philanthropyOz Blog

New PAFs Trustee Handbook launched

With the commencement of the new regulatory regime governing Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs) effective 1 October 2009, Philanthropy Australia has created a booklet which will serve as a handbook for all PAFs.

Announced by the Assistant Treasurer, Senator the Hon. Nick Sherry, the Private Ancillary Funds Trustee Handbook was well received at its launch on 10 November in Melbourne.

• Download the Private Ancillary Funds Trustee Handbook (PDF)

• Download the official media release (PDF)

• Read the Assistant Treasurer, Senator the Hon. Nick Sherry’s speech from the launch

• Download author David Ward’s speech from the launch (PDF)

• See details on the new PAF Governance Workshops coming up in November

• More details available on the PhilanthropyWiki

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.

New on the Wiki: Managing in a Downturn

This report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (UK) in association with the Association of Charitable Foundations, Charity Finance Directors’ Group and Institute of Fundraising, constitutes the results of a survey of UK-based charities on their expectations for the coming year and beyond, and on what actions they are taking as a result of the economic crisis.

This report includes information on charities’ expectations of how the crisis will affect their income and expenditure as well as management practices. It concludes that there are opportunities for charities to use the crisis period as “akin to a “pit stop” in a grand prix” and that there are some key priorities and actions which a charity should consider taking in order to better weather the crisis.

The report concludes with a list of ten key messages for charities to consider in the coming months.

To download the report, go to Managing in a Downturn on the PhilanthropyWiki.

New edition of ‘Australian Philanthropy’ Journal - Education

Supporting Education: The Vital Ingredient is the theme of our latest issue of Australian Philanthropy, issue 70 Spring 2008.

“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” Nearly ninety years after HG Wells wrote these words, they remain lamentably relevant. Education is one of the most beneficial investments that individuals can make in themselves and that society can make in its people. Pre-schools, primary and secondary schools, alternative schools and community-based education centres, TAFE and adult education providers – all can be agents for individual transformation, increasing social cohesion and community capacity-building. Yet even in our prosperous country, education systems and standards are failing to live up to their potential.

This issue of Australian Philanthropy explores philanthropic support for education: how can philanthropy strengthen public education, when most donors can’t fund government schools? What initiatives are leading the way in supporting Indigenous or remote students? And what cross-sectoral benefits – economic, social, community - accrue from higher retention rates? This 70th issue of Australian Philanthropy is devoted to philanthropy and education.

• Read selected articles online or browse the full contents list on the PhilanthropyWiki; or
• Find out more about Australian Philanthropy on the Philanthropy Australia Website.

PhilanthropyWiki Training (Members only, Melbourne)

Members of Philanthropy Australia are invited to this free training session which aims to make participants proficient and confident users of the PhilanthropyWiki.

If you ever come across useful or inspiring resources on philanthropy that you want to share with colleagues - articles, reports, organisations, websites, blogs - here is your opportunity to learn how to add them to the PhilanthropyWiki where others can find them.

The session will cover three key topics - searching the PhilanthropyWiki, editing existing Wiki entries and creating new pages. You don’t need any technical expertise to participate – it’s easy, and rewarding, to contribute to the Wiki.

The session will be hands-on and informal, providing an opportunity to discuss any IT issues – websites, web 2.0, blogs - with Philanthropy Australia staff and other Members.

Date: Thursday 2nd October 2008
Time: 10.00am – 12.00pm (morning tea included)
Location: Melbourne CBD
RSVP: Please contact Emily on e.turner@philanthropy.org.au or 03 9620 0200 by Friday 26th September.

This event will be generously hosted by the Education Foundation.

A Sydney training session will be held at a later date in 2008. Expressions of interest are welcome.

For more information please contact Emily (e.turner@philanthropy.org.au) or Louise (l.arkles@philanthropy.org.au).

2007 - SME Community Business Partnerships

In 2006 Western Australian Community Foundation and Western Australian Council for Social Service commissioned Synovate to undertake both focus group and quantitative survey research with small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to explore their understanding of, and interest in, the concept of community business partnerships. The research, funded by Lotterywest, explored how SMEs in WA currently engage in partnerships with community organisations, and identified barriers and opportunities to foster further relationships between the community sector and small business.

The research has found that community support by small to medium enterprises in WA is high, with 74% of businessses claiming to currently support community-based organisations in some form. The level of support is higher in regional centres than in the metropolitan area, where there appears to be a strong focus on contributing to the local community.

The social areas that currently attract the highest levels of support in WA from SMEs include the areas of children or youth, disability and education causes, where businesses feel that they are contributing to “socially healthy” communities. Support that SMEs provide in these areas usually comes in the form of a financial donation, with a typical donation being approximately 1% of annual turnover.

