A common pitfall in philanthropic giving is the belief that donors should be the ultimate experts on where their funds will have the greatest impact or who the best recipients are.

“The fact is,” says Genevieve Timmons, author of Savvy Giving: A Roadmap for Contemporary Philanthropy in Australia, “we can accumulate some expertise and engage people to take our giving forward, but whatever we fund, we need the people who have first-hand experience of the ideas and challenges we are focused on to make sure our money is spent well. 

“When it comes to community philanthropy, the people with lived experience know how best to turn our dollars into social value.

“For example, communities recovering from natural disasters can tell us how the floods or bushfires are affecting their region, and where the next opportunity is [for money] to help recover and rebuild their communities.

“First Nations people can lead out with the latest approaches that build allyship and advance the progress of their communities and all Australians … People with disabilities have the expertise we need to keep up with national policies and programs, making sure we have up-to-date information and relevant ideas to optimise where our funding lands,” Genevieve explains. 

Community foundations in Australia are uniquely positioned as socio-economic platforms for local and national giving, bringing forward a range of services and skills, including lived experience. They are ideal structures for the growth of community philanthropy, which has recently been strengthened by newly minted legislation, says Genevieve.

“We can now tap into the expertise of these contemporary giving organisations that are there to back up effective giving – they are the destination experts. 

“Organisations like Australian Communities Foundation make it their business to be connected with communities and leaders, and watch the trends and opportunities to keep everyone informed about the most relevant giving.”

From First Nations justice, education and international development, here are three case studies from Genevieve Timmons’ book Savvy Giving, highlighting how success is inextricably linked with lived experience and community knowledge, essential components for impactful giving.

Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership

The Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership is a powerful partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, dedicated to empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders in Victoria. 

It was founded by a group of donors who recognised that true, lasting change comes when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are given the opportunity to lead progress within their own communities. 

This approach acknowledges that the most meaningful and sustainable solutions come from those with lived experience or deep knowledge of the issues at hand. 

“We realised that change was needed to remove barriers and accelerate progress by investing in real social change work that Indigenous leaders were already driving,” says Maree Davidson AM, Director and Founding Chair.

The Fellowship was inspired by the impactful work of Paul Briggs AO, a Yorta Yorta man, whose leadership demonstrated the importance of supporting Indigenous leadership in a way that respects their expertise. In 2025, Paul is powering on with a groundbreaking initiative: the Goulburn Murray Regional Prosperity and Productivity Plan.

By amplifying Aboriginal voices and prioritising the decisions of Indigenous leaders, the Fellowship has delivered meaningful outcomes in health, education, cultural preservation, and social justice.  

Small Change Foundation

Improving public education has always been Ellen Koshland’s passion. 

She is wholly committed to equity for all children, and believes high-quality public education is vital to a democratic society. 

This is why, in 1989, she co-founded the Small Change Foundation to provide financial backing for teachers to implement projects they knew would make a difference for their students. 

At a time when public schools were largely seen as the responsibility of the government, Ellen sought to inspire other donors and foundations to invest in public education. 

As co-founder Margaret McCaffrey recalls, “We began with the philosophy of supporting classroom teachers because they were the ones equipped to know what works best for their students.” 

Small Change eventually became part of the Education Foundation, which for nearly 21 years generated fresh ideas and strategic alliances to ensure quality learning for all young Australians. 

 “Philanthropy is about seizing the chance to make a real impact where it counts the most,” says Ellen, “and education is the foundation for everything else.”

Adara Development

Founded by Audette Exel AO, The Adara Group combines business and philanthropy to improve the lives of people living in extreme poverty, delivering health and education services in some of the world’s most remote regions. 

A key lesson in Adara’s approach to international development has been the importance of listening to local communities and incorporating their feedback into projects. 

One early example of this came from a waste management project in Nepal.

Adara had worked to improve sanitation in a remote district, but upon returning to the site, they discovered the toilets were being used for purposes far from their original intention, such as pickling turnips and sheltering livestock. 

“This was an opportunity to learn from our mistakes,” says Exel.

