Building a Culturally Vibrant Society

Building a Culturally Vibrant Society is one of our Focus Areas

While our community supports a broad spectrum of causes, we track our impact as a Foundation across five Focus Areas.

Featured grantee: Jam Factory

We support organisations and projects that facilitate creative expression. We see the arts as integral to healthy public debate, a robust civil society, social cohesion and the celebration of our differences.

Building A Culturally Vibrant Society aligns with the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:


Explore Grants

In 2023/24, our giving community distributed $2.1 million to organisations and projects building a culturally vibrant society.


Looking for granting ideas?

Explore our Funding Platform for organisations and projects building a culturally vibrant society. Filter by Focus Area.

Contact us

Got a question about our Focus Areas? Contact our Philanthropy Team.

Strengthening Democracy

Strengthening Democracy is one of our Focus Areas

While our community supports a broad spectrum of causes, we track our impact as a Foundation across five Focus Areas.

Featured grantee: Diplomacy Training Program

We support organisations and projects working to strengthen the foundations of Australia’s democracy. We encourage trust and accountability, civic participation, a diversity of voices in public debate, and an improved, more inclusive and representative democratic system.

Strengthening Democracy strongly aligns with the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:


Explore Grants

In 2023/24, our giving community distributed $2.1 million to organisations and projects strengthening democracy.


Meet our Impact Fund Partners

The Impact Fund is our flagship fund for best-practice collective giving. It is the vehicle through which we mobilise support for Australia’s leading changemakers working across our Focus Areas.

Filter by Strengthening Democracy


Looking for granting ideas?

Explore our Funding Platform for organisations and projects strengthening democracy. Filter by Focus Area.

Contact us

Got a question about our Focus Areas? Contact our Philanthropy Team.

Supporting First Nations
Communities

Supporting First Nations Communities is one of our Focus Areas

While our community supports a broad spectrum of causes, we track our impact as a Foundation across five Focus Areas.

Featured grantee: Karrkad Kanjdji Trust

We support organisations and projects pursuing First Nations justice, with a focus on those that are led by First Nations peoples, who are best placed to improve outcomes for their communities. We stand behind Indigenous peoples in their fight for truth, treaty and self-determination.

Supporting First Nations Communities aligns with many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including:


Explore Grants

In 2023/24, our giving community distributed $10.2 million to organisations and projects supporting First Nations communities.


Meet our Impact Fund Partners

The Impact Fund is our flagship fund for best-practice collective giving. It is the vehicle through which we mobilise support for Australia’s leading changemakers working across our Focus Areas.

Filter by Supporting First Nations Communities


Looking for granting ideas?

Explore our Funding Platform for organisations and projects supporting First Nations communities. Filter by Focus Area.

Contact us

Got a question about our Focus Areas? Contact our Philanthropy Team.

Safeguarding the Environment

Safeguarding the Environment is one of our Focus Areas

While our community supports a broad spectrum of causes, we track our impact as a Foundation across five Focus Areas.

Featured grantee: Bush Heritage Australia

We support organisations and projects protecting Australia’s natural ecosystems and working towards a safe and stable climate. We identify and amplify sustainable solutions to our changing climate and seek justice for those adversely affected by the impacts of climate change.

Safeguarding the Environment aligns with many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including:


Explore Grants

In 2023/24, our giving community distributed $3.3 million to organisations and projects safeguarding the environment.


Meet our Impact Fund Partners

The Impact Fund is our flagship fund for best-practice collective giving. It is the vehicle through which we mobilise support for Australia’s leading changemakers working across our Focus Areas.

Filter by Safeguarding the Environment


Looking for granting ideas?

Explore our Funding Platform for organisations and projects safeguarding the environment. Filter by Focus Area.

Contact us

Got a question about our Focus Areas? Contact our Philanthropy Team.

Tackling Inequality

Tackling Inequality is one of our Focus Areas

While our community supports a broad spectrum of causes, we track our impact as a Foundation across five Focus Areas.

Featured grantee: M’Lop Tapang

We support organisations and projects working to combat the unequal distribution of opportunities across the social, economic, political, and cultural spheres. We seek to reduce inequalities along the lines of race & culture, gender & sexuality, faith, age, ability and location.

Tackling Inequality aligns with many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including:


Explore Grants

In 2023/24, our giving community distributed $22 million to organisations and projects tackling inequality.


