Our Impact

Don Dunstan led an ambitious program of reforms that shone a progressive beacon of light from South Australia that was seen right across the country. Under Don’s leadership we truly led the nation in social and economic reform and today the Foundation, established to perpetuate his legacy, shares that same ambition.

We seek to inspire action for a fairer world by working on a range of collaborative projects right across the South Australian community.

For more information about the impact of our work see the Projects and Events pages or check out our latest Annual Report.

Projects

The Foundation supports a variety of projects in line with its key objectives.

Uluru Statement from the Heart

The Don Dunstan Foundation accepts the invitation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and supports a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Australian Constitution.

Find out more about the Uluru Statement and how you can help spread the message.

Thinkers in Residence

Since 2017 Thinkers in Residence has engaged 2131 people and 61 organisational partners, held 11 roundtables, 54 presentations and meetings and 5 public forums.

27 initiatives have emerged from the program, which are visible in the community through changes to laws and policy, and cultural shifts away from the old model of charities vs traditional companies.

Art for Good

• Eleven Aboriginal artists have received the Our Mob Emerging Artist Award since 2013, receiving a $5,000 prize towards their personal career development.
• Each year a SALA Festival artist is awarded $1,000 as part of the Don Dunstan Foundation SALA Award for social justice themes in their piece.
• The DDF Film Club showed movies with a social justice focus and over the space of a year gave away 167 tickets to people with reduced access to entertainment.
• The Social Change Guides brought together shows in the Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Fringe that promote social justice, and was downloaded 1,268 times in 2019.

Len King Scholarship

The Len King Scholarship, since its inception in 2014, has awarded 16 scholarships to people who would unable to attend university due to financial hardships.  Through the Scholarship, the Foundation has supported individuals who are planning to undertake studies in law with a social justice focus with financial assistance of up to $15,000.

Migration

MARRNet is a collaborative group of researchers from all three major universities in South Australia, who are working on better settlement outcomes for migrants – both humanitarian and skilled migrants – to our state.

Adelaide Zero Project

The Adelaide Zero Project was seeded from the Don Dunstan Foundation’s Thinkers in Residence program. This collective impact project has been extremely successful in accurately capturing homelessness in metropolitan Adelaide and working to reduce rough sleeping on our streets.

The Foundation finalised its role as the backbone organisation for the Adelaide Zero Project at the end of 2020, in light of the State Government’s homelessness sector reform. Information about the Project’s ongoing key features, including the Adelaide Zero Project Dashboard and the By-Name List, can be found below.

Collective Impact

Collective impact is something the Foundation is proud to facilitate across our state and the country. Our major collective impact project is the Adelaide Zero Project, with the Foundation taking the ‘backbone’ role to bring together nearly 50 partners in the task to end street homelessness.

More information about the Collective Impact approach can be found here.

Events

AdMental

AdMental is an annual public event to raise awareness and evolve thinking around mental health. Since its beginning in 2017 there has been an overwhelmingly positive response to topics and content, with audiences engaging with innovative advertisements on themes such as loneliness and men’s mental health.

Dunstan Dialogues

13 Dunstan Dialogues have been held since 2016, and are an exclusive opportunity for our Thinkers in Residence and other international, national and local experts to share their knowledge and skills with the community. Previous Dialogues include; Funding For Impact with Tom Hull, Tom Dawkins and Kate Scott, Gender, Human Rights and the Private Sector with Dr Helen Szoke and Migration and Humanitarianism with Professor Alexander Betts.

Homelessness Conference

The 2019 Homelessness Conference was another sold out event with over 300 delegates. Each conference gives a broad range of organisations and individuals a forum to learn and collaborate.

Lowitja O’Donoghue Oration

The Lowitja O’Donoghue Oration has been running for 16 years, raising awareness of important outcomes for Aboriginal people across the many orations and supporting the goal of Aboriginal empowerment. Past orators include The Honourable Anthony Albanese, The Honorable Linda Burney, Pat Anderson, Noel Pearson, Professor Marcia Langton, Professor Patrick Dodson and The Honourable Paul Keating.