Rather than viewing this as a failure, Adara recognised the importance of understanding the community’s priorities and cultural context. 

The experience prompted Adara to rethink its approach, embracing a model of co-design and consultation. 

“We recognised the significance of feedback loops and open communication,” Exel explains.

By engaging directly with local communities, Adara ensures that projects meet real needs, fostering trust and creating sustainable, impactful solutions.

Get more great insights by purchasing your own copy of Savvy Giving 

No matter your role or the amount of money you can give, Savvy Giving is an essential read for anyone committed to shaping a better world with philanthropic dollars. 

Building on the best-practice insights and tools in the 2013 original, author and philanthropy expert Genevieve Timmons offers fresh ideas and perspectives for effective contemporary giving. 

The publication of this new edition was made possible through the generous support of many donors, including ACF Fundholder Ede Horton. 

“Savvy Giving provides the guidelines and tools for anyone to think more about how to give, and understand what is needed to make sure money is well directed,” says Ede. “This information is important, because it hasn’t been available or accessible until Savvy Giving was written, and it locates us in our own Australian context.

“An important encouragement in Savvy Giving is to listen deeply and learn about what your money can do from people who understand the distinct value of philanthropic money, and can bring it to life with relevance and impact. The expertise of Australian Communities Foundation in helping to do that has been invaluable, plus the personal connections with various grantees along the way has also been essential.” 

Learn more or order your copy here: savvy-giving.com 

Attend the Atlassian Social Impact Bookclub in May to hear more: Social Impact Book Club #4 – Savvy Giving by Genevieve Timmons  

Top Image: Genevieve Timmons in November 2024 at the ShiftThePower Summit and National Community Foundations Forum Week on Bunjalung country, hosted by Community Foundations Australia with the Northern Rivers Community Foundation in Ballina, NSW. Right to left: Dr. Martua T. Sirait from the Samdhana Institute (Indonesia), Sita Supomo from Indonesia untuk Kemanusiaan (Indonesia) and Siti Maimunah from the Mama Aleta Fund (Indonesia), with Genevieve Timmons, Philanthropic Executive and author.

Earlier this year, best mates Leo Norman, 18, and Cezary Carmichael, 19, set out on an ambitious journey: to cycle around Australia to break a birdwatching record and raise funds for a vital cause along the way.

“For years we talked about taking a year off after school to set out on an adventure,” says Leo. “While we dreamed of a gap year from our education, we were aware that access to education remains an issue for so many around the world.”

The duo decided to focus their fundraising efforts on education, specifically in Timor-Leste, partnering with ACF Fund Spend It Well – a small charity building schools in Timor-Leste.

“Timor-Leste is a country so close to ours, but it suffers extreme economic hardship, and its kids don’t have the kind of options we do,” says Cezary.

While we dreamed of a gap year from our education, we were aware that access to education remains an issue for so many around the world.

Leo and Cezary left Melbourne on January 1, 2024, under the banner ‘Two Birders, Two Bikes, One School.’ The duo has been documenting their birdwatching journey and raising awareness about the challenges faced by children in Timor-Leste.

Nearly ten months later, after a trip to Timor-Leste to see the school where their money will build new facilities, Leo and Cezary are nearing the end of their expedition, having surpassed their original fundraising target of $100,000 to collect over $116,000 to date.

Kris Webb, one of the founders of Spend It Well, says $100,000 will go directly towards building new classrooms, with additional support earmarked for facilities such as a school kitchen, garden and educational supplies. Leo and Cezary are continuing to fundraise with the goal to fund all or part of a second school. They like the sound of ‘Two Birders, Two Bikes, Two Schools.’

“Spend It Well works in partnership with the Ministry of Education in Timor-Leste,” explains Kris. “We focus on schools that are in critical condition and lack basic facilities like safe and weatherproof school buildings, toilets and handwashing stations. Our Timorese project manager visits the schools to consult with local communities, ensuring the projects are driven by their needs. Once the project starts, he monitors the work to ensure the projects are delivered on time and on budget.”

