This CEO letter accompanied the May 2026 edition of Quarterly Fund Advice.
Over the past month, we’ve had the pleasure of launching our Impact Fund 2026 program at events across the country and online. It has been a genuine delight to see our giving community come together around the refreshed Impact Fund – sharing insights, learning from one another, and exploring how we can collectively maximise our impact. I encourage you to watch the highlights video and learn how you can get involved.
This week marks National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June), an important moment for reflection and action. We invite you to join Thursday’s webinar, where First Nations leaders will share perspectives on how funding practices can better support First Nations communities. These conversations are critical as we continue to deepen our commitment to self-determination.
With the end of financial year fast approaching, we’re pleased to introduce two new offerings for flexible, tax-deductible giving through our Community Charity Trust: the Named Fund Plus and Future Fund Plus. These enable contributions from a broader range of sources, including Private and Public Giving Funds, and open up opportunities to support for-purpose organisations and initiatives beyond traditional DGR1 categories. If you’d like to find out more about how you can utilise this new offering, please reach out to our team for a conversation.
It was also great to join peers at the National Community Foundations Forum in Melbourne last week. A highlight for me was sharing our experience as one of the early adopters of the Community Charity Trust and learning from others across the sector – read our key insights from the Forum here.
Another standout moment this month was bringing together our Melbourne Fundholders and Clients for an in-conversation event with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, as part of The Wheeler Centre’s Fifth Estate series. It was an engaging discussion on information, power, and the public good – and a reminder of the value of convening around big ideas. We’re looking forward to offering more experiences like this, including a day with the Castlemaine Documentary Festival on Sunday 28 June. Stay tuned for upcoming events in other states.
As always at this time of year, we’re reminded of one of the key benefits of having a Named Fund: flexibility. Many Fundholders choose to contribute during the end-of-financial-year period, then take time to thoughtfully decide where their support will go. Given EOFY is peak fundraising season for many organisations, it can often be especially impactful to grant in the quieter months that follow, when funding gaps become clearer.
Finally, our team will be heading to Queensland Philanthropy Week next week, where we’ll be hosting sessions for professional advisors and for families exploring structured giving. We’d love you to join us – please click through to learn more and register.
Thank you, as always, for your continued commitment to thoughtful, impactful giving.
Cheers,
Andrew Binns
CEO, Australian Communities Foundation
