Thank you to everyone who tuned in for being part of such a special night and showing such passionate support for three social entrepreneurs making a real difference in the lives of women, people with disability and young people in need. Together, we raised $258,111 for these innovative projects.
Thank you to all those who pledged, shared words of support, hosted giving parties and came together with loved ones to share a #gratitudecurry. We'd also like to acknowledge the very generous support of matched funders The English Family Foundation and The Snow Foundation.
Congratulations to Mikaela, Andrea and Amanda on their compelling, passionate pitches. The amounts pledged to each organisation were:
WomenCAN Australia: $63,000
Hotel Etico: $62,871
Green Fox Studio: $132,240
If you haven't already, please fulfil your pledge. If you need assistance, don't hesitate to email us.
Please note that 10% of funds raised is retained by TFN in agreement with the NFPs pitching as a contribution to our operational costs
WomenCAN Australia is a charity dedicated to assisting women to become work-ready. It operates WomenCAN Facilities Services (WCFS), a unique woman-to-woman facilities and maintenance services business where qualified tradeswomen provide trades, gardening, cleaning, and other residential services to women in their homes. With a primary focus on crisis accommodation, WomenCAN assists vulnerable women living in rooming houses or crisis accommodation. WomanCAN is pitching for funding to expand its WCFS program through a recruitment and marketing drive to onboard more tradeswomen and increase its capacity.
Find out more: www.womencanaustralia.org
About the presenter: Mikaela Stafrace, CEO and Founder, WomenCAN Australia
Mikaela is an MBA-qualified lawyer who spent many years in corporate settings and served as a company director on government boards and industry associations. In 2019 she founded a social WomenCAN Facilities Services and WomenCAN Australia – The Placement Circle, winning a Myer Foundation Scholarship for Innovation.
Established in 2020 in the Blue Mountains in NSW, Hotel Etico is Australia’s first social enterprise hotel employing and training young people with intellectual disabilities and changing community attitudes about the employment of people with disabilities. An important part of Hotel Etico is the Academy of Independence, a dedicated apartment within the hotel where the trainees live on their workdays providing a dedicated setting to experience supported independent living. The organisation will be pitching for funding to expand its Independence Program to employ and train more young adults with intellectual disabilities.
Find out more: http://hoteletico.com.au
Meet the presenter: Andrea Comastri, Founder and Director, Hotel Etico
Andrea is the co-founder and director of Hotel Etico in Australia. He is a professional changemaker with over 25 years’ experience across the not-for-profit, philanthropic and consulting sectors. He has vast experience as an executive, director and consultant with a strong focus on facilitating social impact, inclusion and sustainability.
Green Fox Studio (GFS) is a creative agency and social enterprise operating Australia’s first not-for-profit design training studio behind prison walls. GFS donate time to train a team of creative and enthusiastic prisoners intent on turning their lives around, teaching them real-world skills in graphic design, marketing and 3D animation, to help them gain employment upon release and break the cycle of re-offending. To date, they have trained 164 prisoners, and of the 25 who have been released in the past 12 months, only one has re-offended. At TFN Virtual Live, Green Fox Studio will be pitching for funding to support a brand new initiative to assist at-risk young people to avoid incarceration and help reduce the ever-increasing rates of youth crime in the community.
Find out more: https://greenfoxstudio.com.au
Meet the presenter: Amanda Shepherd, Managing Director, Green Fox Studio
Amanda has more than 25 years of experience in the design and advertising industry, successfully managing numerous large-scale design projects and advertising campaigns. She is passionate about helping to break cycles of unemployment and recidivism beyond the prison gates through meaningful employment and social change.