Meet our Impact Fund Partners

The Impact Fund is our flagship fund for best-practice collective giving. It is the vehicle through which we mobilise support for Australia’s leading changemakers working across our Focus Areas.

Filter by Tackling Inequality


Looking for granting ideas?

Explore our Funding Platform for organisations and projects tackling inequality. Filter by Focus Area.

Contact us

Got a question about our Focus Areas? Contact our Philanthropy Team.

Investment Updates

Latest Update September 2024


Koda Capital: Our new investment advisors

As Australia’s largest independent wealth management firm, Koda Capital manages over $12 billion of client assets, including $3 billion for non-profit and philanthropic clients. Learn more



Portfolio Performance

(SINCE INCEPTION) AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2024
Portfolio3mths1yr3yrs (p.a)5 yrs (p.a)Since inception
Main (LT)3.60%15.40% 3.66% 5.11% 7.27%
Extension3.56%15.42% 3.83% 5.30% 7.19%
Scholarship3.89% 16.31% 3.16% 4.97% 7.24%
Main (ST)2.33% 9.14% 2.72% 2.91% 4.03%


Performance Against Benchmark

(SINCE INCEPTION) AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

Strategic Benchmark (in accordance with ACF Investment Policy): Long-Term: CPI + 3.9% | Short-Term: AusBond Bank Bill Index + 1%



Portfolio Composition

AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2024
LONG-TERM STRATEGY

SHORT-TERM STRATEGY




Market Commentary

FROM OUR INVESTMENT ADVISOR KODA CAPITAL
AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

The third quarter of 2024 brought mixed news for global markets, but overall, there were signs of optimism.

Global Trends
After a shaky August marked by economic uncertainty, international share markets rebounded strongly over the quarter, with investors anticipating interest rate cuts in the US and a scenario where the country avoids a recession. Technology stocks lagged the broader market.

Australian Market Highlights
Closer to home, the Australian stock market (ASX200) had an impressive run, gaining 6.5% – its strongest September quarter since 2013. This growth was primarily driven by a long-anticipated stimulus package from China aimed at revitalising its slowing economic growth.

Inflation and the US Election
While inflation concerns had moderated throughout the quarter, the November US Presidential Election brought a new inflationary concern – more tax cuts and steep tariffs that could reignite economic growth as well as widen the government deficit. Bond markets reacted by increasing the yield on longer term bonds, indicating that interest rates may be higher in the future (despite cuts expected in the short term). As markets digest the impact in the US, we see diverging economic prospects in other regions as well as heightened geopolitical risk.



Portfolio Commentary

FROM OUR INVESTMENT ADVISOR KODA CAPITAL
AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

The Australian Communities Foundation (ACF) portfolio has performed well over the year, achieving a strong 15.4% return for the 12 months to 30 September 2024. The portfolio remains well-positioned to deliver robust outcomes over the longer term..

Quarterly Highlights

  • ACF’s Australian equities portfolio delivered strong results, balancing underperformance in international equities.
  • While the portfolio’s overweight cash position impacted short-term returns, it provides flexibility for future rebalancing and reflects a prudent approach amid global economic uncertainty.
  • The Alternatives allocation continues to play a valuable role in diversification, though higher interest rates have led to some revaluations over the past year.

The portfolio’s strong annual performance can be attributed to strong equity market returns and higher interest rates in more defensive asset classes. Koda Capital is pleased to have commenced its advisory role for the ACF portfolio effective 1 October, and looks forward to implementing considered changes to the portfolio over the coming quarters.  



Continue reading

Download the full September 2024 report, including details on our impact investments.


Got a question?

Want to know more about investment performance? Contact our team for a conversation.

Background Background

Impact Fund:
Get involved

Become an Impact Funder or continue your support


Victorian Climate-Smart Agriculture Fellows participating in a workshop. The Fellowship is led by Impact Partner, Farmers for Climate Action.

Become an Impact Funder

There is great joy in coming together to back a positive vision for our future. Interested in becoming an Impact Funder or continuing your support? We invite you to join us because smart changemakers need wise backers who understand that change takes time.

There are three key ways you can become an Impact Funder or extend your existing support.

1.

Support the work behind the Impact Fund

Support the Impact Fund’s core costs so we can continue to build this important work. This model adds so much value, but it is resource-intensive, and necessarily so.

Your support will mean we can mobilise even more ambitiously for our partners and continue to grow this game-changing and high-impact approach to giving.

Contribute directly via the form below

Contact us to contribute from your ACF Fund

2.

