Luma, an Australian women’s health and wellbeing non-profit, has launched a new sponsorship-based fundraising initiative, HER Board, via VML Perth, to help combat the prevalence of domestic violence in Australia.
The initiative is designed to support and empower women facing domestic violence. It comes in response to alarming statistics: one woman loses her life to domestic violence every week in Australia, and one in four women face abuse from their partner.
The website, online video, and other media touch points have been launched during Domestic Violence Awareness Month in May.
Melanie Wiese, Luma deputy chair, said she hopes to generate support from the professional sector, leveraging LinkedIn as a primary fundraising channel.
“We’re appealing to executives in Australia to sponsor a woman through fixed-term tenure funding, with all an individual board members’ funds flowing to one woman,” she said.
“We hope our members proudly share our progress and nominate their network to join.”
The launching film asset was shot by a predominantly female team and led by Perth director, Melle Branson.
Branson, a survivor of abuse, described reading the “harrowing and uncomfortably real” scripts for the film as “confronting to face”.
“Yet, I know that mine is not an uncommon experience, so I was all in in supporting the HER Board initiative,” said Branson.
“My priority was to build a predominantly female identifying crew for this project, because I firmly believe that women should be telling women’s stories. Everyone involved in this project brought their absolute best in executing this poignant idea – from the highly nuanced sets, meticulous sound design, restrained music composition and the compelling voice performance.”
HER Board asks for a $99 per month donation over a 12 month “board” term, which goes towards essential services including relocation, counselling, transport, legal aid, security, healthcare, employment assistance, and childcare.
Female leaders in adland have already thrown their support behind the cause, including WPP’s Rose Herceg and Katie Rigg-Smith.
Felicite Black, CEO at Luma, said HER Board was created to re-empower women, “and break the victim-and-saviour approach to family and domestic violence funding that only operates in crisis.”
“A woman experiencing domestic violence loses her connections, voice, confidence and strength. Bit by bit, she loses her power. To move on, she needs to find that power again and HER Board is an essential service that will help in giving her power back,” she said.
Earlier this month, The National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) appointed VML to create a future-focused, connected marketing and customer experience strategy for the organisation.
Credits:
Client: Luma
CEO: Felicite Black
Chief operating officer: Huyen Tran
Executive manager finance and contract management: Sofia Erhard
Brand and marketing Officer: Sarah Allen
Fundraising and events specialist: Georgina Westgarth
Agency: VML Perth
Chief strategy officer: Melanie Wiese
Account manager: Emily Hooper
National executive creative director: Stu Turner
Creative lead: Paula Keamy
Creative lead: Tim Newton
Creative: Brendan Morrow
Creative: Meg Watson
Design Director: Melissa Radman