About Us

SchoolAid is a national schools-based philanthropy network empowering kids to help kids in crisis.  Our purpose is to promote a world where Australian children live the values of care and compassion and so develop a lifelong sense of moral and social responsibility.

SchoolAid enables and empowers primary school kids to make a tangible difference to the lives of other children - kids helping kids - through commitment and action. By participating in our programs, kids learn a sense of personal and social responsibility about the needs of others, and how the power of their actions can truly make a difference.

SchoolAid arms Primary school teachers with a full suite of learning and activity resources to readily engage students in active philanthropy, whilst reinforcing the values-learning benefits associated with their students' fundraising activities.

Since SchoolAid was founded in 1999, over $3.5million has been raised by school students across Australia and distributed to child-focused programs from Victoria to Banda Aceh, from Katherine to Cambodia.

I congratulate school children involved in SchoolAid across Australia for the support and care they have shown their peers. Schools are such an important part of the fabric of our community and the welfare of our children.

~ Julia Gillard, Prime Minister

Our Impact

SchoolAid achieves its mission via two platforms: 'in-reach' and outreach.  In-reach, as we call it, is the empowerment of children to reach into their hearts and minds to create change, transforming their compassion and concern for their peers into action.  We galvanise principals and teachers and mobilise children into action via their support of our emergency appeals, and other campaigns aimed at improving the lives of disadvantaged kids. We provide teachers with educational resources so their fundraising and philanthropic activity is aligned to the curriculum, and has relevance as a key part of values education in schools. We empower kids to see and feel how they can make a difference in their world. This in-reach component of our program activity builds resilience in our school children, fosters a sense of hope, a sense of gratitude for what they have, and establishes a life-long personal social responsibility and commitment to philanthropy and giving.

SchoolAid currently has over 3,800 schools actively engaged in its programs across Australia, reaching approximately 1.8 million school students and educators.

The second platform is outreach - the philanthropic arm of our work that children entrust us with. Once schools raise funds for our appeals or campaigns, they send their funds to SchoolAid, we aggregate these funds from all the participating schools across Australia and hold the funds in trust until we have conducted our due diligence and research as to where SchoolAid should best direct the funds. This process culminates in SchoolAid idneitfying the most appropriate organisations and groups/schools to receive grants/funding from the collective pool raised by schools.

To date, SchoolAid has granted close to $4 million to projects both in Australia and abroad, rebuilding children's lives and improving education outcomes. $2 million of these funds have been granted in just the last two years, demonstrating the enormous growth and impact of our programs.

Our Partnerships

SchoolAid has full support of peak education bodies, the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA), Principals Australia (PA), Australian Secondary Principals Association (ASPA), and various state and territory Education Departments.   We also have a suite of corporate and philanthropic partners supporting our work, either through specific programs or through investing in SchoolAid's overall growth and operations.

We provide our corporate partners with a conduit for their Corporate Social Responsibility activities through the primary school network and all of its related stakeholder groups. By partnering with SchoolAid, corporates contribute to the lasting legacy of moral and social responsibility in our children.

SchoolAid draws upon strong relationships with an extensive network of "education advocates" - including principal, parent and teacher associations along with reputable NGOs to implement projects in areas where there are children in need. We recognise that these organisations have the best people on the ground, ready to effectively allocate funds towards the most pressing needs for affected children in emergency situations.

For more information about our partnerships, please visit our Partners page.