Since 2009, Spend It Well has completed 22 school projects across Timor-Leste, building 79 classrooms and 76 toilets which benefit 4,250 children a year.  The group also provides school furniture and runs six school gardens which help address child malnutrition in Timor-Leste. 

“We are currently building about three schools a year,” says Kris, “and we rely entirely on donations from Australian individuals, families, and small groups. One hundred per cent of our donations are spent on our projects. We also keep our donors up to date with the projects, so they see exactly what their money is spent on and the impact it has.

At every turn or challenge over the last 15 years, ACF’s response has always been to find a way to help us achieve our goals.

“Having a Named Fund with Australian Communities Foundation means our donors can make secure, tax-deductible donations.”

For Kris and the Spend It Well team, ACF provides a platform for initiatives like Leo and Cezary’s fundraising efforts to thrive.

“At every turn or challenge over the last 15 years, ACF’s response has always been to find a way to help us achieve our goals. They’ve never put obstacles in our path. We couldn’t do what we do without them”

As Leo and Cezary’s journey comes to an end, Kris says the duo’s fundraising efforts will make a significant impact on Spend It Well’s work in Timor-Leste.

“There are 130 children at Builecon School in Timor-Leste who will have a new school by April next year because of Leo and Cezary. They’ve inspired so many people and provided a blueprint for how passion, purpose, and perseverance can change lives.”

Learn more and contribute

To learn more about Leo and Cezary’s journey and contribute, visit the website: Two Birders, Two Bikes. The duo will complete their journey when they ride into Fitzroy, Melbourne on 1 November. Follow their journey on Instagram: @twobirderstwobikes

To learn more about Spend It Well and its work in Timor-Leste, visit the website.

Growing up in Malaysia, Catheryn Khoo was regularly involved in her local community and actively encouraged by her family to do her part to make it a better place.  

As a Girl Guide, she washed cars and did chores to raise money for charity; as a member of the Interact Club, she organised visits to local orphanages; and once a year, Catheryn and her parents would head to a seniors’ home to distribute “a carload of groceries” and small, red envelopes known as angpows, which are filled with money and shared as a custom during Chinese New Year.

Her early giving experiences and family influence all led Catheryn to design a deeply philanthropic life.

She studied and worked across the globe – from New Zealand to the United States – all while completing pro bono work on the side. And now, currently settled in Brisbane, Catheryn is a professor and Gender Expert for the United Nations World Tourism Organization, and spends her time championing women’s visibility and equality in tourism.

“I have travelled and worked with people from all over the world, and I’ve seen the disparity of opportunities one gets in a country like Malaysia versus Anglo-Saxon countries like Australia and New Zealand,” Catheryn says. “I know what the difference is, and what opportunities can do for someone like me.”

Her motivation to make a difference and have a sustainable impact prompted Catheryn to re-assess her giving and embrace a more structured model.

“I’ve always known that I would set up a fund someday, but I hadn’t known how to do or manage it,” Catheryn says. “Then I found Australian Communities Foundation (ACF) online.”

Whenever I talked to anyone at ACF and had a question, it was answered. I would always go away knowing a little bit more. Nothing seemed daunting.

“Everyone at ACF was so helpful…it all felt very doable. Whenever I talked to anyone at ACF and had a question, it was answered. I would always go away knowing a little bit more. Nothing seemed daunting.

“I could just do the job of philanthropy without having to worry about the legal and financial details, which was what stopped me when I first had this seed of an idea.”

Opening the Patricia Tan Equality Fund

After discussions with the Australian Communities Foundation team, Catheryn decided that a Gumnut Account was the right fit for her needs.

Gumnut Accounts lay the foundations for giving strategically and can be opened with as little as $2,000 and an ongoing commitment to donate $2,000 per year.

Once the Gumnut Account reaches $20,000, it matures into a Named Fund and can be used to grant to focus areas of the fund advisor’s choice.

Catheryn’s focus areas have always been abundantly clear: she’s passionate about improving access to equal opportunities and tackling gender inequality.

“I’d like to see marginalised people given the resources for personal and professional development at an international level, so they, too, can be acknowledged and celebrated for their achievements,” she notes.

