Current standings of the Foundation
Well, we are coming up to the end of a very busy year for the Anika Foundation. We had our successful first public function in July, where the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens (a director of the foundation) spoke on monetary policy. We have also had some very important donations from the financial community, which have helped boost us along towards our target to launch our first scholarships, which we previously said was $500,000. This has also been helped by: our investments, which are in stocks, bonds and cash management accounts; and by further donations from friends and interested members of the community.
The current standing of the fund is:
| TARGET | $500,000 |
|---|---|
| CURRENT ASSETS OF THE FOUNDATION | $420,000 |
| GAP TO TARGET | $80,000 |
So if there are any corporates out there that would like to make a donation to push us over the line, please get in touch!!
What are we going to do with the income from the assets?
Well this is the big news: in 2007 we are going to launch a number of scholarships for which School Counsellors, Chaplains and Head Teachers can apply. These are going to be part of the Premier’s series of scholarships. Ours will be known as “The Premier’s Anika Foundation Scholarships in Youth Depression Awareness”. It is very exciting. Once advertised in 2007, the winners will have made interesting proposals to visit schools and institutions in other parts of Australia and abroad to find out how they deal with issues related to adolescent depression and suicide. The winners will travel, and then come back and write up their findings, which will be published by the Education Department. The scholars will also have to be available to visit other schools and share their findings upon their return. We see this as a very effective and practical way to raise awareness about the issues in a way that will spread between schools. Remember teachers and schools are often in the front line of this issue, and are uniquely placed to recognise problems and direct help in ways that families sometimes cannot.
We will keep you up to date on the scholarships, when more information comes to hand.