Foundation Focus
The areas supported by the Foundation are deliberately varied to ensure a broad cross-section of the community benefits.
The Foundation is supporting organisations that promote causes and initiatives in the following areas:
- People whose choices are limited by social, physical or political discrimination and disadvantage.
- Education, health, culture, the arts and the environment.
- Organisations that seek to improve the quality of life in the local community.
- Initiatives that cater for children and young people.
- Training and learning opportunities that benefit the local business community and ideally drive economic growth.
- Local charities in the areas surrounding the communities Newcastle Permanent serves.
While the list is broad, the Foundation is generally not able to support the following initiatives:
- General sponsorship and fundraising activities.
- Small contributions to large appeals or large capital projects.
- Donations to political and religious groups.
- Contributions to work that should more properly be the responsibility of local authorities, government departments or individuals.
- Requests for wages or salaries for paid staff.
Message from the Foundation Chairman
As a mutual, Newcastle Permanent's core philosophy is to provide support to the community. This incorporates the provision of high quality, value for money retail financial services combined with an active and long standing program of sponsorships and community program support.
It was recognised that commercial corporate sponsorship could never adequately address an increasing demand for sponsorship and community program support. As a result the community would not benefit from the many worthwhile causes and initiatives not able to attract commercial funding and support.
The Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation was launched to address this need.
It was conceived as Newcastle Permanent's 100th anniversary gift to the people of the Hunter and Central Coast to thank them for their long term support.
The Charitable Foundation is a purely philanthropic vehicle. Its purpose is to provide support for the community through financial assistance to charities, community groups and other worthwhile causes in the Hunter, Central Coast and Mid North Coast.
Since its launch in 2004, the Charitable Foundation has made donations to more than 100 beneficiaries. Almost $4 million has been distributed to a wide range of applicants, ranging from small organisations that provide support for specific groups of disadvantaged people and are reliant solely on volunteers and donations, to larger entities whose programs and projects benefit a wider cross section of our community.
The recipients of Foundation funding operate in a variety of fields including providing support to the underprivileged and disabled, delivering projects in medical and health areas, as well as cultural, youth, social and environmental projects.
In every case, irrespective of the amount of funding that was received, the recipients have noted that without the Charitable Foundation's assistance, their project would not have been possible. Consequently, the true beneficiaries of the Foundation’s support are the people in our community.
The Charitable Foundation was officially launched by the then Premier of NSW, The Hon. Bob Carr, who said in his speech:
"The Charitable Foundation is a concrete addition to the common good".
"It will change and improve the lives of thousands of families across these regions for years to come".
That observation has proven accurate and will continue to be in the years to come through the support that the Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation provides to the communities in which Newcastle Permanent operates.
Michael Slater
Chairman - Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation