Every woman deserves to feel safe. Every child deserves the chance to thrive. We stand alongside women who have experienced gender-based violence and differently abled children, with care that puts people first.
Small acts of care. More possibilities. A future we build together.
At the heart of everything we do
Dignity comes firstEvery ability belongsStronger togetherOur work begins with listening, respecting each person's choices, and seeing the possibilities beyond their circumstances.
Standing alongside women
Women who have experienced gender-based violence deserve to be heard, supported, and free to shape their own futures. Safety, healing, and independence guide our work.
Explore women's empowerment →Celebrating every ability
Differently abled children deserve opportunities to learn, play, and grow. We champion inclusion, accessible care, and support for the families beside them.
Explore care and inclusion →A shared symbol of care and possibility.
Our foundation brings two deeply connected commitments together: standing with women rebuilding their lives, and helping differently abled children grow in a world that includes them.
We believe care starts with respect. With families, communities, and supporters, we work towards a future shaped by dignity rather than barriers.
Find your way to make a difference →Explore the ways we support safety, independence, learning, and inclusion.
Emergency shelters, trauma-informed therapy, legal aid, and long-term recovery for women, girls, and people of all genders escaping violence. From the first safe night to a self-rebuilt life — we stay the whole way.
Survivors become founders. Our flagship Women in Business programme provides seed capital, mentorship, business training, and childcare so women rebuild economic independence — the strongest predictor of long-term safety.
Accessible classrooms, paediatric therapy, mobility & communication devices, and on-site clinical services for differently abled children. We pair every educational placement with the medical and developmental support a child needs to thrive.
Full-tuition scholarships and mentorship for survivors returning to study, the children of survivors, and exceptional students from underserved communities — primary, secondary, and university.
We resource caregivers, fund grassroots advocates, and partner with schools, clinics, and police units to change the systems that fail survivors and exclude disabled children — because real protection is built block by block.
Since 2009, the Adam Demos Foundation has worked at the side of survivors and the families of differently abled children — funding the people closest to the problem, in the places they live, on the timelines healing actually takes.
Every dollar tracked, every outcome measured, every community we serve sees real results.
Actor. Advocate. Son. Founder.
From the steelworks of Wollongong to the screens of Netflix — and a foundation built on love, loss, and an unshakeable sense of purpose.
Adam DemosFounder & Chairman
A man who spent years working in the dust and noise of demolition sites before daring to dream of something different. A son who watched his mother fight cancer for sixteen years and chose to build her legacy into something the world could feel.
Adam is, by his own admission, someone who took the long road. He spent the better part of his twenties working in construction, pouring steel, and pulling down buildings alongside his father in coastal New South Wales. He didn't grow up expecting fame. He didn't study drama in school. He didn't come from a family connected to the entertainment industry.
What he came from was something more enduring: a single mother who raised him with ferocious love, an indestructible sense of community, and a set of values that no amount of Hollywood success has been able to dislodge.
Today he is one of Australia's most recognised actors on the global stage — best known for his breakout role as Brad Simon in Netflix's Sex/Life, with earlier work in Lifetime's UnREAL and Netflix's Falling Inn Love. But for Adam, the most important thing he has ever built is not a filmography. It is a foundation — named for himself, shaped by his mother, and dedicated to the protection of women and the empowerment of children who have been left behind by the world.
At 23, Adam called his mother Lindy and told her he couldn't stop thinking about acting. She didn't laugh. She didn't question whether it was realistic. She went home, opened her computer, and printed out the top eight acting schools in Australia. She handed them to her son and told him to choose one.
He enrolled in Screenwise Film & TV Acting School in Sydney for ten Saturdays — telling his friends and workmates he was picking up extra shifts. He graduated in 2009. He had no connections, no industry contacts, no drama school pedigree. What he had was his mother's belief, a blue-collar work ethic, and the determination of someone who knew what it cost to get to the starting line.
"I was raised by a mum who encouraged me to go with my gut. I called her that day because I couldn't stop thinking about acting."
— Adam Demos, ELLE Australia
Explore the moments that shaped Adam's career, from his early years to his work on screen.
1985 2025Raised by mother Lindy Demos. Tarrawanna Public School, then Dapto High.
Begins working in his father's demolition business and at Port Kembla steelworks.
Screenwise Film & TV Acting School, Sydney — at age 23.
Begins pursuing acting professionally in Australia.
Rescue Special Ops, Home and Away — building craft through small roles.
Cast in Janet King, then UnREAL (Lifetime/USA) as August Walker.
Stars in Falling Inn Love alongside Christina Milian.
