Australias

As I approach the first anniversary of my appointment as The Ian Potter Foundation Chief Executive, I have just returned from my first Philanthropy Australia Conference. Attending this conference allowed me to lift my head from my focus on our own grant making processes and Foundation operations, and explore many concepts critical to our quest to be the most effective grant maker we can be. Read more…

Oct. 04, 2016 | Craig Connelly

I am sure everyone of us have made donations to charities during the course of our lives. This I would suggest is likely to be a disengaged form of giving. Basically, we receive a receipt and newsletters follow with more requests for donations. To pick up on Philanthropy Australia's catch cry, we need more of this but we need it to be better. Read more…

Sep. 27, 2016 | Geoff Day

Tags: collective giving

Despite decades of investment, good will and effort by Australia’s philanthropic sector, it surprised few attendees of the Philanthropy Australia conference that philanthropy is not future ready. To really move beyond ‘tinkering around the edges’ of complex social issues in Australia, the sector must embrace the reality that we – philanthropy, communities, business, government and service delivery organisations - are all in this together. Read more…

Sep. 27, 2016 | Kevin Robbie

Imagine, for a moment, that you need to go to a hospital emergency room for a serious injury. Would you feel confident about the kind of care you were receiving if you knew that the hospital was using an outdated computer system that it received second-hand from a local company? Read more…

Sep. 05, 2016

Risk, Return + Impact Over recent decades ethical investing has focused attention on avoiding investments that have a negative impact on society or our environment. According to the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia, over $630 billion of assets managed in Australia now employ some type of environmental, social or governance (ESG) screen in the investment process. This is good news for people and the planet. Impact investing seeks to take this another step further. Beyond… Read more…

Aug. 23, 2016 | Daniel Madhavan

Homelessness is a growing concern despite many efforts by community housing organisations and funders including our Foundation. This is because it is an issue that requires more than one response to address it. Read more…

Aug. 19, 2016 | Catherine Brown

The capacity of charitable and philanthropic organisations to meet our missions depends heavily on outside support: from funders and donors; from volunteers, alongside employees often working above and beyond their remunerated responsibilities; from the engaged communities we work with and in.

Given this heavy reliance on others, we should expect and respect that people will want to know how we resource our work. Such information is a basic measure of our accountability and transparency. It is also the central tenet on which the public’s trust and confidence in charitable and philanthropic work is based. Read more…

Aug. 02, 2016 | Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine

Tags: data

We hosted Dr Lucy Bernholz of Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab to talk over what philanthropic foundations should be actively thinking about themselves and as funders of the not for profit sector within a digital world. My ‘to do’ list is quite long after this discussion! Read more…

Aug. 01, 2016 | Catherine Brown

How can we inspire a young generation of philanthropists to secure the future of Australian arts? New Generation of Giving member, Clare Ainsworth Herschell shares ten things she’s learnt as Next Generation Development Manager for the Art Gallery of NSW. Read more…