Ganbina is unique in Australia in that it engages with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people throughout their crucial development years, from primary school through to secondary school, to tertiary or jobs training and into sustainable employment and career paths.

This holistic approach ensures that our children and youth receive consistent and long-term support from the age of 5-25 years old. Our support ends at 25 years old because this marks the end of adolescence and the completion of the education, employment and training life cycle each Australian child goes through.

Most importantly, Ganbina has one single purpose in mind – to help our children and young people realise their full potential – and we never waiver from that purpose. Everything we do, from our strategic planning, to our program development, to our day-to-day activities, is aligned to that purpose.

While we 100 per cent believe in what we do and our approach, we ensure to continuously evaluate the results and impact of our program by regularly commissioning independent, third-party evaluation reports. In fact, a 2018 study by the Centre for Independent Studies found that Ganbina was one of only three Aboriginal programs that were conducting high quality evaluation out of 1082 Indigenous programs reviewed.

High-quality and regular evaluation has allowed us to understand what is and is not working in our program. If need be, we have refined and adjusted our program over more than 25 years to reach the point where we now have the most successful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school-to-work-transition program in the country.

You can read our evaluations in full here.

Programs targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities typically lack long-term, stable support due to changing government priorities. The cyclical nature of funding tied to election cycles often disrupts continuity, making it harder to achieve sustained impact. This inconsistency can worsen intergenerational disadvantage, especially when programs lose momentum or abruptly end.

Ganbina’s Jobs4U2 program is committed to long-term, sustainable change by focusing on education and career development for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. By investing in two generations over a 50-year period, the initiative aims to break the cycle of disadvantage by creating a cultural shift where completing Year 12 and pursuing further education or careers becomes the norm. This approach not only addresses immediate needs but also fosters a generational impact, ensuring lasting change for future communities.

The program was founded in Shepparton, which is home to the largest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in Victoria outside of metropolitan Melbourne. It is estimated that one in 10 Shepparton residents are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

From the late 1990s until the early 2000s when Ganbina was founded, it was estimated that 8 in 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Shepparton were unemployed. Therefore there was a great community need for a program like this.

Ganbina then made a 50-year commitment to the Shepparton Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, which we are still in the process of fulfilling to this day.

However, once we realised the program was successful, we knew we did not want to keep this model to ourselves. Instead, we wish to share our model with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that can benefit from our model for their own children and young people.

In 2018 we started an Expansion Program in Queensland and aim to have several Jobs4U2 models operating across the country. You can read more about our Expansion Project here.

Our annual budget varies from year to year, however most years the budget required to run the Jobs4U2 program in full is $2.1-$2.3 million per year. You can read more about our financials in our annual reports.

We typically do have a funding shortfall every year, which must be filled by donations from philanthropic foundations, trusts, corporate and individual donations.

You can find out more information about how to make a donation to Ganbina here.

Research shows that education is critical for overcoming intergenerational disadvantage in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Studies indicate that disparities in educational attainment are one of the largest factors contributing to long-term inequality in areas like employment, health, and social inclusion. Addressing these gaps through education not only empowers individuals but also helps break the cycle of disadvantage by improving outcomes across generations: Source The Centre for Independent Studies SNAICC – National Voice for our Children.

Every young person that we work with is on their own individual journey. We are there to support them and encourage them, but in no way rush them into something that they are not prepared for.

While employment is a key indicator of our success, the young people who go into employment through our program go there because they want to be there, not because they have been forced there. Ganbina makes sure our participants are both motivated and work ready.

We set KPIs that are higher than most similar national and state programs in this field because we are committed to breaking the cycle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander socio-economic disadvantage. We have given ourselves two generations to complete this goal, therefore we need to set high KPIs and ensure our program is working so we can be out of business by 2047.

Yes. The majority of our operations staff (>90%) are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Our current CEO and executive management team are Aboriginal  and Torres Strait Islander people. Our board is approximately 50% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and 50% non-Indigenous.

The exact number of participants range every year, but on average we support 350-400 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people ever year.

We commit to regular independent evaluation of the impact of our program. We have previously engaged PwC, Social Ventures Australia (SVA), The University of Swinburne and The Centre of Social Impact to conduct our evaluation.

It is important to use that we use a third, independent party to rigorously and thoroughly evaluate our program so we can understand what is working and make changes or amendments if needed.

Our most recent evaluation was conducted in 2022 and previous evaluations were conducted in 2020, 2016, 2015, 2012 and 2009.

You can read all of our evaluations here.

We are independent of government funding, therefore we rely predominately on the financial support of our partners. The Jobs4U2 program has several elements that require annual funding in order to operate. For example, funds for the scholarship program, driving lessons for our driver’s program, interstate and international trips for our Youth Leadership Program, tutors for our Accelerated Learning Program, full-time salaries for our Project Officers who mentor our participants one-on-one, as well as necessary administration costs etc.

We need to raise our budget every year so we can fulfil our program in full to every participant who wants our support.

Absolutely. Many of our partners not only provide financial support, but also serve as mentors and offer their insights, skills and opportunities for our participants. We have had law firms provide us with pro-bono legal services, our corporate partners offer industry tours and internship opportunities for our youth and many other non-financial means of support.