Australian Communities Foundation (ACF) Fundholders, Luci Folder and Ben Sharpe, reflect on the evolution of their Fund, Pollinate, and their journey towards a more intentional approach to giving. In this guest contribution, Luci and Ben share how they went about developing a giving strategy, the lessons they’ve learned along the way, and the key principles that have come to shape their giving.
We started Pollinate, our Named Fund with ACF, five years ago after receiving an inheritance. We knew we wanted to do something meaningful together, but at first, we didn’t know exactly how we wanted to approach our giving.
In the early stages, our giving was quite ad hoc. Responding to opportunities as they appeared and making relatively small grants, we were overwhelmed with decisions about what we could fund and ended up with analysis paralysis, which meant that we didn’t fund much at all.
A turning point came when we decided to engage more deeply with ACF’s Impact Fund, as well as other collectives who give through ACF, including Groundswell and Mannifera. In engaging with these groups, we found many opportunities to meet fellow funders and learn from them.
Inspired by these conversations, we set out to develop Pollinate’s own strategy.
Luci and Ben sat down with the ACF team to share their giving journey so far – hear more about Pollinate’s evolution and the lessons that have helped them amplify impact and give with greater intention.
From Instinct to Intention: Building Pollinate’s strategy
Our funding focus emerged very naturally. We’d always been drawn to organisations with a climate or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice lens, and as we attended events to learn more, we realised that only a small percentage of funding supports these groups. That knowledge helped solidify our direction – not only had we found issues that resonated personally, but further research also identified a clear funding need.
As we started shaping the strategy, we knew it needed to be grounded in values that felt true to both of us and could guide our decisions over time. Our values – equity and justice, trust and collaboration, flexibility and innovation, and community leadership – have proven core to the evolution of Pollinate, helping us articulate what we stand for and streamline our decision-making.
Our values have proven core to the evolution of Pollinate, helping us articulate what we stand for and streamline our decision-making.
These values also shape a set of funding principles informed by what we’ve learned is best practice through ACF: providing multi-year, untied funding where possible, supporting community-led initiatives, staying responsive to emerging needs, and prioritising transparency and accountability.
We’ve also learned that there is a whole ecosystem of tools out there – ACF’s Good Giving Toolkit, AEGN’s Climate Funding Framework, and regular sector events and peer learning opportunities – all of which have helped shape our thinking.
Our focus, values, and funding principles became a framework for three ‘funding buckets’ which help us direct our giving with more intention: collective giving, innovation and risk, and responsive funding.
Collective Giving: Learning and funding with others
Collective giving is more than a way to pool resources and amplify impact. It fosters shared purpose, deeper learning, and collective decision-making. Our strategy aims to bolster the value of these collectives with ongoing support for Groundswell, Mannifera and ACF’s Impact Fund.
We realistically have an hour or two a week that we can dedicate to Pollinate, so collective giving allows us to draw on the expertise of people who are living and breathing this work every day, rather than attempt to do it all on our own.
You don’t need to know everything yourself to give well; sometimes the skill is knowing whose expertise you can trust.
Working with people like the ACF team has reinforced something important for us: you don’t need to know everything yourself to give well; sometimes the skill is knowing whose expertise you can trust.
Innovation and Risk: Flexible, long-term partnerships
For us, this funding approach is rooted in our desire to be more relationship-focused, to meet the people behind the organisations and to work with them and support them longer-term.
It can be hard to know where to start, but we’ve found that building genuine relationships with organisations leads to a deeper understanding of their work and needs. When ACF connected us with Tishiko King of Just Futures Collab, we took the time to meet over coffee and get to know each other as we would in any other relationship – establishing a human connection rather than starting with a funding transaction. That relationship has given us greater confidence to provide unrestricted funding and consider how else we can support the organisation, whether through advocacy or opening our networks and connections.
We approached it as we would any other relationship – establishing a human connection rather than starting with a funding transaction.
Trust-based philanthropy is not just about giving unrestricted funding. The funding is really a result of the relationship that’s established first. It takes more time to build those relationships, and we know we can only sustain a certain number of them well, but we’ve found the process far more rewarding, and it gives us greater confidence to back organisations for the long term.
Responsive Funding: Acting quickly when needs arise
Setting aside funds for responsive granting gives us the flexibility to act when a sudden need arises. Retaining guidance from those closest to the challenges, we prioritise agile responses that foster meaningful impact.
When something urgent comes up, we know we already have a pool of funding available to act quickly, without having to rethink or compromise our longer-term commitments.
Strategy as a Beacon: An ongoing evolution
One year into Pollinate’s strategy, it has already helped us achieve what we set out to do: give more and give with greater intention. We’ve always thought of this first three-year strategy as something of a pilot – a way to test our own capacity, get more comfortable giving away larger amounts, and challenge ourselves to be more ambitious.
It’s also been incredibly valuable to share the strategy with the people we work with. Our philanthropic partners like ACF have a clearer sense of what we’re trying to achieve and can better support us, while the organisations we fund know where we’re coming from and what they can expect from us. That transparency has reinforced the relationship as two-way, and ultimately, made our giving more effective.
The strategy is a beacon which lights the way forward; it’s not a rigid rulebook.
The strategy is a beacon which lights the way forward; it’s not a rigid rulebook. It provides parameters without sacrificing flexibility, allowing us to make decisions more quickly and confidently without boxing ourselves in.
Pollinate looks very different today from the Fund we established in 2021, and we expect it will continue to evolve. For us, the value of having a strategy isn’t that it provides all the answers – it gives us enough clarity to act, learn from what happens, and keep improving how we give.
Next steps for amplifying your giving
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your approach, there are plenty of opportunities to help you give with greater intention.
- Download ACF’s Good Giving Toolkit for practical guidance on developing a giving strategy, identifying your focus areas, and applying best-practice philanthropy principles.
- Learn more about the Impact Fund and collective giving opportunities to pool your resources with other funders, access expert insights, and support high-impact organisations tackling complex social, environmental, and economic challenges.
- Connect with the ACF team to discuss your Fund’s giving, explore opportunities aligned with your interests, or book in your annual Fund review.
- Don’t have a giving structure yet? Learn more about starting a Fund or Foundation with Australian Communities Foundation and discover how structured giving can help you create lasting impact.
