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

CONTACT US  |

TERMS & CONDITIONS  |

PRIVACY NOTICE

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.

At the Heart Foundation, 

we believe in a future free of heart disease. 

For over 60 years, we have been the trusted peak body working towards a future free of coronary heart disease, Australia’s number one killer.

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

At the Heart Foundation, 

we believe in a future free from heart disease. 

Right now, almost 13 million Australian adults have three or more risk factors for heart disease. Our work is purpose driven, focused on stopping Australia’s number one killer: heart disease, taking 51 lives every day.

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:

• took several steps to protect our organisation from the impacts of the restrictions imposed as part of the national COVID-19 response, including a reprioritisation of activities, a three- month reduction to employee working hours and accessing the first phase of the Jobkeeper allowance
• improved our level of bequest and non-bequest revenue however saw significant declines in grant revenues due to activity restrictions and declines in investment revenues as dividends were paused and interest rates dropped
• increased our committed level of expenditure on research as part of our increased allocation of funds over a three-year funding cycle
• refocused our communications and health awareness campaigns as necessary to highlight COVID-19 associated Cardiovascular risks
• managed our overall expenditure within the limits of our April reforecast which was based on the COVID-19 restrictions.

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.

At the Heart Foundation, 

we believe in a future free of heart disease. 

For over 60 years, we have been the trusted peak body working towards a future free of coronary heart disease, Australia’s number one killer.

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.

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.

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  

The Heart Foundation continues its journey to save Australian hearts   

- 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