TRANSCRIPT
“This is my garden, tomatoes, these are peppers, these are chili peppers. I have more peppers here. This hasn’t been done properly for a while. We go to the back here. I have a big - well to me it’s a big garden. And I do - I do grow vegetables and stuff. And then it goes to people, I hand it out to people and do things for them. See these are my peppers. I had carrots, there’s a whole stack, I just gave a whole bunch out, there’s more to give out. Tomatoes, cucumbers in there too, so we’re growing that all for people. Hopefully that will grow.”
That's Vanessa in the garden outside her unit.
She's passing on the generosity that has come her way, gifting home grown veggies to her neighbours.
Now 70 years old she feels fortunate to have a place to call home after experiencing homelessness in both Australia and Canada.
“I hadn’t even looked inside here, I just saw it from the window and I said ‘I’ll take it. You know when somebody is desperate? You need somewhere to live. This was home. This was going to be a home. ”
Everyone who lives in this residential complex - a horseshoe shape of unit overlooking a communal lawn - is over 55.
The Housing for the Aged Action Group or HAAG helped her with accommodation after she found herself sleeping rough for a period of time.
Having the security of long-term accommodation has changed her life.
"I’m 70 in January, so I don’t know how long I’ve got to live. But I get out there and I do things. I take people out, I do things with them, I’m having the time of my life now. I never thought this could ever happen. I never knew it was so good to be out there doing things. I never knew places like HAAG actually helped you know?”
The residential complex is run by HAAG who support older people at risk of homelessness.
And single women over 55 are especially vulnerable - now one of the fastest growing groups at risk of homelessness in Australia.
That's due to factors such as a lack of superannuation, age discrimination in the job market, divorce and taking time out from the workplace for caring responsibilities.
Financial discrimination also meant that women were unable to secure a home mortgage without a husband until the 1970s.
HAAG receives funding from a number of sources including the Melbourne Women's Foundation, an organisation that uses philanthropy to improve life outcomes for women and their families.
Liza Nadolski is the CEO of the Foundation.
"The reason we focus on women and families is that structurally, and we can see culturally, we see evidence of this all the time in our news cycle that women are likely to be more vulnerable, and it's about creating conditions that give women equal opportunities to participate. Whether it's assistance with long-term accommodation, employment, education, it's really about leveling that playing field and with a strong awareness that when you uplift women there's a ripple effect. That means that all of the whole society benefits when you uplift women."
The distinction between charity and philanthropy isn't always clear - as the two are fundamentally about giving to improve the lives of those around us.
Philanthropy is more likely to focus on long-term solutions and structural change, while charity is more about providing short term and often emergency relief.
Established in 2014 the Melbourne Women’s Foundation uses a model known in the philanthropy community as a Giving Circle.
Liza Nadolski explains.
"A giving circle is essentially a group of people who decide to pool their funds. In our case, it's members who pay a thousand dollars a year, and together they award grants for different, not-for-profits serving women and families across Greater Melbourne. And the way they do that is by inviting, not-for-profit organisations to apply for grants for different projects that they're running. Then as a group, every year our members vote for which of those not-for-profits should receive two grants.”
In 2023 the foundation awarded one grant of $80,000 and one of $45,000, along with four other merit awards of just under $9,000 each.
A range of groups have received funding from the foundation over the years, including Prison Network, Tradeswomen Community Foundation, and the Self Help Addiction Resource Centre.
Fiona York the executive officer of HAAG says philanthropic support from the Melbourne Women's Foundation, has given the organisation the ability to try new things.
"Organisations like the Melbourne Women's Fund and other philanthropic organisations really allow us the freedom to be able to support older people who are at risk of homelessness in ways that we couldn't ordinarily do through just government funding. It gives us flexibility, it allows us to try new things. It allows us to implement projects that we wouldn't be able to do otherwise. So I think the beauty of philanthropy is that it really does allow that flexibility to be able to support people in different ways."
Fiona York says around 60 per cent of the people that come to HAAG for support are older women, with around half of them from multicultural backgrounds.
She says many of these women face a range of barriers in accessing support, finding it difficult to navigate the online systems that are often required to seek support.
Quite often they don't know what they're eligible for or what support is available.
"What we've done with the philanthropic funding has been able to support bilingual people, bilingual educators, community leaders, working with ethno-specific services to be able to reach those people that may not know where to go to help for help and to be able to speak in the same language as them. And to be able to pass on those key messages around where to get help and what places you at risk."
Philanthropy is often associated with wealthy individuals, but the Melbourne Women's Foundation says part of its aim is to make this act of giving available to bigger slice of the population.
The Foundation is 100 per cent volunteer-run with almost all of its donations going to non-profit organisations.
Liza Nadolski says members pay a $1000 tax deductible donation to become members while younger women under 35 can become members for $500.
This money is then pooled into a fund with membership allowing people to have a say in how the money gets distributed.
"Philanthropy is traditionally quite, is elitist. This model is about democratising philanthropy. It isn't without its problems. Nevertheless, it's still one of the most accessible ways and strategic ways that people give, and there's so much evidence about the fact that women want to give together and they want to give in a strategic way and to be connected with each other and with issues."
And strategic giving can and does have the power to change lives.
For Vanessa the simple act of having a permanent home means that not only is her veggie garden thriving, but so to is she.
"I talk to people, I tell them my story, I tell them how I’ve come from nothing to something. I always say in my story, I used to be a - how do I call it? I was a wilted flower. I am now a blossomed beauty now, that’s what I think of myself now. And this is all a bonus, everything I’m living now is a bonus for me, so I thank God.
In March 2023, the Government established a Productivity Commission review to analyse motivations for philanthropic giving in Australia and identify opportunities to grow it further.
The Government is set to receive the Final Inquiry Report by 11 May 2024.
And you can listen to more episodes of the Change Agents series wherever you get your podcasts.
