PANTERA PRESS FOUNDATION DONATES $85,000: INCLUDING $70,000 IN UNTIED FUNDING TO ARTS ORGANISATIONS SURVIVING COVID-19

Pantera Press, one of Australia’s fastest growing independent book publishers, has donated $85,000 via the Pantera Press Foundation in FY2020. In addition to a donation, and staff and author matching, for bushfire relief earlier this year, we are pleased to announce that the Pantera Press Foundation has just donated a total of $70,000 in untied funding to Story Factory, Seed Mob, Writing NSW and Red Room Poetry.

‘We had big plans to ramp up the impact of the Pantera Press Foundation by searching for exciting new projects in FY2020,’ said Ali Green, CEO and Co-Founder. ‘However, with the devastating bushfires followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly realised this was a time to provide support to our existing partners to ensure they could not only survive this crisis but thrive afterwards.’

‘We hope that we can encourage other foundations and funders to also provide untied funding, particularly in the arts sector, at this difficult time.’

Cath Keenan, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Story Factory, said: ‘Pantera Press has been instrumental in allowing us to deliver our creative writing programs to young people right across Western Sydney. We are beyond thrilled that, at this very difficult time, the Pantera Press Foundation has continued this support with untied funding. Untied funding is what gives not-for-profits the flexibility to respond to changing circumstances and survive in times of crisis. It will allow Story Factory to repurpose our programs to suit the changing needs of young people and come out of this pandemic ready and able to run our full suite of programs, for young people who will need them more than ever. This is a lifeline to our organisation, and we cannot thank Pantera Press and its Foundation enough.’

Jane McCredie, CEO of Writing NSW, said: ‘Writers are doing it tough at the moment: festivals and other live events have been cancelled, publishers have cancelled or deferred some books, and opportunities to earn income from school appearances and other activities have dried up. Writing NSW is working hard to help writers meet these challenges, through information and resources, expanded digital services, and paid employment opportunities for a diverse range of writers. This generous unconditional donation from the Pantera Press Foundation will help to ensure the stories of our state continue to be told through the current crisis and beyond.’

Tamryn Bennett, Director Red Room Poetry, said: ‘In giving an unrestricted gift, the Pantera Press Foundation understand how true generosity is about helping charities do their best work supporting others, not ticking boxes. These unrestricted donations are quintessential to survival for small organisations like Red Room Poetry that need to be nimble and flexible to create scalable projects within the communities they work most closely. Like many small arts organisations, we have a tiny team and the weeks that sometimes go into writing funding applications mean time away from doing the most meaningful work we can.’

Pantera Press is a social purpose business dedicated to promoting literacy and writing culture: we believe literacy is the first step to changing the world. We call our integrated approach to social good and business Good Books Doing Good Things and are proud to support these organisations. We look forward to announcing, through the Pantera Press Foundation, a call-out for new applications for funding in the second half of 2020.

Please read on for more information about the relevant organisations and about the Pantera Press Foundation.

 

About the Organisations

Story Factory is a not-for-profit creative writing organisation for marginalised young people aged 7-17.

Seed Mob is Australia’s first Indigenous youth climate network and a branch of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.

Writing NSW is the state’s leading provider of development and support for writers.

Red Room Poetry is a not-for-profit that commissions, creates, publishes and promotes writing with a particular focus on the environment and amplification of First Nations, youth and marginalised voices.

 

About Pantera Press and the Pantera Press Foundation

 Our mission is to spark imagination, conversation and change. We invest in Australian literary culture by nurturing authors, publishing with purpose, and by funding programs, charities and not-for-profit organisations that promote literary and encourage a robust, diverse reading culture.

Since 2008, the Pantera Press family, including the Pantera Press Foundation have contributed over $2.42MM towards the next generation of writers, readers and leaders. 79% of our contributions have been directed to programs working to close the literacy gap or to counter socio-economic disadvantage. That includes $70,000 to help build 7 new Let’s Read Centres around Australia with The Smith Family, over $50,000 to Misfit Aid to run a national surf/sun/read summer reading promotion, $150,000 to Story Factory to open a new centre in Western Sydney, and most recently another $50,000 in 2020 to ensure the Story Factory’s ongoing success post COVID-19.

Over $360,000 of our funds have supported Writers Festivals, including regional festivals all over Australia and most recently the FBi SMAC award-winning Writing NSW Boundless Festival. We have also donated over $1,000,000 in books to those in need, working with partners such as: Mission Australia, The Footpath Library, Arterie – The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Program, National Youth Centres and more.