Surf Life Saving NSW among charities to be promoted by City of Sydney

Surf Life Saving NSW is one of three major charities the City of Sydney will partner with for its biggest annual events in 2019–20: Sydney Christmas, Sydney New Year’s Eve and Sydney Lunar Festival. The partnerships with Surf Life Saving NSW, the Refugee Council of Australia and Fred Hollows Foundation will provide the charities with high-profile opportunities to promote their causes.

As well as widespread media exposure, the partnerships will enable the charities to build awareness and raise funds through donation collections, speaking opportunities and activities and promotions during the events.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the partnerships would enable the three charities to be promoted on the national and international stage: “More than three million people attend our major events each year and more than a billion people see or read about them across the world.

“This means our charity partners have a wealth of opportunities to promote their cause to large audiences.

“The City has supported dozens of charities and aligning our events with a good cause makes them even more meaningful.”

Surf Life Saving NSW is the City’s charity partner for Sydney Christmas 2019. As the pre-eminent body for water safety in NSW with a network of 129 clubs and more than 75,000 volunteer members, its primary goal is to achieve zero avoidable deaths and injuries on NSW beaches. It provides services including beach patrols, community education, surf sports and first aid training.

The charity partner for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2019 is the Refugee Council of Australia, the national umbrella body for refugees and people seeking asylum and those who support them. The organisation’s goal is to change Australia's refugee policies for the better, including humane and lawful treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum.

The Fred Hollows Foundation will come on board for the City’s 2020 Sydney Lunar Festival celebrations. The organisation’s main goal is to end avoidable blindness in developing countries and improve the life and health choices of Indigenous Australians. The foundation now operates in more than 25 countries and has restored sight to more than 2.5 million people.

The City’s event charity partnerships have helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities and causes including: Variety – The Children’s Charity, RSPCA, Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, Barnardos Australia, WWF, UNICEF, Habitat for Humanity, Oxfam, State Emergency Service and Canteen.

Image top courtesy of Surf Life Saving NSW.