The Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation (QATSIF), chaired by Bond University Provost Keitha Dunstan, has been named the 2023 Philanthropic Foundation of the Year at the annual Queensland Community Foundation Philanthropy Awards.
Since its foundation in 2008, QATSIF has provided scholarships supporting over 16,300 Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to complete years 11 and 12.
“This award provides recognition of the achievements of QATSIF during the 14 years since its formation,” Professor Dunstan said.
“We hold responsibility for ensuring that the funds originating from the unpaid wages of generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people provide transformative support to the current and future generations of Queensland First Nations youth.”
QATSIF was created to close the gap on Year 12 retention rates for Australia’s First Nations students.
In Australia, currently only 65 percent of First Nations students complete Year 12, compared with 80.6 percent for all Queensland students. In 2022, 96 percent of QATSIF students who finished their program completed year 12.
QATSIF’s outstanding students have been named as Queensland's highest performing First Nations students for six out the past eight years; won three Queensland Music awards; have been named as the overall Queensland 7News Young Achiever for three of the past eight years; have won an AACTA award; compete in the state’s leading sports teams; and have received 26 of the 29 Peter Doherty Outstanding First Nations Senior STEM Students awards.
QATSIF’s Patron, Aunty Ruth Hegarty shared her pride in QATSIF students’ many achievements stating, “You are the generation who will lead us into a brighter tomorrow.
QATSIF is overseen by a Board of Advice that includes leading First Nations and non-Indigenous community leaders and staffed by four full-time and part-time staff who currently look after 3900 scholarships across 360 schools.
Professor Dunstan is a descendant of Mandandanji people of southwest Queensland and was the first in her family to attend university, graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce, a Master of Accounting, and a PhD in the field of Commerce.
Professor Dunstan is the Chair of the Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal, the Indigenous Advisory Group for CPA Australia, and a Board Member of the Gold Coast Waterways Authority.