The GO Foundation aims to create a brighter future for Indigenous Australians by empowering them through education. Recent research has shown that when Indigenous students complete further education, their employment opportunities are equal to non-Indigenous Australians. This is important because although Indigenous students receive a similar number of offers from Universities, their completion rates are much lower. This follows on from their school completion rates, which are also much lower than non-Indigenous students.

IA has a long history of supporting worthy causes and we regularly donate to a number of non-profit organisations on an on-going basis. We are also constantly on the lookout for other organisations that require financial help and recently came across the work of the GO Foundation. Once we understood their focus and the success that they have achieved, we instantly knew that this was something that we could support.

So, we are very pleased to announce that we have donated $10,000 to the GO Foundation. This cheque was gratefully received by one of GO Foundation’s founders, Adam Goodes. Our donation will be used to provide more public school scholarships for Indigenous students, as well as provide more opportunities for mentoring, leadership and support across Adelaide.

More about the GO Foundation

The GO Foundation was founded by Adam Goodes and Michael O’Loughlin with the assistance of James Gallichan, a close friend. The GO Foundation’s first foray into community work was in Dareton, NSW where they participated in numerous Indigenous programs. Their focus was on promoting vocational training and healthy lifestyles, as well as fundraising for Indigenous school children. In 2014, they refocused their attention solely on education realising that this was the key to creating a brighter future for Indigenous students.

Redefining their focus to include cultural identity

In 2017, research conducted by the GO Foundation and KPMG Arrilla Indigenous Services demonstrated a clear correlation between cultural identity and educational success. It was at this time that the GO Foundation expanded their focus to include Indigenous culture as another key element in creating opportunities for Indigenous youth.  

They created three promotional videos to help Indigenous students change their lives by completing year 12. Adam Goodes, Brooke Boney (reporter and journalist) and Jake Thornton (founder of AIME Mentoring) all feature in these videos that have so far received 1.5 million views on Twitter.

Providing public school scholarships for Indigenous children

The GO Foundation has expanded their assistance even further by offering scholarships to two public primary schools and one high school in Adelaide. These scholarships provide financial assistance to Indigenous students with the aim of making their schooling easier. They can purchase musical instruments, books, pens, excursions, computers, sports equipment and so on. However, this money is spent under the watchful eye of the school principal to ensure that each student makes the best choices for their education.

Each scholarship also includes additional mentoring and support to better facilitate the student’s schooling and their transition to further education, employment and internship opportunities. Currently, the GO Foundation supports 68 Indigenous students with these scholarships. They are happy to receive donations or provide assistance for fund raising activities to provide even more places for Indigenous students.

Once again, IA is very happy to support this caring and hardworking organisation and hope that our $10,000 donation goes some way to help other Indigenous students achieve a brighter future. 

To learn more about the GO Foundation, you can visit their website at: https://www.gofoundation.org.au/