National gay charity start-up

A new national GLBTI charity is set to be launched this year which has hopes to become one of Australia’s most reputable charity organisations for the queer community.

Named the Gay and Lesbian Foundation of Australia (GALFA), the organisation will act as a central distributing body, handing out funding to worthy causes in much the same way as other philanthropic groups.

GALFA spokeswoman Carol Wilkinson said the organisation’s vision is to establish a -œpurely philanthropic organisation to fund specific GLBTI causes.

-œWe’re really focused on raising and collecting and distributing [money] fairly and with genuine concern for the GLBTI community, she told Southern Star.

-œWe want to make sure that GLBTI people are living good and equal lives and however we can do that and however we can assist organisations that do that, we will provide help for them, for sure.

The organisation was inspired by the late Bruce McNicol, a long-time contributor to the Victorian GLBTI community and a key player in establishing the Victorian AIDS Council.

GALFA has pinpointed GLBTI health, education and aged care as areas for future investment, along with aiming to reduce discrimination and social exclusion.

The organisation will rely on donations, particularly bequests, for funding for projects.

According to Wilkinson, government and non-government agencies, including philanthropic organisations, are generally cautious in funding culturally specific gay and lesbian programs for fear of ideological opposition.

-œThe GLBTI community gets a minuscule amount in terms of overall philanthropy handouts, the smallest percentage of any sort of group -” that in itself is good reason for saying what we are going to be about.

According to a Philanthropy Australia report around only two percent of all funds are given to gay and lesbian projects. This is the smallest amount of funding to any specific group.

Wilkinson said she hopes the organisation will have broader appeal than just within the GLBTI community and said GALFA has a long-term target to reach the broader community for funding.

-œOne of our jobs is actually to start building up a reputation stretching wider than from within the GLBTI community and say, -˜this is important and this is a group that is still marginalised’.

-œI don’t have breast cancer and I donate to the Cancer Council and I don’t have heart disease and I donate to the Heart Foundation, but generally speaking people giving are only from within the community.

Those behind the project also include Sydney lawyer Sarina Jackson, chartered accountant Mark Burgess, longtime JOY 94.9 FM member Colin Krycer, senior lecturer at the Department of General Practice at Melbourne University, Dr Ruth McNair and CEO of the Council of Social Services, Cath Smith.

info: www.galfa.org.au