We are all surrounded by those who are far less fortunate no matter our personal circumstances. It is a matter of choosing to see, a kind of curiosity about the vagaries of life, and once you’ve seen, then not turning a blind eye. Growing up in a small town in upstate New York I can remember this core message of not turning away. It came from my parents and the dozens of charities they regularly gave to, each a small amount. Supporting those in need, be it money or time, was woven into the fabric of the small community we lived in. Everyone we knew gave to the Red Cross, the local hospital, the fire department, church and school fetes, door knock campaigns, girl scout cookie bakes. I never saw my father turn anyone away from our door. Giving wasn’t talked about; it was just done. It was an expectation.
Stories of disadvantage and deprivation, of humiliation and discrimination have always resonated strongly with me. I gravitate to books and films that explore these themes. As a life-long feminist I’m especially drawn to issues of gender equality and the unmet needs of women. My family would not have been surprised that the first significant donation I made as a young mother was to a women’s domestic violence day centre in Kings Cross. At the time I knew little about domestic violence—few did in the 1990s—but I knew these women needed significant help and a safe haven. I think it is this ethos that drives my giving.
Initially our giving was very unstructured but always aligned to issues and causes we felt strongly about. In 2008 my husband and I decided to set up a PAF, the McLean Foundation, to put some structure into our giving. Our daughter, Heather Thomson joined us as a trustee. We identified three broad pillars—conservation, education and community development—each reflecting our strengths and interests. Another pillar was added, that of literature, in 2011. Within those pillars sit the causes we fund, that of large-scale conservation, Indigenous and regional education, pre-school literacy, domestic and family violence and literature programs and prizes. At one of our very first foundation meetings, we also decided that when we made a significant donation to an organisation, one of the three family trustees needed to serve as the lead trustee for the relationship. In some cases, this has led to board and advisory roles. Most of all it leads to learning a great deal about the needs of an organisation. Most of our giving are multi-year commitments. We like having the opportunity to be seed funders of small organisations that can find it hard to attract funding and staying with them for a decade as they grow into sustainable organisations. We have initiated or participated in several matched giving campaigns and co-funding partnerships which are wonderfully energising. In other cases, we have been asked to help an organisation structure a new approach or program and work closely with them to achieve that goal. Our Foundation doesn’t give to international causes, as worthy as so many are, nor do we participate in generic fundraising campaigns. This tight focus of long-term funding for impact in the key areas we are committed to in Australia keeps us grounded in our giving, an approach that has served us well.
As much as we might think we know about a particular societal issue or cause, it isn’t until you get to know an organisation deeply that you can truly understand their needs. We quickly learned that operational funding is critical to success and McLean Foundation now primarily gives to operational. We have also learned that getting to know the people a not for profit serves opens your heart even more to their needs as it enables you to understand the complex circumstances of their lives. Empathy is an enabler, and you take away with you much, much more than you give.
My husband and I are in the last stage of our Foundation given our ages, and in winding up the Foundation in the coming years we see this as an opportunity to have further impact with larger gifts to organisations we are aligned to. One day our children may begin their own foundation, and if they do, they may well choose quite different focuses and causes to support. They have had the opportunity, though, of seeing how much pleasure we’ve had in our giving, how many friendships across spectrums we’ve made, how much we’ve learned about those in need in urban, regional and remote Australia, how much we’ve come to understand about our unique and threatened environment—and therefore what impactful giving can look like for a small family foundation.
Paula is a Patron and the immediate past Deputy Chair of the Stella Prize; a Board Member of the Country Education Foundation of Australia; Patron of Pop In, a domestic violence day centre in the Southern Highlands of NSW; and Patron of The Charlotte Project, an initiative of the Wingecarribee Women Writers to recognize the achievements of women in the Southern Highlands community and celebrate their voices.
She is a founding trustee of McLean Foundation which supports Australian conservation, education, domestic and family violence and literature. She began the Nature Writing Prize for Australian writers in 2011, administered by The Nature Conservancy Australia and awarded biennially.
In 2021, Paula was a recipient of Philanthropy Australia’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
A former fiction and educational publishing editor, Paula is also the author of Good Foods for Babies and Toddlers and two parenting books, PlayPower: Birth to One Year and PlayPower: One to Three Years.
Supporting the voices of women has been at the forefront of Paula’s work throughout her career.
