ABOUT US.

10 THOUSAND FEET is a 100% independently owned Australian company. We are
privately owned, making us an agile and responsive partner to our clients.

Our purpose driven

reason for being.

10 THOUSAND FEET was established 21 years ago in early 2003 by 10 THOUSAND FEET’S Founder & Head of Intelligence Ian Krawitz. Ian left a career with a major multinational research agency because he had a vision to ‘generate positive change’ for our clients and local and global communities at large.

10 THOUSAND FEET was founded with the goal to place giving at the heart of everything we do.

As an independent research agency, from our very first day, 10 THOUSAND FEET has always had a desire to help other’s shine. This philosophy of helping others shine is carried into every single research project we take on. We genuinely care about our client’s outcomes. At the centre of every project we strive to help you achieve your organisational and project objectives.

Our Approach To Strategic Research

Action orientated:

We have a philosophy and vision of making all our research highly actionable. We love turning insights into action. All our insights are designed using our proprietary FIT model and help you determine the actions you can take as a result of the research findings.

For clients who want us to be a part of a transformational change we also provide activation workshops. Our action planning looks firstly at what is in your control. We then examine what will have the biggest impact, what resources are required to have that impact and what behavioural change internally and externally is required to achieve the impact.

We believe that turning insights into actions should take a layered approach. We recognise the need for short term wins to build confidence and momentum in your organisation. We also combine this with the belief in playing the long game, taking actions that may take longer to see the results of, but create long lasting and meaningful change.

Long term relationships:

We strive to have long-term working relationships with our clients, half of our business comes from clients who have been with us for 10+ years and 95% of our revenue comes from repeat clients . We value that partnership and understand that we have to drive value for all clients, whether they are new or longstanding, to build and maintain a strong relationship.

In every research and community-based project we undertake, we strive to get to the core root of your issue and needs. Because we don’t want to just provide a solution for tomorrow, we want to provide solutions that will last well into the future for your organisation.

The greatest buzz we get is when we hear how our research has been turned into action and positively impacted the growth, efficiency, and sustainability of a client’s organisation.

Having sustainable commercial relationships enables us to put dedicated effort into our community projects. With thanks and deep gratitude to our clients, the research work of 10 THOUSAND FEET enables us to fully fund our dual passion, our not-for-profit arm 10 THOUSAND COMMUNITIES. Read more below about how 10 THOUSAND COMMUNITIES strives to make the world a better place through a focus on the environment, bringing communities closer together, and encouraging Australians to be a generous giving society.

Why we understand research:

From our humble beginnings 21 years ago to where we stand today, having worked with government, commercial enterprises, associations and not-for-profits we have learnt plenty of lessons along the way. None more significant than the important role research plays in driving the decision-making process.

Not only have we experienced this through years of providing research solutions for our clients, but we ourselves have utilised qualitative and quantitative research to drive our own key investment decisions. Giving us unique firsthand experience of the success market research can provide and helping us build the sustainable client focused business we operate today.

We are a boutique team of 10 researchers, over half of us have 20+ years research experience and you will always work with senior researchers on your project.

Making the world a better place

Last, but not least, it is important you know our why.

Our Why

The whole reason 10 THOUSAND FEET was established in 2003 was to get into a position to give to community. From the outset we supported charities pro-bono (this is now low-bono to be able to expand our work with charities).

In 2011 we formalised our passion by setting up our Not-for-profit arm 10 THOUSAND COMMUNITIES.

10 THOUSAND COMMUNITIES is funded by 10 THOUSAND FEET. We focus on three core areas:

We want to encourage Australians to be a generous giving society (this is reflected in the latest research piece we funded on philanthropic giving);

Bringing communities closer together (Over the last four years we have embarked on a program of research to find ways to bring communities closer together. Watch this space as this research comes to life in the coming years).

The environment (combining sustainability and climate change perceptions research and positive actions like tree planting and urban greening).

None of this would be possible without the dedication of our research team and the loyalty of our clients who by continuing to engage 10 THOUSAND FEET research year after year, enable us to resource the work of our not-for-profit arm 10 THOUSAND COMMUNITIES.

