$1.5 million dollars over three years has been secured to operationalise a unique nation-wide product donor/charity connection initiative through a philanthropic collaboration led by the Snow Foundation.
“We recognised the enormous potential and need for Good360 which has been proven in the US and we were absolutely sold on Alison Covington’s passion and capability. The Snow Foundation initially contributed $125,000 to fund the sophisticated IT Giving platform needed by Good360 to connect donors of goods with the charities that need them,” said Snow Foundation CEO Georgina Byron.
“However, there was also a necessity to support Good360, as a new organisation, with operational funding so it could get up and running and work towards its own self-sustainability.
“I had seen collaborative philanthropy at work on a recent study tour in the US along with ten other Australian foundations and we were all committed to encourage more of it here. It’s basically capital aggregation where one funding partner takes the lead, does the due diligence and shares and engages with other funding partners to build sufficient capital for the project.
“As a result of working closely with Alison, the Good360 board and the English Foundation who had also funded them, we pulled together a collaborative funding proposal. There are now eight funding partners supporting Good360 towards self-sustainability with $500k over three years to provide certainty of funding to operationalise it properly across Australia.
Philanthropy is not just about the dollars, it’s about sharing knowledge, using our skills and working together with other funders, partners and the community.”
The funding group includes the English Family Foundation, The Ian Potter Foundation, the Nelson Meers Foundation, the Mundango Charitable Trust, the Myer Foundation, the Maranatha Trust, a private foundation and The Snow Foundation that have each given between $20k and $125k to achieve Good360’s target of $500k a year.
“Good360 already has 250 charities registered on its books and another 50 in the pipeline. At the donor end there are more than 30 retailers who have signed up including the likes of Super Retail Group, Shoes of Prey, 3M, Lush, Linen House and Staples with more big names on the way,” Ms Covington said.
“And the feedback from the charities who have already received goods has been phenomenal. Good360 is a win-win initiative that makes use of perfectly good products to impact positively on people’s lives. We have now received $4 million dollars worth of product and re-distributed $1million dollars of product.”
