Rebecca Cuthill and Nichola Harris are sisters who sit on the board of the Cuthill Family Foundation, a private ancillary fund based in Tasmania. Rebecca is Director of Advancement at the University of Tasmania. Nichola Harris is Program and Engagement Coordinator at Michelle Bihary.
Rebecca Cuthill:
We were brought up in a family where contributions to community were really valued. Our parents always volunteered their time, their capacity, and their funds. They started the family foundation about seven years ago to create a more structured approach to philanthropy and to provide an intergenerational transfer of knowledge around how to give.
Nicola and I are both involved, and our children are coming on board as well. It’s giving us an opportunity to sit around and have family conversations about what we think is important, which has been an unexpected byproduct that I wasn’t anticipating.
Nichola Harris:
What’s interesting about intergenerational learning around giving is that the way that our parents give and their thinking around it, is different to what Rebecca and I would be doing. And now we're being challenged by our children about how we do it. It’s made us realise that we need to be much more strategic in the way we think about our giving longer term, so it can have the most impact.
Rebecca Cuthill:
We had quite a fortunate upbringing, like others in Tasmania, but we also recognise that there are many in our community who do not have access to this level of support. We don't have millions and millions at our disposal each year, so we've got to think about where our philanthropy will make a difference. That's a driver.
Nichola Harris:
During the pandemic we spent time as a group, with facilitators, to work out a strategy of how and where we wanted to give. It was important that this reflected each family member’s individual professional and personal backgrounds.
We now have four pillars that align with our shared values and skills. The pillars include support for evidence-based health research and practice; scholarships to ensure we can access quality education; projects that promote a vibrant, diverse and innovative arts sector; and community-based climate solutions.
Rebecca Cuthill:
Mum and Dad still have their passion projects that they do off to one side. The big change has been setting up multi-year agreements with partners, over a three-to-five-year horizon, so we can see where our giving will have the most impact.
Because we can’t give to everything, we also look to other partners to help. In the medical research field, we gave to a local charity that works in the hospital, and because of that funding they could look into some other research funds.
Nichola Harris:
In Tasmania, there are several foundations that work together and contribute to make a project happen. This benefits a project because it means there is a group of individuals or philanthropy associations who think the project is worthwhile and are invested, and this adds more value.
Rebecca Cuthill:
I think it's a little bit nascent because there is less wealth here. We don’t have the large scale multi-generational families of Sydney and Melbourne and it is not in the public consciousness as much. Overall, there is just less capacity here and we’re still growing the sophistication of local charities to communicate how philanthropy will create impact for their organisation.
There also aren’t many role models talking about giving in Tasmania. I don't think many people would know what a family foundation is or why we've set one up. I think there's an opportunity for our family foundation to step up and see this as an opportunity to be more visible in our giving. There's a bit of a culture here that if you're giving, you do it very quietly.
Nichola Harris:
When you talk about being part of a family foundation, you have to do it in a way that shows that the giving is not just about privilege, but that there is thought and strategy behind it. Ours isn't a huge foundation, it is a much more modest foundation. It’s making sure that the message is that the act of giving is important, and whether the contribution is small or large it is important to be proud of it.
Rebecca Cuthill:
It's worth saying that Tasmania has the highest rates of volunteerism in Australia per capita. As a community this means turning up at charity barbecues, donating blankets and clothes, and volunteering to assist the vulnerable. There is an incredible amount of generosity in the state but words like philanthropy probably seem a bit rarefied.
Rebecca Cuthill:
I have learned that our ambitions are sometimes greater than the recipient's ambitions. We partnered with one charity who were not ready for the gift and really struggled with it. They got there in the end, but it took them two years to use the funds.
Nichola Harris:
I think it speaks to the level of sophistication; finding that sophistication and ambition is one of our biggest challenges. We need to keep going back to the four pillars that we want to give to and ask, ‘Are we giving to those key areas? Are we being true to what the whole family agreed to give to long-term?’
Rebecca Cuthill:
Those pillars are important. We could give everything to a few prominent charities because we know they do good work and they're accountable. But that's not aligned with our pillars because we want to support more innovative grassroots work as well. The big learning for us has been to trial partners on a one-year basis and if they deliver, we can expand that to multi-year funding.
Nichola Harris:
As a family foundation, we know that generational giving is really important. Both Rebecca and I want to learn more about what's impactful, but I also get joy from watching the kids come into this. They bring a different skill set to the table and I think that's really good.
They know how lucky they are to have privileged lives and they volunteer in different ways. Mum and Dad have always done that over the years, and I think this long-term family value of giving is really important. The other thing is to give with more impact. In five to ten years, I would like to be able to look back and see the impact of our giving across our different sectors.
Rebecca Cuthill:
I'd really like us to explore more opportunities to partner with other organisations and philanthropists. There are a couple of other private philanthropists here in Tassie who have significant capacity and are interested in what we've been doing. It would be great if we could be seen as a foundation to partner with and one that could inspire others. I think that would be a wonderful outcome.
Nichola Harris is an experienced speech pathologist and has worked as a clinician and manager in the public, private and not for profit sectors in Australia as well as in the US, UK and the Netherlands. Nichola founded several private practices and for the last 10 years has utilised these skills as Manager, Professional Practice at Speech Pathology Australia. She has recently transitioned to a role with Michelle Bihary supporting the development of professional development programs to support safe and thriving services in the health and community sector throughout Australia and New Zealand. Nichola is a Board member of Hockey Victoria and the Cuthill Family Foundation.
Rebecca Cuthill is a passionate and dynamic advocate for the power of philanthropy to engender meaningful and positive action. As the current Director of Advancement at the University of Tasmania, Rebecca is leading the most significant philanthropic campaign in the University’s history, providing clear pathways for donors to make a difference in areas that matter to their community. Rebecca has over 20 years’ experience in the communication, fundraising and social justice arenas, having worked nationally and internationally for SBS TV, the BBC and the United Nations. Rebecca was also an Australia Day Ambassador for six years and is a passionate advocate for education, humanitarian causes and wider issues of justice. Rebecca’s current board roles include Deputy Chair of Scotch Oakburn College and the Cuthill Family Foundation.
