Our VISION
Denmark is a welcoming, resilient, inclusive and connected community.
Our MISSION
We generate, manage and distribute funds that strengthen the Denmark community.
Our VALUES
Inclusion, Responsiveness, Integrity, Cooperation, Care
Meet the Board
DCF has been established by a small group of dedicated volunteers who care deeply about addressing unmet need to continually improve the quality of life in Denmark. The Foundation, as the only charitable agency in Denmark with a perpetual community fund, is committed to keeping wealth within our region and providing Denmark with the resources to address its various needs now and in the future.
Board members do not receive any payments for services and contribute their time on a voluntary basis.
Karen Burford
Chairperson
Over the years my volunteer work has concentrated around junior and elite sport. I have been awarded life memberships of Sorrento & Districts Little Athletics Club, Hamersley Little Athletics Centre and WA Diving.
Whilst living in Victoria I also held the position of President of the Bass Valley Community Group which ran an occasional day care centre and assisted the area’s elderly residents.
Although this commitment was only short term, it gave me the inspiration to look for another community based group with a view to contributing to and engaging with other like minded people – thus I became a board member for the Denmark Community Foundation Inc.
I have been married to Gary for 40 years and we share 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren who all live in this beautiful community of Denmark.
Vicky Wilson
Vicky is a retired librarian and university lecturer who has been involved with ‘not-for-profit’ and voluntary organisations all her adult life in countries as diverse as Nigeria, the Philippines and Australia. A resident of Denmark for 22 years, she is passionate about developing the local community’s self-reliance, resilience and quality of life.
Adrian Baer
Adrian has been a resident of Denmark since 2006. He is retired. He has a Degree in Business and has successfully managed and run businesses in hospitality, catering, short term accommodation and small intensive agriculture enterprises.
He has been on the Board of Denmark Arts for 5 years and has been a participant in the performing arts for the last 15 years.
He is passionate in the belief of community involvement in the Arts, whose activities contribute to the physical and mental wellbeing of all who participate.
He is also a current active member of Denmark Country Club.
He is new to the board and looks forward to providing a positive contribution in the development and progress of the Denmark Community Foundation.
Jo Tighe
Jo has worked and volunteered in the not-for-profit sector around Australia for over 20 years. She is a passionate social justice advocate, working in frontline community services supporting marginalised and disadvantaged communities throughout.
Jo is currently a Lecturer at SRTAFE in Albany in the areas of Community Services, Mental Health and Youth Work.
She sits on the Denmark Surf Life Saving Club committee as Education Officer and the Denmark Walpole Junior Football Club as Player Wellbeing Officer.
Jo lives in Denmark with her partner, three sons and kelpie. She has supported the Fremantle Dockers since the 90s (and oftentimes wonders why she persists!).
Jo joined the DCF Board in 2023.
Julia Rainbird
Julia Rainbird is an undergraduate student studying a Bachelor of Philosophy (PhB) (Honours) – Science at the Australian National University.
Julia has been awarded the ATAR DUX 2022 and the Shire of Denmark Meratorious Service Award. Other positions she has held include Student Leader at Denmark Senior High School (2022) and employment at Pepper and Salt Restraunt.
She also has volunteered for Denmark Arts, Brave New Works and the DSHS Music Program, and is a Deputy Offcer for the Queer* Department ANU.
Jennie Partington
Jennie has lived in Denmark since 1988.
During this time she has been an active participant of many volunteer groups.
These groups include Matrix WA ( now Matrix Victoria ) ,founding member of Denmark Animal Carers Group, Ratepayers Association and Bushfire Brigade.
She has been a regular attendee at Denmark Community Foundation meetings since 2018 and was first appointed to the Board of Directors in 2019.
In 2021 and 2022 with the collaboration of DCF she successfully curated , funded and staffed the Leech Partington Botanical Art Prize.
With a passion for justice and fair play , Jennie’s effective listening skills help to identify many of the unmet needs of the Denmark community .
Meet our founding patron:
Prof Fiona Stanley AC
Our Foundation Patron, Professor Fiona Stanley, has had long connections with Denmark and in her own words she describes how:
“Our family first came to Denmark camping at the (now defunct) Wilson Inlet Holiday Park next to the Cove in the mid -1980s. We were a keen camping, swimming and bushwalking family so we fell in love with the forest and the coastline. One of our dear friends, Mary Rose O’Connor had moved down here to establish a tea-shop (now Mrs Jones) so we got to know some people in the local community. After many stays over summers and Easters at the Cove, in 1996 we were very lucky to buy a block and build a house on top of Weedon Hill. Denmark is a wonderful community, full of creativity and art, committed to sustainable living and working, all set in a spectacular environment. The breadth of interests and capacities amongst Denmark dwellers is unusual; I always feel that you could get anything done there if you wanted it. We feel extremely privileged to have become part of the community. I am honoured to be the DCF founding patron.”
Trained in maternal and child health, epidemiology and public health, Professor Stanley has spent her career researching the causes of major childhood illnesses such as birth defects. Her research includes the gathering and analysis of population data for epidemiological and public health research; the causes and prevention of birth defects and major neurological disorders, particularly the cerebral palsies; patterns of maternal and child health in Aboriginal and Caucasian populations; various ways of determining the developmental origins of health and disease; collaborations to link research, policy and practice; and strategies to enhance health and well-being in populations. She pioneered the development, linkage and analysis of population level data and record linkage in Western Australia as a research and evaluation capacity.
Her major contribution has been to establish the Telethon Kids Institute, a unique multidisciplinary independent research institute focussing on the causes and prevention of major problems affecting children and youth and to establish the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, a national organisation of researchers, policy makers and practitioners. She has over 300 publications, books and book chapters. She is a board member of the Gurrumul Yunupingu Foundation, a Governor of The Ian Potter Foundation and a former member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, and a former board member of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She has also served on major international, national and local committees. For her research on behalf of Australia’s children and Aboriginal social justice, she was named Australian of the Year in 2003 and in 2006 she was made a UNICEF Australia Ambassador for Early Childhood Development.
Professor Fiona Stanley AC, FAA, FASSA, FAHMS
MSc, MBBS MD, FFPHM, FAFPHM, FRACP,
FRANZCOG, Hon DSc, Hon DUniv, Hon FRACGP, Hon MD, Hon FRCPCH, Hon LLB (honoris causa)
Founding Director and Patron of the Telethon Kids Institute
Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Western Australia
Hon Professor, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
Former Director, ANDI (Australian National Development Index) University of Melbourne where she was Director, 2013 Festival of Ideas.
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