Read more about 10 THOUSAND COMMUNITIES here.

10 THOUSAND COMMUNITIES

The whole reason 10 THOUSAND FEET was established in 2003 was to get into a position to give to community. From the outset we supported charities pro-bono (this is now low-bono to be able to expand our work with charities).

In 2011 we formalised our passion by setting up our Not-for-profit arm 10 THOUSAND COMMUNITIES.

With thanks and deep gratitude to our clients the research work of 10 THOUSAND FEET enables us to fund our not-for-profit arm 10 THOUSAND COMMUNITIES where we focus on encouraging Australians to be a generous giving society, bringing communities closer together, and the environment.

Community projects

Over the years our projects have included…

Encouraging Australians to be a more generous giving society:

10 THOUSAND FEET recently completed a 75-page research report into bridging the gap between philanthropic organisations and the not-for-profits they support.

Funded by 10 THOUSAND COMMUNITIES, the research unveiled 7 key friction points that philanthropists feel prevent optimal impact from occurring for the causes that philanthropic foundations and NFPs are so passionate about. The insights uncovered are designed help to improve relationships, processes and efficiencies between parties to ideally improve the degree of impact of giving in Australia.

We believe the research can be a game changer, by taking the relationship between philanthropic organisations and NFPs to the next level, we believe we can help the sector elevate the positive impact it can have on the causes both funders and fundees care deeply about.

If we can help funders have a greater impact, evidence also shows they are more likely to talk positively to their peers about their philanthropic giving. We believe if new potential funders have greater confidence that their giving will have the intended impact, they will be more likely to give and give at higher levels to the causes they are passionate about.

More about the research:

We collaborated with 25 foundations

We interviewed 25 foundations with a mix of professional foundations, family foundations, corporate foundations and intermediaries. Thank you to all the interviewees who took part in the research. Interviewees who are happy to be acknowledged for collaborating on the research, in alphabetical order include:

AGL
◉ ANZ
◉ Eastwood Family Foundation
◉ The Edward Alexander Foundation
◉ Fay Fuller Foundation
◉ Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR)
◉ The Ian Potter Foundation
◉ I Give One Percent
◉ Menzies Foundation

Minderoo
◉ Origin Energy Foundation
◉ Paul Ramsay Foundation
◉ Perpetual
◉ Reid Malley Foundation
◉ Sage Foundation
◉ Sidney Myer Fund & The Myer Foundation
◉ The Spinifex Trust
◉ Stephen Pfeiffer
◉ UBS

Bringing insights to life:

Workshops drive positive change

Whilst we could just put the report up on our website for the general public, we believe that readers would simply skim the research without stopping to reflect on what they could do differently.

We also believe that taking an approach of running workshops enables foundations and charities to bring senior stakeholders on the journey, getting buy-in to positive transformational change for the sector.

Utilising the research, so far we have run a number of workshops for not-for-profits to enhance the way they engage and work with philanthropy.

Aspect (Autism Spectrum Australia), Head of Philanthropy & Relationships, Shahar Burla, had this to say about the 75-page report and accompanying workshop.

“The workshop with 10+ senior Aspect team members enabled our leaders to use the research as a basis for developing strategies and tactics to holistically enhance our philanthropy program.

There are many areas Aspect excels in that we haven’t historically shared with philanthropic organisations. After the workshop we successfully implemented several of the recommendations, adjusting our grant applications and our website to more effectively talk about our work and the way we operate.

We have always placed a lot of importance on connecting with our major supporters as individuals. What the research and workshop did was highlight where we could refine our approach to take one-to-one engagement to the next level.”

Cerebral Palsy Alliance’s Head of Philanthropy, Lorraine McNuff, found great value in the research and workshop commenting

“The report details how both fundees and funders can improve the ways we engage and work together to create impact.

The report aligned to our approach of aiming to always do our homework to understand the motivations of the potential funder, and to be clear that there is genuine alignment on values and mission.

