About us
The entity behind Street Buffet
The Schaffa Foundation is the registered Australian charity behind Street Buffet. This page covers who we are, what we exist to do, and how to verify our registration independently.
Our mission
Dignity isn’t conditional. It shouldn’t have to be earned back before someone gets a hot meal, a kind word, or a place where they’re seen.
Founded by someone who lived through homelessness himself, the Schaffa Foundation meets immediate need with practical, consistent care — and builds the kind of community that keeps showing up long after the first crisis has passed. Street Buffet, our weekly Sunday service, is where that standard was set. Every program we build from here is held to the same one: turn up, every time, with no judgement and no questions asked.
How we work
Four things that don’t change
Consistency
The same standard, every time — because the people relying on us shouldn’t have to wonder if we’ll show up.
Dignity
No forms, no assessment, no proving you deserve help. Support here is never a reward for being deserving enough.
Community
Volunteers, local businesses and neighbours doing the actual work, alongside people — not a program run at them.
Practical action
Every dollar and every donated hour goes to something you could point to — a meal served, a shift covered, a need met.
Founder
Ian Schaffa
Ian Schaffa was homeless at fifteen, sleeping on trains for the best part of three years. He found his way out through martial arts and went on to fight professionally — then went back. In 2015 he formalised what had started as one man handing out a bag of clothes into a registered charity, so the support could outlast any one person and keep showing up on the hardest weeks as reliably as the easiest ones.
That’s the standard the Foundation is still held to — not because it’s the easiest way to run a charity, but because Ian knows firsthand what it costs when the people who are supposed to show up, don’t.
Registration & governance
A registered charity you can verify independently
Every detail below can be checked directly against the public record. This page is built to be a single reference point for funders, partners and grant assessors.
The Schaffa Foundation is registered with the ACNC and its reporting is up to date.
Verify on the ACNC register ↗Additional documentation — governing rules, financial reports, or anything a grant or partnership application requires — is available on request via our contact page.
Help us keep showing up
Every dollar, every donated tray, every Sunday shift keeps the standard going. Support flows through Street Buffet, our flagship program.