James Finlayson of Polly Farmer Foundation sat down with Zenith RBA to discuss the mission of the Foundation and the real life positive impacts they are having on Indigenous students.

Tell us about yourself

Depending on how you look at it I am either a very long way away from where I started or I am right back to where I began. I am a sports marketing, media and sponsorship specialist, a long way away from what I am doing now. I spent close to 20 years working with brands, sports and the media industry selling, designing and implementing partnerships ranging from small sports clubs to Olympic broadcasts packages. Along this journey I have had stints within professional rugby union, Foxtel, ESPN, Channel 7 and MKTG, a media company that held commercial rights for the AFL, VRC and Cricket Australia.

Covid arrived not long after my youngest child was born, so an enforced break became an opportunity to spend a year with my new daughter; an opportunity I knew I would never have again. During this time, I reflected on the things that are important to me and wanted to have a look at different opportunities and that’s how I ended working for a not for profit. I completed an education degree at University so it made sense to go back to my roots in some way and focus on something I still had such a strong belief in and something that can make such a difference in peoples’ lives.

Tell us about the Polly Farmer Foundation and its mission

The Polly Farmer Foundation provides support to aspiring young Aboriginal and Torres Strait students to help them reach their potential at school and to transition into a positive destination after school, whether that be University, further training or into employment. The Foundation provides academic enrichment programs based in schools across Australia. The first program opened in the Pilbara in 1997 and now there are more than 50 programs catering for 3,000 students.

Each program has a Program Coordinator (PC) is based in the host school to mentor the students on their journey. The program provides after school tutoring for the students to help them achieve their academic goals. Importantly, the role of the PC doesn’t stop there. Key to the success of the program is creating a culturally safe place for the students to be in and build a strong sense of belonging and self-belief. Throughout the year students are provided with a range of opportunities and experiences to help them on their journey. These may include camps on Country, leadership camps, industry workplace visits and career events.

The Foundation was founded by Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer a Noongar man who is considered one of the greatest footballers in the AFL history. Polly started the Foundation as he believed that ‘education is the key for Aboriginal people to take their rightful place in modern Australian society’. He wanted to create something that would of practical assistance to young Aboriginal people with potential to do something with their lives and make sure Aboriginal people become leaders.

Tell us about your role

My role at the Foundation is about continuing to build strong partnerships with both the government and the private sector which enable us to operate each year. Roughly half of our operating costs are funded by government and the Foundation needs to raise the rest each year from corporate and philanthropic organisations. It has to be about more than just funds. Clearly, we need the money to run the programs but in turn our partners get to engage with the programs and the students to provide a deeper experience and greater opportunities along the way. More partnerships will also allow us to open new programs and reach more students each year.

Tell us about the impact of the Foundation

Education is the key to breaking the cycle of disadvantage and create generational change. The Programs are helping achieve this. There is still a significant gap in the levels of school achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. On average 95% of students in our program complete Year 12 compared to the national average of 68% for Indigenous students. By comparison 86% of non-Indigenous students complete Year 12.  In WA 75% of year 12 students in the program also attain their certificate of education compared to 43% of all Indigenous students. Generally, after Year 12, 25% of our graduates go to University, 25% go into some other form of further education and training and 25% go directly into employment.

For many of our students it’s about being able to show them what they can be, making them aware of the opportunities that are available to them and helping them have the self-belief to set the bar high and follow their dream. When surveyed earlier this year, more than 90% of graduates surveyed agreed that the program led them to more aspirational post school pathways.

How can organisations get involved?

There are a number of ways that organisations can get involved from making simple donations to the Foundation, being part of our careers forum, to becoming a full partner of one of our programs. Just get in touch at james.finlayson@pff.com.au. There is no one size fits all as each partnership is unique depending on what you want to achieve.