Since 2009 the Garry White Foundation has gifted $105,000 to Bush Heritage with a great success being the re-discovery of a species. The Nardoo Hills Reserve in north-central Victoria received funding for management and weed control. After six months of this program roll out, the long presumed to be extinct Robust Greenhood Orchid was discovered on the reserve (last sighted in Maldon in 1941). 6 plants in total were discovered and now the DSE and Royal Botanical Gardens are researching the orchid to help manage the species and safeguard its future.

$120,000 was granted over three years to support the release of 40 male Bridled Nailtail Wallabies – a species which is nationally endangered (in Qld and Vic) and extinct in NSW. While only 7 individuals (18%) survived, many lessons were learnt from this ground breaking project (the first of its kind) that are helping AWC to develop a strategy for controlling feral predators and rebuilding wildlife populations in unfenced landscapes.

AWC protects the largest population of Bridled Nailtail Wallabies in the country.

AWC has also received support from GWF for their Tableland project. In partnership with the Yulmbu Community, AWC manages a vast 308,000 hectare sanctuary in the remote central Kimberley. The Yulmbu partnership provides a new model for integrating conservation and community development on indigenous land. AWC leases the land from the community and works collaboratively to meet specific conservation performance targets. The community receives income, employment, assistance with managing cattle herds and improved infrastructure. The property has exceptional conservation value, protecting over 40 mammals and 206 birds, with 7 species listed as threatened.

“The Garry White Foundation’s consistent contributions have given us the stability and confidence to focus on one of the biggest threats facing the natural environment in Australia – invasive species. Thank you Garry White Foundation for your crucial support.” Andrew Cox, CEO , Invasive Species

GWF has supported the food rescue organisation FareShare for 10 years with $620,000 in funding. This money was allocated to head chef, Kellie’s wages. In 2017 FareShare kitchen volnteers and chefs made 1.2 million nutritious meals for various charities using 821 tonnes of rescued food as well as 40 tonnes of vegetables grown on FareShare’s kichen garden lands.

In 2017, GWF along with the Morris Family Foundation headed up a new small grants initiative called Ripe For Change. The aim of this program is to find strategic ways to support positive change to Victoria’s food system, funding initiatives which fall into four outcome areas: Healthy Natural Systems, Viable Enterprises, Health Equity Access and a Galvanised Food Movement. In it’s first year, the initiative focused on Mornington Penninsula to Casey Cardinia (MPCC) region as a useful first step to better understand the food system within the region. 32 applications were received for the MPCC initiative with 13 successful applicants sharing in $50,000 worth of grants. This is an ongoing initiative which will become one of GWF’s core funding areas to support a positive change in the sustainable food and agriculture space in Victoria.

Click here to Ripe for Change website.

A newly formed partnership between GWF and Farmers For Climate Action began at FCA’s inception in 2016. Firstly, through an auspice from Climate Council Australia, GWF funded two young farmers to attend the Paris Climate talks to learn and also speak on behalf of Australian farmers. Climate Council received $28,000 to help launch FCA. This included funding media work to promote and train farmers to become key media voices as well as to produce a report titled On The Front Line: Climate Change and Rural Communities. This report revealed that climate change is likely to worsen disadvantages suffered by rural and regional communities, and also highlighted many positive solutions. The report was featured in over 100 media items and can be accessed here:
http://www.climatecouncil.org.au/ruralreport

The Australian Marine Conservation Society has received $85,000 in GWF funding since 2011. From 2011 to 2014 funding for a Clean Up Our Oceans campaign, was provided to tackle the problem of more than 7 billion tonnes of plastic entering the ocean every year. With guidance from Ben Hodson, an excellent 3 minute video was produced to highlight the problem of plastic in our oceans. The video was selected as part of Flickerfest 2015 and has had more than 26,000 views online.
View the video here:
https://www.marineconservation.org.au/pages/give-frank-a-break.html

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition has received $135,000 since 2011 for partial funding of their Climate Leaders Training Program. The program piloted in 2015 with 100 young people trained in a nine-month intensive program and another 300 young people trained through two-day training camps to learn about climate change and how to facilitate action around this important issue. In 2017 the training camp was run again with partial funding from GWF. Many young people who have attended Climate Leaders have gone on to work for government or campaign with other NFP organisations. AYCC is today a movement of over 150,000 young people fighting and educating for a safe climate for future generations.

Windemere is a community welfare agency working across south-east Victoria. Between 2016/17, GWF granted $30,000 for a counselling support role as part of Building Respectful Relationships program at Cranbourne Secondary College.

This pilot program was deemed so successful it will now be implemented across Victorian schools and early childhood services as a part of a Victorian Government initiative to deliver Respectful Relationships state wide.