Australia Post Names Not for Profit Partners

Australia Post has revealed the seven organisations chosen to be the organisation’s Not for Profit partners in its national community program, including NFP sporting giant, the Australian Football League (AFL). 

The Our Neighbourhood partnerships will run for three to five years and are with organisations in the sporting, arts, disability, education and social enterprise arenas.

Not for Profits and charities across Australia inundated Australia Post with applications in July 2013 after it offered the partnerships as part of its new Our Neighbourhood National Community Program to promote inclusion in communities, with funding of up to $500,000 per year.

After the close of applications, Australia Post said it had received 627 applications, describing the response as ‘overwhelmingly positive’.

The newly announced partners are:

• The Australian Football League

• Infoxchange

• Lifestyle Solutions

• Netball Australia

• The Pyjama Foundation

• Reclink Australia

• Social Traders

Australia Post Managing Director and CEO, Ahmed Fahour, said these partnerships will help communities connect, with particular focus on rural and regional communities, social inclusion, cultural diversity, people with a disability and support for small businesses across Australia.

Australia Post’s Manager of Community Relations, Andrea Pearman, who handled the applications, said the process was incredibly inspiring.

“We have been able to see organisations that were previously unknown to us and see the fantastic work they do right in front of us,” Pearman said.

She said the process was aimed at developing partnerships rather than sponsorships, balancing the company’s commercial interests with its desire to work with socially inclusive organisations.

“The partners represent a diverse group of dynamic organisations who all share the common goal of connecting people and creating a stronger sense of community,” she said.

Australia Post said its partnership with the AFL will use the strength of Australian football to bring people together from diverse cultural backgrounds and communities across Australia.

Arguably Australia’s largest sporting Not for Profit, the AFL has an annual turnover of more than $400 million a year. In 2012-13, it distributed $290 million to its 18 clubs.

Pearman said Australia Post already had an existing partnership with the AFL and this latest announcement was an extension of a program that will run to 2017.

Australia Post says it is partnering with Infoxchange to deliver digital literacy programs that empower people and communities by increasing digital skills through access to and education about technology.

The Lifestyle Solutions partnership will work on the expansion of a work-ready program for people with a disability to improve their numeracy, literacy and organisation skills, and provide them with an opportunity to interact in a meaningful way with their local community.

Through the program, people with a disability will help Australia Post deliver mail and parcel services in regional and remote locations across Australia and at the same time increase their skills development.

Through the One Netball Program partnership with Netball Australia, Australia Post says it will utilise the power of netball to attract, mobilise and inspire individuals and communities and to make the game more accessible to people from diverse cultural backgrounds or with a disability.

Australia Post says it will work with The Pyjama Foundation to expand ‘Love of Learning’ – a learning-based mentoring program aimed at helping improve educational outcomes for children in foster care. The ‘Love of Learning’ initiative focuses on improving children’s learning and life outcomes by improving their literacy and numeracy skills and widening their community networks to help break the cycle of disadvantage.

It will work with Reclink Australia to expand participation opportunities across art and sporting initiatives that support people experiencing mental health challenges, disability, homelessness, substance abuse, culturally/linguistic diverse communities, correctional services and economic hardship.

Australia Post says it will work with Social Traders to create a dedicated online marketplace for Australian social enterprises to provide knowledge, networks and resources and access markets to grow.

“Australia Post’s online technology expertise and national marketing reach combined with Social Traders’ social enterprise know-how and networks are the building blocks for a great partnership that will result in significant benefits for local communities throughout Australia,” Managing Director of Social Traders, David Brookes said.

“The reach provided by Australia Post’s network will also generate market opportunities for social enterprise by accessing the broader public and educating them about the work of social enterprise. The online platform will allow consumers to engage with and understand the impact that buying from social enterprise can create,” Brookes said.

In 2013, one-off cash grant payments of between $1,000 and $25,000 were made available for community projects or initiatives that met the theme of 'inclusion' and supported disadvantaged audience groups within Australia.  

Further information about the program and the new national partnerships can be found here.