When Juliette Wright OAM became a mum, she never imagined that a pile of baby clothes in her home would spark a movement that would go on to help millions of Australians experiencing hardship.
Appearing on the Mumbition podcast by Mums & Co, GIVIT's Founder shared the deeply personal story behind Australia's national giving platform, reflecting on the challenges, sacrifices and lessons learned while building an organisation that is transforming the way Australians give.
A simple question that changed everything
In 2009, Juliette found herself with an abundance of baby clothes after the birth of her second child, Hudson.
"I was given so many beautiful baby clothes," she said. "There were clothes that Hudson never even got to wear because he grew so quickly." Wanting the clothes to go directly to someone who needed them, Juliette began contacting charities. What she discovered surprised her.
Many organisations didn't need baby clothes at all. Instead, they needed highly specific items for the people they were supporting.
One request in particular stayed with her. A charity supporting a mother and child experiencing homelessness explained they urgently needed a pair of closed-toe work boots for the child's father. The boots would allow him to secure road work, earn an income and help the family get back on their feet.
"Are you telling me a pair of boots is going to pull a family out of poverty?" Juliette recalled asking.
The answer was yes.
That conversation opened her eyes to a critical gap between what Australians wanted to donate and what people actually needed.
Watch the full conversation with Juliette Wright OAM on the Mumbition podcast
Thank you to our National Disaster and Emergency Partner NRMA Insurance, a longtime supporter of Mums & Co, for helping make this opportunity possible.
Building a solution from the ground up
Determined to bridge that gap, Juliette began building GIVIT from her kitchen table.
It wasn't easy. There were failed website builds, limited funds and plenty of setbacks. As a mother of two young children, she was trying to create something entirely new while juggling family life.
"I failed building the website a few times," she laughed. But she persisted.
The idea was simple: give charities a way to request exactly what their clients needed and allow donors to respond directly to those requests.
Over time, GIVIT evolved into a unique platform that now enables charities and community organisations to request goods, services, and time for people experiencing hardship. It also includes an online warehouse where people can list quality items they wish to donate.
Today, GIVIT supports thousands of charities and community organisations across the country, helping connect generosity with genuine need.
The power of listening
One of the biggest lessons Juliette learned was that assumptions can be misleading.
"We're really bad at guessing what people need," she said. What might seem like a small or unusual request can often be life-changing.
One story involved a young refugee who received a pair of football boots through GIVIT. The donation gave him much more than access to sport. He joined a team, built friendships, found mentors and became part of a community.
Another story had an even deeper impact on Juliette. A social worker requested a boxing bag for a family. Initially, Juliette questioned whether it was a genuine need. After the item was donated, the family shared that the boys using the boxing bag had stopped physically lashing out at their mother.
"It taught me that we don't know what people are living with," Juliette said.
Since then, she has trusted the expertise of the social workers, support workers and charities that make requests through GIVIT every day.
Helping people impacted by disasters has become one of GIVIT's greatest strengths
Redefining disaster recovery
As GIVIT grew, Juliette recognised another important challenge.
In times of disaster, well-intentioned donations can often create additional problems for affected communities. Truckloads of unrequested goods can overwhelm emergency services, volunteers and local councils.
So GIVIT made a bold decision.
Instead of encouraging physical goods to flow into disaster zones, the organisation shifted towards raising funds that could be spent locally on exactly what people needed.
At the time, Juliette worried the decision might fail. Instead, it became one of GIVIT's greatest strengths.
By purchasing goods and services through local businesses, donated funds support both individuals recovering from disaster and the economies of affected communities. The model has helped direct significant support into communities recovering from fires, floods, cyclones and other emergencies across Australia.
Balancing motherhood and mission
While building GIVIT has been incredibly rewarding, Juliette was also candid about the challenges of being both a founder and a mother.
She spoke openly about missing school events, juggling disaster responses and carrying the guilt that many working parents know all too well. "There were sacrifices," she said. "The guilt was insane."
Yet she also reflected on the resilience families build together through those experiences and the importance of being honest about the realities of balancing work, purpose and parenting. Her story will resonate with many women who are growing careers, businesses and families at the same time.
Looking ahead
Today, GIVIT continues to evolve, with one clear goal: helping people in need get support faster.
With requests for essential items arriving every few minutes from charities and community organisations across Australia, the focus remains on connecting generosity with need as efficiently as possible.
For Juliette, the vision is simple.
"To see a need, fulfil a need," she said.
What began as one mother's determination to find a home for some unused baby clothes has grown into a national movement powered by kindness, community and practical support. And through every challenge, every difficult conversation and every setback along the way, Juliette has held onto one belief: "We can do hard things."
For the thousands of Australians helped through GIVIT every year, that's a philosophy that continues to make a life-changing difference.
