Philanthropic Partners

Support from the Beswick Family Fund is used to assist critical programs in NSW, including our Indigenous Parenting Support Service at Gulargambone and Walgett in rural NSW, and our youth homelessness programs throughout western Sydney.

Thanks to funding from the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat Foundation, MacKillop will expand the geographical reach of its therapeutic education canine program, Paw Pals, to support children and young people in the Ballarat region. Working with up to 55 primary and secondary Diocese schools, Paw Pals will provide critical support to students struggling to engage with learning.

Thanks to funding from The Anthony Costa Foundation, MacKillop will partner with Geelong-based Indigenous organisation, Strong Brother, Strong Sister to pilot a mentoring program to support the cultural, social and emotional needs of Aboriginal children/young people in the Geelong region who are at risk of entering, or already living in out of home care, and who attend the MacKillop Specialist School.

Thanks to funding from the Danks Trust, MacKillop’s Way Out There program will continue to support young people living in out of home care prepare to transition from residential care to independent living in the community. Young people are also supported by a 10-week practical life-skills education and mentoring program.

A long and valued supporter of MacKillop and its work, the Dimmick Charitable Trust is supporting VCAL students attending the Geelong specialist school to gain their First Aid and CPR certificates. While not only teaching important skills to enhance employment prospects for the students, achieving these certificates will also count towards the nominal hours required to complete VCAL’s ‘Industry Specific Skills’ module.

In a bid to tackle the many complex emotional issues experienced by young people living in out of home care, MacKillop is piloting Therapeutic Life Story Work in the Geelong region. Thanks to funding from Equity’s The Otto and Elizabeth Schumacher Trust and VCF George Perry Fund, along with The Ross Trust and Geelong’s Give Where You Live Foundation, the program is working to help reduce the impact of grief and trauma on children and young people in care.

Drawing on the knowledge and expertise of its culturally diverse staff, clients and their families, MacKillop, in partnership with the Centre for Multicultural Youth, will develop a best practice model of working with migrant and refugee children/young people living in out of home care.

Thanks to funding from Equity’s RM Ansett Trust and The Scanlon Foundation, the project will identify, train and upskill staff to become cultural mentors, to build capacity and provide guidance and assistance to other staff working with culturally diverse clients.

Thanks to funding from the Geelong Community Foundation, MacKillop’s specialist school in Geelong has expanded its award-wining Bittersweet Café project to increase opportunities for students. This includes supporting their local community with a soup kitchen and undertaking lessons to bolster their culinary skills and knowledge.

Through their Give 52 Foundation, Anton and Jenny Gaudry are valued supporters of MacKillop’s Paw Pals canine program, which supports at-risk children and young people to engage or re-engage in learning and education. With a therapy dog by their side, students are happy to head back to the classroom.

In a bid to tackle the many complex emotional issues experienced by young people living in out of home care, MacKillop is piloting Therapeutic Life Story Work in the Geelong region. Thanks to funding from Geelong’s Give Where You Live Foundation, The Ross Trust and Equity’s Otto and Elizabeth Schumacher Trust and the VCF George Perry Fund, the program aims to reduce the impact of grief and trauma on children and young people in care.

Thanks to support from the Flora and Frank Leith Charitable Trust, MacKillop provides culturally-diverse supported playgroups in Melbourne’s western metropolitan region. The playgroups are a valuable early intervention service that supports vulnerable and disadvantaged families overcome language and cultural barriers and link them to important services such as maternal and child health support, Centrelink, early learning and other services when needed, including family violence assistance.

Students supported by MacKillop Education have a trauma history or significant mental health challenges, impacting their ability to learn and engage in education. An assessment of student literacy levels shows they are significantly below expected standards. Thanks to funding from the Mazda Foundation, MacKillop Education will train its schools’ educators in an evidence-based linguistic phonics program that aims to improve literacy standards.

Funding from the Pethard Tarax Charitable Trust has been used to support our Out of Home Care programs in the Bendigo region. MacKillop launched services in the region in 2017 as a response to the increasing number of vulnerable and at-risk children and families needing support.

