Reflections on Possible Now
05 Jul 2026
This piece originally appeared on the LinkedIn page of Michelle Baldwin.
By: Michelle Baldwin, Community Foundations Australia Community Collaboration Fellow
To kick off the National Community Foundation Forum, Community Foundations Australia and the GFCF hosted a Possible Now conversation with more than 70 people from across Australia and globally. It was hosted by Jenny Hodgson and Barry Knight of the GFCF and Ian Bird, current CEO of Community Foundations of Australia, with facilitation from Sam Rye of Monash University and myself with support from Georgia Mathews and Dylan Smith, new Co-CEOs of Community Foundations Australia. It built on this recent interview and article with Jenny Hodgson.
We asked: “How might we, by connecting the small but powerful things that are already happening around us, create an open space to imagine, experiment and co-create a different system that is not only about fixing what is broken but also about breaking free from outdated structures and building something new?”
In the Open Spaces, here are the conversations that surfaced:
- How do we respond to crises while imagining futures?
- How do we build enabling infrastructure that bridges where we are to where we want to go?
- What would it take for community foundations in Australia to fulfil their global potential?
- What is the itch we want to scratch?
- How do we strengthen global connection and resilience?
- How do community foundations partner with Indigenous led funds in their region without duplication?
- How do we put people and power at centre?
- What common ground do we share, and what new stories are we ready to tell?
- How do we move beyond naming the problem and into experimentation?
- What does the board and community journey look like together?
- What is the relationship between philanthropy and social justice?
- How do we build meaningful partnerships and relationships across the Asia Pacific?
There was an invitation from Warren Miller, Spinifex Foundation SA that all the conversations and questions hold First Nations communities across all questions and conversations.
What beautiful questions to carry into the next two days of the National Community Foundations Forum and beyond.
What resonates for those of you in and adjacent to community foundations and community philanthropy?
By: Michelle Baldwin, Community Foundations Australia Community Collaboration Fellow