Australian Ambassador and Consul-General Peter Heyward presented the honor to Irene on Australia Day at the Midwest Down Under soiree hosted by the Australian New Zealand American Chamber of Commerce (ANZACC).

The award has been presented over the last five years to individuals from the Midwest who have contributed to relations between Australia and the Midwest in an outstanding way. As a proud Australian herself, Irene accepted the award at the annual event last week.

Irene was presented the 2019 award for all of her accomplishments since she formed the foundation 10 years ago. She is an advocate of sustainable and market-driven solutions and believes in the power of using philanthropic dollars as catalytic capital for social good. Her approach to grantmaking and impact investing exemplifies this belief as she seeks funding opportunities that enable growth and leverage additional funding.

Irene is also dedicated to leading IDPF in developing programs that move away from aid-dependency, particularly in creating IDPF’s keystone initiative the IDP Rising Schools Program (IDPRSP), a replicable, scalable, and sustainable program that is celebrating its 10th year in 2019. The IDPRSP provides low-fee private school proprietors in Ghana with financial literacy and school management training and access to capital. So far, the program has reached more than 580 school proprietors and nearly 140,000 students. Through all of her philanthropic work, Irene has represented her home country of Australia well and we cannot think of anyone more deserving of this award.

We are so proud of Irene’s accomplishment! Thank you to the Australian Consulate for the great recognition!

Read more about the ANZACC event and award in the February 2019 edition of Fete Lifestyle Magazine here.