A Canadian Olympian who now heads Community Foundations Australia has praised Canberra's Hands Across Canberra for its work in bringing together more than 350 local charities to help those most in need.
Ian Bird, who played field hockey for Canada at the Sydney and Seoul Olympics, was the CEO of Community Foundations Canada before taking up his role with its Australian counterpart in January.
He was the keynote speaker at Hands Across Canberra's annual charity lunch at the National Gallery of Australia on Wednesday.
Hands Across Canberra works with more than 350 community organisations which work on the front line, looking after people doing it tough.
It raises money, invests funds to keep the pot growing and connects donors to causes they care about.
Mr Bird said achieving that connection across a community was an achievement that should not be under-estimated.
"[More than] 350 charities cultivated a relationship. Three hundred and fifty. Many of you are here. You think that's just happening in every community around Australia and around Canada? It's not," he told the audience in the Gandel Hall.
Community Foundations Australia is the peak body for Australia's network of community foundations, with 40 now established across the nation.
Community foundations are designed to provide permanent support through a perpetual endowment fund, which gives regular grants to those in most need.
Federal law reforms are expected to make that process easier.
And Australia was likely to follow the lead of Canada, at least in growing the available pot of money, encouraging ordinary people to give where they live and trust that their donation will help those in the local community.
"In Canada, we have some 250 community foundations and we saw them grow in scale over about 10 years and the total capability of that network from a financial point of view is now over $10 billion," he said.
"Those are people just like you, slowly, incrementally, drawing your resources together...."
He later added: "Individual families, one after the other, over a number of years have contributed to funds held by the community foundation, which are invested and the yield from which is passed on to the community. And it just creates an ongoing cycle of resources for community priorities".
Hands Across Canberra, like its counterparts in Canberra, could also teach nascent community foundations in Australia about the power of working together.
"The active participation. The active collaboration. The ongoing exchange in the spaces in between is just robust," he said.
"In Australia, we're seeing the unlocking of those same instincts."
