philanthropyOz Blog

Guest Post: I Will Week

This post written by Craig Dent, State Trustees.

State Trustees recently commissioned national research to delve deeper into what prompts people to make a Will and whether people follow through on their intentions to leave a bequest to charity.

The research is being launched during I Will Week 2013 to raise awareness of the importance of having an up-to-date Will, how easy it is to get it sorted and how important it is to take care of the people and things you love the most.

Running until 23 June, the campaign poses the question (and reiterates the response) through the tagline, “Love it? Will it.”

As Australians, we pride ourselves on being generous, offering to give a helping hand to those less fortunate. Our sense of charitable community contribution is second to none.

A study conducted by the Salvation Army found that 29 per cent of Australians would nominate a social cause or non-profit organisation as a beneficiary in their Will. However, the survey by State Trustees found that only 12 per cent actually followed through on their word and made a charitable bequest in their Will.

The study also found that people from New South Wales and Victoria were more charitable than other states with 11 per cent leaving a donation.

Part of the message during I Will Week is, if there is a charity or non-profit organisation that has made a difference to you or that holds a special place in your heart, be sure to include it in your Will.

Whether it is leaving a bequest directly to a charity or through a charitable trust fund such as the State Trustees Australia Foundation, even a small amount can go a long way and leave behind a legacy that will live long beyond your years.

Some of the research results as well as more information about the I Will Week campaign is available at www.iwillweek.com.au.

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Connect with Craig on LinkedIn to find out more about State Trustees

As part of I Will Week 2013, State Trustees is offering Victorians a special one-off deal for those who sign up their first Will with State Trustees. State Trustees is pleased to offer 30% off the standard price of preparing a Will*. Alternatively, if you think a State Trustees Legal Will Kit is for you, we will store your Will in The Victorian Will Bank for free: a safe and secure storage to keep your Will.

*Conditions apply to the 30 per cent discount offer, so please refer to the full terms and conditions which are available at www.iwillweek.com.au.

End of Financial Year Donations

As June 30 is approaching fast, we’d like to let grantmakers know that we have provided a simple guide on our website for end of financial year donations:
http://www.philanthropy.org.au/involved/end-of-financial-year.html

If you are looking to disperse funds within your local community, our Members include many Community Foundations whose sub-funds invest directly into their geographic area.

Are you checking the legal status of your grantees to ensure you are not open to ATO penalties?

1. Visit www.abr.business.gov.au

2. Enter name or ABN of grant recipient organisation

3. Under Deductible gift recipient status check your grantee is “covered by Item 1 of the table in section 30-15 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997″

4. If your grantee organisation is “a public ancillary fund covered by Item 2 of the table in section 30-15 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997″ then a Private Ancillary Fund (PAF) cannot legally fund it

Need a quick refresher? BOOK NOW for our next Governance Workshop (Melbourne) Wednesday 26 June, 9.00am - 12noon

Living the Dream: Looking for your next inspiration?

Following our successful PAF Roadshow earlier this year, Philanthropy Australia’s Alison Beare was recently asked to write an article on the benefits of philanthropy for the inaugural May issue of Living the Dream magazine, a new lifestyle publication for people over their 40’s. She outlines how private planned philanthropy works, the benefits of investing in community projects in your retirement, and shows how some of our most admirable Australian philanthropists’ passions have led them to new and fulfilling stages of life.

Philanthropy is fast becoming the next buzzword for high-net-worth individuals in Australia. With levels of wealth on the rise, more and more Australians are turning their ‘incidental giving’ into a concentrated and concerted affair, central to their own, and often their families’, lifestyles.

The question that naturally follows is, ‘What motivates someone to set up their own foundation in the first place?’

I was fortunate to find some answers to this question as I travelled around the country for Philanthropy Australia’s recent national roadshow of seminars, which were designed to promote the tax-effective benefits of structured giving via two of the most popular vehicles: Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs) and Public Ancillary Funds (PuAFs). With a swag of high-profile speakers – including
money man Paul Clitheroe; Maureen Wheeler of Lonely Planet fame; Allan English, founder of Silverchef; Neil Balnaves, founder of the Southern Star Group, Australia’s largest TV production and distribution company; and Peter Hunt, chairman and co-founder of Greenhill Caliburn – I had expected a diverse range of motivating factors to be presented. But what eventuated was a set of commonalities.

Without exception, these high-profile entrepreneurs are self-made millionaires, ranging in age from early 50s to mid-60s. They all started out by giving to charitable causes on an ad hoc basis until eventually, their success precipitated an external event that became the tipping point for them to look into philanthropy. For most of the speakers, this tipping point was a large tax liability
due to a significant capital gain.

