Stories of Giving and Receiving

Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation

Stories of Giving and Receiving is a podcast from the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation – a thriving family foundation with more than sixty years of grant-making experience.  Host Emilia Kefford speaks directly to changemakers supported through the Foundation’s Backing Young People strategy. These conversations shine a light on their challenges, achievements, and what it takes to truly effect change. 

Episodes

  1. 12/04/2024

    Bevis Masson-Leach: Empowering Youth Through Music 🎶

    In this episode, we chat with Bevis Masson-Leach, a music producer and youth workshop facilitator who used a Backing the Future grant to run transformative music workshops for young people in regional New South Wales. Bevis’s mission wasn’t to just create music, but to use song writing as a vehicle for the participants to express themselves in a safe space. Collaborating with local artists in Armidale, Moree, Nambucca Valley, and Newcastle, Bevis ran four three-day workshops where young people not only explored their creativity through music but in many instances built confidence and friendships that they wouldn’t otherwise have found.  As he says, “a little bit of positive reinforcement can go a long way”, especially when working with young people from challenging backgrounds. He also shares some excellent tips for anyone applying for further funding, and how creating content during workshops can be used for future applications to showcase what impact has been made and help you stand out from the crowd. At the end of this conversation, you’ll hear a little of one of the songs created during the Armidale workshop - In the Streets, with vocals from young musician YK.  Learn more about Bevis’ work at papertoymusic.com 🎧 Listen in and discover how music can spark positive change and empower young people. If you loved this episode, we’d love it if you shared it with a friend so they can hear the insights too!  For more about the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, head to vfff.org.au.

    35 min
  2. 12/04/2024

    Rizina Yadav: Amplifying Young Women's Voices Through Research and Advocacy 📢

    In this episode, we chat with Rizina Yadav, founder of Young Women’s Alliance about her experience receiving a Backing the Future grant.  Rizina shares her remarkable journey from growing up in regional Australia to studying at Stanford University, and her deep passion for creating social impact.  With the grant, Rizina created a nationally representative research study on young women aged 18-28 through 300 long-form interviews, a national gender survey with 3000 respondents, 77 expert consultations, and a literature review of 800 academic articles, all the while engaging 17 young women from across Australia to assist with the research. This work resulted in two reports - 'Young Minds, Old Biases: The Gender-Based Violence Crisis' and the 'Young Women's Policy Submission' which were submitted to state and federal parliament. Rizina reflects on her initial youthful naivety and idealism, to the importance of careful planning for success, as well as why sometimes you need a plan B, C, D, and even E. She shares insights on what it was like to work influencing and informing government policy, and interacting with senior politicians and government departments.  Rizina also offers valuable advice for grant applicants and explores the critical role philanthropy plays in the research and policy space in a non-partisan manner.  Learn more about Rizina’s work: rizinayadav.com and youngwomensallianceaus.com 🎧 Join us for an insightful discussion about the intersection of youth advocacy, social change, and the transformative power of philanthropy! If you loved this episode, we’d love it if you shared it with a friend so they can hear the insights too!  For more about the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, head to vfff.org.au.

    41 min

Trailers

About

Stories of Giving and Receiving is a podcast from the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation – a thriving family foundation with more than sixty years of grant-making experience.  Host Emilia Kefford speaks directly to changemakers supported through the Foundation’s Backing Young People strategy. These conversations shine a light on their challenges, achievements, and what it takes to truly effect change.