FORMER volunteers have pulled back the curtain on Newcastle-based anti-sexual violence organisation What Were You Wearing? Australia (WWYW), alleging financial obscurity, risk of re-traumatisation and a CEO that fosters an environment of "gossip, bullying and lying".
A months-long investigation by the Newcastle Herald has heard from numerous people who have since left the organisation, many who were drawn to volunteer due to their personal experiences with sexual violence.
The Herald has chosen to protect their identities. WWYW declined to answer questions from the Herald and has denied all the allegations.
WWYW founder and chief executive, Sarah Williams, gained national media prominence this week, after an altercation with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at last Saturday's "National Rally Against Violence" in Canberra.
It was one of 17 WWYW rallies held across the country, demanding urgent action on gender-based violence in Australia.
Things took a turn when Mr Albanese told the crowd both he and Minister for Women Katy Gallagher had been denied the opportunity to speak, to which Ms Williams responded, "That's a full-out lie" and burst into tears.
Later on social media, Ms Williams accused the prime minister of "aggressively stating": "I'm the Prime Minister of the country, I run this country" - Mr Albanese has publicly responded saying video footage of the interaction speaks for itself.
'I put fake signatures in'
One of the biggest achievements WWYW claims to date is amending the Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA), garnering more than 20,000 signatures for a state government petition demanding mandatory spiking and sexual violence training for security and bar staff.
Former volunteers allege at least hundreds of those email signatures were forged.
"We were very much struggling to get signatures, and it got to a point where I think we were a month away from the deadline and we only had 6000 signatures or something and it had already been up for 10 months," one said.
As the deadline closed in, volunteers say they were sent pages of names and email addresses which they were asked to enter into the government's online petition system.
"I knew deep down that they weren't doing it the right way and that I was doing the wrong thing," they said.
"I personally know that I put fake signatures in, and I'm very ashamed of myself that I believed this person enough to let myself go against my morals and do that, to do something that's legally wrong because this is a government petition.
"Now looking back and seeing everything that's so structurally wrong and seeing how she [Ms Williams] manipulates people to do things like that, to get things the wrong way, it seriously plays on my mind that I did something that's wrong in the eyes of the law because she told us to."
Another volunteer admitted she knew some of the names in the petition were fake.
"There were only certain people it was expressed to, for me it wasn't like, 'Can you write a list?' It was, 'Just put in anyone's name, it doesn't matter, we just need numbers'."
"Sarah explicitly told me multiple times she understood the system that was in place ... which meant the system did not check emails, it only calculated how many inputs there were and for data security deleted the data," they said.
The Herald has obtained messages discussing the petition, where WWYW's chief financial officer Ethan Fraser, who is understood to be close with Ms Williams, writes in one online chat, referring to email addresses for the petition, "Yeah just make them up! Or literally put the fake ones in hahsha [sic] as long as they follow the structure of an email they will work".
When the legitimacy of the emails was questioned, Mr Fraser wrote in a separate chat, "I just wanna clear up one or two people [sic] concerns about fraud", claiming one of their online files had been corrupted and while they lost all the emails, they still had the names of people who had signed the petition.
"So instead of losing so many valuable signatures I guessed what they were".
Mr Fraser did not respond to a request for comment.
'No one keeping her accountable'
WWYW has amassed over 44,000 Instagram followers, 238,000 TikTok followers and widespread media attention, self-described as an "Indigenous led not-for-profit" organisation.
Since it started in 2021, launched with an art exhibition similar to a project done by an American organisation of the same name, Ms Williams has received several accolades.
She was named the 2023 Local Newcastle Woman of the Year and a finalist for both the Australian Human Rights Awards for the 2023 Young People's Award and 2024 NSW Young Woman of the Year.
But, ex-volunteers say that beneath the surface, the organisation is "poorly managed".
WWYW became an incorporated association in NSW in January, 2023.
According to NSW Fair Trading, incorporated associations have annual reporting obligations, must maintain minutes, proper financial and membership records and registers.
On its website, WWYW lists a board of four individuals, without their titles, including Mr Fraser.
Ex-volunteers said the structure of WWYW is run like a "university club" and is managed "top down".
"There's the CEO, a level of executives who don't really have any power, they just report to the CEO, and all the teams underneath them that essentially all just funnel up to Sarah and there's no one keeping her accountable," one said.
"She's the be-all, end-all."
Where's the money held?
The organisation was registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in May 2022 as an Australian Proprietary Company, subclass Non-Profit Proprietary Company, of which Ms Williams is listed as sole director, secretary and shareholder of 100 issued unpaid Founders Shares.
An online database search shows WWYW is not a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission (ACNC).
Registration with the ACNC is voluntary, however, anyone who raises more than $15,000 in a financial year for a charitable purpose must have an authority to fundraise from NSW Fair Trading.
"All NSW fundraising authority holders have financial reporting obligations," A NSW Fair Trading spokeswoman said.
