Storytelling trainer, writer and impact investor Dalit Kaplan tells it like it is.

“I don’t think philanthropy is just a nice thing to do – I think it’s a responsibility. If you have more than you need, you should be working towards realigning resources so that more people’s needs are met.”

With a background in refugee and family violence law, Dalit now channels her passion for social justice into her work as a writer and Founder of consulting firm Storywell.

When she’s not working on her new novel, Six Million Eggs, Dalit supports Storywell clients with their own storytelling, providing podcast production support, storytelling workshops and coaching for purpose-driven organisations, community legal centres and start-ups.

Dalit is also Director of Just World Investments, an impact investment fund that “seeks a better future through a blend of radically ethical investment and grant making,” she explains.

In 2017, Dalit and her partner Raphael Dascalu opened their own Named Fund at Australian Communities Foundation, the Kapscalu Regenerative Fund, to support their giving and gain access to the benefits of a community foundation.

In this recent conversation, Dalit shares her reflections on giving – or redistribution, as she prefers to call it – and the value of being part of the community at Australian Communities Foundation.

Take us back to when you first got started with giving. What was that like?

When I was first cast into this role where I found myself in a position where I was able to donate to other people, I had a sense of how the road to hell is paved with the best of intentions and how people who have the best of intentions can really harm people. And so I wanted to seek out guides and experts who could help me make sure the decisions I make are not about what feels good for me or what I think might be the right thing to do, but rather, what is best practice.

I started asking myself, ‘What sort of redistribution can I do that is thinking strategically about changing the facts on the ground?’ I know I’m not an expert and I can’t answer that on my own, and so joining a community like Australian Communities Foundation has been groundbreaking for me in terms of that leadership from other people.

How has your family and background influenced your giving?

All four of my grandparents are Holocaust survivors. They were all at various camps and were lucky enough to have their lives spared. And then, over the generations, my family and my partner’s family have established themselves here in Australia and we find ourselves in positions of privilege; we’re beneficiaries of the legacy of settlement, I’m relatively white, I’m educated.

The Hebrew word for giving is tzedakah, which translates a bit more closely to justice, and that speaks to that notion around it not being about doing a favour for somebody or doing something that you’re not really obligated to but it’s a nice thing for you to do. Giving is what justice looks like – this radical redistribution where everybody in the community has their needs met.

The concept of redistribution seems central to your approach. Can you elaborate on that a little?

I think that resources randomly land in the custody of certain people, and usually that is a product of privilege, circumstance or your membership of a particular group. Nobody’s entitled to those resources – it’s just the way the cookie is crumbled. I think that, rather, as custodians of resources, we have a responsibility to try to redistribute it and put it in places that create a better world than we have right now.

What is one important area that you support?

Family violence is a really important one for me. If we think about what the future needs and how we can have a safe and better future, children need to be growing up in homes where they feel safe and supported. That means that their parents need to feel safe and supported too, and they need to feel like they are part of communities that are supporting them because, as they say, it takes a village.

What do you enjoy most about giving with Australian Communities Foundation?

It’s about collaboration, rather than everybody individually. It’s sort of systematic – there’s a birds-eye view that the team has, and the staff can come in as consultants and guide our giving. The team knows the sector and can say ‘here’s a problem that needs funding, and here’s where you can fit into solving this problem’.

Secondly, it’s the spread of funding opportunities you learn about. You’re always asking yourself as a funder, ‘Do I want to go upstream and fund systemic change, or do I want to go downstream and be supporting people working on the ground?’ And the answer is ‘yes, and yes’. Australian Communities Foundation supports me to do both and find that balance.

What do you think the future of philanthropy looks like? Is there something you’d like to see more or less of?

I think one of the problems with philanthropy is that you’ve got this strange dynamic where there’s this massive information asymmetry. You’ve got the people who are the experts, who don’t have the power in terms of finance, and then you’ve got the people who have all the power – the people doing the donating who don’t have the expertise.

So how do you flip that? What I say to groups I donate to is ‘You’re my teacher, I’m your student. Guide me on how I can take some of my resources and support you to do what you, in your wisdom, know is the right thing to do. It’s about long-term relationships, which a lot of people say, but it’s also about approaching these conversations with humility.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone just getting started with giving?

Think about it in the same you would think about your asset allocation. Just as you might be investing in your super, see your giving as an investment. You’re investing in what you want the future to look like. You’re investing in the infrastructure of the society that you exist in. It should be something you’re considering as soon as you’re asking yourself questions like ‘where do my resources go?’.