The only thing brighter than the Magandjin (Brisbane) sunshine on Day 1 of the Philanthropy Australia conference was the warmth, colour and vibrancy of the 200 guests who attended AIIW’s Breakfast of Champions for Gender Equality event.  

The added-capacity venue buzzed with enthusiasm as attendees from across the country reconnected ahead of the conference opening. The room was full of familiar faces and pleasingly, some new ones too, with local business professionals who’d heard about the event coming along to learn more. 

Aunty Sandra King OAM, a Magandjin-born Elder woman of Yagara, Quandamooka, Bundjalung, and South Sea Islander ancestry, gave a powerful Welcome to Yagara Country, sharing some of the history of these lands through personal story and reminding us of the value of deep listening.  

AIIW CEO, Julie Reilly, gave a special welcome to the organisation’s newest Ambassador, Tanya Hosch AM, whose achievements as a Torres Strait Islander social justice leader and business executive span sport, the arts, social justice and more.  

In her opening remarks, Julie paid homage to the late champion of gender equality, Gloria Steinem, and her lifetime of movement building, connecting and organising. Julie shared her favourite quote from the feminist icon, the full text of which is below:  

“At my age, in this still hierarchical time, people often ask me if I’m ‘passing the torch.’ I explain that I’m keeping my torch, thank you very much — and I’m using it to light the torches of others. Because the truth is that the old image of one person with a torch is part of the problem, not the solution. We each need a torch if we are to see where we’re going. And together, we create so much more light.” 

“We’re in a room full of people who understand and appreciate that gender equality does not happen by accident,” Julie said.  

“It’s easy for gender equality to slip down the agenda – our job is to keep asking, ‘Where are the women and girls? What will the impact be of this program, grant or policy? Who benefits and what’s missing? How can we centre women of colour so that the wins we achieve together benefit everyone, not just a few.’” 

Kicking off the panel discussion Virisila Baudromo from ResourceFULL Collective and Urgent Action Fund for Asia and the Pacific stressed, “this is not a discussion on whether gender matters but whether we choose to see it, act on it and invest in it.”  

Michelle Steele from Paul Ramsay Foundation spoke about the need for collaboration as seen in the Coalition of Funders for Women and Families, and the power of relationships. 

“When relationships are at the heart of what we do, we show up for the people when it matters the most and we show up when things get hard,” Michelle said, giving a special shout out to Warren Miller from Spinifex Foundation SA. 

“Showing up and being in relationship actually matters the most. Sometimes it’s not all about the funding, it’s about the relationship.” 

The Snow Foundation’s Georgina Byron AM, who is also an AIIW Ambassador, echoed Michelle’s call for collaboration and connection saying, “The time is right.”  

“For us at Snow, we have gender at the heart of everything we do,” Georgina explained.  

“We use a gender lens with our granting, we use a gender lens with our investing, and we have a gender theme that focuses on women’s safety. These are things we do on our own, but we can do so much more together.” 

Philanthropy Australia Chair and philanthropist, Darrell Wade, wasted no time in calling out the elephant in the room: “Why is gender equality still seen as a women’s issue?” he asked, perplexed.  

“There are only about a dozen guys, if we’re lucky, in the room. Why is this event 95% women when it should be ALL Australians investing in women?” 

Darrell credited his mother, a businesswoman, for helping him recognise gender bias and appreciate the power of diverse teams. “Diversity brings different conversations, skills, and empathy,” he said. “A room moves forward when you have diversity.” 

Rounding out the panel discussion, which also touched on the importance of supporting First Nations-led funds, the manosphere, news cycles and the interconnectedness of gender with almost all issues, Virisila asked each panellist for a single word to describe what they want to change as a funder in this space.  

For Darrell, it was ‘speed’ and turning talk into action. For Michelle, ‘redistribution’ and the way we deploy capital, while Georgina chose ‘momentum’ and the power of working collectively. 

Before the event closed, guests were prompted to approach somebody they hadn’t met to share one thing they intended to stop doing and one thing they’ll do differently as they carry the light from their own torch out into the conference.

It wasn’t long before the light of those 200 torches made the leap from breakfast event to the main conference stage. In front of a 1200-strong capacity crowd in the opening plenary Tara Castle, CEO of Queensland Gives, shared that she’d been inspired by the Breakfast of Champions event and was “putting gender on the agenda” by announcing her intention to launch Queensland’s first collective giving Fund for Women and Girls.  

Gloria Steinem would surely have smiled. 

A special thank you to Jo Kirk from Red Rocketship Foundation, the Australian International Development Network (AIDN) and Plan International for their support and assistance in making this event such a success.