Having built their businesses during the 1980s and 1990s, these business founders were fortunate that the government introduced Private Prescribed Funds (PPFs) in 2001, which were renamed Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs) in 2009. This legislation was designed to encourage structured philanthropy, and today there are over 1000 PAFs in Australia. These PAFs hold a combined corpus of almost $3 billion, and legally they must distribute five per cent of the total corpus annually to not-for-profit organisations with tax-deductible status. Collectively, this equates to in excess of $200 million per annum. The money that goes into a PAF is irretrievable, and does not form part of the founder’s estate. The Australian Tax Office has compliance requirements, in much the same way they do with self-managed superannuation funds.

They were utterly amazed at the positive effect that giving had had on their families: largely, active involvement.

So, for our entrepreneurs, PAFs provided a tax-effective solution with the added bonus of preserving the decisionmaking over which organisations to support, and for how much, rather than leaving it to government.

What surprised me was that, in telling their personal stories, each of our speakers ended up at the same place. They had not expected to receive so much pleasure from their giving. They emphasised how much the experience had enriched their lives. They were utterly amazed at the positive effect that giving had had on their families: largely, active involvement. Philanthropy opened up discussion and debate about family values, inheritance and entitlement. In a real and meaningful way, it was the catalyst for intergenerational philanthropy, rather than just wealth transfer.

Continue reading Living the Dream: Looking for your next inspiration?…

Bill Gates in Australia; inspiring philanthropy

Philanthropist Bill Gates has been inspiring Australians with his dedication to, and promotion of, philanthropy. Here’s some of the Gates-related coverage from this week.

• Bill Gates appeared on a special edition of the ABC’s Q&A program on Tuesday, 29 May, with several Australian philanthropy experts in the audience including CEO Louise Walsh. The program will be available to view on ABC’s iview until Tuesday 11 June.
• A transcript of the program is also available on tveeder.
• Sydney Morning Herald: Philanthropist wants an end to polio, malaria and AIDS
• Sydney Morning Herald: Show me the money: Gates talks aid
• The Age: Gates inspires a new generation
• SmartCompany: “We don’t pretend the nature of our investments is the good we do for the world”: Six surprising takeouts from Bill Gates on Q&A last night
• ABC: Microsoft founder Bill Gates says rich should pay more taxes

Transcript of Kevin Murphy’s Keynote at 2013 AGM

Kevin Murphy’s Keynote Address, Philanthropy Australia AGM, 16 April 2013

Kevin Murphy is President of Berks County Community Foundation and chair of the Council on Foundations. He spoke at Philanthropy Australia’s AGM in Melbourne with the support of Australian Communities Foundation.

Thank you Louise.

It occurs to me that we are truly blessed in this field.

When we’re dealing with our donors, we’re working with people who have made incredibly selfless commitments to the common good.

When we’re working with our grantees, we are working with people who have foregone many other options to dedicate their lives to the service of others.

We work with the best of humanity and we work with them at their best.

Today, we received a stark reminder from Boston that there are dark forces as work as well.

Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues and friends in Boston as they begin to deal with the horrible tragedy there. But our work must go on, as we MUST overcome the evil that happened there.

Thank you for inviting me. I bring greetings from Vikki Spruill, the President and CEO of the Council on Foundations and our 1750 member foundations.

I arrived here fresh from presiding over the Council’s AGM in Chicago last week and attending the Philanthropy New Zealand AGM earlier this week. I may be setting some kind of world record for AGM attendance in a two-week period.

Fresh off those experiences and a week of thinking about philanthropy, Louise asked me to talk with you a little bit about two or three key trends in global philanthropy and what I think they mean.

Continue reading Transcript of Kevin Murphy’s Keynote at 2013 AGM…

Gates/Buffett Giving Pledge signs its first Australians

Andrew and Nicola Forrest have become the first Australians to sign the Giving Pledge, committing to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.

The Giving Pledge was instituted by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010 as a way to encourage a greater level of giving among the world’s billionaires or those who would be billionaires if not for their giving. Signatories make a commitment to devote more than half of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes.

Andrew and Nicola Forrest were announced as signatories overnight, part of the first cohort of overseas billionaires who have signed up including Richard and Joan Branson from the UK as well as signatories from Germany, India, Malaysia, Russia, South Africa, and Ukraine.

All eyes are now on the rest of Australia’s 18 billionaires - will more join the Forrests and sign the Giving Pledge?

Guest Post: Seven habits of highly-effective natural disaster recovery granting

This post written by Alex Gartmann, Foundation For Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR). See Part One here.

Previously, I wrote about the overarching issues that need to be considered in responding to the natural disasters which have continued to unfold around us. In this post, I want to share some practical lessons and principles that we have used to guide our activities in the natural disaster recovery space.

