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Community Kind is a podcast about the people, projects, and ideas at the heart of Australia's collective giving movement. Each episode is a genuine conversation with the women doing the work, the leaders asking hard questions, and the members who decided their money could do more together than alone.
100 women was born from a very human moment. A car ride, a conversation, a realization that the gap between those who have and those who haven't couldn't be bridged by numbers. The idea was simple and radical. Find 100 women willing to pay a $100 a month, pull the money and give it away together. In our very first ever episode, 100 executive officer Karen Britton interviews our cofounder, Alicia Curtis, to understand where it all began, the 100 women story.
Karen Brittain:Welcome to Community Kind, a 100 women podcast. I'm Karen Britton, executive officer of one hundred women, and I'm so incredibly happy you're joining us for this very first episode. Today, I'm sitting down with someone who has been living the life of a changemaker since she was just 12 years old, our cofounder Alicia Curtis. Alicia is a true force for good. From attending children's conferences to cofounding her very own children's conference, and to being named one of Australia's 100 Women of Influence.
Karen Brittain:She has spent her life challenging the idea of who gets to be a leader. In 2013, she took that same spark and co founded 100, driven by the belief that you don't have to be wealthy to be a philanthropist you just need a community behind you. In this episode, we're going back to where it all began, the story of how a simple car ride and a shared vision turned into a movement that has now gifted almost $1,700,000 to women and girls in need. Whether you've been with us for years or you're just hearing about 100 women for the very first time, this conversation is about the pure joy that happens when we decide our money can do more together than it ever could alone. I'm really glad you're here for this one, Alicia.
Karen Brittain:Welcome to the show.
Alicia Curtis:Oh, it's so lovely to be here.
Karen Brittain:The show that we will be co corunning together. You're our very first guest today, but we're looking forward to, sharing this podcast series with, quite a few of our grant recipients over the last thirteen years. So, Alicia, let's go back to where this all actually started. What were you and Megan talking about on that car ride back when you were just, you know, your early twenties or
Alicia Curtis:something? Late twenties. So Megan's a really great friend of mine. We had volunteered a lot through Millennium Kids, a youth environment organization together. We were actually running a a youth leadership work workshop out in a regional area, and so we had a a long car ride back into Perth.
Alicia Curtis:And we were very used to the the concept of talking about new ideas and how you can make them happen, and that's the work that we were doing in Millennium Kids Together and the youth workshop that we were running at in the regional areas. Talking to young people about that we all have this opportunity to look around us, to think about what we love about our community, what we don't like about our community, and how we can make our community a better place. So we were just talking about ideas. We were spitballing. We were passing the time in the car and sharing our latest ideas to make the world a better place.
Alicia Curtis:And I had been thinking about the idea of 100 women for well, actually, quite I was gonna say quite a few months, quite a it might even been quite a few years. And it and it reminds me of the quote that nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come because it really you know, there's a lot of hard work and effort that comes with, you know, making an idea reality, but there's also a lot of luck too. And just realizing that sometimes your idea has just it's it's time for an idea to to happen. And that's really what it was when I was talking to Megan about the idea of 100 women. Because we had been we'd always been on the other side of the fence of writing grant applications, getting money in to make ideas happen.
Alicia Curtis:But I thought, you know, wouldn't it be amazing to have our own grant fund that we could give? And at that stage, I was reading a lot, and I've always been passionate about our support of women in our community, more at a leadership level and ensuring that women have access to the tables where decisions get made and have the opportunity to step up as leaders. But I'd read a book called Half the Sky, which really gave me a really different perspective that unless women have access to the basics, they're never gonna get to, you know, leadership positions and opportunities to make decisions if we don't give them opportunities, just the basic opportunities of health, education, economic opportunities, and safety. So we were talking about what what would it be like if we could bring people together and all put in a small amount of money to have our own grant fund that then we could invest in projects that were really truly making a difference in our community.
Karen Brittain:That's brilliant. What's come out of that is that one little conversation just goes to show that you should always be talking about ideas. So you became a volunteer very young. Can you tell me who or what inspired you to take this path so passionately?
