……. Photo: DineSmart 2019 Ambassadors
23 years of community, carried forward
In November 2003, we ran our very first DineSmart and today, through our DineSmart Legacy Grants, that impact continues.
Twenty restaurants. A simple idea. A small ask at the end of a meal. Add $2 to the bill. Give a little more if you can.
This small act at the heart of DineSmart became a powerful model for collective action and support.
The funds raised by the amazing DineSmart community of restaurant owners, staff and customers locally were directed back into the same communities, supporting grassroots organisations that respond to homelessness in real, practical ways, and we’ve held on to this model ever since.
23
4,500,000
1,150
But its impact goes far beyond the numbers.
A lasting legacy
As DineSmart pauses following its final campaign in 2025, this year’s DineSmart Legacy Grants reflect what early support made possible and what’s needed now.
Many of the organisations funded this year were supported in DineSmart’s early years. Some were just starting out. Today, they’re delivering impact at scale, under growing pressure as funding tightens and demand rises.
From the beginning, DineSmart backed ideas with potential.
A small grant in 2005 helped launch Street Soccer through the Big Issue. Today, it’s a national program, with this year’s funding expanding women’s participation.
Early support for FareShare and SecondBite helped get both organisations off the ground. Today, they produce meals at scale, with this grant increasing capacity even further.
That’s what legacy looks like. Not just what was started, but what continues to grow.
“It’s easy to have a dream; it’s another thing to turn it into reality. StreetSmart have walked alongside HoMie from day one, providing critical seed funding, advice, and support. DineSmart leaves an incredible legacy, community-based fundraising directing essential funding to the grassroots where it’s needed most. The generosity of everyone involved leaves a lasting impact, rippling out through generations to come.”
– Steph Say, CEO HoMie
HoMie
Seed funded by DineSmart in 2015, helping establish the charity, this grant will support the HoMie Pathway Alliance, an eight-month education and employment program for young people.
Participants complete a Cert III in Business while gaining paid work experience and personal development, graduating with skills, confidence and a pathway into long-term employme
Big Issue: Street Soccer
Seed funded by DineSmart in 2005, supporting early equipment and outreach, the program now has national reach with hundreds of weekly participants. This grant will help expand all-women’s programs, increasing participation through targeted community engagement and outreach.
“The legacy of DineSmart is undeniable for us. That initial seed funding in 2005 gave us the opportunity to get our pilot project off the ground… It gave us the chance to try something different, to test the concept, and to truly understand its impact. The rest, as they say, is history. We remain forever appreciative.”
– George Halkias, National Coach, Big Issue Community Street Soccer Program
“StreetSmart truly understands how tough the funding landscape is for small NFPs like The Footpath Library and has been a solid, committed supporter, providing not only funds but much-appreciated friendship, guidance and mentorship. At times, this has been the tonic to continue what we do when funding opportunities have been particularly tough.
– Sarah Garnett, Founder and CEO, Footpath Library
The Footpath Library
Supported since 2010, this grant will fund a Programs Manager to coordinate volunteer-led mobile libraries, ensuring services continue and reach more people across Greater Sydney.
Southern Peninsula Community Information & Support Centre
Supported since 2016, this grant builds on the SLASH program by funding emergency accommodation through assertive outreach, responding to severe local shortages as crisis accommodation options reduce.
“Over the journey, you guys have provided a number of small grants to the program that have paid for equipment, food and material aid supplies, which have been great contributors to the success of the program. I think the program is an amazing legacy for our area, and you have been an important part of that, thank you.”
– Jeremy Maxwell, CEO, Southern Peninsula Community Support
Backing people not just programs
This year’s grants respond directly to what communities are facing right now. In Ballarat, families rebuilding after fires will receive essential household goods. On the Mornington Peninsula, funding will support emergency accommodation as crisis options shrink. In regional New South Wales, support will go towards food, fuel and essentials as cost pressures push more people toward homelessness.
These aren’t isolated stories. They reflect a broader shift. More demand. Fewer resources. Greater need for flexible funding that can move quickly.
Women’s Community Shelters, supported since 2013, will provide immediate, flexible assistance through their First Nations Firefly Fund. Manning Valley Neighbourhood Services, supported since 2014, will continue delivering food and essential support to families at risk. Two Good will provide meals and connection for women in shelters.
DineSmart allows us to respond to crisis today, backed by long-term relationships built over time.
| Organisation | Grant |
| VIC | |
| Big Issue – StreetSoccer | $4,800.00 |
| FareShare/Second Bite | $4,800.00 |
| HoMie | $4,800.00 |
| Ready Set | $4,800.00 |
| Community Care Centre Ballarat | $3,000.00 |
| Southern Peninsula Community Information & Support Centre (SPCSIC) | $3,000.00 |
| NSW | |
| The Footpath Library | $4,000.00 |
| Two Good | $4,000.00 |
| Womens Community Shelters | $4,000.00 |
| Manning Valley Neighbourhood Services | $3,000.00 |
| TOTAL | $40,200.00 |
The legacy continues
From DineSmart grew CafeSmart, SleepSafe, Making a Home, StreetFunder Projects, and the StreetSmart Collective.
But the core idea remains the same.
Local action. Directed where it’s needed most. Backing the organisations doing the work on the ground.
This year’s $40,200 in Legacy Grants continues that story.
Not as an ending. As a continuation.
Because, as DineSmart pauses, the impact it set in motion continues to ripple out through communities across Australia.
And that’s what legacy really means.