1. The first principle is that it’s critical to recognise that recovery is a marathon rather than a sprint. The emergency response and first recovery phase can take up to 12 months; full recovery can take up to 10 years. Accordingly, we advocate thinking about philanthropic spend over the long term. Short term relief is absolutely critical, but there are often many other government agencies involved in the first 12 months. Yet they move on to other issues, or disasters, after about 12 months. Our tip therefore is to commit 40% of your allocation to emergency assistance and response (the first year), and 60% for medium to long term recovery (providing support long after the media and high intensity support has disappeared).
2. A second principle we learnt following the 2009 Victorian bushfires was the importance of philanthropic, government and private sector collaboration for recovery. There is a need to support and collaborate at the time of a disaster, and for the duration of the disaster recovery. Collaboration means we can better manage duplication; we use each other’s strengths and skills more effectively. It also means stressed communities have an easier time navigating their way towards philanthropic support.
3. Be comfortable in early allocation or dispersal of your recovery funds but a delay in a report on the ‘impact’ of your funds, particularly if those funds were to be used for medium to long term recovery phases.
4. Put an emphasis on listening to the locals. This way you can learn what will work at the local level, what is needed and what could help in the future. It is tempting to invest in infrastructure – it’s visible and often ‘easy’. However, our experience shows that it is the community services, or soft fit out, that are often in most demand. Philanthropy is well placed to facilitate lateral thinking such as the appropriateness of ‘like for like’ restoration. Turning the disaster into an opportunity to review community needs and create something that will sustain and support community in the future – when they are ready to consider the disaster in that manner.
5. Because recovery from a disaster is a sustained effort over a long period of time, it is important to be mindful of volunteer fatigue issues that will emerge later in the journey. The money for recovery is vital, however so is the volunteering and semi-skilled labour. Given the economic impact many businesses and communities will face, mentoring during recovery will be essential – a key role for corporate foundations with access to business skills.
6. Critical to any communities’ recovery is an element of economic development and adjustment. Communities cannot survive on air and water alone and reinvigorating that economic fabric is crucial to a town’s survival. Recent research by the Regional Australia Institute has highlighted that economic recovery, particularly in smaller regional locations, is often not supported or assisted - a gap philanthropy could address.
7. Consider the systems and processes that will be needed in a disaster recovery environment. How fast can you operate; what risks can you take to grant to organisations you have no established relationship with; what system do you have to handle applications and acquittals; do you have the personnel that can interact with stressed community members?

At FRRR, we don’t profess to have all the answers, by any means. However the lessons above have emerged from active involvement in the area of natural disaster recovery over the last seven years. If you would like to explore any of these issues in any more detail, or if you would like to contribute to the program we are currently implementing to support the fire and flood recovery efforts in relation to the current and recent disasters, please contact us on 03-54302399 or email a.gartmann@frrr.org.au.

References

Bushfire recovery interview (retrieved 29/1/2013). http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2013/s3677927.htm
Morris, H. (2012). Lessons in Disaster Recovery: Learnings from FRRR’s Response to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires. www.frrr.org.au

Guest Post: Natural Disaster Recovery: the role of the philanthropic sector

This post written by Alex Gartmann, Foundation For Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR). Stay tuned for the second part of this post later this week, where Alex shares some practical lessons and principles for the natural disaster recovery space!

Australia is certainly a land of drought and flooding rains and the summer of 2012/13 is presenting a series of challenges for numerous communities across the country.

Bushfires have devastated communities, and the local economies, across Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, the Queensland Gulf and central Australia. Cyclones have thrashed communities in the Kimberley and northern Queensland, while ex-tropical cyclone rains have resulted in widespread flooding in Queensland and New South Wales. And summer is only half way through.

FRRR’s involvement in this area began in 2006, following Cyclone Larry in Queensland. Since then, we have provided support for disaster-affected communities all over Australia, including the 2009 Victorian Bushfires (Morris 2012) and communities devastated by floods and storms over the summer of 2010/11. From these experiences, we know that support needs to be provided a long time after the immediate effects of the disaster have been felt. It takes many years for smaller regional communities, for the trauma to be replaced with hope, and for economic stability to return.

But what exactly is ‘recovery’? It means different things to different people, but by going back to the roots of the words, we can discern that recovery is ‘to re-immerse in the medium of life’.

At an individual and community level, highly respected Australian disaster recovery psychologist Gordon (2011) proposes a recovery model that encompasses the four stages.

• Stage 1: Survival (1-6 months)
• Stage 2: Endurance (6 months – 2nd year)
• Stage 3: Identity crisis (2nd – 4th year)
• Stage 4: Recovering from the recovery (4th year +)

The Third Stage of recovery is an important period as far as philanthropy is concerned. It is during this medium term period that the event may have moved out of the media spotlight with attentions shifting onto the next issue or community need. There will be significant rebuilding activity; drawing heavily on the resources of community members and requiring sophisticated capacities to manage the recovery effort. Individual and community identities can begin to fragment and any security or solace found in the ‘disaster identity’ can be lost or diminished the closer communities get to completion of rebuilding; repeating the sense of uncertainty and disorientation experienced immediately after the disaster. It is common after the third year for core government relief and assistance to be scaled back and recovery activities to be absorbed back into mainstream services.

