SEED announces first community grants

THREE months after its official launch, the Seed Northern Rivers Giving Circle will celebrate its first significant milestone at the upcoming Wild Imaginings event at Stone & Wood Brewery on October 30.

Revealing plans and recipients for its first community grant round, the event will also feature artists, activists, and changemakers sharing bold ideas for the region’s future.

Wild Imaginings will showcase a diverse lineup of speakers and performers, including acclaimed songwriter Emily Lubitz, award-winning filmmaker and Regenerators co-founder Damon Gameau, founder of The Remix Michelle Williams, Plan C CEO Simon Richardson, Byron Shire Mayor Sarah Ndiaye, and environmental strategist and change agent Alison Drover.

Director of SEED Northern Rivers, Techa Beaumont, said it was a different kind of giving.

“It’s community-led, fiercely local, and unapologetically hopeful,” Beaumont said.

“By pooling our resources and decisions, we’re shifting power and planting the seeds of a truly regenerative future for the Northern Rivers.”

Half of the funds raised will support a Small Grants Program that backs bold, grassroots climate and environmental solutions.

Remaining funds will support the Changemaker Collective, Seed Northern Rivers’ leadership and capacity-building program, which nurtures projects and leaders that emerge from the grants.

Seed Northern Rivers is part of the powerful global movement reimagining philanthropy. Unlike traditional top-down giving, giving circles are collaborative and transparent funding structures that bring local people together to pool their resources and support local initiatives.

Over $3.1 billion was given collectively by giving circles worldwide between 2017 and 2023.

“Philanthropy isn’t just for the wealthy,” event MC and SEED Giving Circle member Mandy Nolan said.

“The idea of decolonising giving is very appealing to me. I see giving weekly to the Seed Giving Circle as my opportunity, as someone who isn’t affluent, to still contribute, and to do so in a way that ensures the experts in our community can do what they do best.”

RSVPs are essential. For tickets, visit events.humanitix.com/wild-imaginings-2