The Count Charitable Foundation - allowing Count advisers and staff give back to the community and to various charitiies.

Our initiatives – giving back to the community

Since inception in 2004, the Count Charitable Foundation has donated more than $2 million to a wide range of charities across Australia and overseas.

Fundraising events

Both Head Office and our Members continue to put in an amazing amount of effort to raise money for the CCF – Thank you to everyone involved!

The Russell Crowe, Luc Longley & Coffs Harbour Council Victorian Bushfire Appeal $50,000
CCF’s $50K donation joins contributions from Russell Crowe, Luc Longley (from WA who played for the Chicago Bulls), Coffs Harbour City Council, businesses and individuals from the Coffs Harbour region and from around Australia.

The funds will be applied towards building a 200 seat theatre in the new Marysville township. This will give the town and surrounding district a facility that it did not have before the fires, and it will also create a focal point for drawing visitors and tourists for many years to come.

Opportunity International $10,000 together with $10,000 to be matched by Perpetual Investments
Micro-finance is a sustainable, scaleable poverty alleviation response.

CCF and Perpetual have donated a total of $20,000 to Opportunity International's - Sharada Micro-Finance Program

The funds Opportunity International receives is lent to clients as loans.

The success of the clients creates a ripple effect - benefiting the lives of clients’ family members and communities. As clients invest their loans into expanding their businesses, many will go on to employ members of their families and the local community.

Australian Conservation Foundation - Murray/Darling Basin Program $20,000
For over 42 years Australian Conservation Foundation have been a strong voice for the environment, promoting solutions through research, consultation, education and working with the community, business and government to protect, restore and sustain our environment.

>	90% of floodplain wetlands in the Murray Darling Basin have been destroyed
>	About 50% of Australia’s inland waterbirds are threatened, mainly from the loss of wetland and river habitat
>	About 20% of NSW wetlands recently surveyed were so degraded that they were at risk of leaching toxic sulphuric acid from soils and into the nations river systems

The Australian Conservation Foundation is working towards returning the Murray River back to its natural state and to ensure the future of natural water systems everywhere by pushing for a National Wetlands Initiative.

The Smith Family - Financial Literacy Program $20,000
CCF is helping to support the Financial Literacy component of The Smith Family Learning for Life program.

The focus of the Financial Literacy Course is to educate disadvantaged Australian’s around the essentials of money management and to provide tools and techniques that will enable the participants to achieve their financial goals.

The Count Charitable Foundation expects its total donations for 2008/09 to be at least $550,000 thanks to the generosity of Count, Count Directors, franchisees and staff.

February 2009 – CCF donates $50,000 to Australian Red Cross – Victorian Bushfire Appeal

View the thank you letter from the Australian Red Cross

February 2009 – CCF donates $1,000 to SecondBite

SecondBite is a dynamic organisation committed to making a positive difference by sourcing good quality fresh nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste and delivering it to people in need.

With the current global economic crisis and unemployment rising daily, it is Australia’s most marginalised and vulnerable communities that are suffering, becoming more and more isolated, with no or very limited access to fresh nutritious food.

In 2008, SecondBite stopped over 240 tonnes of fresh food going to landfill - instead redistributing it to over 90 agencies and thousands of people who are homeless or living in disadvantaged circumstances.

In Australia in 2007, over 312,000 Victorian families ran out of food and 23,713 people were registered as homeless. In stark contrast, 3.28 million tonnes of fresh food ended up as landfill!

October 2008 – CCF donates $20,000 to Cancer Council NSW – Pink Ribbon Day

The CCF donated $20,000 to The Cancer Council NSW – Pink Ribbon Day. It is an annual donation in memory of Kerryn Leonard.

September 2008 – CCF donates $2000 to help the Mudgee Lifeskills Group attend Tri-state games

The CCF donated $2000 to the Mudgee Lifeskills Group in collaboration with the efforts of Nortons Business Advisors, a Count Franchisee in Mudgee, NSW. The $2000 will allow the Mudgee Lifeskills Group to attend the tri-state games – a small-scale Olympic event for people with disabilities to compete with others at their own level of ability in swimming, indoor events, athletics and team sports.

Good luck to the team!

May 2008 – CCF helps cyclone-ravaged Burma

One of the CCFs donations this month was $20,000 to Medicins Sans Frontieres.

Subsequently, MSF thanked CCF for its timely donation in relation to the terrible cyclone in Burma. MSF were already on the ground when Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmur and staff were able to provide immediate assistance to people coming into the MSF clinic in Yangon.