Alicia Curtis:Yeah. I suppose my family hadn't had sort of much involvement in philanthropy per se, but my dad was an active community citizen. You know, he'd run different clubs, and we'd go out. He was part of rotary. We'd go out fundraising for rotary.
Alicia Curtis:I remember, you know, selling raffle tickets and all those sorts of things, planting trees with his rotary club. My mom also really instilled in me the importance of having a voice and not being afraid of using your voice. But I think, I suppose, the moments that was really a catalyst in my life was attending a children's conference run by the United Nations on the environment. And I got to be part of this conference that was held in England that had 800 kids from 90 different countries that attended. And so you can't go to an event like that and not just be awestruck by the potential that every single one of us has to create the community that we want.
Alicia Curtis:And it really showed me from a young age that you you can make ideas happen. It doesn't necessarily need you you don't need to be rich and famous to make them happen. You can just be, you know, an ordinary everyday person to make things happen. But you do need supporters, collaborators, and a team to make things happen.
Karen Brittain:Excellent. And was there a specific moment when you thought this could actually work? And what did that feel like? Because we all get ideas, but not many people have the capacity to make it happen, I guess. So what drove you to to actually really go through with this idea?
Alicia Curtis:You need collaborators. Right? So for me, it was like I had this idea, but it wasn't until I talked to Megan, and Megan sort of said, yeah. This we could we could do this.
Karen Brittain:Reinforced it.
Alicia Curtis:Yeah. Just having somebody, you know, just say, yeah. We can do this together. That was the first moment. I think then we put it out on social media, you know, like any great gen y.
Alicia Curtis:We we shared this idea on on social media, and the response was immediate. It was, wow. Love this idea. How can I sign up as a member? We haven't even started.
Alicia Curtis:And people were like, this idea, there's something about this idea. And we brought together the first committee from that social media post, and it there was a buzz. You know, we we were just a group of young women in our, you know, late twenties, early thirties. We had never really been involved in something of this scale, but together, we had the different expertise, the different pieces of the puzzle that we could bring together to create something like this. And so when there's that buzz of possibility, it really there's there's nothing that can stop that, and and it's just continued every single year.
Alicia Curtis:Every single year, the right people come to the table. The right opportunities come to allow us to keep building this idea to what it is today and what it could look like in the future.
Karen Brittain:So you've said that collective giving puts philanthropy within reach of anyone. What do you mean by that?
Alicia Curtis:So collective giving was really quite a new concept when we first started. It was just really the emergence of this opportunity of people coming together, pooling their funds for a common purpose, and then carefully considering where that money went in alignment to the values and purpose that the organization has. So I saw the opportunity for us to be able to bring people together that had a passion for women and children, women and girls. They saw the the benefit of the investment in women and girls. And, really, it was at a time where I thought the more I explored philanthropy, I realized philanthropy as a concept almost got hijacked by the rich and famous.
Karen Brittain:So true. So true.
Alicia Curtis:You you think of the word philanthropist, you think of, you know, somebody who's, you know, maybe a rich business owner who's giving away their millions of dollars, and it really made philanthropy as a concept out of reach of the everyday person. And so what I loved about this concept of collective giving was that it it puts it in everybody's reach. And when you look at the real or the root word or the meaning of the word philanthropist, It's actually lover of humanity, which is your everyday person who wants to make a difference. And so, you know, collective giving really gives us the opportunity to come together in our giving and amplify the impact that we can have together.
Karen Brittain:So a 100 women in its entity, I guess, we have an entry point of around $300, but you can give as much as you want. As I understand it, working working within a 100 women, one of the the most beautiful benefits of that is that the member has a say in where that funding goes. What do you think that means for the members?
Alicia Curtis:We come at it together. And, you know, it doesn't matter whether you give $300 or $1,200. Whatever a step up is for you, I, you know, I encourage people to be you know, to challenge themselves around their thinking, how they can give. Oftentimes, we can think that even, you know, 300 or even $1,200 might be out of our reach. And I must admit, when I first started one hundred Women, $1,200 was a huge step up for me in my giving.
Alicia Curtis:Giving a $100 a month was a huge step up. But, you know, when we got together that initial committee of young women, we were like, oh gosh. We've gotta ask people to give a $100 a month, $1,200 a year. It felt big for people, but then we started breaking it down. And as you say, you know, $300 is really a coffee a week.