Plays Brad Simon in Netflix's Sex/Life; one of streaming's most-watched shows worldwide.
Stars opposite Victoria Justice in the Netflix romantic comedy set in Australia.
Joins Fox's action drama as Will Ready — expanding beyond romantic lead roles.
Founds the Adam Demos Foundation. Loses his mother Lindy to cancer after a 16-year battle.
If Adam Demos is the visible face of this foundation, then Lindy Demos is its invisible heart — the woman whose life, love, and extraordinary courage gave the foundation both its reason and its soul.
Lindy raised Adam on her own — a single mother in a working-class coastal town doing the quiet, relentless, uncelebrated work that single parents do. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and given one year to live. She went on to live for sixteen more — sixteen years of joy, of presence, of defying the odds with the same quiet tenacity that had defined her entire life. She did not allow her diagnosis to define her. She allowed her character to define her diagnosis.
"She raised me on her own and it's been her and I against it all and it's my biggest privilege and honour to be her son."
— Adam Demos, Instagram tribute, August 2025
On 31 August 2025, Adam announced his mother's passing and made a promise that has since become the philosophical spine of everything the foundation stands for: "Best thing I can do now is make sure I try and navigate life with the outlook and integrity she lived with, with the wonder and joy of it all and take her wherever I go." The Adam Demos Foundation is, in the most direct sense, the fulfilment of that promise.
Lindy raised her son to see women as fully human beings deserving of every protection. She modelled what female courage looked like — not the cinematic version, but the daily, unglamorous, persistent version most people never see. Adam knows what it means to be protected. He knows who protected him. He cannot unknow that.
Adam's own journey from a working-class background — where the path he eventually chose simply was not visible to him — gives him a particular empathy for children who face structural barriers. He knows what it means to need someone to see your potential before you can see it yourself. Lindy saw it. Not all children have a Lindy. The foundation exists, in part, to be one.
Lindy Demos was given one year to live.
She chose to live for sixteen more.
Her son chose to make sure she lives forever.
The Adam Demos Foundation is that choice, made permanent. It is the act of saying, to every woman who has been silenced and every child who has been overlooked: I see you. I am here. And this — all of this — is for you.
Founded in honour of Lindy Demos · d. 31 August 2025
The professionals who turn Adam's vision into operational reality every day.
Former UN development specialist driving our operational strategy and programme delivery across all four regions.
Education policy expert who designs and oversees all scholarship and training initiatives.
Data scientist ensuring every programme is measured, evaluated, and continuously improved against published targets.
Trauma-informed clinician with 15 years in shelter operations and GBV crisis response across East and West Africa.
Chartered accountant managing the Foundation's four-region treasury — UK, US, AU and EU — with audited reconciliation into a single global programme budget.
Paediatric occupational therapist and former UNESCO disability advisor leading our inclusive-education and assistive-technology work.
Cross-border non-profit lawyer overseeing compliance, governance, and safeguarding across UK charity, US 501(c)(3), AU DGR and EU e.V. structures.
Builds the Foundation's coalition of shelters, schools, hospitals, and government agencies that turn programme funding into community-led delivery.
Developmental paediatrician who oversees therapeutic programmes, respite care, and the family-support network around every child we serve.
The shelter took me in the night I had nowhere else to go. Two years later, I have my own flat, my kids back in school, and a counsellor I still see every Thursday. They didn't just rescue me — they helped me rebuild.
My son uses a wheelchair and is non-verbal. For years, no school would take him. The Foundation funded his communication device and trained his teacher — he's now in Year 4 and reads with his class every morning.
They don't just write cheques — they show up, they listen, and they stay. Our crisis line answers more calls every year because the Foundation funded the staff to actually answer them.
Adam Demos opens the first Foundation-funded crisis line and emergency safe house for survivors of gender-based violence.
Partnered with three local school districts to fund accessible classrooms and assistive devices for differently abled children.
Reached $2 million invested in shelters, therapy, and inclusive education — supporting more than 5,000 survivors and children.
Surpassed 12,000 direct beneficiaries across 45 communities — 2,400 survivors housed and 1,860 differently abled children enrolled in inclusive classrooms.
There are many ways you can support our mission and help create lasting change.
Your donation funds scholarships, businesses, and community infrastructure that create lasting change.
Donate NowBring your skills and time to mentor, advise, or support our programs on the ground.
Get InvolvedOrganisations that share our values can partner with us to amplify impact across communities.
Contact UsAll donations fund programs directly. We maintain a 92% program efficiency ratio.
A one-time gift of £50 funds therapy for one survivor for two weeks.
Updates from our programmes, the people behind them, and the work we make possible together.