A Fourth Stage is concerned with ‘recovering from the recovery’. This Stage recognises the immense toll that recovery takes on individuals and communities and provides the next step after the recovery work itself is complete; finding a new normal and living life in relation to an altered future state. The Fourth Stage acknowledges the need for renewed energy, a focus on stepping away from recovery toward an identity expanded beyond the disaster.

So where does philanthropy fit in?

With models of climate change predicting more frequent and severe natural disasters, how do we better prepare our grant making to support community preparedness and resilience? There is the emergence of a paradigm shift in the ways in which communities are supported to prepare for and recover from natural disasters. The National Strategy for Disaster Resilience (COAG, 2011) suggests moving from an ‘emergency management’ emphasis on roles, responsibility and procedures to greater consideration and planning for prevention, mitigation, preparedness, and recovery, as well as response. The strategy documents the need to focus more on action-based resilience planning, strengthening local capacity and capability, with a greater emphasis on community engagement and understanding the diversity, needs, strengths and vulnerabilities within communities.

This new perspective contains elements that are closely aligned with FRRR’s mission, and those of many other Trusts and Foundations, and our approaches to supporting communities within grant programs.

Preparedness and recovery should work in parallel; rather than in isolation. Graham (2012) says this bottom-up participative approach is relatively new to the emergency management sector; however it has been the basis of community development practices and principles for many decades. Our challenge in philanthropy is to move with the paradigm shift and better support the development of resilience in community.

While many organisations are making generous donation to the immediate relief effort, at FRRR we are turning our focuses to the medium to long-term recovery of the communities, implementing a response within the Natural Disaster Recovery Framework. The four key approaches are:

• Grants and funding support
• Community support and advocacy
• Project management of donation accounts
• Strategic recovery projects and strategic partnerships

Partners and contributions are being sought – to the recovery programs and to the thinking about resilience. This collaborative and proven approach will help to sustain momentum in community led recovery efforts when volunteer fatigue sets in, providing ongoing support long after most of us will return to ‘business as usual’.

To be involved in these efforts or perhaps have a grant program FRRR can consider in a ‘clearing house’ role, please contact us on 03-54302399 or email a.gartmann@frrr.org.au. Donations for medium to long term recovery programs can be made online (http://www.frrr.org.au/cb_pages/donate.php) or contact us at FRRR and we can assist to direct your donation to particular communities.

References

COAG, National Emergency Management Committee (2011). National Strategy for Disaster Resilience: Building our nation’s resilience to disaster.
Gordon, R. (2011). Crisis Intervention and Management Australasia Conference, Melbourne, November 2011
Graham, W. (2012). 2011 Winston Churchill Fellowship for disaster assistance program and community resilience. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 27, (4), pg 5.
Morris, H. (2012). Lessons in Disaster Recovery: Learnings from FRRR’s Response to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires. www.frrr.org.au

Tasmanian Bushfires - donation and emergency info

Here is some information for those seeking to assist in response to the recent bushfires in Tasmania:

For donations: Red Cross and the State Government are working together to provide support to people who have been forced to flee their homes or lost their homes due to the fire. See the link below for more information about their response and if you or your organisation would like to make a donation of money or goods. All of the money will go directly to those in need with none going to administration costs.

http://www.redcross.org.au/tasmanian-bushfires-appeal-2013.aspx

For those seeking to direct calls for assistance:

• Housing Tasmania is providing emergency accommodation for people affected by bushfires. For more information phone 6233 8829.
• Refuge centres have been set up, which offer medical assistance, counselling, food, advice and support, in the following locations: Nubeena – Civic Centre, Sorrell – Cole Street, Sorrell, Hobart City Hall – Macquarie Street, Hobart

For more information go to http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/emergency_info

Emergency relief for Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines

Over the past few days Typhoon Bopha (Pablo) has devastated south eastern provinces of the Philippines, with some calling it “Hurricane Sandy Times Two”. The death toll today is approaching 500 people, with thousands more left injured and destitute. Urgent appeals for disaster relief have been issued by charities working on the ground.

The Australian government has also committed to providing $5 million for survival kits and 1,000 tonnes of emergency food aid.

Australians wishing to make tax-deductible donations can do so via the following organisations:

• Oxfam Australia - Phone 1800 088 110
• Australian Red Cross - Phone 1800 811 700
• Caritas Australia - Phone 1800 024 413
• Plan International Australia - Phone 13 75 26
• World Vision Australia  - Phone 13 32 40