Bupa offers community grants in Australia and New Zealand

Bupa will provide more than $260,000 in funding to 28 community organisations across Australia and New Zealand as part of the Bupa Foundation Community Grants Program.

The funding aims to help support improved mental health and environmental sustainability. As part of the grants program, which has been running since 2019, Bupa's people nominated community organisations to support.

Australian recipients of the latest Bupa Foundation Community Grant

• Frontline Yoga: National yoga program for first responders, emergency services, and military veterans;
• Upper Goulburn Landcare Network: Connects rural and urban communities through education and collaboration, leading to positive environmental and regeneration outcomes;
• Cancer Patients Foundation: Look Good Feel Better is a community service program that aims to teach cancer patients how to manage appearance and the emotional and physical side effects caused by cancer treatment;
• Stonnington Toy Library: Supporting families experiencing hardship through an outreach program that connects communities through access to quality play materials;
• SiLVR Adventures & Bupa Baulkham Hills: Helps improve the lives of older adults through running meaningful and shared experiences in virtual reality that stimulate memories, drive social engagement, and bring joy;
• Pinnaroo Fitness Health and Wellness: The HEAL-ing program (Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyle for mental health) aims to support and educate teenagers on responding to influences that can affect their physical and mental health;
• Are You Bogged Mate?: A project that aims to upskill AYBM staff in becoming culturally aware of First Nations people;
• The Man Cave Global: The project aims to deliver 230 workshops in NSW secondary schools in 2023, positively impacting more than 8,000 teenage boys aged 12 to 16 by recruiting and training the next wave of Man Cave facilitators in the state;
• Wellsprings for Women: Will use the grant to update its English literacy booklet used to aid level 1 classes in Dandenong and Casey, Victoria;
• Borderline Australia: A youth mental health charity focusing on smashing down the walls when it comes to the stigma around youth mental health;
• The Venny: The Venny To You is a pop-up play experience for children on-site at the Public Housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne;
• Lung Foundation Australia: The project aims to deliver digital access to video resources providing information and support for mental health issues resulting from living with lung cancer;
• Koala Clancy Foundation: The project aims to save koalas from extinction by creating new habitats;
• Ocean Mind: A charity that provides therapeutic surf programs for young people experiencing mental health challenges, social isolation, and disabilities;
• South Adelaide Volleyball Club: The club will use the grant to train coaches and administrators to help manage player concerns and increase mental health awareness;
• Batyr Australia: The project aims to support young people in the Northern Rivers with disaster recovery through batyr@school preventative mental health programs and the sharing of lived-experience stories;
• Amputee Golf Victoria: It aims to build healthy minds through community, sport, and social interaction in the form of an annual state championship for amputee golfers in the state;
• Achilles Melbourne Incorporated: It will use the grant to undertake four excursions to Victorian regional areas to build the confidence of athletes who are blind or have a disability;
• Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundation: It will use the funding to set up an activity day to be run in the Moreton Bay area in early 2023 to support young people through an intervention program designed by clinicians; and
• Baptcare Orana Home Care: It aims to help seniors who are less mobile than they once were to be more active and feel supported in their community.

Creating a healthier world

Roger Sharp, chief sustainability and corporate affairs officer at Bupa Asia-Pacific, said encouraging the Bupa team to be active in the community is essential in delivering the foundation's mission to unite the company's people, customers, and community in creating a healthier world.

“While the Bupa Foundation has partnerships with large established charities such as UNICEF Australia, Kids Helpline, Conservation Volunteers Australia, and Trees that Count New Zealand, we know local grass-roots organisations play a unique and important role in supporting people and their communities with their mental and physical health and achieving better environmental outcomes,” Sharp said. “We want our people to be active in the community and advocate for groups and causes they connect with, and I'm so pleased to award these funds to such a diverse group of recipients that are making a real impact in their local areas.”

Bupa is one of  Australia's top 10 private health insurance providers in 2022. It supports more than 6.5 million customers in Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong SAR through a broad range of health and care services, including health insurance, aged care, dental, optical, medical, hearing, and medical visa services.