In Australia, foster carers are leaving the system in increasing numbers. Studies suggest part of this attrition is due to the often-unrecognised loss and grief many carers face following the end of a placement: professionals acknowledge no training prepares for this emotional bereavement. With funding from Perpetual (The Fred P Archer Charitable Trust) MacKillop will work with carers to co-design a program that acknowledges this grief and builds carer emotional capacity to better support them in their role.

The issues faced by the young people MacKillop supports in the Barwon and Wimmera south-west regions are among the most complex seen throughout the organisation. With funding from Perpetual (Percy Baxter Charitable Trust) our successful, evidence-based Seasons for Growth program will be adapted to meet the specific needs of children and young people living in foster care. The program aims to give these young people the social and emotional support they need to understand and manage what has happened in their life.

PETstock Assist has been a major supporter of MacKillop’s innovative Paw Pals program since it started in 2019. The canine-assisted education program supports at-risk children and young people to engage or re-engage in learning. With a therapy dog by their side, students are happy to head back to the classroom. Thanks to the ongoing support of PETstock Assist, Paw Pals is now available for at-risk students in the Geelong region.

Funding from the Queensland Community Foundation has been used to develop and grow MacKillop’s innovative canine learning program, Paw Pals, to help disadvantaged kids re-engage with education.

In a bid to tackle the many complex emotional issues experienced by young people living in out of home care, MacKillop is piloting Therapeutic Life Story Work in the Geelong region. Thanks to funding from The Ross Trust, Equity’s The Otto and Elizabeth Schumacher Trust and VCF George Perry Fund, and Geelong’s Give Where You Live Foundation, the program is working to help reduce the impact of grief and trauma on children and young people in care.

Drawing on the knowledge and expertise of its culturally diverse staff, clients and their families, MacKillop, in partnership with the Centre for Multicultural Youth, will develop a best practice model of working with migrant and refugee children/young people living in OoHC.

Thanks to funding from The Scanlon Foundation and Equity (RM Ansett Trust), the project will identify, train and upskill staff to become cultural mentors, to build capacity and provide guidance and assistance to other staff working with culturally diverse clients.

Thanks to funding from the Archie and Hilda Graham Foundation, Thomas O’Toole Foundation, Ern Hartley Foundation, A L Lane Foundation and Gall Family Foundation, MacKillop established a volunteer mentor program in the Barwon south-west region. The program connects children and young people living in foster care a with supportive adult mentor that can add to their lives through shared interests or hobbies or simply to spend quality time with them.

The Gall Family Foundation and Thomas O’Toole Foundation have also supported a new program offering therapeutic support for foster carers in the Warrnambool region.

Thanks to funding from the A L Lane Foundation, Gall Family Foundation, Gwen and Edna Jones Foundation and the Ray and Joyce Uebergang Foundation, MacKillop expanded its Equine-assisted Social and Emotional Learning Program to support children and young people living in OOHC in the Barwon south-west region. The program, which launched at Mepunga in 2017, was the area’s first equine therapy hub providing vulnerable young people with access to the healing benefits of working with horses.

The Gall Family Foundation has also supported a new program offering therapeutic support for foster carers in the Warrnambool region.

Thanks to funding from the Waratah Education Foundation, MacKillop will work with educators across NSW to deliver a Covid-focussed adaptation of Seasons for Growth to support students manage the many social and emotional challenges experienced over the past two years due to disruptions caused by the Covid pandemic.

MacKillop was one of only eight organisations to receive a major grant to scale and expand the reach of its Power to Kids: Respecting Sexual Safety (PTK:RSS) program. The funding was secured through Westpac’s Safer Children, Safer Communities Impact grants, awarded to organisations committed to preventing the sexual exploitation of vulnerable children and young people.

The evidence-based program educates young people living in residential care (and their carers) about the risks associated with harmful sexual behaviour, child exploitation and dating violence. It aims to increase a young person’s understanding about healthy relationships, sexual safety and keeping themselves safe.

The grant allows MacKillop to offer PTK: RSS to residential care providers across Australia.

The Joe White Bequest has been a long and valued supporter of MacKillop, providing much-needed funding to implement a broad range of child and family services and programs across Victoria.