About us

Since The Benevolent Society was established in 1813 we have been pioneering social change in response to community needs. Read more about our people, our purpose, our history and our future directions.

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Our goal is to help people to overcome the barriers preventing them from participating fully in society.  By helping to build healthy, inclusive communities we can improve quality of life for all Australians.  

Who we help
Every year we touch the lives of thousands of Australians, of all ages and backgrounds. We also work in partnership with disadvantaged communities to address the systemic challenges they face. In the past year we helped more than 41,000 people. Read our 2011 Annual Review to find out more about the impact of our work.

What we do
We meet the specific needs of individual people through our direct support services. We also work with whole communities, connecting people across gender, age and cultural divides to create a renewed sense of optimism and belonging. We believe everyone in Australia should be able to enjoy a decent quality of life, no matter what their background or where they live.

Our work is broadly grouped under five core areas of expertise:

  • children and families (including domestic violence)
  • ageing
  • community development
  • mental health care
  • social leadership

Find out more about our programs and services.

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Our approach
We have advocated for positive social change and progressive social policy since our earliest days. We have a strong track record of pioneering social welfare reform over the past 200 years, and this legacy informs our work today. Read more about our history.

We understand that genuine change happens by working with people over the long term to deal with the underlying problems, not the symptoms. Our advocacy work aims to bring about change in social policy to create a fairer Australia. All parts of our work are supported by quality research, evaluation and a desire to pioneer innovative services. Read about our research and evaluation and approach to influencing social policy

Where we do our work
We have offices in 63 locations across three States, which our staff and volunteers use as a base for their work in the community. Browse our Find a Service directory to locate your nearest Benevolent Society office. We also work at a national level through our advocacy and research activities and our social leadership work. Our Senior Managers are also regularly invited to speak at conferences internationally.

Our location map gives a visual picture of our growing physical footprint.

We acknowledge the traditional owners of all the lands in which we live and work and thank them for their custodianship of country.