November 2007 – The annual CCF South Australian Golf day

A huge success and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone in attendance. Along with some quality golf playing, South Australian Count Members elected for the CCF to donate $2,500 to the Bone Growth Foundation and $10,500 to the McGuinness McDermott Foundation in aid of continuing research.

(left) Rick O’Donnell (Principal, O’Donnell & Richardson) with Tony McGuinness (Founder, McGuinness McDermott Foundation)

(right) Dr Bruce Foster (Chairman, Bone Growth Foundation) and Rick O’Donnell (Principal, O’Donnell & Richardson)

November 2007 - ‘Mo’ fundraising at Count Financial with $20,000 from the CCF
The Count Financial team has been sporting ‘mos’ throughout November, in the name of ‘Movember.’

Count Founder and Executive Chairman, Barry Lambert said, “For the first time, the Count ‘Mo Bro’ team includes both Head Office and Advisers from around the Count network nationally - everyone really got into the spirit and the response we had from staff supporting them and the cause was incredible.”

The national Count team raised $34,775.80 including a $20,000 donation from the CCF – funds raised are donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative.

Giving back to the community
Across 2007 - 2009, the Count Charitable Foundation has made the following donations to charities:

Charity	Objective
Arrow Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation	Fund medical research into the cause, prevention, treatment and cure of leukaemia.
Australian Drug Foundation	Work in partnership with the community to strengthen people’s capacity to prevent alcohol and other drug problems and reduce alcohol and other drug harms. Their work focuses on research, information, community development and education and advocacy.
Australian Red Cross	Victorian Bushfire Appeal
Barnardos Australia	The work of Barnardos Australia deals particularly with the prevention of abuse and entry into care.
Beyond Blue	Working to address issues associated with depression, anxiety and related substance misuse disorders and raising community awareness about depression and reducing stigma associated with the illness.
The Big Issue	Assist homeless and long-term unemployed people to participate in society.
Bone Growth Foundation	Provide better, less painful treatments for children with crippling growth problems.
Bowel Cancer and Digestive Research Institute	Supports research into diseases and disorders of the digestive system including bowel cancer.
Camp Kookaburra	Help children who live with families suffering from mental illness.
The Cancer Council of NSW	Research of treatment and cure for cancer.
Cancer Council of QLD	Research of treatment and cure for cancer.
Care Australia	CARE Australia provides humanitarian assistance across the globe. CARE Australia is directly responsible for the design and implementation of its own programmes.
Care Flight Qld	CareFlight provides a rapid response emergency medical retrieval service accessible to all members of the community.
Cherish the Children Foundation – Pat Rafter Charity	The Cherish the Children Foundation seeks to assist disadvantaged children; reduce the impact and raising awareness of childhood obesity; and protecting the environment to leave a legacy for our children.
Childrens Hospital Foundation Australia	It aims to support initiatives that generate breakthrough treatments and cures to make a difference in the lives of sick and terminally ill children.
Children's Medical Research Institute	Prevention and treatment for children's birth defects, cancer, and epilepsy.
The Crowle Foundation	Assist people who are mentally and physically handicapped.
Day of Difference Foundation	Focuses on the prevention and control of burns related disease.
Diabetes Australia NSW	Works in partnership with diabetes health professionals and educators, researchers and health care providers to minimise the impact of diabetes on the Australian community through awareness, prevention, detection, management and a cure.
Endeavour Foundation	Endeavour is a Queensland based charity devoted to providing independence to people with intellectual disability through the provision of employment, education, life skills training and residential facilities.
Fight Cancer Foundation	The Fight Cancer Foundation is dedicated to providing treatment, research, care and support for people with leukaemia and other forms of cancer.
Guide Dogs Qld	Encompass a wide range of services in addition to the training and placement of Guide Dogs.
Great Barrier Reef Research Foundation	Bringing together public and private sector funding and experience in a partnership to secure the Reef for all Australians.
Hastings Cancer Trust	To assist in the provision of the full spectrum of cancer services to the population of the Hastings and surrounding region. To achieve nationally recognised best practice standards of cancer care and research and to compliment the services provided by both state and federal govts.
Heart Foundation	Improve the heart health of Australians.
Inspire Foundation	Support young people in need through community programs.
JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes Research	Foundation researches treatment and cure for Type 1 children/juvenile diabetes.
Just Enough Faith Foundation	Just Enough Faith is a small team of volunteers who feed Sydney's growing hordes of homeless people and giving them hope and helping them regain respect by counselling and, where possible, housing and assisting with employment opportunities.
