philanthropyOz Blog

We are moving!

We will be closing our Melbourne office at 12.00pm on Friday 11 September, and will reopen at 9.00am on Tuesday 15 September.

Our new address is: Level 2, 55 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

As our website servers will be moving with us, Philanthropy Australia’s online services - the website, The Australian Directory of Philanthropy, the PhilanthropyOz Blog, and the Philanthropy Wiki - will also be unavailable from noon Friday, 11 September. We anticipate that the online services will have resumed by Monday 14 September.

During this time, please address urgent enquiries to our Sydney office - Louise Burton or Annie Scoufis (02) 9223 0155.

Philanthropy Australia news

Joanna Fulton
We briefly welcomed our newest staff member Joanna Fulton in the March Philanthropy Review. As Jo is often the voice on the end of our telephone, and will be contributing regularly to the philanthropyOz Blog, I thought I’d introduce her to you properly.

Jo is our Web and Communications Administrator - she manages our various websites and listservs, contributes to the Blog and the PhilanthropyWiki, responds to the ‘info@philanthropy.org.au’ email and assists with general office administration. Having worked in online communications and the web production industry for several years, Jo brings us a valuable depth of knowledge around the use of IT. She has also been involved over the years with a number of not-for-profit organisations including the Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Wilderness Society. Jo is gradually getting to know our Members, so please say ‘hello’ to her next time you have need to contact us.

Cheryl Van Der Hor
We also also delighted to welcome Cheryl Van Der Hor to our team. Cheryl has joined us for two days per week on a pro-bono basis to assist with various projects. Previously Cheryl was a Senior Manager working in a specialist tax role with a large accounting practice based in Melbourne. She has a particular interest, and over ten years of experience, in tax matters affecting the not-for-profit sector including income tax exemptions, GST concessions and FBT concessions. So far Cheryl has assisted us with projects including provision of FBT guidance to Philanthropy Australia members, preparation of information to the Corporate Network regarding salary sacrificing staff donations, and input to the Senate Review submissions - for which we are extremely appreciative.

If you have any tax queries relating to the status or operations of your organisation, please feel free to pass these along as Cheryl is very happy to provide guidance as appropriate. (Please note, however, that neither Cheryl nor Philanthropy Australia is able to provide binding advice on technical matters). Cheryl can be contacted via Vanessa’s email v.meachen@philanthropy.org.au

Hot off the press: Australian Philanthropy, April 2009 edition
Issue 72 ‘Giving in hard times: Philanthropists at work in an uncertain economy’ has just been published and will shortly arrive in Members’ and subscribers’ letter boxes.

In this issue we hear from philanthropy leaders about their experience of, and predictions for, grantmaking in times of recession: Teresa Zolnierkiewicz’s article on ‘Embracing Perpetuity’ is essential reading, and don’t miss our interview with Paul Clitheroe.

Our regular readers will notice that we have a dynamic new design for ‘Australian Philanthropy’ and have moved to print on 100% recycled paper. We would love to hear your opinion on our new look - email me on l.arkles@philanthropy.org.au

If you are not a Member of Philanthropy Australia you needn’t miss out - an annual subscription (3 issues) costs just $76. Click here to read more about the journal and subscribe.

New resource for grantmakers - The Grants Classification System

At Philanthropy Australia we have been working on developing on a standardised ‘common language’ for philanthropy. We’re delighted to publish a new tool for grantmakers - The Grants Classification System. Designed to help trusts and foundations to classify, describe and report on their grantmaking activities, the Classification System provides a pre-determined, controlled vocabulary from which foundations can select those terms which best suit their needs.

The Classification System encompasses six facets:

1. Type of support
2. Organisation Type
3. Program Areas
4. Population Groups
5. Geographic Areas
6. Time Frame of Grant

Foundations can select terms from each facet, using the level of detail which best suits them, and customise it by adding in a further level of detail for their own internal use if required.

The intention is to standarise the terms used across the Australian philanthropic sector as far as practical, so that grantmaking can be documented and useful statistics on philanthropy collected which in ways that contribute to shared understandings.

Most foundations use some kind of pre-determined language to classify their grants, for the purposes of recording grant applications, describing the grants they make and reporting to stakeholders on their activities. By classifying grants and the projects they support, and archiving this information, an enormous amount of data can be retrieved, researched, collated and where appropriate, shared, thereby building the sector’s knowledge base.

The Grants Classification System represents a first step in producing a standardised grantmaking language, which we will build upon over time. The System will be reviewed annually, and we are very keen to gather feedback from our Members as to how useful they find this tool, and any new terms which could be added to better describe their work. Members are welcome to submit comments and suggestions to l.arkles@philanthropy.org.au

The Grants Classification System is available as a free download on the new “Grantmaker Tools” page on our Website.