CERES Community Rallies
Fundraising campaign exceeds expectations
By Henry Fowkes
CERES has experienced an extraordinary outpouring of community support following its recent fundraising campaign. CEO Cinnamon Evans said the remarkable result has provided the organisation with crucial breathing room during a challenging time.
"We launched the fundraiser because we were struggling with our cash position, and we've been absolutely overwhelmed by the response from the wider community to our call for help," Cinnamon said.
The campaign's success has been remarkable. What began with an initial target of $150,000 quickly snowballed after media coverage, including an article in The Age during the king's birthday long weekend. The response was immediate and overwhelming.
"About 2,000 people have donated anything from $5 to $5,000 plus, which is just extraordinary," Cinnamon said. "What's been even more amazing is the messages we've received with the donations – more than 300 people have written the most beautiful messages about how much they love CERES."
Private donors and the Inner North Community Foundation then stepped forward with matched funding, allowing public donations to be doubled and pushing the total beyond the second target of $275,000, with final fundraising reaching just over $300,000.
"This has been an absolute vote of confidence from the community in CERES and the work of the organisation and what it means to the people of Melbourne," Cinnamon said.
However, she remains realistic about the challenges ahead. The funds provide essential time to redesign CERES' business model in response to economic pressures, where cost-of-living struggles have impacted enterprise trade and competition for not-for-profit funding remains fierce.
"What this has done for us is give us more time to work out how to run a business in a new economic context," she explained. The organisation must now focus on sustaining the costs of keeping Joe's Garden open to the community free of charge every day of the year while generating sufficient revenue to cover operational expenses.
With characteristic honesty, Cinnamon acknowledged the road ahead: "While I am celebrating that we've stepped back from the edge of the cliff, we still have to work out how to jump the ravine."
Cinnamon is a graduate of Groupwork Centre, whose leadership approach has been deeply shaped by her early work with Groupwork co-founder Glen Ochre. "Groupwork has been such a big part of my leadership journey and the skills that I bring in my everyday work in every situation. And I'm so thrilled to have Groupwork Centre now having their home at CERES and that we're continuing that collaboration and strengthening each other's work."
Support CERES' ongoing work by contributing to the fundraising campaign here.