GIVIT

GIVIT is applying for the Elevate Prize to help more First Nations Australians. Significant social and economic inequality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples exists in Australia.

In 2019, GIVIT undertook a pilot National Indigenous Support Program (NISP) to provide Indigenous Australians with essential items to address social and economic inequalities, help support their return to work and school, and improve their general well-being. The pilot program was extremely successful and GIVIT intends to use the Elevate Prize funding to continue and further develop the program to help thousands of First Nations people around Australia.

GIVIT will engage with Indigenous support organisations to build their capacity to assist local communities by providing essential items and services they desperately need. Funded by Elevate, GIVIT will help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples participate more fully in the economy and broader society, improve educational outcomes, and provide safe homes for their families.

We'd also use the prize to professionally develop and raise the profile of our Indigenous Engagement Officer, Temiah (who identifies as Aboriginal), with the goal of appointing her as National Indigenous Program Manager, and potentially hiring a team to work under her. 

You can see GIVIT's NISP page here.

In 2009, our founder, Juliette Wright, was trying to find a charity in genuine need of the baby clothes she no longer required after having her son. While many local charities were overloaded with unwanted donations, they were desperately seeking other essential items like sanitary products for women escaping domestic violence or laptops for disadvantaged youth.

Realising that generous people wanted to give and that charities needed specific items for their clients, Juliette knew there had to be a better way to match donors to real need, and GIVIT was born. GIVIT now supports almost 4000 charity and community organisations across Australia with material items and services for their people in need and has matched almost 3.5 MILLION donations. We support communities in the aftermath of natural disasters, and help everyday Australians experiencing hardship for any reason.

GIVIT's purpose is 'To match donations to real need through an online platform'

GIVIT's mission is 'To change the way people give by inspiring an online network of givers'

GIVIT's vision is 'To meet society's need in an environmentally sustainable way'

You can learn more about GIVIT here.

You can see the 20,000 items currently requested on GIVIT's website here.

The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander population in Australia is about 800,000. First Nations Australians live on average, 8 years less than non-Aboriginal Australians. 63% of Aboriginal students complete year 12, compared to 88% of non-Aboriginal students. Aboriginal Australians are incarcerated at 10 times the rate of non-Aboriginal Australians. 30% of Indigenous households are in income poverty. Indigenous Australians are significantly more at risk of experiencing poverty than the remainder of the population. Data from https://www.closingthegap.gov....

Since launching NISP in 2019, GIVIT has coordinated the donation of more than 575,000 items to First Nations Australians in need.

The underlying causes of disadvantage that Indigenous Australians face are complex. By supporting community organisations to provide essential items, GIVIT aims to help Aboriginal Australians participate in society, attend school and provide their families with a healthy and safe home. Building trust with Indigenous support services is difficult and essential. During the pilot program, 800 Indigenous support organisations registered to work with GIVIT.

GIVIT empowers communities to request what's needed through a safe, easy-to-use platform. Non-Indigenous Australians want to help “Close the Gap,” but are often unsure where to start. By donating via GIVIT, they can make a difference in an obvious way.

GIVIT is a proprietary, Australian born and bred, award-winning technology solution to donation management. It provides a coordinated and transparent platform that ensures people in need get exactly what they need when they need it. The revolutionary platform removes the need for government and community organisations to receive, sort, store and dispose of unrequested donations. GIVIT’s website captures and matches all donation offers online, as well as large and spontaneous influxes during disasters and emergencies.

Millions of donations have successfully been matched through GIVIT’s website to support vulnerable Australians. The online portal ensures donations are given the smart way, without doing any harm or overwhelming charities with unsolicited and poor-quality donations. Donors love browsing donation requests and picking which stories strike a chord with them, and the feeling you get when donating an item that will make a real difference to someone in need is hard to describe.

The platform allows even the smallest or most remote community organisation to access quality items or services for the people they are helping. The platform also provides a completely transparent way for donors to give.

GIVIT closes the divide between 'the haves and the have nots' in a transparent and direct way.

GIVIT continually works to increase the number of community and charity organisations, and their staff (social workers) that are registered on GIVIT's free service. Social workers identify exactly what their client needs, whether that be bedding, furniture, work boots, laptops, grocery vouchers, etc. 

Via the GIVIT platform givit.org.au, a donor can then provide exactly what's needed, or donate money for GIVIT to provide exactly what's needed.

Specifically, GIVIT's National Indigenous Support Program aims to improve Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander outcomes by ensuring all services which support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have access to the free GIVIT service to request items to improve the social, economic and physical environment of their clients. This will be achieved by engaging services that support Indigenous people, and measuring engagement within this group against these objectives:

1. Increasing the number of services registered with GIVIT that support Indigenous people
2. Increasing the number of items requested by these services
3. Increasing the number of donations received by these services

You can see some of the stories of our work with First Nations Australians here.