Australian Communities Foundation’s Advisory services provide additional support for trusts and foundations, including tailored packages for private foundation clients, such as donkey wheel.
A prescribed private fund and charitable trust, donkey wheel was established by the Brunner family in 2004, with a view to supporting and nurturing the changemakers who have the potential to create a new world.
“The thing I value most about working with Australian Communities Foundation is that it’s full of people who have a deep understanding of the for-purpose space,” says Paul Steele, CEO of donkey wheel Foundation.
“I’m grateful that I don’t have to explain things over and over – they understand this space because it’s their core business, whereas a lot of accountants and lawyers don’t understand the nuances.”
Paul has been at the helm of donkey wheel since 2010, and admits he is passionate about “making a different difference that leads to systemic change”.
We’ve always been agnostic about which areas we work in, but at heart is the knowledge that if we want to make the world a better place, we need great changemakers to do it.
Supporting the changemakers
Since its inception, donkey wheel has played the long game, taking a systems view of change with a particular interest in initiatives that have the capacity for scale or replication.
“We’re more focused on the environmental conditions that facilitate success, rather than the successes of single projects or organisations,” Paul explains.
With this in mind, donkey wheel regularly supports intermediary organisations that work with the changemakers on the frontlines. This has included organisations such as The Difference Incubator, The Australian Centre for Social Innovation, Foundation for Young Australians, Australian Progress and Ethical Property Australia.
Providing bespoke support to established trusts and foundations is an area of expertise for Australian Communities Foundation’s Director of Engagement & Advisory, Olivia Clark-Moffatt.
“All our ACF Advisory services are designed to be of maximum benefit to our clients,” Olivia says.
“Whether they need support with compliance issues, grantmaking or administration, we offer options from light touch to full-service packages to fulfill their needs.”
Olivia says donkey wheel occupies a unique space in Australia as a profound changemaker and supporter of changemakers.
“There are very few organisations that take such an open-minded and creative approach as donkey wheel to supporting the potential to create a better world,” she says.
“One of the ways we’re able to support that approach is by providing compliance support that lifts the administrative burden off the donkey wheel team so that all their energy can stay in the creative and liminal spaces where they’re able to get results.”
That support has helped donkey wheel stay focused on “the slow, hard work” of ecosystem building rather than “quick wins”.
“We’re not under any illusion that everything we try will work,” says Paul.
“But if we don’t think different and act different, we won’t be able to make a different difference.”
Find more information about ACF Advisory services here or contact Olivia Clark-Moffatt, Director of Engagement & Advisory, to find how this support can help your trust or foundation.
Feature image: Pride Foundation Australia Chair Ruth McNair at Sydney WorldPride with performers of The Dan Daw Show, supported by PFA through its Arts & Culture funding program.
More than 120 funders and civil society leaders came together at Sydney WorldPride last month to share insights and strategies for resourcing rainbow communities in our region.
“The conversations I had at WorldPride just reinforced the need for our work,” says Ruth McNair, Chair of the Pride Foundation Australia (PFA), a philanthropic foundation run by and for the Australian LGBTQIA+ community.
“Repeated themes were around the inadequacy of funding, and the tiny proportion of philanthropic funding that goes to LGBTQIA+ communities,” says Ruth.
Since 2004, PFA has been working to change the story around LGBTQIA+ funding, and advance equity for Australia’s rainbow communities and individuals most disadvantaged by discrimination and structural inequalities.
Ruth recently spoke with us during Sydney WorldPride about current funding needs for LGBTQIA+ communities, plus PFA’s latest grant rounds, which are now being delivered through a partnership with Australian Communities Foundation.
Tell us about Pride Foundation Australia and the work you do.
Pride Foundation Australia aims to advance equity for Australian LGBTQIA+ communities using a model of social change philanthropy, and we do this through fundraising, grant giving, collaboration and commissioning projects. We have an all-volunteer board, advisory committees, and working groups from around Australia.
Specific LGBTQIA+ Priority Areas to date have included healthy ageing, mental health and suicide prevention, homelessness, and disability. Our current areas are refugees and people seeking asylum, and safe alcohol and other drug use, as well as support for LGBTIQA+ artists.
Rates of disadvantage and inequality among LGBTQIA+ communities and individuals are among the highest of any group in Australia.
Why is funding needed in the LGBTQIA+ space?
Rates of disadvantage and inequality among LGBTQIA+ communities and individuals are among the highest of any group in Australia. They face significant vulnerability and are more likely to experience discrimination, violence and abuse, and social exclusion. These challenges are even more likely for people with additional marginalised identities including people with multicultural, multifaith, First Nations backgrounds and people living with disabilities. They are also more likely in rural, regional and outer urban areas. These issues are very rarely a focus for government or NGO funding streams, so we try to partly fill that gap through philanthropy.
The role of philanthropy is to unapologetically raise awareness of the dire needs in our sub-communities, and to advocate for systemic change.

What is philanthropy’s role in supporting LGBTQIA+ communities in 2023?
Increasing levels of poverty and exclusion during the pandemic have exacerbated issues for so many sub-groups, such as young people trapped in abusive families, refugees trapped in home or transition countries, trans people unable to access life-affirming gender affirmation care, and so many more.
The role of philanthropy is to unapologetically raise awareness of the dire needs in our sub-communities, and to advocate for systemic change. As part of our efforts at PFA to engage in this work, I attended the first roundtable of the national LGBTQIA+ refugee coalition at WorldPride. With the support of a grant from the Maddocks Foundation, PFA has commissioned the Forcibly Displaced People Network (FDPN), the peak body for forcibly displaced LGBTQIA+ people in Australia, as our partner to run the coalition. One of the many advocacy pieces coming from this work is a call for an LGBTQIA+ refugee quota into Australia.
