GIVIT CEO WINS VODAFONE WORLD OF DIFFERENCE COMPETITION

Brisbane based change agent, Juliette Wright has been announced as one of four winners in this year’s national Vodafone World of Difference Competition.

The competition, which has been running for ten years, allows four inspirational Australians to take 12 months of paid charity leave enabling them to make a difference through their chosen projects.

Juliette is the founder and CEO of not for profit organisation GIVIT, which supports over 790 of Australia’s most trusted charities and community providers by connecting them with willing donors of everyday items. Juliette and her team have previously been instrumental in assisting with Queensland’s flood and other natural disasters.

With Australia’s philanthropy record comparatively less than in the US and UK, Juliette plans to use her paid charity leave to foster the future faces of giving in Australia – children.

She advised, “Winning this competition is a huge milestone.  I’ll use the charity leave for a number of things including developing a mobile APP for GIVIT and working on our sustainability strategy. 

“The most exciting thing that this funding will enable me to do, though, is to develop GIVIT Kids, an initiative that will promote philanthropy amongst youth and children.

“Australia’s philanthropic record isn’t great and I believe that the way to address that is to foster an interest in giving amongst our kids. 

“The goal of GIVIT Kids is to enable kids to directly support other isolated, vulnterable or marginalized Australian children by donating clothing, gifts, school equipment, uniforms or spots clothing and equipment.”

Juliette hopes to launch her GIVIT Kids initiative by September this year and will support the program with an age appropriate (G rated) interactive online forum for children to give directly to other children who are less fortunate.

She added, “The website’s purpose is to ‘grow givers’ and promote philanthropy at a young age. By embedding the values of giving, we can create a whole new generation of givers – young people with a passion and interest in helping others.”

You can track Juliette’s progress and find out more about GIVIT and the GIVIT Kids initiative by visiting www.givit.org.au