Third Sector Awards
Sweet Peanuts would like to congratulate Barbara, our founder who was announced as a finalist for Young Leader of the Year in the prestigious 2022 Third Sector Awards this week.
Barbara is one of 5 finalists being considered for this award, which recognises young individuals that demonstrate strong leadership for the organisation, system and the self, in addition to positive, and measurable benefits for stakeholders, and proven capacity to collaborate with other stakeholders within the sector.
Public voting is now open to the public for these awards and you are able to read about the finalists in this Award category using this link:
Younger Leader of the Year 2022
Leadership
Barbara has shown great leadership through adversity by persevering in her own ambitions and determination on behalf of her organisation to make a positive social change. After experiencing the loss of a baby through miscarriage and facing feelings of isolation and depression along with finding a dearth of emotional support or counselling services, Barbara took leadership to develop a solution herself. She has undertaken postgraduate study for the benefit of the organisation’s success and viability and has since successfully graduated with a Graduate Certificate in Business majoring in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies.
Barbara has continued to improve her own professional knowledge through being proactively involved in various programs and workshops. Barbara participated in the 2021 Accelerator for Enterprising Women where she attended the summit in Brisbane and entered the Kickstarter Challenge with Sweet Peanuts. Although unsuccessful, Barbara continued conversations with the program facilitators, Young Change Agents and was granted startup seed funding as part of the Youth Action Project Grant Scheme. She was recently awarded with a full scholarship into the Women’s Business Schools Accelerator and Ignite programs to gain further knowledge of running her own enterprise and utilising a number of skills to create positive impact.
Innovation
Barbara, as a solo social entrepreneur, is individually leading the implementation of the organisation’s ideas and creating awareness of the mission by connecting with other organisations such as the Zonta Club of Redcliffe and Encircle. Through seeking mentorship and training, Barbara has been able to successfully implement the organisation’s mission in various forms.
As the leader for the organisation, she has persevered to continue the successes by reaching out to groups and businesses and applying for grants and funding. Barbara was successful in applying for the Grill’d Local Matters initiative and received the most votes during its voting period in November 2021. The grant awarded by Grill’d has been utilised for the purpose of funding packages that will be donated to local clinics and hospitals.
Barbara has innovated and developed the original idea from a business model dependent on donations to a social enterprise, enabling families and friends to purchase the care packages for a loved one who has had a miscarriage. The income from purchased packages allows Sweet Peanuts to donate packages to those that may not otherwise receive them, enabling a sustainable social impact.
Collaboration
Barbara has communicated with various organisations within the Third Sector to create an awareness of miscarriage and the services that Sweet Peanuts provide. Barbara has previously been invited as a guest speaker at the Zonta Club of Redcliffe and has collaborated with other nonprofits to provide additional value to her organisations services such as providing a SANDS brochure in the care packages and supporting the social enterprise called Memories of an Angel through the purchase of their pregnancy and infant loss (PAIL) awareness merchandise.
The care packages themselves are a wonderful example of Barbara’s collaborative spirit. All products in the packages are sourced from local sustainable and ethical Australian businesses. For example, sanitary pads by Moxie (use biodegradable organic cotton), soaps by Lil’ Bit Better (a Cruelty Free Accredited and Palm oil free based business) and journals by Braw Paper Co (printed in Perth, Western Australia onto 100% recycled paper using vegetable-based inks).
The Awards Gala
The Third Sector Awards night is being held on Friday 2nd of September and we wish Barbara all the best.
You can learn more about the 2022 awards and purchase tickets by visiting this link: