Westpac Foundation

The Westpac Foundation is a charitable trust which makes funding decisions solely for the public benefit. The Foundation has a particular focus on sustainable social enterprises and building communities, supporting projects of all sizes across Australia.

Artsupport Australia has forged a strong working relationship with the Westpac Foundation introducing arts projects delivering positive community results into their traditional mix of recipients. 

As a corporate foundation, Westpac Foundation operates with somewhat more complexity than a private family foundation, but still delivers philanthropic grants. The Foundation has one annual grant round, funding three different tiers of projects via a two-stage application process. Each year Artsupport Australia presents a number of arts organisations to the Foundation. These projects are shortlisted with the assistance of the Australia Council for the Arts, and mentored through the rigorous application process. This prepares the organisation for a philanthropic relationship, whether with the Westpac Foundation or others.

Arts organisations that have received Westpac Foundation grants, facilitated by Artsupport Australia include:

2005

• Indij Readers – for a community writing kit to gather new stories for publication
• Big hART –  for an arts based project, 'Gold' focusing on at-risk youth in rural communities in eastern Australia facing drought. See www.au.org.au for more information. 
• Charles Darwin University – for Art Stories, an arts-based literacy project

2006

• Artful Dodgers- for a website project for at-risk youth
• Beyond Empathy – for the development of a tool kit,  to enable their at-risk youth art programs be replicated nationally

2007

All five grant applications to the Westpac Foundation were successful. This totalled $947,264, being more than double the amount received last year.

The applicants supported by Artsupport Australia this year to receive funding were

• Access Arts Qld
• Buku-Larrnggay/Mulka Centre
• Feral Arts
• Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE)
• Somebody's Daughter Theatre

For more information on the Westpac Banking Corporations Community Involvement approach and strategy refer to www.westpac.com.au.

Artsupport Australia’s web presence was developed with the generous support of a Westpac Foundation grant in 2007. This was for a Tier 3 category grant for  capacity building for the arts, financial and philanthropic sectors, to provide greater resourcing and linkages between them.