Community organisations are making a bid for Canberra's residents to "give where they live", as they try to tackle the city's charity drain.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Though Canberra is home to a generous population, with adults donating about $700 annually, 85 per cent of those funds go to national or international organisations, according to a body representing 300 of the city's community organisations.
"There is a general perception in Canberra that the majority of Canberrans are fine," Hands Across Canberra CEO Peter Gordon said.
"Canberrans tend to think those issues are for other places, not for here. And the reality is that Canberra has the level of disadvantage a city of of 450,000 people should have."
The Women's Legal Centre, which provides free services in the areas of family law, employment and discrimination law, and migration, has seen its funding stretched as demand rises, its CEO Elena Rosenman said.
Keeping women 'safe, strong and in control of their lives'
"We've got a really strong focus on providing trauma informed services. The majority of women that we assist have been affected by - for many women - quite severe, prolonged or repeated trauma," she said.
"Ninety-five per cent of our [family law] clients have experienced ... or are at risk of domestic and family violence."
The Women's Legal Centre will be one of 75 organisations participating in Hand Across Canberra's Giving Day on Wednesday. The day aims to raise $1 million for all participating organisations.
Ms Rosenman said the Women's Legal Centre provided crucial services that ensured women in the community are "safe, strong and in control of their lives".
The centre had observed an alarming uptick in the number of women experience financial abuse, affecting one in two family law clients, she said.
READ MORE:
"We support an increasing number of women that we see report financial abuse as one of the common experiences of domestic and family violence."
"Their circumstances are often complex, they often have no information at all about whether or not there are debts or assets connected to the relationship."
The scope of services the centre provides to tackle the increasing prevalence of financial abuse highlights their many roles as a feminist legal organisation.
That spectrum of services can start with basic information: Informing women contemplating separation about what the the legal process would be, as well as their rights and entitlements if they chose to separate.
"We find that one of the most effective tools that partners will use to keep women in a relationship are inaccurate messages about what will happen to the care of their kids and what will happen to their financial security if they separate," Ms Rosenman said.
"But we also represent women all the way through their matters," she said.
"We're not well funded to deliver legal services of that depth and complexity and our funding is ... definitely stretched."
The centre, which is largely funded by the federal government, with some money coming from the territory, will aim to raise $10,000 in community donations on Wednesday.
Family law firm Parker Coles Curtis has agreed to match donations up to a total of $10,000, bringing their net goal to $20,000 to bolster free legal services for women in Canberra.
"I would say to the people who are thinking about supporting any organization, not just ours, that it's actually a really tangible way of showing people working in those organizations and services ... that they matter," Ms Rosenman said.
"And that people out in the world care about them and the services that they have."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark canberratimes.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram