GROWING demand for the services of not-for-profit organisation the EON Foundation has prompted it to lobby the private sector for investment.
The foundation focuses on improving the health and nutrition of indigenous communities mainly through two core programs - an edible garden program that teaches communities how to grow, prepare and cook fresh and healthy food; and a healthy homes campaign to prevent disease.
Founder Caroline de Mori told WA Business News EON had a substantial waiting list of communities wanting its services.
It is running programs in about 10 different communities in the Kimberley, with plans to extend its services into a further three this financial year, but needed more funding to expand.
As a result, EON has launched a campaign to raise $5 million over five years from the private sector; a plan that received the support of Chief Justice Wayne Martin at a launch function last week.
EON has mostly relied on staggered government funding allocated from different departments since the GFC put a dampener on private sector funding.
“But the government won’t fund it all, and that means we’ve got a lot of holes in our funding,” Ms de Mori said.
“Our biggest cost is our people; we have to pay people good money to operate in very, very difficult enviromnents; at times it’s very hot, it can be flooded or there are risks of bush fires - it’s extremely hard work.”
Running a program in one community costs about $300,000 over five years.
Ms de Mori suggested it was time bigger private customers put their hands in their pockets.
“We’ve never had investment from the bigger end of town, and it’s their turn to step up now,” she said.
Ms de Mori said companies should be looking at not only the social improvement aspect of investing in such a not-for-profit organisation, but also what it could mean for their companies.
“They could be investing in their future workforce; these indigenous people want to be there working and we should be using them instead of flying people in from the likes of Tasmania,” she said.
“But the fact is the health of these groups of people is so poor that by the age of 40 they’ll be too sick to come to work.”
EON has commissioned KPMG to carry out an analysis of its activities to prove to companies it was having positive impacts.