“I named my Gumnut Account the Patricia Tan Equality Fund after my mother because she is the story,” Catheryn continues.  

“She was born in 1950s Malaysia and didn’t have access to education. She was predominantly a housewife until she was forced to take over my father’s electrical engineering business when he became a quadriplegic in 1997. 

I’d like to see marginalised people given the resources for personal and professional development, so they, too, can be acknowledged and celebrated for their achievements.

“The Fund will enable equal opportunities for people like my mum – talented, disadvantaged, and limited by a lack of education, resources, networks, exposure, and finances,” Catheryn explains. 

“It will directly help reduce the barriers, and encourage growth, stimulate career prospects, and provide a pathway to eradicate gender inequality and geographical disadvantage in developing nations.”

Get started

Catheryn admits she was initially overwhelmed at the thought of setting up a fund, and says the idea was left “incubating for a long time”. 

“I was sitting on an idea for eight years because I didn’t want to deal with the setting up of structures and red tape,” she says.  

“But ACF stepped in to help at each part of the fund set-up process. I’m really glad I reached out and I am very grateful for this connection.”    

When asked about the advice she’d offer to people thinking of opening their own fund, Catheryn says it’s about making a start. 

“Don’t be overwhelmed like me! Reach out to an organisation like ACF and start talking to people. Just start. Just start and everything will fall into place.” 

To learn more about Gumnut Accounts, click here.

“Over five billion people worldwide don’t have access to safe and affordable surgical care,” says Children First Foundation CEO Jessica Redwood.

“That’s about two out of three of us.”

Most are children in developing countries, Jessica notes, who live with treatable pain and disability that hinder their quality of life and, at times, can cause them to be ostracised and excluded from their communities.

It’s for these reasons that not-for-profit organisation Children First Foundation was established: to provide life-changing medical treatment and make a positive difference in the lives of disadvantaged children.

^{Associate Professor Donnan has performed over 50 pro bono surgeries and has undertaken some of CFF’s most challenging cases.}

Children First Foundation uses a Future Fund at Australian Communities Foundation to build sustainability and continue this important work.

“If not us, who?” Jessica muses. “Most aid programs don’t cover these vulnerable children, and they often can’t be supported with the surgical care they need in their own country.”

For Jessica, the opportunity to spearhead the children’s health charity was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

“I’ve worked with many large organisations that do absolutely incredible work, but I’m incredibly conscious that if it weren’t for Children First Foundation, these children wouldn’t be able to access critical surgical care.

“Surgery really is the pointy end. It’s that sliding doors moment in a child’s life that can make a difference between potentially living a very short life with avoidable pain and ongoing disability or living pain-free and being able to plan your future, go to school, get employment, contribute to your family and community… all those things that every child should have the right to do.”

In conjunction with generous surgeons, health professionals and hospitals, Children First Foundation facilitates the pro bono treatment of a range of congenital and acquired conditions, covering orthopaedic, craniofacial, burns, plastics, renal and urology cases.

To be accepted into any Children’s First program, the child’s condition must be operable and unable to be treated in their home country. To date, the Foundation has operated on almost 500 young people.

The care is provided through one of four streams:

• The Miracle sMiles program, which brings children requiring high-level care from developing countries to Australia;
• The in-country program, which sees surgeons support moderate surgical needs in developing countries;
• The back-home support program, which assists patients with follow-up medical care, welfare or education support when they return to their country post-recovery;
• The capacity-building program.

The capacity-building program aims to address the barriers to accessing medical care at a grassroots level by facilitating high-level treatment internationally. The program, Jessica explains, will work with strategic partners on low-cost, high-impact initiatives.

“We’ll be launching the capacity-building program so that more children will be able to have access to quality surgical care in their own countries.

“This is the sustainability project, so we can address children’s need for medical and surgical care in the long term.”

