CAGES Foundation and communications consultant Kerry Klimm, Flashblak
In a room of peers, CAGES was instructed to stand next to a board that represents our work, ‘high-risk or low-risk’. We head to the low-risk corner.
“Don’t you fund Aboriginal community-controlled organisations?” someone queried.
“Yes,” we replied with curiosity.
“Shouldn’t you be standing in the high-risk section,” they responded.
Lands dispossessed, children stolen, families torn apart, racism and discrimination. The colonisers were ‘breeding out a dying race’ of First Nations peoples from more than 250 nations.
Artist Vernon Ahkee’s ‘Still Here’ “represents a victory lap for Blackfullas, a fierce reminder to the colonisers that they didn’t succeed; never have and never will,” says Professor Chelsea Watego in her awarded winning book Another Day in the Colony. First Nations’ people face and fight systems and structures created by and for the dominant race. White foundations that had the intention to support First Nations’ peoples, continue to exclude them from decision making. The trauma from impact, subsequent policies and community attitudes has passed through generations. Reduced life-expectancy, youth suicide rates among the highest in the world, and proportionally the most incarcerated people.
As the Uluṟu Statement says ‘These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.’ First Nations’ people are ‘Still Here’ – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations are pivotal to this. Grown by and for community primarily in health, education and business. CAGES Foundation walks and works alongside First Nations community-controlled organisations, focusing on early childhood and development, community development and economic inclusion. It is a privilege to partner with so many incredible Aboriginal nations, organisations and communities and see them flourish. Not because of our funds. But because they design and lead their own solutions, through flexibility, freedom and autonomy to determine how to use funds. Aboriginal community-controlled organisations are not ‘high-risk’ investments, they are resilient, vibrant and connected. Their expertise and knowledge of 60 thousand years provides a strong foundation to build capacity and create opportunities for future generations.
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Indigenous philanthropy in Australia too often ties First Nations’ peoples’ self-determination to western values, outcomes and systems. Prescriptive funding arrangements, stringent structures and processes dictate deliverables to create a ‘low-risk’ investment. Even if funders and recipients share common goals, solutions identified by organisations may not align with the preferences of funds-holders, impacting access to funds. Punitive processes are established which creates barriers and inhibit communities’ ability to define what success looks like for their children and families. CAGES Foundation has spent a lot of time listening and learning. We’ve sat in our discomfort. We’ve heard the truths about Australia and the philanthropic sector. We know we need to continue to listen and learn, this is an ongoing journey. We take ownership of the problems in our sector which can be more harmful than helpful. We’ve learned a lot from our mistakes. We share our learnings across our organisation and sector to create better processes. A more flexible approach in giving means supporting communities to define their own pathways, leading to greater involvement and impact.
CAGES approach represents a more efficient use of funds. There is less potential wastage of funds as organisations are able to adapt how funding is applied when identified needs change over time. Our personal journey building relationships when offered, not expected, informs and embeds our processes.
“Early Childhood Education in First Nation contexts can be tricky because it is the grass roots methods that are often the most effective, and also the least catered for with Government funding. CAGES Foundation has provided Jarjum Centre with the flexibility to be responsive in our community during Lismore’s recent floods, the COVID pandemic, our capital work project, and most recently our mobile playgroup.
When I talk about CAGES Foundation to other services and professionals, I tell them that CAGES just get it. We have experienced a partnership that has a genuine respect for self-determination, and that is rare.” Maurita, Jarjum Centre (located on Bundjalung lands)
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Aboriginal community Controlled Organisations are not high-risk investments. They are assets.
For First Nations’ peoples’ sovereignty to control their own lives and destinies. For our nation to support and amplify their voices, solutions and achievements.
It is us, the funders that are high-risk in this relationship.
We are another white institution for First Nations’ people to trust, when history has shown them otherwise. That have made them jump through funding hoops, move goal posts, or spend limited resources on grants applications and reports instead of their core businesses, creating change for future generations.
We are another white institution First Nations’ people will share their aspirations with, hoping our belief in them doesn’t mean we know better than them.