Further information can be found via the press release of the findings, or you can download the entire document on WACF’s website.

» 2007 - SME Community Business Partnerships on the PhilanthropyWiki

New reports on the PhilanthropyWiki

‘Our Children, Our Future - Achieving Improved Primary and Secondary Education Outcomes for Indigenous Students’

A new report was launched recently, published by the AMP Foundation, Effective Philanthropy and Social Ventures Australia, offering an overview of philanthropic investment opportunities and approaches to improving outcomes for Indigenous students.

The report ‘Our Children, Our Future - Achieving Improved Primary and Secondary Education Outcomes for Indigenous Students’ provides an overview of current Indigenous education challenges and outcomes, and the impact these have on Indigenous students’ opportunities to access post-secondary qualifications and employment. It identifies the key underlying factors that contribute to this state of affairs, including the social, community and home contexts in which students participate, and their own personal life experience.

The authors, Louise Doyle and Regina Hill, provide a framework for making philanthropic investments that will produce sustainable outcomes, identifying 8 interventions. Case studies for each intervention category are provided, along with key success factors to assist philanthropic investors to assess the effectiveness of individual intervention programs.

Acting wikily: how networks are changing social change

For those wanting to understand how new technologies are contributing to social change efforts, ‘Acting wikily: how networks are changing social change’ is a great place to start. This article explores how new technologies are changing the way we communicate and connect, with particular emphasis on the what this might mean for not-for-profit organisations and philanthropic foundations.

Such fundamental practices as how groups get formed and work gets done are changing, as social media (also called Web 2.0) technologies offer “new networked ways of behaving - ways of acting wikily - that are characterized by principles of openness, transparency, decentralized decision-making, and distributed action.”

The authors question what impact this might have on social change movements and philanthropy, now that organisations are no longer the only way to organise effort; effectiveness is no longer equated with longevity but with mobilization; and the power balance between experts and amateurs is shifting.

On a reassuring note, human elements still matter, with trust and authentic relationships being essential elements of successful online networking.

Updates

Events Calendar:

• 24th June - Great Minds Review (Sydney - Philanthropy Australia Members only)
• 7th - 8th August - Building Organisational Capacity for a Sustainable Strategy (Sydney)

Positions Vacant:

• Marketing/Events Manager - Mary MacKillop Foundation Ltd (North Sydney)

New on the PhilanthropyWiki:

• An Examination of Tax Deductible Donations Made By Individual Australian Taxpayers in 2005-06

New on the Philanthropy Australia Website

New Position Vacant:

• Grants Manager, Victoria Law Foundation

New Events:

• Disability Affinity Group (Melbourne, Members Only) - 23rd April
• Philanthropy and Government in Partnership with Place (Melbourne) - 29th April
• Strong Foundations… Strong Future: Aboriginal Health Research Conference 2008 (Sydney) - 29th-30th April
• The Maimonides Society - take the temperature of Al Gore’s Climate Project (Melbourne) - 30th April
• Great Minds Review (Sydney, Members Only) - 6th May
• Climate Change: An American Funder’s Experience. Morning Tea with Ted Smith, Executive Director of the USA Kendall Foundation. (Melbourne) - 6th May
• Corporate Foundation Network Meeting (Sydney, Members Only) - 13th May
• Indigenous Affinity Group Meeting (Sydney, Members Only) - 15th May
• Early Intervention Affinity Group Meeting (Sydney, Members Only) - 22nd May
• Climate Change: the State and Federal Political Context, Lunchtime Seminar with John Thwaites (Melbourne) - 27th May
• Early Intervention Affinity Group (Melbourne, Members Only) - 29th May
• Loddon Mallee Aboriginal Reference Group panel - Indigenous Affinity Group (Echuca, Members Only) - 4th June
• Invasive Species -Threatening Australia’s Biodiversity and Landscapes (Lunchtime Seminar, Melbourne) - 10th June
• Arts Affinity Group (Melbourne, Members Only) - 12th June
• Grants 101: Professional Grant Proposal Writing Workshop (Sydney) - 23rd-25th June
• Making a Difference: Social Inclusion for New and Emerging Communities (Adelaide) - 26th-27th June
• Anti-Poverty Week 2008 (National) - 12th-18th October

New on the PhilanthropyWiki:

• The SEIFA (Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas) tables, produced by the ABS, provides a detailed data set comparing the relative social and economic conditions of cities, towns and suburbs across Australia as well as accompanying explanatory material and analysis.
• Developing Grantmaker Principles and Standards - presentation by Chris Andersen
• Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership - Many of the PMCBP’s publications are now available via FAHCSIA.

Other News:

• The Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal is part of a story on ABC Landline on Sunday 20 April at 12.00pm. It’s the story on the winner of the Drought not Out partnership FRRR had with the ABC.