Bakers Dozen Social Justice Fund

A new flagship fund is being created at the Foundation, through the proceeds from the sale of Brunswick house that has been donated to the Foundation.

The Bakers Dozen Social Justice Fund has been established through a bequest left by Dr Christopher Baker and Ms Kerri Hall. Christopher and Kerri were passionate about the role of philanthropy in creating fairer and more inclusive communities, particularly for their community in Melbourne’s Inner North.

In reflecting on his commitment to growing generosity and giving, Christopher said that “The biggest gift that my mother and father gave me was my values and my education. It’s those things that enable me to live my life as a life that I can feel comfortable about. It’s not money, it is values.”

Christopher became a board member of the Inner North Community Foundation in 2013 and was the Foundation’s chair from 2018 until his death in 2020.

Kerri’s passion was for literacy and its fundamental role in creating opportunities for people and their future. She was proud of her rural upbringing in Mittyack in the Mallee and shared her love of Melbourne culture and the arts with her extended family.

Establishing a philanthropic fund that would focus on addressing issues of social justice grew from Christopher and Kerri’s shared values and interests. Christopher was passionate about the contribution of private wealth for public good. This was evidenced both through his academic research into bequest giving in Australia and through his and Kerri’s own legacy gift which he hoped would inspire others to give.

The Fund will achieve its goal of advancing social justice by making grants that focus on:

  • Increasing social and economic fairness
  • Strengthening community resilience and capacity
  • Supporting collaboration and partnerships
  • Building community agency and leadership

The story of the Bakers Dozen Social Justice Fund is one of learning to be generous – providing 13 loaves instead of 12. The Fund has the twin aims of growing community generosity and building a more equitable community in the Inner North of Melbourne, the municipal areas of Darebin, Moreland and Yarra.

 

It provides a vehicle for those living and working in the Inner North to contribute collectively to investing in transformational and
sustainable change in community capacity and resilience. 

The establishment of the fund has been supported by the contributions of an initial advisory group. Many thanks go to: 

  • Dist Prof Josephine Barraket, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University
  • Maryum Chowdry, President, Sanad Foundation
  • Craig Kenny, Director, Inner North Community Foundation
  • Grace McQuilten, Director, The Social Studio
  • Carolyn Phiddian, Chair,  Inner North Community Foundation
  • Ms Sarah Sheridan, Co-Founder, Clothing The Gap
  • Dr Genevieve Timmons, Paul Ramsay Foundation
We’re so thrilled to be a part of the story of Christopher and Kerri, as their generosity and impact continues in lots of different ways. Some of the other ways that there memory is being shared include the Kerri Hall Fellowship for Performing Arts at the State Library, and the Dr Christopher Baker Memorial Scholarship at the Centre for Social Impact at Swinburne University.