Sometimes it’s easy to make a donation and move on. But what happens after you give? It’s a question worth sitting with — and at Meridian, it’s the story we want to tell more often.

Sixteen years of collective giving

Together, the Meridian community has now supported 46 charities and donated more than $1.39 million over 16 years. Founded in Perth in 2005, Meridian is a volunteer-led giving circle built on one belief: philanthropy should be accessible, powerful and built to last.

Behind those numbers are people — families, mothers, children, young adults and whole communities — and charities doing extraordinary things with the opportunities our community has helped create.

How the Giving Circle works

Each year, three carefully vetted charities take the stage and share their story. Then our donors vote to decide how $60,000 in grants is awarded — $30,000, $20,000 and $10,000. Every charity leaves with funding; every donor has a voice. It’s participatory philanthropy: you don’t just hear about incredible causes, you help decide where the money goes.

Impact, designed to echo

We measure success not by how much we give away in a single night, but by how far each gift reaches. Giving beyond our annual grants flows into the Oracle Fund — an ethically invested endowment designed to give in perpetuity, now grown beyond $850,000 — with an ambition to donate $1 million every year, forever.

What comes next

Over the coming months we’ll be sharing some of these stories — the charities, the people and the outcomes your giving has helped create. Not to ask you for anything. Simply to show you what’s possible when a community chooses to give together.

Because when giving becomes something we do with each other — not simply for others — the impact reaches much further than any one donation.

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