Last week the Board approved four annual grants of $5,000 from the Bakers Dozen Social Justice Fund.
In total, 17 applications were received with a total ask of $80,320, with a wide range of approaches about how local organisations thought about Social Justice, from emergency relief, to cultural connections, to community engagement.
The Bakers Dozen Fund Community Advisory Panel members reviewed all applications and ranked each application against five criteria and completed an online evaluation form for each application, which assisted with filtering the applications to identify the recommended grants. Panel members were Foundation directors Carolyn Phiddian and Rachel English who were joined by locals Josephine Barraket, Keith Frampton, Rebecca Haidar and Gerry Lyons.
Discussion from the group included:
- Approximately 25% of applications received have not been previously by the Foundation. 20% of projects focus on supporting the CALD communities, including people seeking asylum. 30% of projects focus on supporting young people from 0-25 years of age. Darebin has been represented 10% more than Yarra and Meri-bek. There were no applications primarily focusing on LGTBQIA+ communities
- Focus on projects focusing on a range of activity, with a bold, patient and transformative social justice lens.
- The top 7 ranked projects were shortlisted for a deeper conversation, with discussion on how the Foundation can mobilise support for some unsuccessful applicants.
Four organisations are are all eligible organisations undertaking charitable projects.
| Organisation | Project | LGA | Recommended amount |
| Clothing the Gaps Foundations | Voice to Parliament | Darebin, Merri-bek, Yarra | $5,000 |
| Cultivating Community | Highrise Community Bakery | Yarra | $5,000 |
| Free To Ltd | Employment Access Workshops for Refugees and People Seeking Asylum | Darebin, Merri-bek, Yarra | $5,000 |
| Jika Jika Community Centre | Stir the Pot! | Darebin | $5,000 |