COMMUNITY X KYLIE
Kylie Kwong celebrates some of her hospitality heroes and the individuals helping to grow a stronger community. This month, we meet the trio behind the philanthropic initiative Groundswell Giving.
Groundswell Giving.
I first learned about Groundswell Giving – Australia’s first giving circle dedicated to funding climate advocacy – at its launch in February. Former Australian of the Year Professor Tim Flannery spoke, alongside former NSW Fire and Rescue Commissioner Greg Mullins. Welcome to Country was performed by traditional owner Craig Madden and reflections on Caring for Country from acclaimed contemporary artist, Tony Albert. I am extremely encouraged by the way Groundswell engages all of us to actively be part of the solution. At the heart of Groundswell is community empowerment and collaboration with a deep respect for the leadership of First Nations people. I have never felt more hopeful about our future, as I do now, with the powerful and accessible work of Groundswell now firmly in place and activated within our community.
As the skies turned red above Mallacoota and people struggled to breathe through acrid smoke, a wave of helplessness swept the country – and social media. “It was 2 January that we had this surge of people turn to us,” recalls Arielle Gamble, co-founder of Groundswell Giving. “What we do is provide a way for people to transform their despair into action. The antidote to despair is action.”
Groundswell Giving is a giving circle, designed to grow a community of paid members who support and fund the climate movement. Gamble co-founded the project last year, alongside long-time climate campaigner Anna Rose and Clare Ainsworth Herschell. The trio was still developing the concept when the bushfires arrived last summer.
“That is really what made us accelerate our plans to launch it and bring that forward,” explains Ainsworth Herschell. “A lot of people were feeling vulnerable and worried about the future and didn’t know how to get involved in climate action. We had a number of friends and colleagues asking ‘what can we do?’. Groundswell answered that question for a lot of people.”
Members donate either $20 a week or $1000 a year and then vote to decide who receives each grant. It is, Rose explains, a wholly democratic process.
“There is no shortage of brilliant people, amazing ideas, passion, dedication and good strategy in the climate movement. We know what it’s going to take to make progress on climate… But what the climate movement has always lacked is the funding,” says
Rose, who began her career as a climate campaigner as a teenager. In 2006, she co-founded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition before going on to work in a range of roles for various climate groups, including Farmers for Climate Action.
“In the climate movement, the vast majority of groups have no marketing or fundraising department. People want to be connected to these important organisations but they don’t really know where to start.”
In addition to fundraising, the group aims to raise the visibility of climate campaigners and the work they are doing. “Most media coverage in Australia on climate is focussed on the impact and to some extent the science,” explains Rose. “There’s not enough about the solutions and there’s definitely not enough about the people and organisations that are implementing and driving solutions.”
Since launching at the start of the year, the group has raised $250,000 in its first six months. Their goal is to reach 500 members and raise $500,000 by the end of the year.
“Our members are such a diverse bunch in terms of their age, location, and income bracket, which really speaks to the unique nature of the climate crisis – it affects everyone. We’ve found that from the bushfires to the Covid crisis, the essential link between planetary health and human health is being recognised more clearly than ever before,” says Ainsworth Herschell.
So far, the group has granted funding to five organisations, including a $40,000 grant to Seed Mob, which is committed to building the power of Aboriginal communities to protect Country and stop fracking.
“First Nations people have done the least to cause climate change but are impacted first and worst. First Nations justice is key to climate justice,” explains Gamble.
If the bushfires helped drive members to Groundswell, the Covid-19 pandemic has helped to engage them, regardless of their location.
“What we’ve realised is how pivoting to online events has opened up the accessibility for people right around the country. We have members in every state and territory. There’s something really amazing about how this situation has been able to connect rural, remote and urban Australia,” says Gamble.
“The three of us set this thing up but it’s the members who make it what it is. Members fund it, members drive it. We’re all owners in this.
It’s a giving circle so we all have this power.” groundswellgiving.org
“First Nations people have done the least to cause climate change but are impacted first and worst.”