What informed the first five years of our journey
Our strategic direction began to evolve in 2019, but it was informed well before then by a review of best and evolving practice in the philanthropic sector, commissioned research to understand the gaps and opportunities to meaningfully invest and partner with community for better health and wellbeing in SA, and our partnerships and work with community since 2003.
Rather than create a Strategy document or roadmap, the Foundation developed key guiding documents, and went on a journey of learning by doing to understand and develop our role and practice in supporting community-led wellbeing. We were guided by:
Our Principles
Theory of Change
long term commitments to Our Town, Spinifex Foundation SA, and ongoing support of community determined responses for better mental health and wellbeing.
By working closely with our partners—within systems for change and the broader philanthropic landscape—we listened, learned, and recognised that while our role as a partner, the opportunities we fund, and our funding conditions are valued, there is more we need to be doing to support broader shifts. This informed the development of our 2026-2033 Strategy which reflects our legacy, our growth since 2019, and the steps still to take.
Conversations with partners and community
We are always listening and learning through all the conversations we are a part of with our partners and the ecosystems we work in. In addition to this, in 2025 we bought together representatives from our partnerships and networks to engage in conversations about where they see opportunities, and priorities for the evolution of the Foundation’s practice, time and investments. Learn more about this through our news articles on the first and second session.
As the shape of our strategy started to form, we invited members of our community to provide their thoughts and perspectives in online conversations. We are incredibly grateful for everyone's time, energy and expertise. You can review our reflections from this journey here.
Learnings and reflections from our team
Our team are always considering how we can better show up and take action in ways that we are hearing are important and needed from our partners and broader community. We engaged in a series of workshops as a team, to reflect on what more is possible and the meaningful shifts we could make that would better support those working with community for better mental health and wellbeing. Important outcomes of these conversations were a renewed commitment to longer term partnerships, ensuring we maximise how our endowment is invested for positive community impact and mobilised as needed for the now and long term, root cause change, but most importantly how we continue to make sure our decisions our made more and more with the diversity of our community.
Researching best and evolving practice
We engaged a consultant to compile research and examples from across the globe as inspiration for us to build on in the key areas of; community decision making structures, utilising endowments for impact, trends in collaborative giving, and emerging approaches for taking a generational approach to strategy and impact measurement.
Leadership of our Board
Our Board engaged in their own research, conversations with networks, and worked together to consider how the evolution of our strategic direction could incorporate and reflect:
the importance of community infrastructure and spaces to connect
demonstrating what is possible and bringing other funds and stakeholders along with us on the journey
our role in the future of our long-term commitments such as Our Town
ensuring all of the Foundation’s resources are being utilised in the best ways for long-term impact and change
and sharing what we know, whilst remaining open to new learnings and evolution.