Since its inception in 1999, Children First Foundation has predominantly worked worldwide, but has ongoing partners in five Asia Pacific focus areas: Vietnam, the Philippines, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

We’ll be launching the capacity-building program so that more children will be able to have access to quality surgical care in their own countries

“The first child that I met when I started in this role was a young man called Xavier,” Jessica remembers. “A truly amazing young man who had an injury to his leg as a child. This had basically crushed his leg – to describe it in non-medical terms.

“Since then, he’d been walking with crutches, dragging that leg around with him. He had also started to develop cancerous lesions on his leg that, if left untreated, would have been life-threatening.”

Due to Covid-19 restrictions on international travel, 15-year-old Xavier faced an indefinite wait for his life-altering surgery.

“As soon as those borders opened at the end of last year, he came here from Madagascar. He has since come and had that section of his leg amputated. He was so excited to have the surgery and what it will mean for his life. He has been fitted with his very own prosthetic, which he is learning to walk with now.

“He’s undergoing beautiful care from our pro bono physios because he has not had to use the muscles in his leg in that way before. He walked for the very first time a month ago, and he’ll be leaving us in about a month’s time when his rehab is complete.

^{Xavier had his damaged leg amputated and has been fitted with a prosthesis, significantly increasing his quality of life.}

“His number one goal is to play soccer and he has approached his physio and rehab with absolute determination and dedication. So I have no doubt that he will definitely get there.”

Unfortunately, delayed medical procedures due to border closures aren’t the only roadblock Children First has faced, with fundraising stifled by Covid-19 lockdowns.

“Covid created tangible barriers for Children First. International borders were closed; hospital services were limited. And for us, it really restricted our income during that period.

“In the new financial year, we’ll be looking to philanthropic partners who are passionate about addressing the barriers to surgical access and children. As well as making a significant impact,” Jessica says.

With no government support and two years’ worth of foiled fundraising plans, Children First Foundation is relying upon the generous support of philanthropists to facilitate pre and post-surgical medical care, and even special donors looking to make long-term change.

We’re incredibly grateful to all our donor partners for working and collaborating with us to address critical surgical needs

Donated funds go toward child airfares, visas, clothing, food, medical aids and equipment, occupational and physiotherapy items, bed sheets, disposable dressings, colostomy items and imaging such as x-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds, MRI and blood tests.

“Children First has relied on philanthropy throughout its existence,” Jessica explains.

“We’re incredibly grateful to all our donor partners for working and collaborating with us to address critical surgical needs and change children’s lives.”

“Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely encourage tree planting but just planting a sapling is not enough,” says Andrew Mahar AM, Co-Founder and Project Director at WithOneSeed.

“At WithOneSeed, we don’t just plant trees – we grow them.”

A joint project of the xpand Foundation and Foundasuan Ho Musan Ida, WithOneSeed has been developing and running the largest community-led forestry program in Timor-Leste since 2010.

“Our approach is to work in partnership with small landholder subsistence farming communities,” explains Andrew.

“We pay tree farmers an annual incentive payment to nurture their trees on their own land, giving our trees a much higher survival rate.”

“It’s about climate justice, sustaining development and achieving climate regulation at local and national levels in Timor-Leste.”

Joining Australian Communities Foundation in 2012, WithOneSeed has been using a Future Fund over the past decade to give people the opportunity to make tax-deductible donations towards the program.

In this Q&A, we chat with Andrew about the WithOneSeed model and the importance of taking a community-led approach to forestry in the fight for climate justice.

Tell us about the work of the WithOneSeed program and its impact.

AM: It’s about climate justice, sustaining development and achieving climate regulation at local and national levels in Timor-Leste.

By working with small landholder subsistence farming communities, WithOneSeed is developing capacity for these communities to build local economies, participate in environmental education and establish partnerships to produce a more equal and just world.

Having been developed and refined over the past ten years in Baguia, the program now supports 10 of the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals by helping to:

• end poverty and hunger and promote sustainable farming and lifelong learning
• promote decent work, sustainable agricultural communities and economic growth
• combat climate change, manage forests and reverse land degradation
• encourage local, national and global partnerships for sustainable development
• empower women and children, and particularly girls, by increasing family income, facilitating children’s education and creating family job prospects.