"If an organisation or an individual is fundraising for a charitable purpose and raises more than $15,000 per annum, then they must hold a NSW fundraising authority.
"There are several exemptions to this requirement, such as fundraising by or for universities, local councils, parents and citizens associations and specified religious organisations."
A search of NSW Fair Trading's online system shows neither WWYW, Sarah Williams or the association 'What Were You Wearing Incorporated' are registered as having applied for or in receipt of a Charitable Fundraising Authority.
This is despite WWYW publicly advertising for donations, receiving more than $35,000 through a recent GoFundMe for its 'No More: National Rally Against Violence' and running multiple fundraisers - including the 2023 Night of Empowerment for which a main objective was the purchase of a car.
But WWYW says that it has at all times complied with its legal obligations as an incorporated association, including as to its fundraising activities.
NSW Fair Trading confirmed it has not received any complaints about What Were You Wearing? Australia, What Were You Wearing Incorporated or founder Sarah Williams.
It's understood that What Were You Wearing Australia Pty Ltd is regulated by ASIC, not NSW Fair Trading.
Ex-volunteers conservatively estimate the organisation has raised at least $70,000 and believe at least some of WWYW's money is held in Ms Williams' bank account.
The Herald has seen numerous transfers from event ticket sales into a bank account in Ms Williams' name totalling thousands of dollars.
The company structure has little public transparency and there are no publicly available records detailing how much money has been donated, raised or where it goes.
Even former volunteers the Herald spoke with said during their time with the organisation they were not aware of exactly how much money WWYW had or any detailed information on how funds were being used.
"On multiple occasions I watched cash be handed over and it went into a personal wallet," one volunteer told the Herald.
"Maybe I wasn't high enough up in the organisation to know where it was going, but to my understanding it was going into personal accounts," they said.
The Herald is not suggesting that Ms Williams has engaged in any fraudulent conduct with respect to the handling of funds belonging to WWYW.
Another said when questioned where money raised at events would be used, Ms Williams would give generic answers like "survivor packs" or "Safe Spaces" but "she could never provide written evidence".
"Everything's a bit of a veneer, like it looks quite good on the outside, but once you probe even a little bit, there's no substance to anything they do, a big example is their festival Safe Spaces," another said.
Risk of re-traumatisation
The Safe Spaces, reported by the ABC as "on-site, secure areas for people impacted by sexual assault or harassment", are supposed to include "trauma-informed counselling, reporting facilities and medical services" for festival-goers.
According to former volunteers, they're little more than a "table with lollies and water" manned by young people "trying their best" with no qualifications, no medical training and no process to appropriately deal with disclosures of sexual violence.
"One of the points I made to Sarah was that our team are not trained in this area and there is potential to re-traumatise our volunteers," a former volunteer said.
"The organisation attracts people who have already experienced these things and feel they're in a place to help others, that's just the state of the organisation.
"We're not trained, we're not trained to deal with so many of these situations we're being put in, we're not trained to take reports when we're at Safe Spaces when people come up and tell us stories."
The nature of the organisation attracts people who have experienced sexual violence or assault, and each of the ex-volunteers the Herald spoke to signed up with the genuine belief they could create change.
Some left disappointed, others angry and many scared, forwarded copies of unsigned non-disclosure agreements and "defamation reminder" letters upon resigning.
Each of them shared their own experiences with bullying, gossip and manipulation.
'Power imbalance and abusive tendencies'
Across the board, volunteers described an alleged incident in Canberra, where a disagreement spun so out of control that four volunteers left the accommodation they were sharing with Ms Williams and spent a night in a caravan park paid for out of their own pockets.
"She just kept yelling at me to the point where I was so taken aback by what she was saying, because I didn't think someone who I'd looked up to so much could speak to me that way," one said.
"Someone I'd done so much for and worked so much for could speak to me the way she did, I just remember tears coming down my face and my voice cracking.
"To this day I will never forgive her, because after that interaction when I was on the ground, I relapsed for the first time in two years self-harming myself because of the way she spoke to me."
Many said they felt scared to speak up to Ms Williams, claiming she could be highly reactive and emotional when presented with suggestions or criticism.
"Sarah has all the authority of the CEO," one said.
"Similar to most other spaces that she goes through, she kind of has that untouchable nature because of what she does."
Other volunteers described gossip and bullying in online chat groups.
"They all had elements of, you know, a power imbalance and abusive tendencies," one said.
"I was there seeing Sarah criticising and putting everyone down, people would try to assist and help and she would then start to attack their character to try to diminish their likeability within the group."
Another described Ms Williams' behaviour as "very manipulative".
"I believe that she is acting in survivor mode constantly and doesn't know how to get out of it, she's very reactive, she's in fight or flight all the time," they said.
"It's really sad, because the premise of the cause is beautiful and based in humanity, and yet her own ego has gotten in the way and it's so sad to see how this has evolved.
"She's not listening to anyone and it's dangerous."
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; MensLine 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