Landcare Australia	Repair and manage Australia's natural resources.
Leukaemia Foundation	The Leukaemia Foundation is the only national not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the care and cure of patients and families living with leukaemia, lymphomas, myeloma and related blood disorders.
Life Changing Experiences	Life Changing Experiences Foundation (LCEF) objectives are to alleviate the cycle of poverty, destitution and suffering of young people by having them participate in a wide range of mentoring programs specifically designed to promote valuable life skills and high self esteem, in order to increase their belief in themselves and remove them from the cycle of poverty and suffering.
Life Education Australia	Life Education Australia provides school-based drug education to around 1 million Australian primary and high school students each year.
Lifeline Australia	Lifeline provides 24-hour telephone counselling service to anyone in Australia needing emotional support
Lifeskills Plus Inc	Supporting people with disabilities and their families/carers - focus is on integration with their local
Make-a-Wish Foundation	Make-A-Wish makes the dreams of children with life-threatening illnesses come true by granting them a special wish, a wish that distracts them from the pain of medical procedures - from nights spent away from home, and from a normal childhood filled with fun and adventure.
McGuiness McDermott Foundation	Support for children and families affected by cancer and other serious illness.
Medecins Sans Frontieres Australia	Provide immediate assistance to cyclone-ravaged Burma.
Mission Australia	Provide assistance and counselling to those in need including crisis care.
Movember - Prostate Cancer Foundation	Research of treatment and cure for prostate cancer.
MS Australia	Provides specialist programs to people with MS, their families, carers, friends and health care professionals.
Muscular Dystrophy Association of Victoria	Working towards a world without Muscular Dystrophy - but in the mean time, the MDA also provide support and hope.
NorthCare Foundation	Research within the Intensive Care Unit of the Royal North Shore Hospital.
Oak Tasmania – “Chance on Main”	Supports “high risk” young people aged 10-19 years to address issues of anger management, mental health, nutrition, alcohol and drug use and sexual health.
Opportunity International	Seeks transformation in the lives of the poor in developing countries and provides lasting solutions to poverty through the process of Micro-Enterprise Development.
Oxfam	Increase the number of people worldwide who have a sustainable livelihood.
Princess Margaret Hospital Children Foundation	Western Australia's only specialist children's hospital. The Foundation channels funds into the hospital's vital medical research area and equirment required.
Redkite	Support children and their families affected by cancer.
Rotary Bondi Junction “Circus Quirkus”	Annual circus for local special needs children
Royal Childrens Hospital Foundation Melb – Cancer in Kids Auxiliary	Cares for sick children and aims to increase the awareness of cancer in children to aid research into children's cancer and finding less invasive treatments.
Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia	The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia is a not-for-profit charitable service providing aeromedical emergency and primary health care services together with communication and education assistance to people who live, work and travel in regional and remote Australia.
Royal Hospital for Women Foundation	The Royal Women's Hospital works to care for and save the lives of women and babies. This is Victorian based.
Salvation Army	Provision of services, food and clothing to people in need.
Second Bite	SecondBite sources good quality fresh nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste and delivering it to people in need.
SIDS & Kids (ACT)	SIDS and is one of the major researchers in the causes of SIDS and still birth. It also educates health professionals and partners to help reduce the incidence of infant mortality and bereavement resources.
Social Ventures Australia (SVA)	Provide support for not-for-profit organisations to promote social change.
Southern Family Assistance Fund	Provides programs that address the areas of suicide prevention, deliberate self injury, eating disorders, depression, child abuse, loss and grief, family breakdown and parenting skills. It is our commitment to care, equip, empower and offer hope to those in our community who are struggling in these areas.
St George Hospital	Cancer Care Centre fund raiser
Toowoomba Hospice	The Toowoomba Hospice provides beds to people in their final stages of life and has been designed to provide a home-like and private atmosphere for friends and families.
Young Care Foundation	Youngcare is a registered charity and non-profit organisation formed to help young Australians with high care needs. The aim is to provide a dignified and relevant lifestyle for young people with high care needs.
Youth Off The Streets	Support homeless and drug addicted young Australians to turn their lives around.
Variety, The Children's Charity	Help sick, disabled, and disadvantaged children.
Vision Australia	Improve the quality of life for the visually impaired.

As at 21 May, 2009
Doc Owner: CCF