Alicia Curtis:You know, we all get to make choices about how we can use our time, our talents, our money to make the the difference that we wanna make in this world. And, you know, now thinking back to how much of a difference that money has made through our grant recipients, there's no better way I can think of spending that money than donating to 100 women.
Karen Brittain:Oh, I love it. I love it. And and the fact that a 100% of that donation is going to our grant recipients, and it's a full tax deduction as well. It's a very clever way of just really making a difference in the lives of women and girls that you've never met before. It's such a feel good lifestyle choice, I think.
Alicia Curtis:There's such a deep personal joy that comes from giving together. And not only that personal joy, it also then translates into this collective joy Yes. When you see the impact that your money has made together. You listen to the stories of our grant recipients, and you see what's possible. You come together with this community, and it gives you this immense amount of of pleasure to be a part, to belong to something that's bigger than yourself.
Karen Brittain:I love it. And it brings me back to, I guess, the origins of of how I joined one hundred Women. So I've been with you for four and a half years now. But back in 2014, which was the very first grant round, the inaugural grant round for one hundred Women, I worked at a women's refuge called Zolunta House Refuge Association. And our CEO was lucky enough to meet you back then when when you'd had just pulled together a small group of women.
Karen Brittain:And at that point, you didn't really even know how many members you were going to to bring on board at that point, like, starting it. It makes not knowing.
Alicia Curtis:It makes me laugh because, you know, we we launch at the start of the year in March. We really don't have a clue how many people will join us. We start the grant making round. Yeah. Before we've before we've got, you know, all the money in the bank.
Alicia Curtis:But I I just think that there's sometimes it's naivety. Sometimes it's just this courage to see through on a vision that you have. And, you know, we we were so lucky to have, right from the beginning, incredible organizations putting up projects that were exactly what we were looking for, both here, you know, locally in Perth, regionally, and then right across the world as well. But Zonta House was an incredible project and and showed exactly what we were trying to do. And so many of the projects that we've been able to fund show that there is this gap in being able to believe in projects that support women and girls in in particular, and give them the seed funding to show what they can do and the impact that they can have in their community, which has been the golden thread that's that's continued to this day.
Alicia Curtis:So it's, you know, it's it's it's wonderful to think back on those those first few years.
Karen Brittain:It was. It was. I think, you know, knowing what 40,000 did for us on the house when I was there, to see to be on the flip side, to know as as a representative of that charity what that did for the women that we were supporting through the Positive Pathways program, it was phenomenal. And to think that, you know, this started with just eight women on your board with amazing different skill sets that just made this come to fruition. And in that first year, you gave away a $100,000 to three different charities combined.
Karen Brittain:It was, you know, just incredible. So is there a project or story or or maybe we can have a little bit of a chat about some of the ones that pops to our mind when we think and talk about the incredible impact that 100 women's grants have on the charities that we support?
Alicia Curtis:Yes. I I know. I said to you, Karen. I I it's almost too hard to be able to pinpoint
Karen Brittain:I'm with you. I'm with you. You know,
Alicia Curtis:one grant or a couple of grants out of now the 49 that we've been able to fund. There's this golden thread of this incredible opportunity that we see when we invest in in women and girls in different ways. You know, we've had so so many great local projects like Zonta House. We've had so many great regional projects of, as we're saying, you know, having seed funding to be able to share with them, to be able to showcase the good work that they know that they can do. Earbus comes to mind, you know, when we're funding aboriginal health professionals to go and support kids that are having, you know, hearing problems and and the health challenges they're facing in regional areas.
Karen Brittain:They have a mobile bus that goes to Literally goes. Yeah.
Alicia Curtis:You know, the ear bus
Karen Brittain:goes association. Yeah.
Alicia Curtis:And and it you know, the simple things like helping a kid here then has the ripple effects of them actually being able to attend school, be engaged at school, not be troubled at school because they can't hear. You know? It's the the ripple effects are immense. The same with Telethon Kids Institute. You know, they have incredible health projects that they're doing right across WA, but we were able to fund local indigenous elders, women elders in their community to be able to do the on the ground health support required around one of their projects.