How does WithOneSeed differ from other tree planting initiatives?

Often many tree projects make grand claims about the millions of trees planted or the huge areas that are being planted without any mechanism to monitor the survival rate let alone the growth rate of the trees they claim to have planted. Low survival rates not only make the return-on-investment low; they also bring into question claims about benefits to the planet. 

WithOneSeed is about growing trees, not just planting trees. Our annual incentive payments to tree farmers have given us a 74 per cent survival rate for trees planted. We also monitor the growth of the trees on an annual basis using a purpose-built community forestry management platform, TreeO2.

The reason for monitoring, which includes physically counting every tree planted, is two-fold. The first is we pay the tree farmer for every tree they keep alive. The second is we calculate the carbon stored in the new forests growing under the management of smallholder farmers, and then sell the carbon through international carbon markets, before returning the income to the subsistence tree farming communities.

Where did the idea come from and how did you get started?

It was really a chance meeting with a husband-and-wife couple from Baguia in Timor-Leste. At the time, I was reading Tim Flannery’s landmark essay on climate change, Now or Never.

“the idea of protecting the rainforest had long passed and there was a need to start replacing the forest…”

Flannery advocates for the need to protect the rainforest in the Asia Pacific for two reasons. The first: the more trees on the planet, the more carbon that can be drawn down and stored. The second is that these rainforests provide the livelihoods for many indigenous communities.

The Timorese couple, John and Leopoldina, knew that the idea of protecting the rainforest had long passed and there was a need to start replacing the forest and the livelihoods of their communities. Together, we co-founded WithOneSeed.

How does WithOneSeed measure the impact it’s having?

WithOneSeed is the first internationally certified smallholder community carbon forestry program under the Gold Standard Foundation in the Asia Pacific region. Being Gold Standard certified requires the program to undergo regular performance audits which hold the program to account, verifying activities both in relation to the carbon store and Sustainable Development Goals.

The TreeO2 community forestry management platform also provides transparency and accountability: TreeO2 holds data on every tree planted, growth rates, survival rates, species and farmer details.

We started in 2010 with 12 farmers who planted 3,000 trees in the first year. Today, there are over 980 tree farmers engaged in managing around 200,000 trees.

Key achievements so far include:

• Over 5% of Baguia farmers directly involved
• 30% of Baguia population benefitting financially from WithOneSeed
• Over 60,000 t CO2e removed from the world’s atmosphere
• More than 40,000 CarbonSocial carbon credits sold internationally to companies and individuals working toward carbon neutrality
• Establishment of the Foundasuan Rai Matak (Green Land Foundation) in late 2019 to manage expansion across Timor-Leste to be managed and directed by Timorese for Timorese.

What are WithOneSeed’s plans for the future?

WithOneSeed is now partnering with Oxfam and Foundation Ho Musan Ida in Timor-Leste with significant funding from the European Union to take the program to four other municipalities in Timor-Leste.

“We have a plan to democratise carbon markets and to continue to open up the opportunity for smallholder farmers to generate an income from ‘growing’ trees.”

We’re now also expanding beyond Timor-Leste with a small grant to pilot the program with the Australian Agroforestry Network in the Otway Ranges, Victoria.

We have a plan to democratise carbon markets and to continue to open up the opportunity for smallholder farmers to generate an income from ‘growing’ trees. We have a model, developed in the least developed country in the region, now being implemented in the most developed country in the region. The demand for high-quality carbon offsets is rising and the time is now to push ahead.

How can people get involved?

While we have been quietly going about our business and proving the model works, we are now interested in connecting more with the ACF community and anyone looking to support the program.

Individuals and organisations can contribute either directly or through the WithOneSeed ‘adopt a tree’ program, where they can support the farmers growing trees, or they can work toward net-zero emissions by purchasing high-quality carbon credits from WithOneSeed.

We’re also exploring interest in impact investments in the TreeO2 platform.

The work we have done to date has been organic and we are now looking to make quick progress to have an impact on achieving climate justice and getting the world to net-zero as quickly as possible.

