk. I'm 37 years old, but my whole life I’ve watched my community struggle in a constant state of survival. I want to get to a place where the things I do, will help move us from survival into thriving.

Financial literacy is the foundation of economic participation. We see First Nations people with incredible jobs and earning more money than ever before, and yet they still aren't thriving. Essentially, it’s because they’re missing that key component of how money works - how it can work for them and how to set healthy boundaries.  Financial literacy is a huge passion of mine and its one of the reasons I sat on the board of the First Nations Foundation.

I've seen firsthand how a lack of financial literacy has played out, both in my family's life and also my own. I come from a culturally diverse background. One side of my family has deep roots in Aboriginal culture, where values like community, sharing, and collective wellbeing were central even when resources were limited. The other side comes from a background shaped by poverty in Europe, which instilled a strong scarcity mindset and a focus on financial security. These contrasting perspectives have given me a unique understanding of how cultural and historical experiences shape our relationship with money from wealth accumulation to community oriented giving.

This is why I love financial literacy, because if you work through the psychological aspects of how you view money and why you view it that way, it gives you the ability to be more generous and to serve community without a fear of scarcity.

In terms of the foundation, the way we give back to communities is by listening to what their needs and struggles are. Even though we're a First Nations run organisation and I'm a First Nations woman, I'm in no position to tell someone living in a remote Indigenous community what they should be trying to achieve. Their struggles are different to mine. So, we sit in community, we listen, and we try to produce content that is relevant to their needs. We have a range of programmes that have been developed to cover the broad needs but there are 250 nations in this country, so whilst we can't always customise to the needs of individual communities, we do our best. One of our most successful programmes is creating a safe space for women to talk about their challenges, whether its family violence or navigating financial challenges – we’ve had around 4000 women subscribe to that program and it’s something I’m really proud of.

That it's not restricted to money. It's a willingness to say that you have things to offer, and those things can come from a privilege of education, a privileged background or the fact that other people have given you opportunities. If you knew where I came from, I shouldn't be in the position that I am today. But I’m here because people believed in me; they were generous with their time, and they built up capability in me. Now I’m in a position to pass on to others, what's been given to me. 

I think a lot of people underestimate this approach. There are all these problems going on in the world and a lot of people question what they can do. If you don't have money, I'm certain there will be skills or connections that you can contribute.

I'm also aware that there’s a time limit around my ability to have an impact in this space. At some point people will get bored of hearing from me and will want to hear from younger people and people with different experiences. We have a lot of women in the First Nations Foundation and there’s a young woman up here in Darwin with me and this is her first corporate job. Even though I know one day her generation will step up and replace me, it’s my responsibility to build her up, along with all the other women in the organisation and all those who cross my path.

I’d like to see a big shift in how we fund and support First Nations organisations. A lot of philanthropic funders want us to innovate, innovate, innovate rather than working out the needs of the community and organisation. I'm always pushing for sustainability instead of growth because constantly growing and innovating doesn't necessarily lead to impact. Uplifting a disadvantaged group of people is a slow process.

Personally, it's about playing my part in educating the people around me. I want to show people who are in a position to give, how to give well to First Nations organisations; how to walk alongside us on the journey and be our allies. I want to build trusting relationships so I can go to these funders with the challenges we're facing and for the giving to be more than just money, but the possibility to give resources, time and support.

Within First Nations communities, those skills and connections are picking up and we've got some incredible people coming into the space.  I’d like to see philanthropic funders come into community with us to see what they are funding because that’s what keeps them on board long term. I also want to see funding for the continual uplift of our financial literacy products, because financial literacy doesn't stop after one training session: it's ongoing. If we want to move out of survival into thriving, there needs to be a constant uplift, rather than just trying to reach as many people as possible.