Alicia Curtis:And they they understood, and through this project was able to understand even more deeply that when you bring in the community, the health research gets better. Right? So we've gotta be place based. We've gotta invest in women in their own local communities. And then I was able to go to Cambodia last year with one of our members, Trina Sunday, and I got to meet some of our local projects in Cambodia.
Alicia Curtis:Cambodia is one of the places that we've actually funded the most outside of Australia.
Karen Brittain:Five times. Yeah.
Alicia Curtis:So it's really it's been on my radar to go, okay. I I wanna hear more. I wanna know more about this country, learn more about the people there and the issues that they're facing. And so it was really so heartwarming to actually get to meet these people face to face. I'm getting to meet Auscam in Phnom Penh and and hear of the work that they are doing to support young girls that are facing, you know, some really tough times in in their life, and to be able to come up with project project ideas that are so effective in being able to provide support.
Alicia Curtis:And then in Siem Reap, beginning to meet some of our our projects there from Human and Hope to Free to Shine. Again, we're talking about pretty dire, pretty serious issues like sex trafficking, women coming into those situations. But, you know, I was telling you before, sometimes it's about really understanding the bigger picture with some of those projects because, you know, going and listening to them and hearing their stories, you you start to realize the gravity of the challenges that some of these people face. You know, a lot of people still living in poverty in Cambodia. So even access to health and education is really challenging and can actually really leads on to why we're having issues around trafficking.
Karen Brittain:You you you mentioned often over the years around acknowledgment of privilege. So can you talk us through about how that kind of changed your perspective in in working with these charities, especially because we're one of the few giving circles or collaborative giving funds that do support international projects. Can you talk to us about what privilege means with a local global lens?
Alicia Curtis:Yeah. Look, you know, I think one of the things that surprises me most with collective giving is that, yes, we can make a huge impact to the recipients, but it also changes you as a giver. Your knowledge of these issues opens your eyes, And I think it comes back to that book, Half the Sky that I I read. And the thing that stood out for me while reading that book, and, you know, that's a really well known book that really documented the discrimination to death that women still faced around the world. And so that was, you know, fourteen, fifteen years ago.
Karen Brittain:Be be prepared to cry. It's a full on book to read. So at the quiet quiet space and a cup of tea whenever you're reading that book, because it really does open your eyes, doesn't it?
Alicia Curtis:Absolutely. And so when we talk about privilege, you you know, I sat down and read that book, and I just I had this overwhelming feeling like, gosh, I would I would never let something some issues like this happen to my sister, to my mother, to my daughter. And I just had this feeling of, like, why why do we allow this still to happen? These these are choices that each and every one of us does make, you know, as a community, as a government, as part of, you know, our workplaces. These are choices that we're making.
Alicia Curtis:So it starts with that choice, that decision. And so you can either sit and let status quo continue to happen, or you can go, right. What can I do? You know? And I'm not I'm not a rich millionaire, but I can come together, and I can choose to put $100 a month towards something like this and to be and to give my time and my voice and and bring my community along with me to make one little project happen that makes the world a better place for another person.
Alicia Curtis:That's the ripple effect where it starts. And realizing that, you know, we all have some privilege to be able to do something, whether it's giving money, giving time, but it starts with that choice.
Karen Brittain:Well said. So one hundred women is now operating in Perth, Sydney, and Brisbane. And when you dreamed this up on the car ride, did you ever imagine it would grow this way?
Alicia Curtis:Well, it's funny because we we were definitely initially focused on bringing 100 women together to be our, you know, our initial members and and, investors, donors into 100 women. In the initial years, you know, we realized that there was so much more potential for this, and and it really you know, 100 women now has become the analogy of what happens when you bring people together, when you make that change, you know, when you come together, the collective, the power of the collective. And so it's been really incredible to see from those, you know, photos of us coming together for our strategic planning sessions and putting up on butcher's paper that we wanted to be Australia wide, that we wanted to bring together men and women together. That's all starting to happen, and it really just shows you what can happen when you bring people together for, you know, a greater purpose.