Give an untied donation or bequest to the grants pool

When you give an untied donation to the Impact Fund, you enable our community to respond to windows of opportunity for positive change.

If you are interested in leaving a legacy to the people who come after us, consider leaving a bequest to the Impact Fund.

Contribute directly via the form below

Contact us to contribute from your ACF Fund

3.

Give to an Impact Partner

We are so excited about the breadth of talent in the Impact Fund, game-changers one and all, who are continuing their important work towards a fairer and more sustainable Australia.

Explore our cohort of Impact Partners here and contact us to make a contribution.

Contact us


Donate now

Your support means we can continue to grow this high-impact approach to giving, and will ensure the Impact Fund is ready to respond to windows of opportunity for positive change.

If you are an ACF fundholder, please contact us to donate from your fund. Alternatively, you are welcome to make a direct donation using this form.

“The Impact Fund curation has been fantastic. You share in the enthusiasm about impact with other donors – you all feel good about it. I’m so used to deliberating long and hard about how and why we donate. The idea it can be organised collaboratively and effectively with an eye to real impact is very compelling.” 

Jackie Yowell (Fairer Futures Fund), Impact Funder

Contact us

Got a question or want to discuss how you can get involved? Contact the team.

Background Background

Impact Fund

Collective giving for the boldest solutions to Australia’s biggest issues

Making change together

The Impact Fund is a way for you to get involved in best-practice collective giving. Backed by a growing community of funders and changemakers, the Impact Fund supports the boldest solutions to the biggest issues facing Australia.

The Impact Fund is the heartland of the 600+ Funds and Foundations that make up the giving community at Australian Communities Foundation.

Explore our impact

Making Change Together: Five years of the Impact Fund celebrates some of the Impact Fund’s key achievements and demonstrates how we are shaping a future we can all be proud to hand on to the next generation.

Meet our Impact Partners

Meet some of our incredible Impact Partners and hear their reflections on what we’ve been able to achieve together across the Impact Fund’s first five years.

Get involved

Interested in becoming an Impact Funder or continuing your support? We invite you to join us because smart changemakers need wise backers who understand that change takes time.


Impact Areas

Tackling Inequality

Impact Funders support people working to increase opportunity across social, economic, political, and cultural arenas.

Strengthening Democracy

Impact Funders support work that strengthens Australia’s democracy.

Supporting First Nations Self-Determination

Impact Funders support projects and organisations that are led by First Nations peoples – the best people to improve outcomes for their communities.

Safeguarding the Environment

Impact Funders protect Australia’s natural ecosystems by supporting people working towards a safe and stable climate.


Impact Partners

The power of giving together

$9+

million raised 

150+

funders giving together 

45+

civil society partners supported 

15+

positive policy reforms

10+

social infrastructure groups and initiatives established 

4x

funding leveraged 

Figures last updated December 2023

Frequently asked questions

How does the Impact Fund model work?

1. Supporting the work

Your donation to the Impact Fund is pooled with others. All donations are responsibly invested and income from investments helps grow the Fund. This is just one way you can show your support. You can also contribute directly to the work of Impact Partners (co-funding) or support the work behind the Fund. 

2. Identifying opportunities for change

Australian Communities Foundation works with the Impact Fund community and civil society experts to identify priority issues and windows of opportunity for change across four Impact Areas: inequality, democracy, Indigenous self-determination, and the environment. 

3. Making change together

Once we identify an organisation or project working on a priority issue, Australian Communities Foundation commits funding from the Impact Fund, which is pooled with contributions from Impact Funders towards the Impact Partner’s work. 

What types of grants does the Impact Fund award?

Large Grants: Impact Funders join forces annually to give meaningful support to community organisations. These grants are often over several years, which gives our Partners much-needed stability, and usually range from $50,000 to $250,000. 

Agile Grants: Impact Funders often step in to give rapid agile funding to urgent needs. We work hard to get agile funds out the door quickly so we can make full use of unexpected opportunities to advance a fairer and more sustainable Australia.

What types of work do Impact Funders support?

The Impact Fund community’s strongest focus to date has been on building public awareness of issues and advocating for policy change. This is closely followed by the community’s focus on building and strengthening social infrastructure. In addition, a quarter of work supported has focused on collaboration between different civil society groups. 

What is the selection process?

