In conversation with: Anne-Laure Cavigneaux

Over the last six years, Anne-Laure has completely transformed The Queen’s Fund’s visual identity and corporate branding, as is evident in the high quality of our annual reports and social media communications.

When she is not volunteering for The Queen’s Fund, Anne-Laure is Creative Director with March.Studio, an architectural firm based in North Melbourne.

Anne-Laure’s first involvement with The Queen’s Fund began in 2016 when she helped Committee member Sophie Bernardeau-Short run a public design competition to find a new logo for The Queen’s Fund. Sabine Cotte’s striking logo won the competition and is still used by The Queen’s Fund today.

During the course of the competition, Anne-Laure was inspired by the “relentless and incredible work of the other Committee members” and decided she wanted to donate her substantial graphic design and branding skills to The Queen’s Fund on an ongoing basis. Anne-Laure liked the fact that The Queen’s Fund was “unique in all its aspects, and crucial due to its local impact and fast turnaround.”

Anne-Laure likes the flexibility of The Queen’s Fund funding and the “compassionate, reactive and impartial” way a grant from The Queen’s Fund can have an impact on a woman in need’s life. In recent months, her Referrals Subcommittee team has approved funding for a citizenship certificate so a victim of family violence could access financial support from the Government; money to buy fresh drinking water for a house not connected to mains; and paid for a TV to provide comfort to an autistic child who could not access necessary services during the pandemic.

Anne-Laure is impressed with the way The Queen’s Fund pivoted during the COVID-19 lockdowns, introducing remote referrals and an online pre-approval process to ensure that vulnerable women and children were still receiving the help they needed. “As the world is changing, and becoming more complex, The Queen’s Fund is not afraid of re-thinking its way of doing things and constantly looking for improved solutions and methodology,” says Anne Laure.

While there have been significant organisational changes during her time on Committee, Anne-Laure has noticed that the major reasons why women seek assistance from The Queen’s Fund have remained the same - family violence and homelessness. “Every month we hear about so many heartbreaking stories of women and children’s lives being at risk, and it is hard to comprehend how in 2022 it is still possible that this happens,” says Anne-Laure.

In a perfect world, Anne-Laure wishes that The Queen’s Fund will have helped all the vulnerable women and children of Victoria so that its assistance is no longer required. Unfortunately, she believes The Queen’s Fund will remain very busy as new challenges (pandemic global warming, rise in the cost of living) compound ongoing challenges such as inequality, gender gaps, housing crisis and education challenges.

The Queen’s Fund is 100% run by volunteers. If you’re interested in volunteering your skills and time with The Queen’s Fund, contact us at enquiries@queensfund.org.au