Support our work
Athlete Rights Australia has operated for four years without funding, staff or offices.
In that time we advocated successfully for Gymnastics Australia to join the National Redress Scheme. We secured a decision at the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, the international tribunal. We supported athletes and families through complaints processes that would have defeated most people alone. And we produced the doctoral research that sets out where Australia's safeguarding framework fails.
All of it was done by volunteers, in evenings and weekends, around work that actually pays.
That has taken us a long way. It is not a foundation for what comes next.
What your support makes possible
We have appointed our first Chief Executive Officer. She is currently unpaid, as everyone at ARA is.
Goodwill is not a funding model, and the athletes who contact us cannot depend on our spare evenings. We are seeking support to put this organisation on a proper footing.
An organisation athletes can find and reach, with someone accountable for answering when they do.
Secure systems for handling disclosures that are, by their nature, deeply sensitive.
The credibility to sit across the table from national sporting bodies and government, and the time to do the slow work of legislative reform.
And the runway to reach Deductible Gift Recipient status, after which ARA can fundraise properly and build towards a sustainably staffed organisation.
Other ways to help
Money is not the only thing we need.
Professional skills. We need legal, accounting, governance and communications support. If your firm has a pro bono programme, we would welcome a conversation.
Introductions. If you know someone who should know about this work, an introduction is as valuable as a donation.
Your voice. Follow us, share what we publish, and raise athlete safety in the rooms you are already in.
Donations are not yet tax deductible.
Our charitable and Deductible Gift Recipient applications are in progress. For companies, a partnership structured as sponsorship is generally deductible as a business expense, and we are happy to work with your finance team on whichever structure suits.
We do not accept funding from sporting organisations
Or from agencies whose conduct we may need to examine. ARA's value to athletes depends entirely on being independent of the system that has harmed them, and we will not trade that for money. No supporter is offered influence over what we say.
Start a conversation
Deb Graham, Chief Executive Officer
deb.graham@athleterightsaustralia.org
We are glad to talk through what ARA does, where the money would go, and what you would receive in return.