IMPACT100 FREMANTLE HAS CLOSED ITS DOORS

Raising and distributing $1,213,000 to charities and projects in our city since 2013, Impact100 Fremantle has made an enormous contribution to our Fremantle community in so many special and often enduring ways. It has brought Freo people together, shone a light on vital, crucial services being delivered in our city and provided a “step-change” to any local charities when they have needed it.

It has been a challenging project every year; one that has asked a lot from our intrepid volunteer team!

After the team was reduced from 11 to only three people again after the 2024 campaign, we felt we needed to down tools for 2025 to explore ways to make this thing the best it can be.

We have found the solution, BUT, it is bitter-sweet news, as this evolution to a more durable and sustainable model means that Impact100Fremantle has run its course. 

We are so grateful to everyone for their support and contribution to this wonderful event each year, and we are SO PROUD of the impact we have collectively had. But the model has proved to be unsustainable for our little committee. 

We LOVE Fremantle. We want to see it thriving for generations to come. There is so much to love about this town, and so many stories, so much history that connects us all. This is a city that needs to be cherished, supported, and nurtured.

We have spent the past year adjusting our approach, to enable us to be more sustainable and durable, to find new ways to make our donors feel more connected and our charities really feel heard and represented, and to really ensure our Fremantle communities are supported where it matters most, for now and well into the future.

Impact100 Fremantle has always been run by a team of dedicated volunteers. Whilst the Fremantle Foundation (FF) has always provided the charitable vehicle for donations and granting for Impact100 Fremantle, it is the volunteer committee that has done all the grunt work. 

For those of you unfamiliar with FF, they are a Community Foundation founded in 2010 by ex-Freo Docker, Dylan Smith. Community Foundations (CFs) have been around since 1914; there are currently over 1,700 CFs across the globe, and around 50 in Australia currently, all operating with the same basic principle at heart - The pooling of community resources to create a sustainable, perpetual support base for the community(s) they represent. These resources are then distributed into the community to ensure that it can thrive.

They are Fremantle Foundation by name, but in reality, they support projects, charities and donors all across WA.

Anyone can open a Named Fund, be they an individual, family, business, or indeed – a community. 
Impact100 Fremantle was one of Fremantle Foundation’s Named Funds.

In 2025, Fremantle Foundation did not yet have a Named Fund that was governed by the Fremantle community, for the Fremantle community. A Fremantle Fund.

Midway through last year, Fremantle Foundation set up a Steering Committee to look at the creation of such a fund to support Fremantle. A durable, perpetual source of funding for those people and projects in need, forever.

As part of the evolution from Impact100 Fremantle, two longstanding Committee members, Michael Bresnahan (Bres to many) and Jack Busch joined the Steering Committee.

That steering Committee grew into a Fund Advisory Committee of 15 members, chaired by Sarah Booth (2024 Fremantle Community Citizen of the Year amongst many other things). All the members are passionately involved and committed to Fremantle and bring a very diverse range of skills and expertise.

Their work has now led to the creation of the Good Fund Freo, a Community Fund committed to supporting the Fremantle community, now and ongoing.

Good Fund Freo is designed to ‘fund the gaps’ by supporting local people and ideas that strengthen our community, especially where traditional grants don’t reach. 

Both the Fremantle Foundation and Good Fund Freo are very excited about the contribution the Good Fund Freo can make to Fremantle, and we are hoping you will be too.

Click here to learn more about Good Fund Freo.

Thankyou once again for your amazing generosity and support.
It’s been a beautiful thing.

Stu MacLeod & the Impact100 Fremantle Volunteer Committee