Evidence in conversation
Connecting people, data and stories that shape the future
Read about the latest research, news and views from our own leaders, and others, which are shaping our approach to breaking the cycle of disadvantage.
FEATURE ARTICLE
From the Team
Surge funding support for women’s shelters affected by lockdowns
For women and children experiencing domestic and family violence, lockdowns prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic have presented an additional barrier to seeking help, another layer of control to be used by perpetrators and further strain on service providers –...
Restacking the Odds to give children the best start
JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT FROM THE PAUL RAMSAY FOUNDATION, CENTRE FOR COMMUNITY CHILD HEALTH (MURDOCH CHILDREN’S RESEARCH INSTITUTE), SOCIAL VENTURES AUSTRALIA AND BAIN & COMPANY Australian communities will have valuable new tools, resources and practical data to help...
Sir Bill English joins Paul Ramsay Foundation Board
MEDIA STATEMENT The Paul Ramsay Foundation, Australia’s largest philanthropic organization, today announced the addition of former New Zealand Prime Minister, the Right Honorable Sir Simon William (Bill) English KNZM to its board of directors. A former farmer and...
Paul Ramsay Foundation welcomes Goldman Sachs investment to grow Synergis
MEDIA STATEMENT The Paul Ramsay Foundation welcomes the announcement that Goldman Sachs is investing $137 million in Synergis Fund, in a major boost to the fund’s vision of providing high-quality housing for people with disability. An early backer of Synergis, the...
Measuring the contribution of intermediary organisations
By Martin Gould Improving outcomes for individuals and communities in Australia is complex. Disadvantage is multifaceted, with individuals facing compounding inequalities that can lead to cycles of disadvantage which are difficult to overcome. Similarly, the systems...
New podcast to drive discussion on breaking cycles of disadvantage in Australia
The Paul Ramsay Foundation today launches its new podcast Life’s Lottery, examining new ways to break cycles of disadvantage and delving into the latest research, ideas and innovative programs that are having meaningful impact in communities across the nation. Hosted...
First Nations Advisory Council to help steer Paul Ramsay Foundation forward
The Paul Ramsay Foundation is proud to announce the formation of a First Nations Advisory Council to continue to build its learning and understanding and further develop the Foundation’s engagement to better serve its purpose. The Foundation Board resolved in November...
Community Leadership and Disaster Resilience
Together with the Fire to Flourish team at the Monash Sustainable Development Institute, the Paul Ramsay Foundation hosted a webinar on Community Leadership and Disaster Resilience on 26 August, 2021. The webinar invited reflection on the disruptive fires of the past...
New partnership to break the cycle of incarceration in the Northern Territory
JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT FROM THE PAUL RAMSAY FOUNDATION, THE NT ABORIGINAL JUSTICE AGREEMENT REFERENCE GROUP AND THE NORTHERN TERRITORY GOVERNMENT NEW PARTNERSHIP TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF INCARCERATION IN THE TERRITORY The Paul Ramsay Foundation today announced an...
New precinct to boost philanthropic sector in Sydney
MEDIA STATEMENT Australia’s newest urban precinct created for purpose-led organisations and social enterprises is set to open this year in Darlinghurst under the stewardship of the Paul Ramsay Foundation. Built in 1927, the historic former Church of Christ, Scientist...
Review of Initial Teacher Education: Roundtable hosted by the Paul Ramsay Foundation
The quality, diversity and capacity of the teaching workforce were the central themes of a recent roundtable convened by the Paul Ramsay Foundation to inform the Quality Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Review, established by the Federal Minister for Education, the Hon...
Tools to assess organisational resilience
Authors: Malcolm Garrow (Social Ventures Australia) & Anandini Saththianathan (Paul Ramsay Foundation) The COVID-19 pandemic has exacted a heavy human toll across the world. The external shocks of 2020 also caused disruption within both the for-profit and...
The COVID pandemic and educational disadvantage: what do we know and what can we do?
Author: John Bush The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting many dimensions of our daily lives and raising questions about how public health and socio-economic shocks are affecting people, particularly children, experiencing disadvantage. At the Paul Ramsay...
