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Empowering Potential.

Sliding Doors Foundation – Empowering potential in youth.

The Sliding Doors Foundation provides educational scholarships, work experience and networking support for young people from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds to empower their potential and help them not just succeed but thrive.

We promise to deliver a life changing ‘sliding door’ opportunity to young people from low socio-economic communities or find themselves in disadvantaged situations and have future leadership potential. This will happen through financial support for secondary and tertiary education, leadership development, work experience and networking.

Our Scholarships support students in Years 7-12 with high potential to complete their secondary education and achieve University entrance. Along with these Scholarships we support school leavers who have either completed school and are experiencing barriers to pursuing further study or have left school early but show strong drive to obtain a career, particularly a trade.

  • Pre-Secondary School Scholarship

  • Pre-University Scholarship

  • School leavers Financial support

Members of the Board

  • Joe Collins

    Founder

    Joe Collins is the Managing Director, Founder & Executive Chairman at Camms. He has been the driving force building Camms into a world leader in Enterprise Risk and Performance Management Software Solutions.

    Establishing Camms Australia in 1996, CAMMS has grown significantly to become an international company with offices located in Australia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, New Zealand, UK and North America.

    Prior to starting his software business Joe worked in local government, where unemployment rates are consistently higher than other regions. He found that unemployment was often an intergenerational experience and there was mixed value placed on the importance of education.

  • Tony Irvine

    Chair

    Tony has extensive experience in the local government sector having been the Chief Executive Officer at the District Councils of Ceduna and Tumby Bay and his most recent role as Executive Officer to the Eyre Peninsula Local Government Association for a total of approximately 30 years.

    Tony was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2021 for his services to Local Government and communities of Eyre Peninsula.

  • Andrew Downs

    Board Member

    Andrew started his working career as an electrical apprentice with Bridgestone Australia. After years of continuous study and leadership development, he developed a passion for industrial automation and control systems.

    In 1994 he left Bridgestone to start SAGE Automation from his backyard shed.

    What started with the simple idea to deliver more value to customers has now grown into a multi-million dollar business encompassing multiple brands as part of the SAGE Group: SAGE Automation, Nukon, Embedded Expertise and Skills Lab.

  • Julia Steele Scott

    Board Member

    Julia is the CEO ofJM Philanthropy and Grant Toolbox and acts as a Director for several foundations including the Sliding Doors Foundation. She is a founding member of Impact100 SA and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

    Julia works to help for-purpose organisations, foundations and corporates make a difference through tailored advice and access to best-practice grant making technology. She is passionate about encouraging the growth of giving at all levels.

Sliding Doors is more than an educationalscholarship program.

The Sliding Doors Foundation was established by software entrepreneur Joe Collins in 2022, to empower the potential of disadvantaged young people.

His life experience showed that young people from these low socio-economic communities are most at risk of unemployment and poor long term social outcomes and lack opportunity to maximise their potential Joe grew up in regional South Australia and attributes his career success to an educational scholarship he received as a teenager.

So, Sliding Doors is personal — a mission to make a difference in the lives of young people with potential.

How to Get Involved

Please contact us if you would like to support our work to ensure young people are ready and able to pursue their chosen pathways, contribute meaningfully to their community and maximise their potential.

Talk to us if you are a business and would like to sponsor our work through a sponsorship or workplace giving.

We are keen to collaborate and partner with other experts within education, employment and community to support our mission and deliver a quality program that meets the needs of individuals, businesses and our local community.

  • Corporate Sponsorship

  • Delivery Partner

Donate

Sliding Doors Foundation needs your financial support. Your donation can make a real impact to empower the potential in our young people.