White Ribbon is a social change movement facilitated in Australia through White Ribbon Australia - limited by guarantee and with deductable gift recipient status under Australian Taxation Law.  The organisation exists for the purpose of driving a social movement that works through a primary prevention approach understanding that men are central to achieving the social change necessary to prevent men’s violence against women. White Ribbon engages men to stand up, speak out and act to influence the actions of those men that abuse women and demand change. 

White Ribbon has established itself as a well recognised organisation worldwide committed to the prevention of violence against women.  It has 75% brand awareness which is the result of the investment of considerable time and financial resources over a 14 year period. The White Ribbon is our symbol, nurtured and grown over several decades. In Australia it has near-universal recognition as the embodiment of the issue of the prevention of domestic violence.

Concurrently, the white ribbon provides a significant revenue stream for our organisation, noting that over 90% of the funding for the White Ribbon primary prevention work comes from fundraising, corporate, philanthropic and community sponsorship.  Merchandise sales take place through our website, at events and at fundraisers. We carefully source quality, sustainable and ethical manufacturers to ensure our merchandise provides a revenue stream whilst maintaining quality standards commensurate with the integrity of the organisation.

The Ribbon Supply Issue

1. Community group self-supply of white ribbons

• Permission is granted to make and wear the white Ribbon if its use is for awareness raising only. Production in this manner must not be attached to any fundraising.

• Sometimes groups or committees want to use the white ribbon as an expression of their support for the cause, but rather than purchase our product they wish to make their own white ribbon pins. As with the above, production in this manner must not be attached to any fundraising.

2. Sale of handmade white ribbons

• No hand-made ribbons can be sold to raise funds. All fundraising ribbons must be purchased from White Ribbon Australia. The raising of funds by selling hand-made ribbons constitutes to fraud. The white ribbon is recognised as the symbol of our organisation, so purchasers of white ribbons assume they are donating to White Ribbon Australia.

• For those looking to sell ribbons or wristbands at their event, then we encourage you to purchase an appropriate amount (dependent on expected number of attendees) and this can be resold at the same price they were purchased for with proceeds being donated back to White Ribbon. Please be advised whatever is not sold (whether opened or unopened) cannot be refunded so please ensure you do not over order. This is also outlined in our refund policy – click here to view. We kindly ask all event hosts to register their event (whether small or large) via our website (click here) to receive approval an 'Authority to Fundraise' letter. This is the legal approval from White Ribbon Australia permitting you to legally fundraise for us, use our resources, and our ‘in support of’ logo). It also grants access to our events portal where you can update your event, add blog posts/photos, deposit funds raised, browse resources, and more. **Please be mindful, we do not facilitate discounts when purchasing items in bulk.

This policy applies to all individuals, organisations and groups, including White Ribbon Committees and schools.

The community is encouraged to purchase individual White Ribbons through our online shop for larger quantities as this source ensures the cost can be claimed as a tax-deduction.

It is the requirement of White Ribbon Australia that merchandise designed and manufactured as part of the of the movement be purchased from White Ribbon online store.