Disrupting Disadvantage: Disruptive Questions
On 10 June 2021, the Paul Ramsay Foundation hosted the first of a new event series - Disrupting Disadvantage. This discussion focused on 'Disruptive Questions', and featured a panel of Leila Smith, Professor Marc Stears, Professor Marcia Langton AM and the...
Shelter from the storm: Learning from the rise in domestic and family violence during COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has touched everyone in every corner of our community, but it has had a more profound impact on some. For women and children facing domestic and family violence, the pandemic presented another barrier to seeking help, another layer of control to...
Pandemic-proofing Australia’s education system
MEDIA RELEASE 9 June 2021 Researchers are urging key decision makers and sector stakeholders to adopt 16 recommendations to help close the educational divide and improve Australia’s treatment of children and young...
On the lottery of life: New books on the merits of philanthropy
Author: Glyn Davis Save the Children in Stockholm wanted to highlight the unfair distribution of global wealth, so it invented an online game called The Lottery of Life. This invited Swedes to a website to spin the wheel of chance. If you were born again tomorrow,...
Sustaining our partners: a national response to COVID-19
Since the start of the pandemic, we have worked to support our partners as they faced increased demand for their services and unprecedented challenges to their operations. This graphic timeline outlines the major events and achievements by our Sustaining Our Partners...
A Fair Day’s Work: Detecting wage theft with data
We’ve embarked on an exciting partnership with data.org to support the University of Melbourne in a new project tackling wage theft. The Fair Day’s Work project will deliver practical tools to help protect young people at risk of wage theft while also providing...
Building resilient charities to support Australia’s wellbeing
‘Vital support: building resilient charities to support Australia’s wellbeing’ is the fourth report in the Partners in Recovery series from Social Ventures Australia and the Centre for Social Impact. The report reviews the state of the charity sector a year on from...
Launch of On Life’s Lottery
Many of life’s opportunities are decided before we are born. Hear from Paul Ramsay Foundation CEO Professor Glyn Davis at the launch of his new book, On Life’s Lottery, in conversation with ABC journalist Geraldine Doogue in Sydney on 2 March, 2021....
The legacy of Hugh Stretton: A democratic thinker in the lottery of life
Author: Glyn Davis Hugh Stretton knew he was a lucky man – someone born well in the lottery of life. Born in 1924, he came into a thoughtful family with a strong record of public service. He was educated at fine private schools and excelled in his arts and legal...
Philanthropy Australia National Conference 2021: Introductory welcome by our Chief Program Officer Jeni Whalan
Introductory welcome Jeni Whalan, Chief Programs Officer, Paul Ramsay Foundation Philanthropy Australia Conference, 2021 Good morning, and thank you Ann for that introduction. I want to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which I’m...
How rereading can be ‘discovering a different book’
Luke Slattery Financial Review, 22 April 2021 Glyn Davis, chief executive of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, opens the book for AFR Magazine in this month’s What I Am Reading column. You’re an educator and a manager – and a writer. Who is the contemporary writer you’d...
Community bonds build resilience before disaster hits
Glyn Davis The Australian, 14 April 2021 When disaster hits, Australians are quick to help. Yet in the months and years after ashes flicker out, floodwaters recede or the cyclonic winds abate, a common story often emerges — afflicted communities feel left behind to...
On Life’s Lottery – Notes
Thanks for your interest in On Life’s Lottery, published by Hachette. This blog contains links for references in the text, with the occasional additional note on sources. Glyn Davis Pg 1 Ursula Le Guin, ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’, reprinted at...
New partnership with Data.org to address building momentum behind data science for social change and specifically a fair day’s work for all in Australia
Over the past year, we have been collaborating with data.org to support the Australian Awardee of the global Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge. The University of Melbourne’s interdisciplinary team has been selected for their project ‘A Fair Day’s...
Australians in poverty need a bounce-forward recovery
The economic recovery risks leaving many Australians behind. But it doesn’t have to be this way, write Dr Kate Harrison Brennan and Dr Jeni Whalan, issuing a call to action for the nation’s leaders. If 2020 has shown us anything, it is that crises – whether bushfires...
