The WELA Giving Circle is a sub-fund of the Australian Communities Foundation,
which is a public charitable foundation. All donations over $2 are tax-deductible.
When you become a member of the WELA Giving Circle, you’ll give $20 per week or $1000 a year.
Then each year, we pool our money with 50% of the money we raise being granted to women and gender-diverse led environmental and climate action through our Small Grants Program, and 50% supporting WELA’s groundbreaking leadership programs.
And the best bit? All members have a say and get to vote on where the money is going and the kind of impact we want to create.
And the more members we have, the more projects we can fund.
Women and gender diverse people all over Australia are stepping up to the challenges facing our planet. From the forest frontlines to taking fossil fuel companies to court, teaching the new wave of leaders or protecting country, we are transforming Australia’s response to our environmental and climate crises.
But here’s the thing. Women-led projects are chronically underfunded with less than 0.2% of global charitable funding going to women’s environmental action.
WELA is creating Australia’s only giving circle dedicated to funding women’s action on environment and climate issues.
But we can’t do it without you.
Our grants are open to women and gender diverse people working on environmental and climate action.
What do we mean by women and gender-diverse led?
Leadership happens in many ways but for WELA this means your project or organisation will have women and/or gender diverse people leading within some of these areas: your organisational structure, strategy development, storytelling, and organising.
What do we mean by environment and climate action?
We’ll be on the lookout for impactful, cutting edge and inspiring advocacy, campaigns, and projects in the issue areas of environment and climate. In our initial round, this granting process will focus on project funding not unrestricted/core funding.
For more information on grant eligibility see our FAQs and join our email list to be the first to know when grants are open.
A giving circle is a group with shared values collaborating for change. We gather, discuss shared values, pool funding, and decide together where to give — multiplying impact, increasing community connection, and building power.
Giving Circles are a growing movement of people-powered philanthropy. By pooling donations, we maximise our impact.
But this is not new. Collective Giving has been happening for centuries. But in the past few decades, thousands of people have come together to start giving circles that have collectively given over $1.3 billion.
This kind of giving is joyful, collaborative, and intentional.
Our vision is for a world transformed by women leading change.
WELA is a community connecting, training and funding generations of women and gender diverse changemakers so that together we transform Australia’s response to our environmental and climate crise
