Strengthening
gender equality,
the climate transition,
and community building.

About

Backing bold ideas for two decades.

The Trawalla Foundation was established in 2004 as a vehicle for the philanthropic activities of Carol and Alan Schwartz.

The Trawalla Foundation works with exceptional individuals and organisations that have a vision for the future of Australia, focused particularly on strengthening gender equality in leadership, accelerating the climate transition and supporting community building within our society.

A core priority for the Trawalla Foundation is growing the critical mass of female leaders, especially in politics, media, policymaking and capital allocation. We’re firm believers that shared power and decision-making between men and women leads to better outcomes for all Australians.

Approach

Trawalla Foundation views philanthropy as a way to back ideas and leaders, and most importantly to act as risk capital. Philanthropic funding provides a unique opportunity to build and test new approaches for social change and to demonstrate what’s possible.

Our approach is:

  • To work with an entrepreneurial, collaborative and progressive mindset.
  • We aim to be bold and curious, and are willing to take intelligent risks alongside our partners.
  • We are action oriented and often adopt a range of levers beyond grants, including investments, expertise, networks and advocacy to deepen the impact of those we work with.

Our philanthropic approach is further explored in orations and articles included in the media section below.

Our Trawalla Foundation corpus investments are managed with a responsible investing lens, and we have invested a proportion of our corpus in social and environmental impact investments.

Giving

Trawalla Foundation grants

We fund a range of organisations that align with our investment values and approach.

Note: The Trawalla Foundation is a Private Ancillary Fund, which does not solicit funding requests from the public or have grant rounds.

Pathways to Politics for Women:
National and state/territory funding

WLIA Fellows

Stars Foundation

Shake It Up Australia Foundation

Toy Well Toy Libraries

Trawalla’s portfolio of
purpose-aligned initiatives

Beyond
Trawalla
Foundation

Carol and Alan Schwartz have established a range of purpose-aligned initiatives – spanning fully commercial ventures to not-for-profit organisations.

Focus on female leaders

Women’s Leadership Institute Australia

The Women’s Leadership Institute Australia (WLIA) is a not-for-profit organisation, founded by Carol Schwartz AO. We see politics, media, policymaking and capital allocation as pivotal engines for propelling gender equality forward. So, we focus on high-impact investments, strategic partnerships and groundbreaking research in these four influential spheres.

Pathways to Politics for Women

Pathways to Politics for Women is increasing the number of women in Australian politics by equipping women to boldly embrace their political ambitions, thrive as leaders and make a profound contribution to society. Through comprehensive practical training, workshops, mentoring and career-long support, we provide unparalleled expertise for women who are serious about driving change through political leadership.

Female-Led Venture Portfolio

The Female-Led Venture Portfolio, led by Carol Schwartz AO, Chenelle Tanglao and Sarah Buckley, invests in female fund managers and female founders for strong commercial returns. We invest in female fund managers, driving impact at scale. We invest directly in underrepresented female founders, tapping into a vast pool of untapped potential in female entrepreneurship.

Focus on the climate transition

Transition Accelerator

Founded by Alan Schwartz in 2024, the Transition Accelerator works with philanthropists, not-for-profits and investors to provide catalytic capital to fund climate solutions. By providing philanthropic grants, concessional debt, first-loss capital and concessional equity underwriting, we can unlock commercial funding for climate projects.

Native Plant Project

Native Plant Project shares the beauty of Australian native plants with gardeners and garden lovers everywhere – and encourage Australians to start their own project, large or small.

Austem

Australian flora is extraordinarily diverse, beautiful, hardy and drought resistant. Despite this, the overwhelming majority of flowers, plants and trees used in Australian homes, gardens and landscapes are “exotic” – that is, they are not native to Australia. Austem Foundation’s mission is to establish the rightful place of native flora in the Australian home, garden and landscape.

Chair & Chief Executive Officer

Carol Schwartz AO

Chair

Sarah Buckley

CEO