A force for change

The idea is simple enough, but the challenges ahead are significant to say the least. Audi Australia, has long lent its support to numerous local charities and initiatives – taking part in charitable events, using its influence to bring community issues to light. But in 2016, the brand decided to take that support and the whole idea of ‘giving back’ to a completely new level, with the establishment of the Audi Foundation. 

After much deliberation and examining ways to best continue to help the very communities in which the brand operates. Audi Australia and the Audi National Dealer Network made the decision to establish a corporate philanthropic foundation with the aim of improving the outcomes for those less fortunate. 

Audi Foundation board member, Anna Burgdorf explains: 

“Audi has been embraced in Australia and the brand has built strong associations with the communities around the country. The Audi Foundation exists as the next step to deepen those bonds, by giving back to the causes that we truly believe can make a difference and help these communities,” she says. “Corporate philanthropy exists to promote the welfare of others without commercial gain, and is a recognised mark of corporate responsibility.” 

The Audi Foundation is set up to work directly with established charities that have a proven track record in their respective areas. Partners are selected by the Foundation’s board of directors and must be both not-for-profit organisations and have deductible gift recipient status. The Foundation provides long-term grants as opposed to one-off donations, which has been shown to produce greater results. 

Head of the Audi Foundation, Tom Keenan, takes up the story: 

“The research told us that the accepted way of doing things, namely making many small, one-off donations wasn’t the most effective way of providing assistance to charities,” says Keenan, who is writing his PhD thesis on the effectiveness of Australian charities, says that a longer term approach provides financial stability for the  selected charities and allows them to focus on program delivery rather than fundraising. Consequently, more people are helped  as a result - which is of course the desired outcome. 

“We are committed to using the most effective philanthropic modelling to inform our decisions about how we use our grant monies. Effective and efficient grants will help many more vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians,” he says. 

The Audi Foundation is itself a not-for-profit organisation, with the mission statement of providing long-term funding to selected charitable organisations that share the brand’s key values and that have a proven track record of success in their chosen areas. But where best to begin when there are 630,000 registered not-for-profit organisations  in Australia? 

A number of partnerships are already well underway and although varied in their specialty areas, they each have successful programs in place that are generating real results. The areas being targeted initially are to help women find employment in non-traditional areas, strengthen rural and region Australia, help unemployed people to re-enter the workforce and to assist young people to achieve their full potential. 

To that end, the Audi Foundation is working with The Smith Family and its Work Inspiration program, ReachOut – the original online mental health organisation, RUOK?, the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, the Country Education Foundation Australia, Camp Quality and the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal across a range of initiatives.

The work  of the each charity varies  and targets these very specific areas with very specific approaches. 

Camp Quality CEO, Kylea Tink says it’s about creating a positive environment for young cancer sufferers and their families. “We want the next generation to grow up not being afraid of cancer, and by demystifying the disease, not just for those going through it, but for their school friends and contemporaries, those popular misconceptions and attitudes are removed”. 

The Camp Quality puppets, which visit schools and hospitals, spreading that positive message, and help dispel many of the misconceptions that children, and indeed parents often have. To date, they have appeared in front of more than five million children around the country changing attitudes and bringing smiles into places where they are most needed. 

“It’s not just about lifting the spirits of children in hospitals,” says Ms Tink, “but children returning to school after treatment are often ostracised for fear that cancer can be caught like a cold.” 

Or helping ask what seems like a ridiculously simple question – RUOK? – with the Conversation Convoy earlier in the year is a good example. Four bright yellow Audi Q7s driving 14,000 kilometres around the country helping spread a simple message that in turn helps change a mindset that changes lives. This initiative attracted tremendous media attention nationally, turning a bright light on a subject too often pushed into the darker recesses. 

The Smith Family, as the largest education-focused children’s charity in the country, has been helping disadvantaged youth since 1922. “What many people perhaps don’t realise,” says CEO Dr Lisa O’Brien, “is that for the past three decades, that help has been solely focused on using educational programs to break generational cycles of disadvantage.” 

Work Inspirations is one such program, designed to literally open up the world of opportunities to young people who may not even have been aware of the different jobs, careers and opportunities available to them. 

“If you’ve never even been inside a luxury car dealership,” says Dr O’Brien, “you simply wouldn’t be aware of what job opportunities exist in that environment.” 

“So to go and see the workshops and meet the sales staff and see the catering back of house, and the finance and the other people within one of the dealerships, opens up a world of possibilities to these kids.” 

“For a lot of these kids, they haven’t had that experience and they don’t know that that world of work is even available to them.” 

“The Work inspirations program allows for 150 events each year (across numerous industries), giving more than 2000 students the chance to experience workplaces and possibilities that were otherwise not available to them.” 

Established in 1997, ReachOut was a pioneer in using the internet to enable young people to access help when dealing with mental health issues. Before Google and a decade before the iPhone, ReachOut began providing information and increasingly programs to help those affected, in response to a growing incidence of suicide. 

“What we know when a young person is going through a mental health difficulty, is they do one of three things,” says CEO and ReachOut co-founder Jono Nicholas. 

“They go to the internet, turn to their parents or turn to friends, and inevitably now, they first go to the internet.” 

“When a young person is experiencing a mental health issue, no matter what it is, we want them to go to Australian, evidence-based, safe service,” Mr Nicholas says. 

That insight to use internet at the start, so ahead of its time 20 years ago, is now the obvious choice for allowing young people and their parents to access help. And yet the challenges are enormous to respond to technology changes and keep up to date with the services that ReachOut provides. 

At its origins, 37,000 Australians accessed ReachOut on the old dialup system – that number is now more than 130,000 people each month. 

“We have to respond to technology changes, and we’ve just launched our new generation platform which recognises the key role that mobile phones play in the way people interact and use our services,” says Nicholas. 

Across the board, the challenges are considerable, but the need undeniable. Through concerted effort and long-term programs like those outlined and many others, real change can be effected and those positive outcomes in turn creates its own positive change.