Our learning support and mentoring programs in 90 Australian communities directly help children in need achieve their goals through education.
View all programs Annual Impact Report 2023 24
Message from the Chairman and the CEO
In 2023–24, rising cost-of-living pressures deepened hardship for many Australian families, impacting children’s education. Disadvantaged students face worsening mental health, academic struggles, and shifting family attitudes. Despite teachers’ efforts, educational gaps persist, with nearly one in three students not meeting literacy and numeracy benchmarks.
The Smith Family expanded its reach, supporting 67,165 Learning for Life students, up from 62,822. We improved program effectiveness, providing self-service tools for families and refining support strategies. Data-sharing agreements with education departments in SA, WA, QLD, and TAS are enhancing targeted student support.
We invested in digital transformation, automation, and cybersecurity, launching a Security Operations Centre. Despite economic uncertainty, our fundraising remained resilient, with $144.6 million contributed. Strategic investments in operations, fundraising, and governance ensure sustainability.
Cultural initiatives strengthened our workplace, alongside a new DEI Strategy. We advanced child safety by reviewing safeguarding policies and amplifying children’s voices. Our Reconciliation Action Plan increased support for Indigenous students, now 25.2% of Learning for Life participants.
We are deeply grateful to our supporters, donors, partners, and team members for their dedication to helping children overcome educational disadvantage and build brighter futures.
Nicholas Moore AO, Chairman
Doug Taylor, Chief Executive Officer
The Smith Family expanded its reach, supporting 67,165 Learning for Life students, up from 62,822. We improved program effectiveness, providing self-service tools for families and refining support strategies. Data-sharing agreements with education departments in SA, WA, QLD, and TAS are enhancing targeted student support.
We invested in digital transformation, automation, and cybersecurity, launching a Security Operations Centre. Despite economic uncertainty, our fundraising remained resilient, with $144.6 million contributed. Strategic investments in operations, fundraising, and governance ensure sustainability.
Cultural initiatives strengthened our workplace, alongside a new DEI Strategy. We advanced child safety by reviewing safeguarding policies and amplifying children’s voices. Our Reconciliation Action Plan increased support for Indigenous students, now 25.2% of Learning for Life participants.
We are deeply grateful to our supporters, donors, partners, and team members for their dedication to helping children overcome educational disadvantage and build brighter futures.
Nicholas Moore AO, Chairman
Doug Taylor, Chief Executive Officer
Students in our Learning for Life program face complex and cumulative challenges:
All live in low-income families.
More than half live in a single-parent family.
Around one-third of students and a similar proportion of parents or carers have a disability or health issue.
About half have a parent or carer who didn’t finish Year 12 or equivalent.
Around three-quarters have a parent or carer who is not in paid employment.
30% of school-aged Learning for Life students do not have a laptop or tablet.
Compounding effects of disadvantage
The risk factors that can lead to educational disadvantage can begin in a child’s early years and continue throughout their school lives. This cycle shows that the contributors to disadvantage are complex, and without the right support at the right time the effects can be long term and intergenerational.
Impact in action
Amelia has the world at her feet thanks to you
Today Amelia has the world at her feet thanks to you.
Amelia had a happy childhood but money was always tight. “I grew up in public housing in regional Victoria with my single mum and twin sister,” she says. “I was very aware of the financial situation my family was in.”.
student2student helped Amelia develop her reading skills so that she can advance through her reading levels and excel at school.
Our five year strategy
We will deepen our impact and empower young Australians experiencing disadvantage to create a better future for themselves. To do this, we will use personalised, evidence-based practice, data and digital. We are committed to growing the number of Learning for Life scholarship recipients to 100,000 and expanding our programs to reach 250,000 children and young people.
Our goals to improve student outcomes measured by:
Attendance at school
Advancement through school from Year 10 to completion of Year 12 or equivalent
Tertiary completion
Engagement in study or work post-school
Our highlights from 2023-24
Deeper impact
- Strengthen impact in Learning for Life : We entered into data exchange agreements with the education departments of Tasmania, Western Australia and Queensland to give frontline team members access to vital real-time educational information on the students we help, enabling us to improve our support.
- Leverage digital and partners : We continued developing a tailored content strategy for engaging families we support.
- Expand digital inclusion: We delivered an additional 3,774 digital devices and 33,397 students and family members continue to be connected to the internet through the Optus Donate Your Data® initiative.
Broader reach
- Grow reach: 178,430 children and young people across Australia participated in our programs and 67,165 students in our Learning for Life program, up from 62,822 last year.
- Grow influence: We engaged students and young people in our longitudinal research, including through the Pathways, Engagement and Transitions project, which provided opportunities to enhance our program effectiveness and advocacy.
Strategic foundations
- Grow sustainable funding: By year-end, we had 67,282 active individual sponsors of students on Learning for Life and we exceeded fundraising targets through strong appeals and service, and through high-value donor, partner and customer relationship management.
- Empower our people: We began a Culture Initiative to review and enhance our organisational culture in support of our strategy goals.
- Be cyber secure and invest in digital, technology and data: 86% of Learning for Life families we support engaged with our My Smith Family portal and continue to enhance our supporter experience online.
Impact in action
Optus is powering Iesha's potential
“Before joining Donate Your Data®, I had limited access to the internet,” says Iesha. “Now I can go anywhere and use that data and not have to wait for the next month to come.”
Digital skills and reliable internet access are essentials in education. Without these, some young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are being left behind.
To help address the digital divide, one of the most powerful tools The Smith Family has is the Donate Your Data® initiative through our longstanding and much-valued partnership with Optus.
The initiative is making a real impact, with Learning for Life students like Iesha no longer having to worry about running out of data each month.
Our progress
220,627 participants reached
178,430
children and young people participated in our programs in 2023–24.
67,165
Learning for Life sponsorship recipients