Grantees at Fifth Annual Funding Event

ADM awards $60,000 to 15 women leading innovative ministries and gospel-shaped initiatives at its fifth Annual Funding Event.

– 14 Sept 2020 

The 2020 Annual Funding Event was held online, with all 15 women pitching to a panel of 3 people and watched by a supportive community of those connected with ADM.

Penny Wilkinson, the founder and CEO of The Overcomers Place, has established a connected community, linked with a local church, for those seeking to overcome addiction.  She was seeking funding to pay a counsellor to run daily therapy groups.

Igraine Lim and Erica Dodd have created The 139 Collective, born of their own experiences with their children, to provide community and support for parents of children with disabilities or special needs. They were seeking funding to help develop a website and resources for the Collective.

Grace Lung is the founder of Asians Between Cultures, which assists churches in understanding different cultures and increasing their own ethnic and racial competency through training. She was seeking funding to assist in the development of the online platform for delivering the training.

All three of these ministries were awarded funds at ADM’s fifth Annual Funding Event.

Each year, Anglican Deaconess Ministries (ADM) welcomes pitches from Christian women around Australia for grants for gospel-shaped initiatives and ministries at all stages.

“ADM chooses to fund this work because we believe in the transformative power of Christian women serving with all that God has given them. ”

— Stephanie Dunk, Acting CEO of ADM

Pitching by stage – ‘Growing Ministry’, ‘Growing Initiative’ and ‘Established Ministry or Initiative’ – those selected to present on the day must also show their alignment with ADM’s strategic funding priorities of Form, Engage and Do which seek to raise up women with theological formation for practical and public engagement.

ADM’s 2020 Annual Funding Event awarded seven major grantees with full or part of their funding ask and a further eight were able to secure $1000 for growing and established initiatives.   

Acting CEO of Anglican Deaconess Ministries, Stephanie Dunk, said, “ADM chooses to fund this work because we believe in the transformative power of Christian women serving with all that God has given them. This is transformative for the individual as she grows into the likeness of Christ and transformative for the world. Every woman pitching at the Annual Funding Event has identified a need that they’re seeking to address through what they’ve created.”

In addition to Grace Lung, Igraine Lim and Erica Dodd and Penny Wilkinson, funding was also awarded to Jo Gibbs, Maia Hadley, Tase Julie Baleu and Julie Somerville who were awarded grants in their respective categories.

Jo Gibbs pitches for her ministry ‘The Growing Women Initiative’ that seeks to train women in biblical literacy, biblical interpretation, Christian ethics, apologetics and to nurture their gifts in a format they can easily access.

Stephanie Dunk, ADM’s acting CEO, was part of a small socially distanced team who were the only ones present at the ADM offices during the event - a very different one to previous Funding Events that ADM has hosted.

Tase Julie Baleu secured $10,315 to complete certificate level training and translate and develop culturally-appropriate training materials in Sexual and Reproductive Health for communities in remote areas of Papua New Guinea.

Jo Gibbs secured funding to train women in biblical literacy and interpretation in an accessible format. Maia Hadley was awarded funds to hire a female producer for her podcast that seeks to give voice to the experience of Australian Christian women.

Funding was awarded to Tase Julie Baleu so she can complete training and provide evidence-based health training to communities and churches in remote Papua New Guinea. Julie Somerville secured funding to scale a free legal chatbot that guides those who have suffered trauma through an otherwise complex claims process.

“Throughout ADM’s 129-year history, the deaconesses have been innovators,” Stephanie said. “They set up homes for children and adolescents in need, provided training for women without education so they could find employment, and established theological training.” 

This year, due to the coronavirus, the pitches and event took place completely online. All 15 pitch videos are available to watch on the ADM website.

ADM Annual Funding Event major grantees

Growing Ministry

Grace Lung pitched in the Growing Ministry category, securing $4,710 to establish Asians Between Cultures, an online training platform that will seek to develop cultural intelligence and increase ethnic and racial competency across faith communities.

Grace studied at Sydney Missionary Bible College and Fuller Theological Seminary. She now serves as pastor for the second generation in a Chinese migrant church. Her writing has appeared on the SOLA network and Gospel Coalition Australia. 

Jo Gibbs secured $2,790 for promotional materials for The Growing Women Initiative, a ministry seeking to train women in biblical literacy, biblical interpretation, Christian ethics, apologetics and to nurture their gifts in a format they can easily access.

Jo is the Care and Assistant Discipleship Minister at St Paul’s Castle Hill. She leads The Growing Women Initiative, a regional project that spans Anglican churches in north-west Sydney, which aims to equip women to faithfully share God’s word wherever they are.

 Growing Initiative

Igraine Lim and Erica Dodd (pictured) secured $5000 in the Growing Initiative pitching category, to promote The 139 Collective and develop a web platform that enables Christian families who have children with disabilities or special needs to connect with one another and share their experiences. 

Igraine and Erica founded The 139 Collective, a support network and online community that aims to help parents network and draw on shared experience and wisdom to help pray and advocate for one another and be better served by the church as a whole.

 Maia Hadley secured $2500, which she will use to hire a female producer(s) for her podcast, A Woman’s Worth, which seeks to tell the stories of Australian Christian women across ages, cultures, experiences and denominations and tackle big questions some face. 

Maia is a researcher and producer who worked as senior producer on the Public Centre for Christianity’s recent documentary For the Love of God.

Established Ministry or Initiative

Penny Wilkinson was awarded $15,000 under the Established Ministry or Initiative pitching category, to hire an experienced counsellor to run daily therapy groups for individuals struggling with addiction and their family members, as part of The Overcomers Place. The program teaches effective connections so new neural pathways can be build, promoting sustainable recovery in overcoming additions in a safe environment that acknowledges the role of the Holy Spirit.

Penny is founder and CEO of The Overcomers Place (TOP), which breaks the cycle of addiction in families by providing accessible non-residential treatment. The specialised group therapy program includes spiritual, abstinence and accountability aspects and promotes long-term recovery so individuals can overcome all addictions.

Tase Julie Baleu secured $10,315 to complete certificate level training and translate and develop culturally-appropriate training materials in Sexual and Reproductive Health for communities in remote areas of Papua New Guinea. Tase has used evidence-based Maternal and Child Health training programs for key church and health leaders in the area. 

Tase Julie is a Perth-based Papua New Guinean nurse who serves with Living Child, a grassroots organisation dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies in remote villages of Papuea New Guinea using evidence-based training programs.

Julie Somerville secured $9,685 to scale and provide as a free service Andie, a chatbot that guides individuals who have suffered a trauma through a trauma-informed conversation, mapping out what they should expect when making a claim and automatically generating the documents they need to make a claim within 25 minutes. 

Julie is a lawyer with over 25’ years experience resolving common law claims, in particular professional indemnity, medical negligence, public liability, intentional torts and institutional abuse claims. With her chat bot Andie Assist, she aims to streamline the claims process and reduce the trauma associated with making claims.

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