Aurora shares the love
The Aurora Group has marked it’s 10th anniversary by announcing $100,000 in grants for GLBT community organisations, including two one-off grants of $10,000 each.
GLBT youth charity Twenty10 and the Gay & Lesbian Counselling Service of NSW (GLCS) both received $20,000 major grants, with Twenty10 and ACON each receiving a $10,000 one-off grant for a special project.
The GLCS grant will go towards updating the service’s online presence, funding regular forums covering issues relevant to the GLBT community, and providing social activities and support for people overcoming issues relating to loneliness.
The major grant to Twenty10 will support its counselling service and therapeutic social support groups and will be used to grow the organisation’s work in Sydney’s west. The $10,000 one-off grant will support the Here and Now program which provides training to community groups and services in regional centres on issues relating to sexuality and gender identity.
ACON’s one-off grant will go towards its Living Older, Visibly & Empowered (LOVE) Project which aims to provide positive images of older people in the GLBT community, raise issues around aging and increase opportunities for older GLBT people to participate in community life.
Twenty10 managing director Rebecca Reynolds said she was grateful for Aurora’s continued support, which she calculated as being worth close to $100,000 over the last decade.
“The $10,000 grant is especially exciting because it will help us to work in partnership with regional community organisations to enable them to create the strategies they think will work in addressing stigma and discrimination in their local areas,” Reynolds told Sydney Star Observer.
“Both grants are spectacular and will help us greatly in the coming 12 months and well into the future.”
Aurora deputy chair Kate Conners said the organisation had been able to provide the one off grants as a result of money raised through this year’s Aurora dinner — the fourth in a row to sell out.
“One of the things we’re really proud of is giving funding to projects that might have limited other funding opportunities,” Conners said. “Things like mental health, aging, social support and education services.”
The remaining $40,000 will be disbursed through Aurora’s annual small grants scheme through grants of up to $5000 for GLBT community projects, applications for which will close on November 26.
info: Visit www.auroragroup.com.au for a small grant application form
