FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What payment methods does Australian Communities Foundation accept? Go to answer
How can others donate to my Fund? Go to answer
Where can I view my Fund balance? What’s the difference between Current Balance and Available Cash? Go to answer
How can I support another ACF Fund? What’s the difference between donating and granting to another Fund? Go to answer
What do the different grant statuses (pending, approved, paid, completed) mean? Go to answer
How can I update my profile information? Go to answer
Key information
Accessing the Portal
Log in by hovering over ‘Login’ and clicking ‘Fund Portal’ in the header. Your username is your email address.
If you have forgotten your password, click the ‘Forgot password?’ link and enter your email. If you are still unable to access your account, please contact us.
Donating to your Fund
Follow these three easy steps to donate to your Fund;
Step 1. Once logged in (as above), click on the ‘Donate’ tab in the left menu.
Step 2. Select your Fund. Enter your amount (specify one-off or recurring) and click ‘Donate’.
Step 3. To complete your donation, click ‘Review’ and follow the prompts. Pay by either credit card or direct debit. You will receive a receipt for your donation via email.
Credit card transactions
Donors paying by credit card have the option to cover the surcharge costs incurred by Australian Communities Foundation. These fees are the actual costs of processing credit card payments that are charged to us by our payment provider. Australian Communities Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation and opting to cover the credit card surcharge is a small act of generosity that ensures the full value of your donation is received. Donors can choose to opt-in when donating via the portal.
Requesting a grant
Grants to organisations or another ACF Fund can be requested from the ‘Grant Requests’ tab. You will receive notification via email when a grant has been paid.
If you are a Fund Advisor for multiple Funds, ensure you have the correct Fund selected at the top of the Grant Request page. The Fund you are requesting to make a grant from is always listed at the top.
If requesting a grant to an organisation/project listed on our Funding Platform, you will most likely be able to find the organisation using the ‘Search Grantee’ feature.
If you have granted to this organisation previously, yuo’ll be able to find their details by clicking the ‘Previous Grantee’ button.
In some cases, where ACF has not previously granted to the organisation, you may need to enter the grantee information manually.
Donation receipts
To view receipts, click ‘My Donations’ in the top navigation bar. From here, you can view a donation summary and print/download tax receipts.
Fund statements
Fund statements are regularly uploaded to the portal and can be accessed via the ‘Statements’ tab.
Fund Advisors can now create custom statements for any time period using the ‘Manual Statement’ button. If the selected period includes a month without a published statement, the manual statement should be considered a draft only.
Overview of features
Once logged in to the portal, you will notice a set of hyperlinked tabs. This section explains the features available under each tab.
Fund Summary
This page provides an overview of your Fund, including current balance and available cash, Fund Advisors, contributions/donations, and grants.
You will also see a visual overview of your Fund’s donation and granting activity. These charts display activity from the past 12 months by default. Click the date range to adjust the time period.
Fund Selection
If you are an advisor for more than one Fund, you can switch Funds using the dropdown that sits at the top of every page.
Contributions / Donations
This tab enables you to browse and export donation history to your Fund.
Donations are displayed from newest to oldest by default but can be reordered by clicking any of the table headers (e.g. Date, Contributor, Amount).
You can learn more about each donor by clicking on their name in the ‘Contributor’ column, which will take you to their details and a list of all their donations.
You can also filter donations by hovering over the table headers and clicking the small funnel icon that appears next to the header.
To export donation history for your Fund, click ‘Export’ in the set of tabs (next to ‘Logout’). This link is only available when on the Contributions page. Please note that when exporting donor details, you must adhere to our Privacy Policy.
To view and download tax receipts, go to ‘My Donations’ in the top navigation bar, where you can also manage your recurring donations.
Grants
This tab enables you to browse and export your granting history.
The first table, ‘Grantee Summary’, displays an alphabetical list of your Fund’s grantees. You can learn more about each grantee by clicking on the name in the ‘Grantee’ column, which will take you to a list of all grants you have made to that organisation.
You can filter grantees and grants by hovering over the table headers and clicking the small funnel icon that appears next to the header.
The second table, ‘Grant History’, displays a chronological list of your Fund’s grants.
Recurring Grants displays grants you’ve asked to be made automatically each year or at another regular interval. To discuss a recurring grant, please contact the ACF Philanthropy Team: grants@communityfoundation.org.au
Grant Requests
Use this tab to request a grant from your Fund.
Submit a grant request by clicking the ‘Create Grant Request’ button and choose from three options:
• Previous Grantee or Fund: Choose from grantees you have given to before or transfer to another ACF Fund.
• Search Grantee: Search for other grantees in our database
• Manual Grantee: Enter grantee information manually.
Statements
This tab includes a list of your Fund’s quarterly statements, which can be viewed within your browser or downloaded as a PDF.
To export a manual statement, click the ‘Manual Statement’ button on the right of the Statement tab. You can create statements for a month, quarter, year, or a custom date range. Note: If the period includes a month without a published statement from ACF, the figures will be estimates and may change.
Files
Any files attached to your Fund will be made available for you under this tab.
Donate
Use this tab and the relevant instructions below to make a donation to your Fund or any other Fund at Australian Communities Foundation.
Donating to your Fund
Select your Fund, enter your amount (specify one-off or recurring) and follow the prompts.
Donating to another Fund
In addition to your Fund, you should also see ACF flagship funds (e.g. the ACF Impact Fund) listed on this page, as well as a search box and the option to ‘show all Funds’. Select the Fund you want to donate to, enter your amount (specify one-off or recurring), and follow the prompts.
Frequently asked questions
What payment methods does Australian Communities Foundation accept?
When donating online, you have the option to pay via direct debit or credit card. All credit card transactions are processed via Stripe, which accepts most card brands.
We also accept cheques via mail.
How can others donate to my Fund?
If you are a collective giving group or seek public donations, anyone can donate to your Fund through our Funds & Foundations page (accessible via the Donate button in our menu).
Alternatively, all Funds can be searched for and donated to via this link: australiacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate
Where can I view my Fund balance? What’s the difference between Current Balance and Available Cash?
Your Fund balance is listed on the homepage of the portal. You can navigate back to this page by clicking the ‘Fund Summary’ Tab. You will see two totals:
- Current Balance reflects the total current assets of your Fund, taking into account any grants committed for future years
- Available Cash takes into account any pending grants (i.e. not yet approved) and any committed payments for multi-year grants, as well as your Fund’s required minimum balance ($10,000).
How can I support another ACF Fund? What’s the difference between donating and granting to another Fund?
If you are looking to support another Fund at Australian Communities Foundation, you can choose to either make a donation using an accepted payment method or request a grant to move an amount from your Fund to another ACF Fund.
What do the different grant statuses (pending, approved, paid, completed) mean?
- Pending: The grant has been requested and is awaiting review from our team.
- Approved: The grant has been approved by our team. Note that multi-year grants will stay on ‘Approved’ until all payments have been made.
- Paid: The grant is fully paid and our team is awaiting confirmation that the grantee has received the payment.
- Complete: The grantee has received the payment and the grant is complete.
How can I update my profile information?
You can edit your details by clicking the ‘Profile’ button in the top navigation bar. Here, you’ll be able to change your address, phone number and security settings.
We’re here to help
Have a question? Conact our helpful team at any time.