We’re about making Marrickville a better place
Marrickville Community Fund, a sub-fund of Sydney Community Foundation.
The Marrickville Community Fund (MCF) is a not for profit entity under the umbrella of the Sydney Community Foundation. The MCF connects donors with innovative, inclusive and well run diverse local projects to help build a stronger and cohesive community. Supporters, friends, donors and those who give their time and money to support the MCF are inspired by place-based giving within the inner west and by the fruitful connections this giving can have.
Get involved
We welcome support from the community and from donors including business, government, individuals and other philanthropic groups who are all inspired by place-based giving and the fruitful connections this giving can have.
The MCF is run by volunteers and if you would like to give your expertise and time to the Committee and Board, please contact the Sydney Community Foundation to express interest.
Tax deductable donations of $2 or more are pooled and then invested in an endowment fund. You can also give to support specific projects or you might like to become one of the Marrickville 1000.
Marrickville 1000
For individuals and families, in June 2015 we launched Marrickville 1000. The goal, 1000 individuals give $25 (a tax deductible donation) as a way to grow our ability for greater local giving. Then, with the strong community support, approaches will be made to local businesses, organisations and industries to match these grass roots funds. This will mean $50,000 for the MCF to call for more project nominations building on the original six (with three already funded) for the benefit of the community by the end of 2016.
MCF current projects
MCF has identified, through an open invitation, six priority projects for immediate impact funding in 2014. Three of the six have been funded.
MCF funded projects
One of the projects the MCF funded was Growing School Communities. A grant of $8,000 from the Marrickville Community Fund to Growing School Communities, a program of Petersham TAFE Outreach, is helping give students, parents and teachers at six local primary schools a new view of gardens and outdoor learning spaces. And their teachers and school communities are exploring the dimensions of how school gardens can enrich and enliven the curriculum.
The idea that a garden is simply a matter of planting and watering is out. Instead, gardening now has its place in several essential subjects. Maths? Divide the beds, develop timetables for planting. English? Keep records, write about how to start a worm farm or the secrets of bee-keeping. In Science, there is plant botany, weather observations, climate change and biodiversity. Indigenous plantings and knowledge sharing are part of Cultural Studies. Lifting and digging safely, being active and out of doors comes under Physical Education. All are part of Australia’s National Curriculum Framework. And there is a host of other benefits: learning responsibility and respect, cultural diversity and sharing, achievement for students of different abilities, the inclusion of extended families, interested neighbours and businesses.
Growing School Communities began as a pilot at Dulwich Hill Primary School in 2011 when Marrickville Council commissioned Dulwich Hill Public School community educator and parent, Leonie McNamara and Liz Newell, Assistant Principal to design a program to become a model to be used by any school in the area. The initial Program, which takes seven weeks of the school year, had positive results and once the word was out, demand came from other schools. Outreach Educator and Growing School Communities Coordinator Leonie McNamara says that since the first seven-week delivery by TAFE Outreach-trained Program teachers, every participating school has kept the school garden program going.
Growing School Communities is a generous initiative, it shares knowledge, it makes use of the great community spirit and cultural diversity of this area. Contributers to the project include Marrickville Council; Dulwich Hill school (pilot); Petersham TAFE student volunteers; NAB award to Wilkins Public School and NAB funding for TAFE Outreach training.
Place-based giving such as this has real strength and focus and MCF is proud to be involved.
