On making things better 
and her billion-dollar goal for Queensland

I was brought up in a household that was quite religious, so there was always that connection with giving and helping others as a family. Then at school I remember doing things like the 40 Hour Famine, which planted the seed of getting behind a cause and putting some of my own money into a pledge. 

One of my earliest reflections was when I was 16 years old. I volunteered for the Wilderness Society here in Brisbane and they dressed me up as a giant koala and stuck me on the Victoria Bridge to raise money for Queensland's environment. As you can imagine, wearing a koala suit in the height of a Queensland summer is the last place that most people would want to be, but for me it marked a new chapter.

I've worked in not-for-profits and the purpose-based sector for three decades now, and over the years I’ve developed a wide view of what philanthropy means and what it looks like. My favourite definition of philanthropy is “love of humanity” – so really, in my mind, it’s not just about money. I think a lot of people believe that you must be a millionaire to be a philanthropist, but in my everyday, I’m surrounded by incredible people who give their time, energy and resources to finding solutions to all kinds of problems in lots of different ways.

My mantra professionally and personally is “whatever you do, just make it better.” For me it’s about seeing a problem and knowing that I have an ability, not always to solve it, but to hopefully help make it better.

One of the things that drives a lot of my giving is storytelling. It’s something that we focus on through the Queensland Philanthropy Awards by sharing incredible stories of giving from the local butcher and hairdresser though to the amazingness of well-known philanthropists like the Fairfax family. Regardless of whose story we’re telling, the heart of it is always the same – this is an issue that means something to them, and this is what they’re doing to make it better.

I think it’s a really helpful mindset, especially when you feel overwhelmed by the wicked social and environmental problems facing not just Queensland, but the world right now. Just do one thing, within your means to make it better. That’s what I love about our Philanthropy Awards - we get to celebrate the people who are taking those small steps to make things better.

One of the things I'm proud of is an annual event I have run, in my personal capacity for the last 19 years, called Glam It Up For Charity. Even though I work in the sector and live and breathe non-profits, I think it’s important to give in a personal capacity as well. Over the past 19 years this event has raised almost $300,000 for different local and grass roots causes, mostly for charities that support vulnerable women and children. Although there are lots of other things I’ve done, Glam It Up For Charity is dear to my heart is a major part of my giving and volunteering annually.

I think my superpower is being a connector of people and of causes, bringing people on a journey and breaking philanthropy down to small bite-sized pieces. There is a huge amount of charity fatigue and overwhelm in the community, and although a lot of people want to give, they often don't know how to give and worry that their giving won’t make a difference.

A couple of years ago, I put a call out for pyjamas for kids in foster care. Incredibly, we received over 7,500 pairs of brand-new pyjamas from people all around Australia. I am quite certain, if I had run that same campaign by asking for a donation of $20 or $50 to buy pyjamas, I would not have received the same response. I think people wanted to be involved because it was a simple, tangible and transparent way to give. If we, as a sector, can break things down into simple, meaningful, tangible action for people to be able to make a difference – then , I believe we will be able to achieve greater levels of  success.

Do what you can with whatever you can – time, talent, goods, behaviour and of course money! In addition to money, there are plenty of ways you can help a charity, a community or cause. Choose one or two of your favourite cause areas, and get to know the charities making a difference in that area.  Focus on their impact and output to that cause - volunteering for a charity can be a great way to get to know the organisation and their impact. 

Queensland Gives is a different way of supporting your favourite cause or charity.  We take your donation to your favourite Queensland cause or charity, invest it with our Founding Sponsor Queensland Investment Corporation, and only give away the interest from your donation to your favourite cause, year on year.

A donor can give us $2 or $2 million for their favourite cause, and the money accumulates like your superannuation, earning and generating interest, which then goes straight to your chosen cause or charity. I think a lot of people are unfamiliar with this model, and the long term benefits and generational impact. Sometimes, we get that question of why give to us instead of giving directly to a charity? Deloitte Access Economics did a study in 2023, and answered this question, their analysis shows that a donation today into our fund will multiply by 30 times every 50 years, which means the power of your giving is amplified for generations to come.

I’ve been CEO of Queensland Gives by Queensland Community Foundation for seven years and our fund of $151,000,000 has been built by Queenslanders for the benefit of Queensland. We support and fund over 300 Queensland charities every year. I see the full circle of giving, working with philanthropists and charities, as a funders, as a non-profit and as a grant maker.

It also means that we hold a unique position which gives us incredible insight into both Queensland's biggest givers, and the state’s biggest needs. Of the ten most disadvantaged postcodes in Australia, six of them are in Queensland.  On an environmental scale, Queensland boasts 85% of Australia’s biodiversity, which also means the highest levels of extinction in both plants and animals is happening here. I think a lot of southerners look at Queensland and think of Noosa or the Great Barrier Reef but we're more than that. We've got big issues to tackle, but on the other hand Queensland Gives by Queensland Community Foundation is the second biggest Community Foundation in the country – which means we have the people and resources to help make things better. We need to scale this fund to solve some of these issues.

I would love to see this fund grow in size to $500 million and then a billion dollars one day. It started in 1997 with a $300,000 philanthropic gift that has grown into a $154,000,000 fund, which is amazing, but it's not enough. We still have a lot of work to do. When I started in this role, the fund was approximately $80 million so the fund has nearly doubled in seven years.  Our opportunity and our drive is to keep doubling the fund and scaling its ability to make things better for Queenslanders. I want to keep doubling the corpus and scaling our impact.

I love knowing that all the energy and effort I'm putting into this trust is something that my children's children will benefit from. So, yes, my professional ambition is to grow this fund as big as possible because I know the impact that it will have on the social and environmental future of QLD.