First Nations Foundation (FNF) partners with BHP to support thousands of Indigenous employees with financial wellbeing education
Australia’s only national Indigenous financial literacy organisation, First Nations Foundation has partnered with BHP to extend financial education to more than 2,000 Indigenous BHP employees. With recent research highlighting that one in two First Nations people suffer severe financial stress, nine in ten with no financial security and over half the population with no savings, the partnership comes at a pivotal time.
First Nations Foundation, which is dedicated to sharing a wealth of Indigenous-led financial knowledge, will work with BHP to extend their My Money Dream (MMD) platform to remote communities across Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland.
Created by First Nations people for First Nations people, the My Money Dream program was developed from over 20 years of successful face to face training delivery and responds to national research highlighting the significant gap in financial literacy compared to the rest of Australia.
BHP’s Indigenous employees will be given access to the My Money Dream platform designed to educate participants in areas of financial well-being, developing better money management skills and habits as well as building financial prosperity.
First Nations Foundation CEO Phil Usher said the long-term partnership with BHP will not only help the Foundation reach more remote communities, but also ensure that their employees are being supported with sound financial management.
“BHP is giving us the autonomy to run our initiative as we see fit and educate as is most appropriate for the varying needs of the Indigenous communities we will reach through this partnership.”
“My Money Dream is a predominately online program however, we know that not all community members will learn in the same way, so we will reach participants anyway we can, be that online, face-to-face or other community or web-based solutions,” said Phil.
The BHP My Money Dream employee training will be run by FNF’s experienced Indigenous trainers, who will facilitate half day workshops covering topics such as maximising income, accessing superannuation and insurances, creating budgets and savings plans, retirement plans and more.
“Our research has shown us that more often than not, when one person in a community embraces and adapts to a new resource, this is shared with friends and family members, garnering a positive flow-on effect,” said Phil.
The first year of the partnership will be focused on building relationships with local community organisations such as health and well-being services as well as training BHP staff groups in preparation of rolling out the My Money Dream initiative.
“BHP has been working hard to support their Indigenous staff and are really acknowledging the benefits they have in their business so to come on board to provide financial education is an exciting prospect for us,” said Phil.
First Nations Foundation was formed in 2006 by the First Nations Credit Union, teaching financial skills to Indigenous people.
