On making a difference and ‘boots in’ giving

My earliest memory of tangible giving was when my husband and I decided to sponsor a child through World Vision when first got married. John’s mum was really involved in charity work when he was growing up, and my mum had done some work in that space as well, so as a young couple, we made a conscious decision that if we were going to have children who would be born into this incredible life in Sydney, we needed to do something for the kids who wouldn’t grow up in a place like this. That was the start of our giving, and we've kept sponsoring kids ever since. 

First and foremost, I give because I should. I'm a healthy white woman who is employed, married and living in a country where I have access to everything I need - so I feel this sense of obligation. But secondly, I also want to contribute to the world. I don’t want to leave this earth without feeling like I've done something of significance to make a difference. And thirdly, I've worked in an industry that I've loved, and it’s afforded me the luxury of having a profile, and I don't want to waste that – if I can lend my voice to different causes, then that’s a great use of the opportunity I’ve been given. 

The main way I give is raising the profile of other people and organisations through the platform I have. I've just become an ambassador for an organisation called Steps Pathways College in Far North Queensland which is a living campus for young adults with autism and intellectual disability. I love to help organisations like this, that may not get as much recognition as others, so they can grow their profile.  

I've got a core group of charities that I'll give anything and everything they need, in terms of my time. If others come along and ask for me to host something, I’ll always try to fit it in but I'm at a point where I need to reduce that list and really focus on the ones I've got. I only connect with charities that resonate for me, and I love to immerse myself in learning who they who they are, why they do what they do and how I can help. I'm not interested in being a token name on a list; I'm a ‘boots in’ kind of person. I want to be part of the team.  

World Vision is one organisation that gets a huge amount of my time. I've been associated with them for well over 20 years and we still sponsor children through them. I feel like I live and breathe what they’re aiming to achieve in the world, which makes it a lot easier to talk about their work because it’s meaningful to me.

I've learned so much about different people and environments. You can't go to Africa or Mongolia and meet a mum and see the struggles she faces every day to keep her children safe and educated – without it feeling like a sucker punch. Suddenly, it’s not about strangers on the other side of the world because I’ve sat in their homes, I’ve met their family. These experiences have had a profound impact on the person I am today; I’m softer around the edges and I can see the grey because these issues aren't that black and white. It gives me a real sense of purpose knowing that I can make a difference.  

So often, we see all the bad stories on the news, whether it’s a famine or the pictures coming out of Gaza - and it feels so big and overwhelming that people turn it off because they think there’s nothing they can do. I know from working in the news space for many years, you need be careful that it doesn’t become white noise. It’s important to remind people that we can all make a difference, and more importantly, that when all come together, we can make an even bigger one. I believe that giving creates a butterfly effect –if you sponsor one child it means they might grow up knowing that there are people out there that do good things, and then they might go on to help somebody else, who goes on to help somebody else. We need to remember that there are good people in the world and knowing that can inspire us to do more. 

I want to continue doing what I do - learning every day and hopefully making a difference. And I want more people to know that they can give and if they need to start small, that’s great. Sometimes people think that the only way they contribute is by writing big, fat cheques, which most of us can’t do. But there is so much need for things other than cheques including our time and attention. We can’t underestimate how good it feels to be contributing to the world.