Start with your purpose, not the funding: lessons from the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

For the team at the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, moments like this are the whole point.

Founded in 2004 by Stephanie Alexander AO, the foundation has spent more than two decades advocating for the health and wellbeing of Australian children and young people, through food education that is hands-on, inclusive and genuinely fun. Its globally recognised Kitchen Garden Program now runs in over 1000 schools and early childhood services nationwide, supported by educators on the ground, while its community initiatives work with local partners to drive lasting change through fresh, delicious and accessible food.

The team at the foundation have been Funding Centre subscribers for more than a decade, using the platform to identify opportunities, track funding rounds, understand funder priorities and plan applications well before deadlines land. We spoke with the foundation’s CEO, Rob Rees MBE, about grantseeking, where AI is saving the team time, and why the biggest risk in chasing funding is losing sight of your mission.

Tell us about a recent moment that reminded you why your work matters.

A recent moment that stands out was visiting a school where students were preparing and sharing a meal they had grown themselves in the kitchen garden. Watching young people confidently harvest produce, cook together, and proudly explain what they had learned about food, health, sustainability and teamwork was a powerful reminder of why this work matters.

At the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to develop a positive relationship with food. Seeing those moments of joy, confidence and connection reminds us that we're not just teaching cooking and gardening. We're helping shape healthier, happier and more engaged young people.

How do you currently use the Funding Centre?

The Funding Centre is embedded within our fundraising workflow. Our team uses it to identify relevant grant opportunities, track funding rounds, understand funder priorities and support strategic planning for upcoming applications.

The breadth of opportunities available through the platform helps us balance immediate funding opportunities with longer-term partnership development. It has become an important tool in ensuring we are proactive rather than reactive in our grantseeking.

What does your grantseeking look like across a typical year and where do you focus your applications?

Our team submits a range of grant applications each year across government, philanthropic and corporate funding streams. While the exact numbers vary, we have been successful in securing several significant grants and partnerships over the past 12 months that support program delivery, innovation and expansion into new communities.

What do you think has contributed most to that success, and what did this funding go towards?

Success in grantseeking is rarely one factor. It's about combining a clear mission, strong relationships, high-quality data and evaluation, authentic lived experience voices and a willingness to listen and co-design solutions with communities.
More recently, we've also embraced technology and AI tools to help improve efficiency in research, analysis and drafting, allowing our team to spend more time focusing on strategy, impact and stakeholder engagement.

The funding we've secured supports a broad range of initiatives, including delivering kitchen garden programs in schools and early childhood settings, developing new educational resources, expanding our reach beyond the school gate, and building evidence of impact to strengthen outcomes for children and young people.

If you could give one piece of advice to other grassroots organisations looking for funding, what would it be?

Start with your purpose, not the funding opportunity. Don't mission-creep for the funding!

The strongest applications clearly articulate the problem they're trying to solve, the impact they're creating, and why they are uniquely positioned to achieve it. Funder priorities will evolve over time, but organisations that remain authentic to their mission while clearly demonstrating outcomes are more likely to build lasting support.
And don't underestimate the value of relationships. Many funding opportunities begin with a conversation.

What are your biggest concerns about the grantseeking landscape in 2026?

Many not-for-profits are facing increasing demand for services while simultaneously navigating a highly competitive funding environment.

There is also growing pressure to demonstrate impact with limited resources. While accountability is important, smaller organisations can find themselves spending significant time pursuing and reporting on funding rather than delivering on their mission.

More broadly, long-term challenges require long-term solutions, and there is often a mismatch between short funding cycles and the sustained investment needed to create meaningful systems of change.

Ultimately, we feel the government should be doing a better job of supporting organisations in the preventative health space. It shouldn't have to be the role of philanthropy to fill the gap in funding for core disease prevention.

What's coming up for Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation?

The foundation is currently focused on expanding access to quality food education across Australia, with particular interest in place-based approaches that bring together schools, early childhood services, community organisations and local partners. We are seeing our work have an impact beyond the school gate. We will be targeting lower socio-economic groups and wider diversity in our reach, as well as creating, with partners, new purpose-designed excursion models.

As always, our goal is simple but ambitious: to help every child develop the skills, confidence and curiosity to grow, cook, share and enjoy fresh, seasonal food for life.