GIVING BACK TO D3G

Thankyou for visiting this page, and may we respectfully ask that you consider "giving back to D3G" for the following great reasons (pretty please).

D3G makes its educational & research resources available for free mostly because our mission – embodied as the D3 movement – is to mobilise an international, science-driven, child health movement to improve societies worldwide. In other words, to maximise access for the masses, we must avoid payment barriers (i.e. maintain "open access").

We're absolutely thrilled at how widely our free content is used – for example, early in 2022 this main D3G website (which you'll note remains free of adverts) passed the significant milestone of "10 million hits". So, while recognising this as just a proxy measure, it appears
we're indeed accomplishing high social value by providing highest
quality content for free.

Of course such generosity comes with a big "but" because we face many expenses to "keep the D3 ship afloat". Despite running D3G "on the smell of an oily rag" and with loads of reciprocal generosity – from unpaid volunteers, fund-raising initiatives, sponsorship, gifts – plus some revenue generation of our own, we struggle to make ends meet. This "threadbare charity" status leaves many great opportunities on hold and some worthy requests unfulfilled. We can either rue how much more social good could be achieved with better resourcing, or maybe we can convince you to please help us do something about it.

Consequently, we ask those of you who routinely benefit from our services – particularly dental and other health providers, and D3-affected families in a position to afford it – to give back to D3G through one or more of the 4 options below.

Additional information about D3G's philanthropic origins, fundraising goals, and other giving opportunities is provided further below.

1. DONATE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

D3G is a charitable network managed under auspice of The University of Melbourne – a leading Australian university that attracts worldwide acclaim in the research and education domains.

To provide financial support for D3G's activities across these academic domains, a tax-deductible donation can be made using the secure online facilities here – simply select one-time or recurring gift and enter the amount. For tax-deductibility outside Australia see here. Be assured that 100% of every donation comes to D3G via MRUFD with no slicing. You may specify that your gift goes toward our current fundraising goal, our social-good efforts in education, research and advocacy, or 'Sam's Story Club' (see below). Please contact D3G's Director with any such requests or questions.

For benefactors considering larger gifts, please contact D3G Director Mike Hubbard to discuss your interests, thoughts and goals.

2. 'SAM'S STORY CLUB'

'Sam's Story Club' is a social-good initiative whereby anyone, anywhere, can help needy children facing the often-daunting challenges of 'chalky molars' (Molar Hypomineralisation). By sponsoring gifts of 'Sam's Storybook' to families in the public-healthcare sector, you simultaneously support the globally unique research and educational activities of D3G. Your gift therefore has exceptionally far-reaching potential to make a real difference in both the short and longer terms. Read more about this initiative and sponsorship acknowledgements here.

Option 1

We distribute the books to children in need through our partner organisations in the public sector. In some instances we might need to discuss distribution costs with you.

Option 2

We send you the books to distribute as you please (e.g. via school dental clinics, community health clinics or libraries in your region). You cover our postage costs.

For both options

1. Simply gift at least 20 books (AU$100, about US$80).
2. For Option 1, use our e-shop below to complete your gift purchase (contact us for gifts over 200 books).
3. For Option 2, please contact us first to discuss delivery options and costs.
4. For charitable giving in Australia (DGR tax receipt), make an online donation (see above section, $100 minimum) and then tell us its purpose.
5. Please contact us if you have any questions or wish to decline public acknowledgement of your gift.

3. 'D3 PAY IT FORWARD' – SHARING D3 LOVE

Many people from all walks of life tell us they love what we're doing with D3G – and so do we. We also embrace the humanistic ethos of doing good deeds and sharing things you like, as captured by the Pay it Forward movement.

'D3 Pay it Forward' is now available for D3G membership, event registration and 'Sam's Storybook'. We intend to develop a variety of additional options for you to "Share D3 love" with those in less-fortunate circumstances – suggestions welcomed!

4. 'D3 LEARNING LOOP' – PAY TO LEARN & HELP FUND NEW SCIENCE

Spurred on by our international workshop in 2020, 'D3 Learning Loop' (see here) is D3G's innovative social enterprise approach to driving new understanding through D3 research and learning. Paying for these exclusive educational opportunities enables you to learn today's
"latest and greatest" while contributing towards tomorrow's scientific advances and education. In other words, this is a positive feedback
loop that uses science-driven education to fund new science
(see Graphic) and also combines "user pays" with "giving back for
social good".

Since launching in 2013, all our educational content has been available for free thanks to D3G's philanthropic origins and subsequent charitable contributions from many insiders and external entities. This charitable
stance has been wonderful from a translational perspective (i.e. open
accessibility to everyone) but it does limit the type and amount of content
we can deliver. Hence, given growing demand for additional "premium
content" (e.g. tailored to specific audiences, alternative languages) together
with D3G's world-leading status as a science-informed D3-education provider,
it seems worthy to pursue self-sufficiency while expanding our reach as a
social enterprise.

Rest assured, our charitable sentiments and support structures will remain and hopefully grow, enabling continued free access to the bulk of our educational content. Moreover, we hope that our premium 'D3 Learning Loop' initiatives will generate sufficient revenue to not only support expansion of our free educational offerings, but also to eventually enable internal funding of D3 research.

As always, we invite thoughts about how this innovative social venture might be implemented and improved (contact the Director).

D3G WAS BORN FROM PHILANTHROPY

D3G was born out of the generosity of Melbourne philanthropists, Allan and Maria Myers AC, who funded establishment of MRUFD as a translational research and education initiative to improve child health innovatively. Additional charitable support and helping hands have came from across Australia and New Zealand in the early days, and increasingly from abroad after we internationalised in 2017. With D3G's social impact potential now well validated, exciting greenfield opportunities identified (Toronto events, HB=ST campaign), and a social enterprise venture underway, the time is ripe for major engagement with investors interested in science-driven social good. We'd particularly like to hear from potential collaborators in the venture philanthropy and social impact domains.

OUR CURRENT FUNDRAISING GOAL

A very clever pair of hands to help Mike

Until recently, D3G's founder Mike Hubbard has been running D3G almost single-handedly in his unpaid spare time – as a "giving-back-to-society thanks" for his tax-payer-funded career as a biomedical scientist. However, with D3G workload blossoming beyond our collective capacity to deliver (i.e. Mike and other volunteers), D3G has enlisted the helping hands of Sharon Dunn who of course is famous in "D3 land" as our website designer and illustrator of 'Sam's Storybook'. Generously, Sharon is working at a discounted rate to "give D3G a helping hand" – but as primary breadwinner and with a young child, Sharon does need to be paid.

So our current goal is to raise at least AU$50,000 to cover external expenses and pay Sharon for secretarial, project management, website development and volunteer-coordination ("cat herding") tasks she is highly experienced in. Naturally, we will be putting Sharon's design skills to good effect across various revenue-generating opportunities with a view to her position becoming self-supporting before long. For example, 'Sams' Story' and our membership offerings are now available online, and a 'Sam & friends' poster for the clinic, and continuing-education offerings for practitioners are under development ('D3 Learning Loop').

OTHER GIVING OPPORTUNITIES

Given the diverse componentry of our science-translation network, we realise there'll be many opportunities and mechanisms for supporting D3G besides those outlined above. We also realise you may have ideas we haven't thought about. So please contact the Director (Mike Hubbard) for further information and discussion.

Pro bono work

Professionals (journalism, marketing & comms, business, legal, healthcare) interested in making in-kind (pro bono) contributions to our social-good mission are also encouraged to contact Mike.