2022 marks 10 years of The Tony Foundation! Set-up in 2012, Alberts Gen 5 came together in 2015 to work on a strategy and vision for the Foundation and its work. Since that time the Foundation has sought to improve the life outcomes of young Australians through music, with a particular focus on young people experiencing disadvantage, First Nations youth, and youth mental health and wellbeing.
Since 2012, The Tony Foundation has granted $2,682,784 and supported 20 pioneering organisations.
The Foundation provides multi-year (often untied) funding to organisations aligned with our mission of improving the lives of young Australians through music. Some examples of our work include funding:
- The impact campaign (collection of instruments and funds) for Artemis Media’s Don’t Stop the Music television series which aired on the ABC – paving the way for our Music Education: Right from the Start initiative
- The launch of an innovative 3-year music residency program in NSW with Musica Viva
- A pioneering creative therapies program and support for kids who’ve experienced trauma and their carers with Kids Xpress
- The establishment of a mental health wellbeing helpline for the music industry with Support Act
- Supporting the development of OneVision Productions’ MPOWER interactive mental health app – a multi-platform mental health toolkit and online educational resource engaging youth through music and the arts
- Big hART’s NEO-Learning education platform for primary schools, providing access to quality First Nations digital arts content, lessons and live virtual experiences
We also recognise that beyond our granting, the funds (Tony Foundation corpus) we have invested also have an impact in this world, either positive or negative. To ensure our investments are also making a positive contribution (particularly from a social and environmental perspective), we developed our Responsible Investment Approach to guide our investment decision making. Since 2019 we have transitioned our investments to 100% impact, ensuring we have no investments in the portfolio that we consider would “harm” people or planet.
