Katie Kelly
Monday, December 18, 2017

The SAF Chairperson's Report is now available

By
By
Katie Kelly OAM PLY
Founder

Sport Access Foundation was officially launched the day before Australia Day, January 25th 2017.

The Foundation’s primary purpose was defined as removing barriers and ensuring every opportunity for children with a disability to access sport.

The vision of the Foundation and its purpose were driven by my own personal experience living with a hearing loss as a young child – and later vision loss in my adult life – and knowing the power of sport to help grow your confidence, self-esteem and sense of belonging.

In the lead up to the Foundation’s launch, I had the incredible support and advice of several people who helped me navigate the demands outside of my training towards the Rio Paralympics. These were Matthew KellyRosemary McGrathBernadette Pilling, and Andrew Martin. They too had supported the idea of a Foundation, and I was very thankful when they all agreed to be involved as founding Directors of Sport Access Foundation. Later in the year we appointed and welcomed Martin Kelly as a Board Member.

We were also very grateful to secure the services and support of Adrian Perkins, partner of King & Wood Mallesons, as a Board Member. Adrian and his firm supported us with legal advice to set up the Foundation and register as a Company by Guarantee Limited, and continue to guide us as Legal Advisers. Later in the year, we secured the support of Roberts & Morrow as auditors, with Sam Notley, Managing Partner, providing his services to the Foundation.

Within the first day of launching, the Foundation received a significant donation from a supporter and mentor of mine, Mr Bill Moss, AO, Chairman of the FSHD Global Research Foundation which was also awarded the 2017 Australian Charity of the Year. I would personally like to acknowledge Mr. Moss’s incredible generosity to Sport Access Foundation.

From the beginning the Foundation have had the generous time and support of Mark Taggart, of Tagzart Design, to bring together our Sport Access Foundation logo, branding and website and social media platforms. Thank you also to Boomworks, a Sydney based multimedia agency, for their earlier work in conceptualising the Sport Access Foundation brand.

I am also thankful for the in-kind and good will support of my own sponsors who extended where possible their support to promote Sport Access Foundation. These were Magnetite (retrofit windows), Zoggs Australia and New ZealandHoka One OneHarvey Norman and Triathlon Australia.

As part of the Foundation’s launch we also distributed our first Sport Access Foundation eNewsletter to a targeted group of my supporters, including AIS senior executives, National Sporting Organisations, and key stakeholders in the disability sector. This growing database, currently sitting at around 300, has been a key factor in providing the Foundation with exposure to key influencers in the sports and disability sector. 

To read the report in full, please click below.

CLICK HERE

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Sport Access Foundation acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
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