Giving

International Council for Research into Women

ICRW believes that women are integral to alleviating global poverty.

When women have opportunities to improve their lives, everyone benefits. When they are able to earn an income and control what they do with it, their children are more likely to finish school. Families eat better. They stay healthy. Communities thrive. And in the end, entire nations are in a better position to prosper economically.

ICRW works in impoverished regions where it identifies womens’ contributions to their communities and the barriers including HIV, violence, lack of education, child-marriage, that prevent them from being economically stable and able to fully participate in society.

Importantly, ICRW supports this theoretical work by designing pragmatic plans for program designers, donors and policymakers that empower women to control their lives and shape the future of their communities.

Opportunity International

Opportunity International has a vision of a world in which all people have the opportunity to achieve a life free from poverty, with dignity and purpose. They work towards this by providing financial solutions and training, thus empowering people living in poverty to transform their lives, their children’s futures and their communities. They help women in developing countries like India, Indonesia, Philippines, China and Ghana with the skills and startup capital to set up their own business, an initiative that not only makes a big difference to these women, but also to their families, their children, and their broader community.

Women for Women

Women for Women International helps women survivors of war rebuild their lives. They have over 20 years of on-the-ground experience working with women in countries affected by conflict. Since 1993, Women for Women International has helped nearly 429,000 marginalised women. They directly work with women in 8 countries, offering support, tools, and access to life-changing skills to move from crisis and poverty to stability and economic self-sufficiency. They bring women together in a safe space to learn life, business, and vocational skills.

Once enrolled, each woman receives a monthly stipend – a vital support that enables her to participate. Women increase their ability to earn an income with new skills that are in demand. They learn about their legal rights, and they become knowledgeable about health and nutrition. The result: stronger women, stronger families, and stronger communities. The ripple effect is profoun

Fitted for work

There are currently over 350,000 women in Australia actively seeking work, yet many don’t have the means or knowledge to enable them to secure gainful employment. Since 2005, Fitted for Work has transformed the lives of more than 20,000 women.

As a not-for-profit organisation and the first of its kind in Australia, their mission is to help women experiencing disadvantage get work and keep it. They do this by providing a free business clothing outfitting service, range of interview training, mentoring, career resilience and transition to work programs. This support helps the struggles that women can go through in trying to secure gainful well paid employment to begin their careers. Appearances often do make all the difference when trying to gain employment or win business and this great program enables underprivileged yet ambitious women to better themselves.

Opera Australia Capital Fund

The establishment of the Opera Australia Capital Fund in 2000 represented a watershed in the life of Opera Australia.

It has given Australia's national opera company a secure financial base for the first time in its history. Now in its fifteenth year, the Capital Fund is a tribute to Opera Australia's many supporters whose collective generosity has built a legacy that will be appreciated by opera artists and audiences in the future.

Each year the Opera Australia Capital Fund makes an annual distribution to Opera Australia. In 2015 this distribution was $500,000.
It is the aim of the Capital Fund to build its reserves so that it will be able to increase this annual grant and in doing so help Opera Australia to realise its vision of financial stability in the years ahead.