If you are interested in getting involved, you can support the fund with a direct donation below or fundholders can log in to request a grant. If you are interested in learning more or partnering with WithOneSeed, please contact us.

Community development has always been a focus for Australian Communities Foundation funders, Peter van Duyn and Veronica Collins. Peter and Veronica established the Espero Fund in 2013 to improve access to education and support community development and advocacy. Peter and Veronica chose the name Espero – Spanish for hope – to reflect their aspirations of affording better opportunities for the next generation.

We briefly caught up with Peter to discuss one of Espero’s latest grants for community development.

Why did you fund this grant for the Human and Hope Association?

Community development is our focus and this often extends to international contexts. But funding international development can be an anxious thing sometimes – you often hear of volunteer programs that have little input from local communities and so there are questions around the kind of good they’re actually doing.

When we came across Human and Hope Association (HHA) – a grassroots community centre in Siem Reap, Cambodia – and learned their work is run entirely by a team of Cambodians, we wanted to find out more. As we read about the work they do, we really felt inspired by their holistic approach to creating sustainable futures for these local communities – not only through education for children, but also through vocational training and support for all community members, particularly for those most vulnerable.

Can you tell us a little bit about the process? How did you find out about HHA?

HHA actually came to us through our fund’s website. We set up the site when we established the Fund and have found it to be a very useful tool for our giving. I think it’s quite important for funders to be transparent about their funding interests and to allow their fund to be found by those seeking funding. So from the get-go, we’ve had our interest areas listed on the site and having these visible means the majority of proposals we receive are actually often quite aligned.

When HHA reached out to us, they were looking for funding to increase their student enrolment from 180 to 230. Such an increase would require an additional language teacher to reduce the pressure on the existing three education staff. After assessing our fund’s current capacity, we were able to offer support for the extra teacher’s salary, health insurance, training and development, and travel costs for almost 12 months.

What attracted you to HHA?

It’s important for us that community development is locally-led – I think that was the first and foremost thing that attracted us to the work. But on top of that, HHA is particularly focused on improving educational opportunities for women and girls. And in our experience, the proof is there that focusing on women and girls can achieve better outcomes – they lift their communities up.

Why do you like funding community development in particular?

For us, education and community development are two key pathways to change. When they are done right, we see communities empowered to create long-term and sustainable change for themselves. In many ways, they’re the building blocks for communities to then advocate for other kinds of change they want to see – whether that’s to do with the environment, democratic rights, gender equality, or whatever it might be.

But that’s not to say we aren’t interested in directly funding advocacy ourselves – we often fund the Human Rights Law Centre and Charcoal Lane; and we’ve recently supported the Public Interest Journalism Initiative and Medevac team at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre through ACF’s Impact Fund. So while we are particularly interested in education and community development, I don’t think funders should ever close themselves off from funding opportunities outside their focus areas. It’s important to know your funding interests, but I think you need to remain open so that you can fund responsively when the opportunities arise and maximise your impact.

Click here to find out more about Peter and Veronica’s Espero fund.

You can read more about the work of the Human and Hope Association here.

Spend It Well is an Australian charity and sub-fund at Australian Communities Foundation that has built nine schools in remote parts of East Timor in the last ten years.

Ninety per cent of East Timor’s infrastructure – including schools – was destroyed in the violence that followed its independence in 1999. As a result, many of the government schools are falling down or are little more than shacks with dirt floors and bamboo walls. The government has money to staff and run the schools, but not to construct the new buildings, which are so desperately needed.

Spend It Well employs a Timorese project manager who works closely with local builders to negotiate prices and to closely supervise the construction. This means we can deliver excellent quality buildings quickly and for a good price. Funding is used only for construction costs of the schools – none is spent on administrative costs (all overheads are separately funded). There is rarely running water or toilets at these schools and Spend It Well’s projects provide both, changing health as well as educational outcomes.

Spend It Well directly funds short-term foreign aid projects to make an immediate practical difference to the lives of a local community. If you would like to support the work of Spend it Well please contact the Philanthropy & Impact Team via [email protected].