People with Purpose: I grow by serving

What were some of your earliest experiences of giving?

I think I grew up with it. We lived in Adelaide and my father was very quiet about his giving; I only found out about it when someone would come up and say to me, “Oh, your father did this,” and I always thought that was rather wonderful.

The school I went to has the motto, Crescam Ministrando, “I grow by serving.” The school was keen on monetary service, but they also encouraged us to volunteer during school holidays at various organisations.

Meals on Wheels was the one that I supported. I liked the variety of it: sometimes in the kitchen preparing, other times delivering and sometimes both. It brought me into contact with a wide range of people and I enjoyed that so much that I have continued as a volunteer at different times during my life.

When I finished school, I went to university and then opened a bookshop in Adelaide, before I married Neil, and we started our family.

Tell us about the family foundation that was set up in 2006.

My husband, Neil, was always interested in supporting various peoples and causes, but he happened to sell something which gave him a corpus by which he could then give. I received an inheritance from my father around that time, so I was also able to contribute, although not to the same extent.

Neil was on the brink of retiring and decided to set up a foundation. The entire family was excited to have something in which we could all participate.

He was very involved in the setting up, and although I was always a trustee, and my opinion was always considered, I’ve become much more involved since his death, which was a huge shock and so unexpected.

My son Hamish and my daughter Victoria have really stepped up and with the other trustees continue to work enthusiastically across the various grants.

As a family we’ve congregated around the foundation.

The children have always been involved since the very beginning. They were very proud of their father for doing this and encouraging them to work and support themselves.

He was very insistent that they had to make their way through life, and I think they felt his approach was right.

Unfortunately, our eldest daughter, Alexandra, who was very involved in the foundation, died in 2019. She felt very deeply about Indigenous causes, and my granddaughter Caillean has followed in her mother’s footsteps.

She is now on the board and Zooms in from Scotland where she is studying. It’s lovely to have three generations involved.

What drives your giving?

I don't like inequity.

I'm very sad that it is an inequitable world, and I do understand that it's always been and probably always will be inequitable in some ways, but I do not see why people should be going short of food, education, housing and medical care in our country.

As with most foundations, we want to see a better world. We want more opportunities for more people who fall through the cracks of welfare nets and end up hungry, homeless, or not getting proper education.

Most of the work we do is around equity. Whether it’s the Voice campaign, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra or Story Factory here in Sydney, we like to do things that help change the status quo.

How do you give?

The foundation’s focus is on the arts, education and medicine with a lens on supporting young people, First Nations and those facing disadvantage.

We were very strong supporters of the referendum, which sadly didn't get the result we were hoping for. The Balnaves Foundation supports Professor Megan Davies through the Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of NSW.  Alexandra knew Professor Davies and had been an advocate of her work before her death.

Personally, I tend to give more to literary causes.

I support the Stella Prize, Sydney Writers Festival and I’m on the board of the Ensemble Theatre Foundation and a patron for the Sorrento Writers Festival.

Within our foundation, I'm very passionate about the Story Factory, which I consider to be my special grant. It’s a not-for-profit creative writing centre for young people which started in Redfern and now also has a centre in Parramatta from where they work with many schools across that area.

I have huge admiration for their executive director and co-founder, Dr Cath Keenan. Over the past 10 years she's navigated through enormous challenges and growth.

As well as establishing the two centres in Sydney, Story Factory now also offer digital programs which are available to schools across Australia. Being a small part of that journey has been inspirational to me.

What are some of the key things you have learned about giving?

When you support an organisation, I think trust is extremely important. You want to know that people do what they say they will do. Or, if they are not able to do what they said they would, that they tell you why it is not possible and find another way forward.

I don't think that you give to feel good, you do it because you can see a need. I don't believe in giving for praise, it kind of defeats the purpose. I prefer the idea of giving anonymously, but Neil felt very strongly that if you gave anonymously, it wouldn’t inspire other people to give. 

Neil wanted The Balnaves Foundation’s giving to be public, to encourage others to give. You are an active supporter of many organisations as Trustee of the Foundation but tend to be quieter in your approach. How do you balance this? It mustn’t be easy.

No, I tend to keep out of that. I completely understood why Neil felt that it was important for people to know what the Foundation does. I feel that my contribution is through the Foundation and I'm in favour of people knowing what the Foundation is doing.

I'm a board member but I'm not the public face at all – Hamish is as CEO. I'm interested in going to meetings and talking to the people involved, especially with the grants which I care about deeply.

As you said, Neil wanted the Balnaves Foundation’s giving to be public, to encourage others to give. You are an active supporter of many organisations as trustee of the foundation, but you tend to be quieter in your approach. How do you balance this? It mustn’t be easy.

No, I tend to keep out of that. I completely understood why Neil felt that it was important for people to know what the foundation does. I feel that my contribution is through the foundation and I'm in favour of people knowing what the foundation is doing.

I'm a board member but I'm not the public face at all – Hamish is as CEO. I'm interested in going to meetings and talking to the people involved, especially with the grants which I care about deeply.

What are your ambitions for giving into the future, both your own and more broadly for Australia?

When I die, I want to ensure that that I leave money for the foundation to use wisely. And I hope that for as long as I live, I can be involved in the decision-making and continue to be an active contributor.

If families don’t have the means to give financially, I would wish that they start looking at the people around them and lend a helping hand, physically and mentally, when a need is perceived.

I hope that schools will encourage the kind of spirit of service which my school did. We spend a lot of years at school and if the practice of service is instilled into you during these years, then future generations may carry the idea of giving with them and give back to their communities.  

This story first appeared on the She Gives website.