This month, Community Foundations Australia (CFAus), the support organisation for Australia’s community foundations, is bringing together community foundations (CFs) from across the nation, allied organisations, and international community philanthropy thought leaders for Forum Week (22 – 28 November) – which will be taking place in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia.

Co-hosted by the Northern Rivers Community Foundation (NRCF), Forum Week will centre conversations around building community voice and long-term vision, especially in the context of crisis response and regeneration. The importance of these issues is particularly palpable in the Northern Rivers, an area recently affected by environmental crises. Johan Kortenhorst, Chair of the NRCF, offers some insight into the region’s recovery and what it means to host Forum Week:

‘Between 2019 and 2023, our communities faced a series of natural disasters. Extreme bushfires endangered lives, and thousands of homes were left uninhabitable by floodwaters that reached nearly 18 metres in the worst affected areas.

It’s through challenge that a community comes together. Through these successive crises, we witnessed the importance of our local relationships and networks – CFs providing a mechanism for community members to help each other, to involve themselves in rebuilding community, and to have a say in their own future. 

As these tragedies unfolded, our team was on the ground and on the phone, connecting those who had resources to share (time, space, and of course money) with those who needed them. In the aftermath of the 2022 floods, we raised $2 million, and redistributed that money into community quicker than any government agency. During the bushfires, people were able to access relief funds within just one to three days.

But our foundation is not just dedicated to creating a better future for those who live in the region. Now, emerging from this period of crisis, we also hope to share widely our experience and the research we’ve been conducting about the ongoing impacts of the floods – and to learn from others new ways to understand our rapidly changing community contexts.

With historic national legislative reform for CFs underway, and with 50-odd communities around the country on the path to establishing their own foundation, it feels like a tipping point for community foundations – for communities – in Australia.

As our foundation celebrates its 20th year, we are delighted to welcome an expanding network to our home on Bundjalung Country’. 

Forum Week comprises the National Community Foundations Forum, which CFAus has been hosting bi-annually for more than 15 years, and for the first time a mini-#ShiftThePower Summit, co-hosted by the Global Fund for Community Foundations. You can read more and/or register to participate here. Alliance will be publishing reports from the ground, too: search for#CFAus2024.