Invited applicants are shortlisted based on the Impact Fund’s five key selection criteria:

  • Alignment with impact area
  • Timeliness/urgency of opportunity
  • Potential for systemic impact
  • Evidence base
  • Potential to influence change

Support the Impact Fund

Interested in becoming an Impact Funder or continuing your support? We invite you to join us because smart changemakers need wise backers who understand that change takes time.



THANK YOU

Thank you to Joan and David McLennan, Joan Nelson, Ruth Dixon, Dianne Lesley Young and Lydia M MacMichael, whose bequests enabled Australian Communities Foundation to establish the Impact Fund.

Focus Areas

Tracking our impact

At Australian Communities Foundation, you can give to the causes and organisations of your choosing. As a Foundation, we track our impact across five Focus Areas.

Back to Our Impact: Overview

Australian Communities Foundation is a non-profit organisation that supports and enables smart, rewarding and effective giving.

Responsible Investing

Increasing the impact of your giving

100% responsible investing

At Australian Communities Foundation, we put our values at the centre of everything we do, including how we invest pooled philanthropic assets. That’s why 100 per cent of our investment portfolio is responsibly invested.


Our approach to responsible investing

When you open a Fund with us, your donations are responsibly invested, meaning your money can both grow and do good while you take the time to find the right opportunities for granting.

Our responsible investing approach has many benefits, including: (1) contributing to a stronger, fairer and more sustainable world; (2) providing both financial and social/environmental return on investment; and (3) achieving greater strategic alignment across investments and grants.

With the support of our investment advisors Koda Capital, we actively seek out investments with a strong financial return and a positive social or environmental impact. As the first Australian philanthropic foundation to become a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, we’re proud to augment the impact of your giving by ensuring your philanthropic assets are 100 per cent responsibly invested.

We recognise that the stewardship of our community’s philanthropic assets is a significant responsibility. Our philanthropic assets are overseen by an Investment Committee to ensure that the portfolio meets financial and ESG objectives in accordance with our Investment Policy and Responsible Investment and Impact Policy.

Watch: Introduction to responsible investing


Portfolio Options

We offer three investment options to meet your giving goals. All three options consider environmental, social and governance factors across each of the underlying investments.

NOTE: ACCESS TO OPTIONS 2 AND 3 ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN MAIN FUND

Option 1 Long Term

for funds that will be granted out over a longer horizon

40% fixed interest and cash / 60% Australian and global equities

Investment objective: to provide a risk-adjusted return over time that allows for funds to meet granting requirements and modest capital growth of the fund.

Option 2 Short Term

for funds that will be granted out over a shorter horizon

85% fixed interest and cash / 15% Australian and global equities

Investment objective: to prioritise capital preservation and an income return to allow for granting of the capital and income over a shorter time horizon.

Option 3 Cash

for collective giving + flow-through funds

100% cash

Investment objective: to ensure the preservation of the capital given immediate requirement for grantmaking of collective giving funds.


Impact Investments

As part of our responsible approach, we actively contribute to positive outcomes through impact investments aligned with our Impact Areas.

Inequality First Nations Environment

Side by Side Social Impact Bond

A partnership between Berry Street Victoria and the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, Side by Side SIB funds educational programs to improve the engagement and learning outcomes of young students.

Read more

Conscious Social Housing Fund 1

A partnership between Conscious Investment Management, HousingFirst and the Victorian Government, the Conscious Social Housing Fund provides social and affordable housing to Victorians in need.

Read more

Conscious Social Housing Fund 2

Building on the success of the first Conscious Social Housing (CSH) Fund, CSH Fund 2 invests in social, affordable and specialised housing in partnership with the community housing sector and government agencies.

Read more

Infradebt Ethical Fund

Aligning with our focus on safeguarding the environment, Infradebt funds new solar and wind energy infrastructure. 

Read more

Palisade Impact Fund

The Palisade Impact Fund invests in next generation infrastructure for zero emissions, zero waste and zero inequality.

Read more

For Purpose Investment Partners

For Purpose Investment Partners supports specialist disability accommodation, social housing, mental health, aged care and Vocational Education and Training.

Read more


Quarterly Investment Updates

We share updates on investment performance in newsletters to our giving community every few months. If you are a fundholder and are unable to locate the latest update, please contact us for a copy.

Contact us

Got a question about responsible investing? Contact our team.

Contact Us
Level 6, 126 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne VIC 3002

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live, learn and work. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

Australian Communities Foundation is a proudly inclusive organisation and an ally of LGBTQIA+ communities and the movement toward equality.