Billionaire Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins will apply the feedback machinery that helped bring her $100 billion design company to public life, launching a global platform on Friday that asks communities what is important to them.
The Global Goals Platform from Canva will ask a single question: βWhat is one goal you would like to see achieved in your lifetime?β and will publish where the answers overlap, in what Perkins describes as one of the most significant initiatives in the companyβs history.
The idea comes directly from how Canva operates. The company receives about 4 million pieces of feedback from users each year, some of which lead to new features in its software, then emails the person who asked to tell them it happened.
βThey canβt believe that we actually listened to them,β Perkins said. βWe think that this responsiveness and inviting people into the co-development of Canva has been really powerful. But we donβt always see that in the way we interact with government.β
It is an unusual proposition: that a mechanism designed for 265 million monthly users choosing between graphic design templates can transfer to democratic priorities. Perkins has been sitting with the idea for more than 10 years.
The first test is Wollongong, the city just south of Sydney that hosted Canvaβs first user tests more than a decade ago.
Its more than 220,000 residents will be invited from July 24 to submit what they want for their community, in a partnership with Wollongong City Council.
βWollongong has certainly been near and dear to our hearts,β Perkins said. βTheyβve been an extraordinarily innovative council and been really great to work with.β
Lord Mayor Tania Brown said the council had a strong engagement record but knew its limits. βThere are voices we donβt always get to hear,β she said. βThis is an opportunity for people to take a fresh look at local government and to build understanding that they can help drive Wollongongβs future.β
The council is not obliged to adopt ideas submitted through the platform, which is being funded by both the city and Canva. βThis is definitely just the first step,β Perkins said. βItβs going to be an absolutely collective effort to bring any of those goals to life.β
A second pilot will run in the United States with the Ad Council, a non-profit that promotes for good causes, pairing open submissions with nationally representative research due in September. Both will feed an into a report to be published late this year.
Early responses have asked for community spaces and for more native plants in the neighbourhood.
The platform builds on the Canva Foundationβs work in Malawi, where more than 130,000 people have received unconditional cash transfers of about $US550 ($785) each through non-profit organisation GiveDirectly, funded by $US50 million from the foundation since 2021. Canva says 90 per cent of people reached are now living above the extreme poverty line.
Households are tracked against what Perkins describes as βguiding starsβ: a dry roof, a comfortable place to sleep, two meals a day.
The premise is that people know what they need without being told. Perkinsβ philosophy is different to fellow tech billionaire Elon Muskβs approach, where money is directed to a specific vision of the world.
βRather than me saying I think someone in Malawi in a rural community needs XYZ, actually saying hereβs some money, how would you like to spend it?β Perkins said. βI think that is a really important way weβre thinking about it, rather than me feeling like I know better for other people.β
Canvaβs foundation has deployed more than $100 million since Perkins and Obrecht pledged in 2021 to give away the vast majority of their wealth, alongside $2.5 billion worth of donated subscriptions to schools and charities.
Asked what happens if the pilot programs do not work, Perkins said that was the point of a pilot. βIβm sure weβre going to learn a hell of a lot through the process.β
Politicians at all levels in Australia already have numerous ways to get feedback from their constituents. Many meet with them in person, scan social media feeds, and receive direct correspondence.
Despite increasing political polarisation, trust in government is high in Australia by global standards. Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a club of mostly wealthy countries, found that in 2024, 49 per cent of Australians expressed confidence in the national government, substantially above France at 37 per cent and the United States at 29 per cent. But the trust percentage is down from 2006, when 53 per cent of Australians trusted the government.
Canva is a year into an AI-first rebuild with its valuation under scrutiny, and Obrecht told this masthead in April that a Nasdaq listing was likely in 2027. Asked what would decide the timing, Perkins said: βNothing exciting to report.β
She is more willing to talk about the other thing. βIf we donβt dream about a better world, you canβt possibly create it.β
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David Swan is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X or email.