Karen Brittain:And people can volunteer as well, not just joining as a member. There is just this really holistic nature of giving back. Tell us a bit
Alicia Curtis:more about that. Oh, well, we've always been volunteer led. Right? For many years, we were fully volunteer led, but, you know, we our organization doesn't happen without volunteers. When we talk about the change making process, money is one part, but volunteers are another.
Alicia Curtis:And, you know, I've been so lucky to to be a volunteer volunteer for for most of my life and to to understand the true joy of volunteering. And so when people come and volunteer for 100 women, you know, they understand that joy, that they are playing a part in creating the the change that we see through our grants. Yes. It's about your dollars, but it's also about bringing people together to give their skill sets, to share it with their communities, bring people along with them on the journey. We we are a group that has spread through word-of-mouth mostly, and so it depends on each and every one of our volunteers, our members being an advocate for what we do.
Karen Brittain:And so for someone who's never heard of 100 women, they'll know a little bit more now after this podcast or looking on our website, but what's one thing that they can take away from this conversation today?
Alicia Curtis:I want them to understand the power that you have to create change. You have more power than you think to create a world that's safe and equitable. And I think, you know, now more than ever you know, when I read that book, I had that feeling of, like, gosh, you know, can things ever change? What's happening in our world? And I think a lot of people are thinking and feeling that right at this moment.
Alicia Curtis:You know, we've seen the rollback of rights of women happening before our eyes, and we have two choices. Comes back to that choice. We can say, oh, well, you know, not nothing will ever change, or we can say now more than ever, we need to come together. We need to bring people together. Because we all each and individually and collectively have more power than we think.
Alicia Curtis:And when we do that together, more things happen for the better. And when more things happen for the better, we start to make inroads in the world that we want. And whether you're here in Perth, you're in Sydney or Brisbane or out in Carratha, we all have that potential to come together. And it's so incredibly rich and heartwarming for me to see that no matter where they are around Australia, that people get it. We're bringing together the most incredibly talented people passionate about their communities who understand the impact that we can achieve when we come together.
Alicia Curtis:We don't need any heroes on white horses anymore to come and save us. What we need is everyday people coming together as a collective to make a choice to support women and girls because we know that that is the way that we can bring whole communities together above, you know, out of poverty, increase outcomes for everyone, whole families, whole communities can come from when we invest strategically in women and girls.
Karen Brittain:Alicia, thank you very much for all you've done for the 39,500 women and girls, but also for all of the members and the communities that have benefited from the work that Megan and yourself did in those early days and and along with the the original women that came on board. But all of the incredible volunteers that have come on board to support the work of 100 women and to all of these incredible grant recipients and grant applicants that believe in the work that we're doing and that we believe in the work that they are achieving as a result of this program. Congratulations, Alicia, on all that you've achieved.
Alicia Curtis:Oh, look. I just wanna underscore the fact that this is a collective. This is much more than any one person, and it's the blood, sweat, and tears of many different volunteers and each and every one of our members. And I often think each and every one of them is a cofounder of this organization. We're all cofounders of this concept that continues to build, and we I think we've only just scratched the surface of what we can achieve.
Karen Brittain:Thanks, Alicia. Thanks for joining us. The conversation you heard today, the car ride, the book, the moment when two women decided to try something, that's exactly what one hundred women is. It's what happens when everyday people decide to do something extraordinary together. One hundred Women is a giving circle.
Karen Brittain:Every member contributes as little as $300 a year. With 400 members currently across the nation, together that becomes $200,000 or more, which is granted directly to grassroots organizations supporting women and girls in health, education, safety, and economic opportunity. Every member gets a vote on where that money goes, and every dollar stays in the community. And the circle itself, the people in it, are part of something that has now given away more than 1,690,000 over twelve years. If today's conversation has made you curious about whether this might be something for you, we'd love to hear from you.
Karen Brittain:You can find out more about joining our giving circle at 100women.org.au. The link is in the show notes. And thank you for listening to Community Kind. Alicia and I will be back to interview some more of our grant recipients doing incredible work in the communities that they exist around the world. We'll see you soon.
Karen Brittain:Thanks, Alicia.
Alicia Curtis:Can't wait.