Staying informed on the biggest issues

^{Bruce and Ann McGregor are strong supporters of Impact Partners in the environment area, including Country Needs People and the Invasive Species Council. Credit: Madeline Bishop.}

Ann and Bruce McGregor have a long history of getting involved in causes they care about. “We haven’t just been on the giving side of things. We’ve always worn many hats,” says Bruce.

The couple are heavily involved in protecting and restoring their local Merri Creek in Melbourne’s north. Ann is President of the Merri Creek Management Committee and Vice-President at Friends of Merri Creek, while Bruce is President of the Victorian National Parks Association.

The couple opened a Named Fund at ACF in 2006 and have co-funded with the Impact Fund every year since its inception.

“The Impact Fund is an important mechanism for helping identify critical issues for Australia and focusing giving to organisations and campaigns working on solutions,” says Bruce.

Ann and Bruce are strong supporters of Impact Partners in the environment area, including Country Needs People and the Invasive Species Council.

“We tend to only really talk about our environmental philanthropy because that’s the space we’re most confident in, but we also give to a number of social causes,” explains Ann.

“We spend less time researching social issues though, so being connected to the Impact Fund helps us stay informed on the biggest issues facing Australians.

“For example, the Impact Fund showcase presentation about the Uluru Statement gave us the chance to hear directly from the Indigenous advocates and their aspirations.”

“The Impact Fund is an important mechanism for helping identify critical issues… so being connected to the Fund helps us stay informed on the biggest issues facing Australians.”

For Ann and Bruce, one of the best things about being involved with the Fund has been getting others on board.

“The Fund is a great way to engage all kinds of givers in impactful giving,” says Bruce. “One of the key reasons we co-fund is to encourage others.”

“We circulated the Impact Fund proposal from the Invasive Species Council around the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network to attract additional co-funders. Collaborative funding is a very effective way for smaller funders to resource larger, impactful projects.”

Finding and funding opportunities for change

^{Jake, Bec and Adam Milgrom from the Tripple Fund support a range of work through the Impact Fund, including the Dhadjowa Foundation, the Economic Media Centre and the Our Islands Our Home campaign.} 

Bec Milgrom and her siblings Adam and Jake run Tripple, a 100 per cent impact private investment company using capital as a force for good. They do this through a combined effort of investments and grantmaking. 

When it comes to grantmaking, the Milgroms focus most of their efforts on systems change and seek impactful and innovative approaches to philanthropy. For them, the Impact Fund is a great ally in finding high-impact funding opportunities that they are unlikely to find without it. 

“The Impact Fund is a great ally in finding high-impact funding opportunities.” 

“ACF staff’s expertise and sector knowledge gives us a high level of trust in their funding recommendations,” says Bec. “That’s especially true when it comes to making our grants work meaningfully in high-impact areas like advocacy and movement building.” 

Bec credits the Fund with amplifying the impact of her family’s giving. 

“Working together with other funders through the Impact Fund builds energy around important issues that are often harder to find and fund, and provides additional confidence by being a part of a collective. 

“Importantly, the Fund simultaneously takes some fundraising pressure off organisational leaders, leaving them to focus their energy on getting the work done while introducing them to donors who they might not have otherwise had access to.” 

“Working together with other funders through the Impact Fund builds energy around important issues that are often harder to find and fund.”

The Milgroms value the Fund’s approach to work with civil society partners. 

“We appreciate the Impact Fund’s holistic approach to funding the organisations it supports,” says Bec. “We believe strongly in giving organisations autonomy over how to best use the funds, rather than tying them up in specific deliverables which can sometimes make grants more work than they’re worth. It’s exciting to see the Impact Fund promote this approach.” 

Funders passing the baton to changemakers

^{Steve Rothfield and Jackie Yowell have supported projects through the Impact Fund every year since 2017. They were early supporters of Impact Partner, the Australian Democracy Network and its #OurDemocracy campaign.} 

In March 2020, Australia was grappling with its first Covid outbreak and powerful players in Australia were seizing the chance to push through anti-democratic reform. 

Lawyer and activist Saffron Zomer could see that the time was right to start the Australian Democracy Network (ADN). Leaders at the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Human Rights Law Centre and the Australian Council of Social Service supported her vision of bringing the social change sector together to support a thriving democracy. 

^{Saffron Zomer, Executive Director, Australian Democracy Network}

ACF Impact Funder Jackie Yowell and her husband Steve Rothfield quickly saw the potential in the idea. 

“We were greatly concerned about civil advocacy organisations threatened with restrictive regulations.”

“We got behind the work together with other ACF donors because we were greatly concerned about civil advocacy organisations threatened with restrictive regulations,” Jackie says. 

Saffron was key to the Hands Off Our Charities (HOOC) campaign which was the precursor of the ADN. HOOC showed that proposed government reform would threaten advocacy groups that spoke out if they saw detrimental laws or policies, and was successful in getting the proposals amended. 

Jackie was gratified when HOOC was successful. “It gave us optimism, which is why we have continued to support ADN,” says Jackie. 

For Saffron, this support made all the difference. “Impact Funders like Jackie coming together to fund our first staff role – our Campaigns Director – turned us from a one-woman band to a pro-integrity movement… it was critically-timed money.” 

“It’s a privilege to support someone who has the skill to do what needs to be done and not flinch from it.”

Jackie and Steve count themselves fortunate to have had successful careers, as well as voluntary roles with civil society organisations, and are happy to have the means to support changemakers like Saffron. 

“We’ve got terrific admiration for people from the younger generation like Saffron who have all these qualifications and put them to work for the common good,” says Jackie. “It’s a privilege to support someone who has the skill to do what needs to be done and not flinch from it.”