CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNANCE

Groundswell Foundation was incorporated on 8 February 2022 and was registered with an ABN with effect from 14 February 2022.

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An application is currently in progress for registration as a Health Promotion Charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). 

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Board meetings are held monthly. The first board meeting was held on 6th February 2022.

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The Charity is governed in accordance with the ACNC governance standards set out below.

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Standard 1: Purposes and not-for-profit nature

A charity must be not-for-profit and work towards its charitable purpose. It must be able to demonstrate this and provide information about its purposes to the public.

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Standard 2: Accountability to members

A charity that has members must take reasonable steps to be accountable to its members and provide them with adequate opportunity to raise concerns about how the charity is governed.

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Standard 3: Compliance with Australian laws

A charity must not commit a serious offence (such as fraud) under any Australian law or breach a law that may result in a penalty of 60 penalty units (equivalent to $12,600 as at December 2018) or more.

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Standard 4: Suitability of Responsible People

A charity must take reasonable steps to:

• be satisfied that its Responsible People (such as board or committee members or trustees) are not disqualified from managing a corporation under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or disqualified from being a Responsible Person of a registered charity by the ACNC Commissioner, and

• remove any Responsible Person who does not meet these requirements.

Standard 5: Duties of Responsible People

A charity must take reasonable steps to make sure that its Responsible People are subject to, understand, and carry out the duties set out in Governance Standard 5. 

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In this regard, the Groundswell Foundation is adopting a Conflicts of Interest policy as part of its corporate governance processes to help board members to effectively identify, disclose and manage any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest in order to protect the integrity of the Groundswell Foundation and manage risk. 

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Standard 6: Maintaining and enhancing public trust and confidence in the Australian not-for-profit sector

A charity must take reasonable steps to become a participating non-government institution if the charity is, or is likely to be, identified as being involved in the abuse of a person either:

• in an application for redress made under section 19 of the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Act 2018 (Cth) (Redress Act), or

• in information given in response to a request from the National Redress Scheme Operator (Secretary of the Department of Social Services) under section 24 or 25 of the Redress Act.

OUR OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

In FY2022, the objectives of the Groundswell Foundation are as follows:

Objective 1: Finalise the establishment of the Groundswell Foundation, including obtaining charity status with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission and finalising set up of the bank account of the company.

The domain name www.groundswellfoundation.com.au has also been registered and the following email address is also in the process of being registered: info@groundswellfoundation.com.au.

Objective 2 Undertake research into the causes, treatment and prevention of mental health illnesses.

Objective 3 Undertake educational programs for mental health working with charity partners.

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Objective 4 Establish a committee to report to the Groundswell Foundation

• The Groundswell Foundation seeks to bring together a group of Australia’s most influential and experienced leaders in a closed loop committee focused on mental health and loneliness. The Advisory Committee will perform a highly valuable and influential advisory role in shaping and monitoring the Groundswell Foundation’s strategic direction, aspirations, performance and external engagement. 

• The Committee is integral to the purpose, work and outreach of the Groundswell Foundation in connecting leaders to shape future outcomes in mental health and loneliness in Australia. Drawing upon the influence and reach of its members, the Committee will partner with iHelm to identify, cultivate and nurture collaborative partnerships and build sustainable relationships with business, government, community and organisations to raise awareness of mental health and loneliness.

• The Committee will be diverse in terms of gender and the sectors and interests represented. It will be comprised of leading experts, industry leaders and thought leaders who have personally been touched by issues relating to mental health and loneliness. Importantly, members of the Committee have confirmed a strong commitment to positively influencing mental health and loneliness in Australia, to keeping informed of key facts and trends and advocating where appropriate within their own networks, and to dedicating their time to advisory work to generate funds for the Groundswell Foundation.

Objective 5 Fundraising for mental health

Our goal is to raise $50 million over the next 10 years for mental health in Australia. 

We expect that the Groundswell Foundation will raise approximately $50,000 in FY2022 (3 months), increasing to $1 million in FY2023 and $5 million in FY2024 ($5 million per annum thereafter).

The Groundswell Foundation is planning a charity fundraising ball on 15 October 2022 at the National Maritime Museum as an initial fundraising event to launch the foundation.

Objective 6 Work with mental health charity partners for FY22.

We are proposing to work with Beyond Blue, Lifeline, Rally4Ever, the Harrison Riedel Foundation and the Black Dog Institute in FY2022.

We intend to collaborate in terms of research, educational programs and raise funds for these mental health charity partners.