It was also great to see how to tap into funders joy highlighted in the reporting, as this is something we actively strive to do, by sharing the stories of our beneficiaries, and the difference to their quality of life that has been made possible with funding support.

The report also covered areas around leadership, retention and account management, which in my experience are critical. It’s so important to have the right people in your team, building strong, transparent and respectful relationships to maintain and grow a thriving philanthropic portfolio. Having the resources to do this well is important for ongoing success”

Lorraine Mcnuff - Cerebral Palsy Alliance

Learn more about getting a workshop run for your organisation or the organisations you support

If you would like to find out more about the research get in touch.

Bringing communities closer together:

Over the last four years we have embarked on a program of research to find ways to bring communities closer together. Watch this space as this research comes to life in the coming years.

Bringing Community Together

Our team supporting an urban greening project near our office in North Sydney, NSW, Australia

Environmental Sustainability:

Environmental sustainability projects have been delivered under the 10 THOUSAND TREES banner. We recognise the environment for its natural beauty and that without it we are nothing.

We have had a focus on two core areas: Sustainability and climate change perceptions research to encourage Australians to be more environmentally friendly and positive actions like tree planting and urban greening.

Some of the projects we have been involved in to champion the environment and the animals and people that rely on it include:

Direct actions

10 THOUSAND TREES positive direct-action projects soak up carbon, but don’t focus on carbon credits, rather on tangible sustainable resource development.

◉ In Australia, by taking land that was cleared of trees generations ago and bringing native trees back that are used to produce sustainable resources such as paper and clothing, we are taking into account the reality that we live in a resource hungry society, but are working hard to bring balance back to the earth for today and for our children’s future.

10 THOUSAND TREES forest of 5,000 eucalypt trees is located in Irrewillipe, near Colac, Victoria, Australia and is managed by a professional FSC certified forester.

When the trees grow to maturity, they will be harvested to be used as environmentally friendly paper and clothing. The proceeds will be reinvested into planting more trees or promoting sustainability and care for our earth, so watch this space for a new project.

Our trees being inspected, in Irrewillipe, near Colac, Victoria, Australia

Fruit trees planted in a school in Dang, Nepal

Direct actions

10 THOUSAND TREES positive direct-action projects soak up carbon, but don’t focus on carbon credits, rather on tangible sustainable resource development.

In Nepal, we worked with local communities to turn spaces that were previously barren, full of weeds or makeshift rubbish dumps into a resource for school children in poorer communities and parks for the local community.

Across 10 sites we planted over 10,000 fruit trees. We funded the planting of fruit trees on these sites and provided guidance on making the sites sustainable for the long term. The harvest proceeds provide nutrition, income to pay gardeners for the ongoing upkeep of the trees, and income to start the next site.

The green spaces provide a place for community to come together, exercise, play and just hang out.

Importantly the trees provide better air quality as the trees soak up carbon into their roots, trunk and branches. The sites also serve as a model and inspiration for planting of further trees by local farmers and communities.

Encouraging Australians to be more environmentally conscious

In partnership with media organisations and corporates we have put the message of environmentally sustainable consumption out to over 4 million Australians via multiple communications campaigns.

When it comes to sustainability and climate change perceptions research, we have funded research on consumer behaviour and attitudes towards the environment and sustainable consumption.

Some of the projects our research has recently supported include:

Tread Lightly, which has now recycled over 1 million pairs of shoes in Australia, diverting 500,000 kgs from landfill.

Work with Greenpeace to encourage Australians to care for the environment and support climate advocacy.

Work with AUSactive and City of Sydney on the ECOactive program to make fitness centres more environmentally sustainable.

Sustainability research has also been conducted in a diverse range of industries for individual organisations who can make a difference in their communities, with a range of industries supported from fashion, fast food, fitness, footwear, print and beyond. The research helps our clients understand which sustainability initiatives to prioritise and invest in based on a range of possible initiatives (based on what their customers are most interested in), and how to best communicate sustainability initiatives to consumers in a way that will resonate and create cut through, such that they take up sustainable options.