Scholarship Funds
Support for providing educational payments
Scholarship Funds
Support for providing educational payments
Support education and invest in the future
Australian Communities Foundation supports people to provide educational payments, prizes and bursaries to students across the country.
Establishing a Scholarship Fund is an easy, tax-effective and strategic way to help increase access to education.
What is a Scholarship Fund?
A Scholarship Fund is a philanthropic fund established to support individuals in accessing education and development opportunities.
When you open a Scholarship Fund with us, you have the choice of providing educational payments, prizes and bursaries either through scholarship-providing charities or directly to students across Australia. All funds are responsibly invested and can be distributed at any time.
Scholarship Funds at Australian Communities Foundation
✓ Tax-deductible donations
✓ 100% responsible investing
✓ Online portal for making donations, requesting grants and reviewing your Fund’s activity
✓ Customised and branded donation page or integrate with your website
✓ All administration, compliance and governance covered by our team
✓ Get set up in 48 hours – no establishment fee
✓ Minimum $10,000 initial donation
✓ Cost-effective Fund Management Fee
✓ Your Scholarship Fund can be public or private – it’s up to you
✓ All the benefits of joining our community, including grantmaking inspiration, co-funding initiatives and networking opportunities with other like-minded groups
✓ Tax-deductible donations
✓ 100% responsible investing
✓ Online portal for making donations, requesting grants and reviewing your Fund’s activity
✓ Customised and branded donation page or integrate with your website
✓ All administration, compliance and governance covered by our team
✓ Get set up in 48 hours – no establishment fee
✓ Minimum $10,000 initial donation
✓ Cost-effective Fund Management Fee
✓ Your Scholarship Fund can be public or private – it’s up to you
✓ All the benefits of joining our community, including grantmaking inspiration, co-funding initiatives and networking opportunities with other like-minded groups
Key benefits of a Scholarship Fund
Give now, decide later
When you contribute to your tax-deductible Scholarship Fund, you receive an immediate tax deduction and the flexibility to distribute scholarships at a time that’s right for you.
100% responsible investing
Your contributions are responsibly invested, meaning your money can both grow and do good while it waits to be granted out.
Get advice on your giving
We can help you develop your scholarship’s strategy and selection criteria. Plus, we can take care of all administration and compliance, allowing you to focus on the joy of giving.
Build a lasting legacy
A Scholarship Fund is the most effective way to build a lasting endowment for education. Returns from the Fund’s investments help grow its balance so that you can continue to support students for generations to come.
How it works
How to give smarter with a Scholarship Fund
1
Establish your Fund
Make a tax-deductible donation to establish your Fund and gain access to all the benefits of our giving community, including grantmaking advice and networking opportunities.
2
Choose or design your scholarship
Upon establishment of the Fund, you can choose an existing scholarship to support or engage ACF Advisory to assist in designing your own, including its purpose and selection criteria. Our team will then provide ongoing support for administering educational payments, prizes and bursaries.
3
Advertise and award scholarships
You can award scholarships from your Fund at any time. If you choose to provide scholarships directly to students, there are a number of requirements set out by the Australian Tax Office that our team ensures are met, allowing you to focus on the joy of giving.
Get started
or learn more
Contact us for a conversation
Give us a call on 03 9412 0412 or register below to book in your free consult and start a conversation about your giving journey.
More information
Fee information is available here. For more details on getting started, see the Fund Establishment Form.
Stories from our Scholarship Funds
Resource: Fund Calculator
How a Fund can support lasting impact
Community Foundations Australia has developed an interactive Fund Calculator to help demonstrate the impact a Named Fund can have over the long term. You can adjust the initial fund size, annual distribution and average investment return to model different scenarios.
Note: This is not financial advice and is for demonstration purposes only.