Stronger Together
Southside Community Foundation is an independent funding platform, connector, and resource to bring donors behind social innovation at a local level to benefit our community in perpetuity.
Our purpose is to connect donors, resource civil society, and grow community capital in order to benefit our community now and in perpetuity.
We believe in giving for growth and granting for change.
Our purpose:
Our vision is to bring local residents, businesses, government and civil society together to:
Build social cohesion and inclusion
Tackle growing disadvantage and economic exclusion
Strengthen local democracy and culture
Contribute to creating a more environmentally sustainable municipality.
Our vision:
The area of Port Phillip is home to over 109,000 people living in some of our Australia's most affluent suburbs yet:
An estimated 9,000 local people live in poverty
We host one of the largest food banks in the state
Housing, income and education disparities are growing
The gulf between the generations, and their relative opportunities, health and security, is widening
Our local area
How we work:
COLLECTIVE: Everyone can become a co-investor in their community’s future. We help donors to be more effective by ensuring every dollar donated, whether large or small, is leveraged to achieve greater impact.
INDEPENDENT: We are of and for the community. We are independent of government allowing us to convene honest conversations and commission research about issues that our community needs to face.
OPEN: Our governance, decision-making and operation are open, responsive, and transparent to the community.
COLLABORATIVE: We work with other community and private foundations, local charities and service providers, other grant-makers, collaborating for impact and the betterment of the community. We partner with others to build the capacity, power and leadership of our civil society.
Southside Community Foundation is joining an esteemed cohort of community foundations in Victoria making change in their community, driven by their community.
Community Foundations Australia
The Movement
Southside Community Foundation joins a growing movement of over 2,000 worldwide and over 50 in Australia.
There are 38 community foundations in Australia with 80% located in rural and regional areas. The first to be established in Australia was the Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation in 1923.
Southside Community Foundation is the first community foundation to be established in Victoria since 2016.