Based on a conversation between Sandra Duncan and Ishka Massey for Northern Rivers Community Foundation (NRCF).
Ishka Massey didn’t set out to be a philanthropist. She set out to survive, and eventually, to thrive. Raised in Brisbane, Ishka learned early to rely on her own resourcefulness. As a child she sold lollies at school, raised chickens and ducks, and even wrote them “birth certificates” before selling some to feed the others. That mix of grit and care became her signature: make your own way, and share what you can.
Learning to back herself
In her twenties, while living in Sydney, Ishka set her sights on buying her first flat. On a junior salary it wasn’t easy, but she persisted with the bank until she secured the loan herself. She bought a two-bedroom unit in Bondi, rented out the spare room, and discovered something that shaped the rest of her life: assets could create breathing room, and breathing room could create options to help others.
“I always bought more space than I needed,” she says. “So I could invite others in.” For Ishka, property and income were never about accumulating wealth for its own sake – they were about creating capacity, both for herself and for those around her.
Money as a resource
Over the years, Ishka has developed a pragmatic and almost playful relationship with money. “It’s just a resource,” she explains. “If you say you don’t like money, why would it be attracted to you?” She recalls playing Monopoly as a child, tucking her notes quietly under the board until Mayfair came up, and as an adult dropping a gold coin into a dolphin money box each night. The rituals were less about the sums involved, and more about forming a friendship with money.
The more money she makes, the more she can donate and share – supporting those who may not have the same financial means but who contribute through their own forms of strength, energy, and action. Her philosophy is simple: “We all have our unique set of circumstances and gifts to share. Mine happens to be dollars, while others are able to offer their time or physical energy. It all matters.”
Asked what she’d tell her 21-year-old self, she doesn’t hesitate: “Trust yourself. Be direct. Be authentic.”
Why she gives
Ishka’s approach to philanthropy is simple: “I give because I can. And because giving is how I receive.”
She recalls a friend confiding that he was struggling financially, particularly with the cost of his daughter’s braces. Ishka quietly slipped an envelope of cash into his glovebox. “It doesn’t have to be grand or public,” she says. “Sometimes it’s just seeing what someone needs, right now, and meeting it. For him, it was life-changing. For me, it wasn’t such a stretch.”
Her giving often extends beyond individuals to bigger ideas about care. One passion she often returns to is mental health – the need for compassionate, non-escalatory support for people in distress. She imagines a local network of trained listeners who can meet people where they are, “without judgment or bureaucracy.” It’s a vision that reflects her belief that philanthropy can build not just services, but the very infrastructure of kindness.
Finding belonging
Ishka’s sense of belonging has deepened since moving to the Northern Rivers in the early 2000s. Over time, she discovered a culture of community care she wanted to support. At NRCF, she says she now feels “the love and the purpose” in a way that matters deeply. “People here do it for the right reasons,” she explains.
For Ishka, philanthropy isn’t only about dollars. It’s about connection: creating ways for people to contribute meaningfully, to be seen, and to see their impact.
Ishka’s three invitations to fellow donors
• Start now, start small, start warm. The perfect moment won’t arrive. A timely $500 or $5,000 can change a life today.
• Give to capacity as well as cause. Rooms to rent, floors to dance on, seed funding for a pilot – these all create conditions for impact.
• Back kindness as infrastructure. Help build the supports that make our region gentler: listeners on the line, peers who show up, spaces where people can breathe.
Her message is as practical as it is heartfelt: “Give because you can. And watch what grows.”