Donate today: Empower the next wave of environmental leaders - Women's Environmental Leadership Australia

Here’s a message for you from WELA’s Strategic Director Victoria McKenzie-McHarg…

All donations of $2 or more are tax deductible.

By making a tax deductible donation today, you will help ensure activists like Wendy Farmer have the tools to keep going - to keep leading - for our environment and climate.

Wendy Farmer in the upcoming short documentary 'After the Smoke'.

Wendy's Story

In 2019, the Hazelwood Power corporation was found guilty of putting workers and community at risk during a 2014 mine fire.

After five years of campaigning, this was a massive victory for volunteer activist Wendy Farmer and her team at the local community group Voices of the Valley.

Not only was this a win for the people of Latrobe Valley – a community who had lived under a cloud of putrid, thick coal dust and ash for 45 days. It was a win for the environment, drawing international attention to Australia’s ‘dirtiest’ power station.

But after hearing the news, Wendy pulled into a carpark and cried. Relentless campaigning had taken a toll on Wendy – and she couldn’t imagine how she could keep going.

Fortunately, WELA alum Julie Lyford (now our Chair of the Board) tapped Wendy on the shoulder and encouraged her to do the WELA National Leadership Program.

WELA was the turning point for Wendy.

Today, Wendy knows how to use the tools in her toolkit to stay in the activist game for the long haul, and she remains a passionate and driven advocate for communities and the environment.

With your support, WELA will:

EMPOWER – Double the number of women and gender-diverse people we support. More National Leadership and Intensive programs. More scholarships for First Nations and culturally diverse participants.
CONNECT – Grow more opportunities for people to connect, learn and act as part of the WELA community. Inspire emerging changemakers with stories of what it takes to keep fighting, knowing they are not alone.
INFLUENCE – Increase the impact of women-led advocacy. Support research and education that puts women’s needs and approaches at the centre of climate and environmental decision-making, policy and action.

We don’t want any woman or gender diverse person to miss out on the skills and support needed to keep going, to keep leading, or to step up to their potential.

Make a tax deductible donation to WELA before 30 June to help another activist like Wendy to keep fighting

Your donation today will empower women and gender diverse people like Wendy to lead for our environment and climate, transforming our future for the better. Together, we’re creating the leadership our communities need for a brighter future.

BANK TRANSFER

Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia Fund
BSB: 313 140
Account: 12367300
Description: donation

Please advise us of your donation via email to victoria@wela.org.au so we can send you a receipt.

WELA is a not-for-profit organisation. We have deductible gift recipient (DGR) status and are funded by donations from people like you.

ABN: 72 652 617 537

Thanks to donations from people like you, WELA women like Wendy have gone on to influence some of Australia’s most important and strategic campaigns and projects including:

→ Stopping a new coal mine in New South Wales

→ Stopping dangerous waste incinerators in Sydney’s suburbs

→ Being elected to local government and state parliaments

→ Leading campaigns to Stop Adani, build renewable energy and save essential habitat from logging

These inspiring women are reshaping our future for the better, for all of us. But we need to go so much further. The crises we face are urgent and the barriers to women’s leadership are real. You can change that.