One idea.
The key to a community on the move.
Applications are now closed.
Stay tuned for next year's challenge. Dates to be announced shortly!
The Challenge
Got an idea to inspire your community to get moving? Share it with us!
We encourage entries from schools, tertiary institutions, councils and community groups as well as culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Come up with a new project, partnership, product or process to make a difference.
Create an idea to meet the needs of your chosen community and make it easier for people to exercise.
Application process
Applications have now closed. The dates for the 2020 Active Australia Innovation Challenge will be announced shortly.
Stay tuned!
Supported by the Australian Government
NATIONAL HEART FOUNDATION OF AUSTRALIA ABN 98 008 419 761
For heart health information and support, visit heartfoundation.org.au
Have an idea to get your community active?
Our One Heart Achievements
The Heart Foundation has up to ten $10,000 grants for new, innovative programs that get more people moving in schools, universities or local community groups.
Applications are now open and close on May 26.
Our work is purpose driven, focused on stopping Australia’s number one killer: coronary heart disease, which takes the lives of more Australians every year than any other disease.
Since 1959, we have invested over $670 million (in today’s dollars) into life-saving research projects. We continued to provide easy-to-understand information and resources for those impacted by heart disease; advocating to government for increased heart health funding; raising awareness of heart disease through our campaigns; and supporting health professionals.
WALKING
80,209
more people registered for the Heart Foundation Walking program.
WARNING SIGNS
200,000
more people aware of the warning signs of a heart attack.
HEART HEALTH CHECKS
155,000
increase in the number of Heart Health Checks.
DONATIONS
$10.1 m
increase in donated funds
RESEARCH
$54.7m
funded for heart health research.
This year was unlike any other.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented enormous challenges for health charities globally, and the Heart Foundation was not immune. We responded with a greater focus on supporting some of the most vulnerable Australians: those living with heart disease. In April, we launched our COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease (CVD) awareness campaign, which delivered credible and clear information on the heightened risk of COVID-19 for people living with CVD.
We also contributed to a range of position statements and expert committees for health professionals on managing heart disease through the pandemic.
Our Strategy
Financials
The Heart Foundation reports a surplus of $221,000 in 2020 despite the impact to operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This result was ahead of planned expectations noting that in 2020 we:
Although the fundraising environment was very competitive, our Board remain satisfied with our cost-to-income ratio for our fundraising activities while continually challenging management to rigorously and strategically manage our resources to produce sustainable outcomes.
The Heart Foundation has a solid platform to support an increased commitment to health programs and research into the future, underpinned by our new Connecting Hearts Strategy 2021-2023.
Thank you
As Australia’s largest non-government funder of heart disease research, we rely greatly on donations from our many supporters. Donations from everyday Australians make up 80 per cent of our funding.
We are grateful for the help of our supporters, donors, fundraisers, volunteers, ambassadors, corporate, government, and non-government partners who share our vision and enable us to continue the work we do.
We also recognise the efforts and dedication of the healthcare community: surgeons, medical specialists, general practitioners, nurses, Aboriginal healthcare workers, and others. Their efforts to save and improve the lives of those living with heart disease inspire us all.
Leading the fight to save Australian hearts
GUIDELINES
64%
of GP's and 41% of practice nurses use the Heart Foundation guidelines
Our work is purpose driven, focused on stopping Australia’s number one killer: coronary heart disease, which takes the lives of more Australians every year than any other disease.
Since 1959, we have invested over $670 million (in today’s dollars) into life-saving research projects. We continued to provide easy-to-understand information and resources for those impacted by heart disease; advocating to government for increased heart health funding; raising awareness of heart disease through our campaigns; and supporting health professionals.
2020
ANNUAL REVIEW
2020
Annual Review
Continuing our fight to save Australian hearts.
Continuing our fight to save Australian hearts
WALKING
80,209
more people registered for the Heart Foundation Walking Program
HEART HEALTH CHECKS
155,000
increase in the number of Heart Health Checks.
WARNING SIGNS
200,000
more people aware of the warning signs of a heart attack.
RESEARCH
$16.4m
funded for heart disease research.
GUIDELINES
64%
of GP's and 41% of practice nurses use the Heart Foundation guidelines
DONATIONS
$10.1 m
increase in donated funds
Celebrating 60 years of saving Australian hearts
Improving the way we connect
The 2020 bushfires and the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic presented significant challenges, which led to a change in strategy to ensure our communications highlighted the increased health risks for people with CVD.
We also helped Australians to discover more about heart-healthy cooking, shone the spotlight on lifesaving research, and provided visitors to the Heart Foundation website with a new personalised experience.
Hand on Heart
In early October we launched our first-ever integrated brand campaign, Hand on Heart, which draws on the power of life-saving research to inspire Australians to support our mission: an Australia free of heart disease.
Heart Foundation Website Re-launch
The Heart Foundation website is the go-to destination for heart health information for all Australians and health professionals. In April 2020, we re-launched our website to offer users a far richer experience.
WALKING
48,129
more people registered for the Heart Foundation Walking program.
Click on the boxes to learn more
COVID-19 and CVD
In April we launched our COVID-19 and CVD awareness campaign, once again partnering with News Corp Australia to deliver content across newspapers, television, digital, social media and radio.
Cook with Heart
This year, in a first for the Heart Foundation, we partnered with Coles to launch the Cook with Heart challenge. The campaign featured healthy eating messages and challenged participants to create delicious heart-healthy recipes while raising funds to support heart research.
There is much to be proud of when we look back on the achievements of the One Heart strategy, including investing $54.7 million into heart health research; implementing high profile awareness campaigns; securing the introduction of a Medicare-funded Heart Health Check; launching our Heart Age Calculator; releasing updated dietary guidelines; unifying our organisation; unveiling our My Heart, My Life patient support program; and much more.
There is much to be proud of when we look back on the achievements of the One Heart strategy, including investing $54.7 million into heart health research; implementing high profile awareness campaigns; securing the introduction of a Medicare-funded Heart Health Check; launching our Heart Age Calculator; releasing updated dietary guidelines; unifying our organisation; unveiling our My Heart, My Life patient support program; and much more.
COVID-19 and CVD
- John G Kelly, Group CEO
This year was unlike any other.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented enormous challenges for health charities globally, and the Heart Foundation was not immune. We responded with a greater focus on supporting some of the most vulnerable Australians: those living with heart disease. In April, we launched our COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease (CVD) awareness campaign, which delivered credible and clear information on the heightened risk of COVID-19 for people living with CVD.
We also contributed to a range of position statements and expert committees for health professionals on managing heart disease through the pandemic.
Our One Heart Achievements
Click on the boxes to learn more
The 2020 bushfires and the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic presented significant challenges, which led to a change in strategy to ensure our communications highlighted the increased health risks for people with CVD.
We also helped Australians to discover more about heart-healthy cooking, shone the spotlight on lifesaving research, and provided visitors to the Heart Foundation website with a new personalised experience.
Improving the way we connect