“Mum, I can do anything with this dog by my side!”
These joyful words from a young girl in a wheelchair more than 20 years ago were what convinced the founders of Assistance Dogs Australia (ADA) to start this charity that now provides assistance dogs to support and bring comfort to people living with physical disabilities, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
ADA undertakes all breeding and training to ensure assistance dogs become highly proficient to help their future clients with everyday life.
It takes two years to train an assistance dog, which amounts to approximately $60,000 per dog, and covers all training, veterinary treatment, kennelling costs and placement with a client.
ADA places its assistance dogs for free, and without any government funding, they rely solely on the generosity and philanthropy of individuals and organisations.
A meaningful business and community collaboration.
ADA’s finance manager had her personal banking with Beyond Bank, which prompted her to reach out about business lending options to build a new dog training facility in Orchard Hills in Western Sydney.
Bernard Meadowcroft, Beyond Bank’s Business Banking Manager, worked with ADA to secure a $6 million loan to build their training facility before facilitating an introduction to Sharon Debevc, Beyond Bank’s Community Development Manager in Sydney, to explore community partnership opportunities.
Beyond Bank then invited ADA to participate in its 2025 Double Donation fundraiser, which was an overwhelming success, raising more than $54,000 over two days, $10,000 of which was provided by Beyond Bank’s matched donations.
ADA was delighted with the outcome, as they had participated in matched fundraisers before but had never experienced this level of success, especially over such a short period.
"What started out as a business loan to support the development of our National Training Centre has extended into a meaningful partnership including community fundraising, whereby Beyond Bank helped ADA exceed expectations through a matching donation day. We are grateful to Beyond Bank for their support of ADA and we look forward to continued collaboration."