From the Team
Surge funding support for women’s shelters affected by lockdowns
For women and children experiencing domestic and family violence, lockdowns prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic have presented an additional barrier to seeking help, another layer of control to be used by perpetrators and further strain on service providers –...
Restacking the Odds to give children the best start
JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT FROM THE PAUL RAMSAY FOUNDATION, CENTRE FOR COMMUNITY CHILD HEALTH (MURDOCH CHILDREN’S RESEARCH INSTITUTE), SOCIAL VENTURES AUSTRALIA AND BAIN & COMPANY Australian communities will have valuable new tools, resources and practical data to help...
Sir Bill English joins Paul Ramsay Foundation Board
MEDIA STATEMENT The Paul Ramsay Foundation, Australia’s largest philanthropic organization, today announced the addition of former New Zealand Prime Minister, the Right Honorable Sir Simon William (Bill) English KNZM to its board of directors. A former farmer and...
Paul Ramsay Foundation welcomes Goldman Sachs investment to grow Synergis
MEDIA STATEMENT The Paul Ramsay Foundation welcomes the announcement that Goldman Sachs is investing $137 million in Synergis Fund, in a major boost to the fund’s vision of providing high-quality housing for people with disability. An early backer of Synergis, the...
Measuring the contribution of intermediary organisations
By Martin Gould Improving outcomes for individuals and communities in Australia is complex. Disadvantage is multifaceted, with individuals facing compounding inequalities that can lead to cycles of disadvantage which are difficult to overcome. Similarly, the systems...
Latest Research
Learning Creates Australia paper series
Learning Creates Australia is a new collaboration between The Foundation for Young Australians, the Paul Ramsay Foundation and PwC Australia, that aims to create innovative, evidence-based, practical solutions to deeply entrenched and systemic educational...
Measuring the contribution of intermediary organisations
By Martin Gould Improving outcomes for individuals and communities in Australia is complex. Disadvantage is multifaceted, with individuals facing compounding inequalities that can lead to cycles of disadvantage which are difficult to overcome. Similarly, the systems...
Links to Early Learning – evaluation report
The Paul Ramsay Foundation is dedicated to breaking cycles of disadvantage in Australia, recognising that for many Australians this cycle begins at birth. Early childhood education is critical for giving children and their families a strong foundation for all future...
Tools to assess organisational resilience
Authors: Malcolm Garrow (Social Ventures Australia) & Anandini Saththianathan (Paul Ramsay Foundation) The COVID-19 pandemic has exacted a heavy human toll across the world. The external shocks of 2020 also caused disruption within both the for-profit and...
The COVID pandemic and educational disadvantage: what do we know and what can we do?
Author: John Bush The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting many dimensions of our daily lives and raising questions about how public health and socio-economic shocks are affecting people, particularly children, experiencing disadvantage. At the Paul Ramsay...
Latest Research
Learning Creates Australia paper series
Learning Creates Australia is a new collaboration between The Foundation for Young Australians, the Paul Ramsay Foundation and PwC Australia, that aims to create innovative, evidence-based, practical solutions to deeply entrenched and systemic educational...
Measuring the contribution of intermediary organisations
By Martin Gould Improving outcomes for individuals and communities in Australia is complex. Disadvantage is multifaceted, with individuals facing compounding inequalities that can lead to cycles of disadvantage which are difficult to overcome. Similarly, the systems...
Links to Early Learning – evaluation report
The Paul Ramsay Foundation is dedicated to breaking cycles of disadvantage in Australia, recognising that for many Australians this cycle begins at birth. Early childhood education is critical for giving children and their families a strong foundation for all future...
Tools to assess organisational resilience
Authors: Malcolm Garrow (Social Ventures Australia) & Anandini Saththianathan (Paul Ramsay Foundation) The COVID-19 pandemic has exacted a heavy human toll across the world. The external shocks of 2020 also caused disruption within both the for-profit and...
The COVID pandemic and educational disadvantage: what do we know and what can we do?
Author: John Bush The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting many dimensions of our daily lives and raising questions about how public health and socio-economic shocks are affecting people, particularly children, experiencing disadvantage. At the Paul Ramsay...