Tell us about PFA’s granting streams and the recent partnership with Australian Communities Foundation.
The Foundation generally awards grants through our regular Major Grants and Small Grants programs. In 2023 we have already launched three grant rounds:
• In our first Disaster Grant Round, which closed in January, six grant recipients received $5,000 each for projects supporting LGBTQIA+ communities in areas affected by recent natural disasters. It was important to us to support our rural and regional communities in this way.
• For our first Reducing Harm from Alcohol and Other Drugs Grant Round, we were very pleased to receive a large number of expressions of interest from all over Australia. This round is for grants of $10,000 – $15,000 each, up to a total of $50,000
• We are currently inviting expressions of interest for our first Small Grants Round for 2023. PFA has run small grants rounds for a number of years and we see such a big impact from each grant, despite being just $750 each. We have awarded 132 small grants so far. We generally have over 60 applicants per round representing a huge range of activities and groups including individuals, schools, peer support groups, local councils, health services and other community groups. A key theme of these projects is social inclusion.
This year we have partnered with Australian Communities Foundation to support our grant rounds. ACF’s Grants Team is working closely with us, providing administrative support and offering their expertise in grant making. We have realised that as our work expands, we need to invest financial resources into ensuring that we are utilising best practice approaches. For example, the Foundation’s established but flexible approach to grant reporting enables a robust acquittal process to enhance our impact evaluations without placing undue burden on grantees.
What advice do you have for funders interested in supporting LGBTQIA+ communities?
Prospective funders and donors need to get to know the diverse array of communities within the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, to partner and ally with us, and to choose the right group to be involved with based on our mutual interests.
How can interested funders support the work of PFA?
There are a number of ways funders can support our work:
• One is our annual giving program, and we are seeing an increasing number of donors choosing to give regularly to our general work.
• We have an active bequests program.
• Our LGBTQIA+ Refugee Sub-Fund is a great option for donors who want to specifically support refugee sponsorship.
• Finally, we are happy to talk with any donor who has a specific cause in mind. Contact PFA
Current grant rounds
Pride Foundation Australia Small Grants Round
Grants of up to $750 are available to individuals, not-for-profit organisations, and communities with a project directly assisting, involving, and benefitting LGBTQIA+ people and promoting positive social outcomes.
Applications close 5pm AEDT Monday 27 March 2023.
Pride Foundation Australia x Sidney Myer Fund Large Grants Round
Grants of up to $20,000 are available to projects supporting sexuality, sex and gender diverse (LGBTQIA+) people who are refugees or seeking asylum.
Applications close 5pm AEST Monday 24 April 2023.
A veteran of Queensland’s boat building industry, Bruce Shepherd was always driven throughout his career to give back to the community.
“Bruce was always conscious of the fact that he had more than many others,” says Bruce’s wife Sue, “and so he gave generously throughout his lifetime.”
When Bruce passed away in 2019, Sue and the Shepherd family wanted a way to extend Bruce’s legacy of giving back.
Today, the Shepherd Family Foundation supports Queensland organisations that “enable positive social change and make a real difference in people’s lives,” explains Sue. “Our aim is to support Queensland communities to thrive.”
Getting help with getting started
When the family decided they would establish their own foundation in Bruce’s honour, they weren’t exactly sure how to get started.
“The prospect of establishing our own foundation by ourselves was overwhelming,” says Sue. “We started to learn about the structure that sits behind family foundations – what’s called a private ancillary fund or PAF.”
Australian Communities Foundation has supported us throughout our giving journey … This has allowed us to focus on giving without the burden of administration
“There just seemed to be so much work involved, and that’s not even mentioning the ongoing administration and compliance.”
Then a friend introduced Sue to Australian Communities Foundation’s Foundation Support Services.
“Australian Communities Foundation has supported us throughout our giving journey,” explains Sue, “from establishment of our PAF, to helping us articulate and narrow down our giving framework, supporting our granting and ensuring we meet all of our legal requirements.

“This has allowed us to focus on giving without the burden of administration.”
Giving for change
The Shepherd Family Foundation distributed its first grants in early 2022 and has since given over $300,000 across four key focus areas: homelessness, the arts, women and girls, and food insecurity.
Working with Australian Communities Foundation’s Philanthropic Services team, the family takes a holistic approach to supporting positive change in these areas, funding both service delivery and advocacy.
Another key principle of the family’s grantmaking approach is to provide untied funding where possible, allowing organisations to decide how to best allocate the funds themselves.
Grant highlights so far include:
- $50,000 for Brisbane Youth Service, a specialist youth service creating new futures for young people who are homeless or vulnerable through housing and support services.
- $25,000 for Queensland Theatre Company, Australia’s third largest theatre company.
- $10,000 for Sisters Inside, a community-based organisation that advocates for the collective human rights of women and girls in prison, and their families, and provides services to address their individual needs.
Complementing the Foundation’s granting to Queensland-based organisations is its support for a range of national organisations that also benefit Queenslanders, including the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, OzHarvest and Lifeline Australia.
Despite the Foundation’s considerable impact in a short period, Sue says this is just the beginning of carrying on Bruce’s legacy.
We look forward to continuing Bruce’s legacy as we learn along the way and maximise our impact
“We’re still in the early learning stages. We look forward to continuing Bruce’s legacy as we learn along the way and maximise our impact.
“To anyone interested in starting their own foundation, the only advice we have at this stage is to work with a knowledgeable partner like Australian Communities Foundation – that support makes all the difference.”
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people. Archie Roach’s family has given permission for his name and image to be shared.
Lauded for his voice, his gentle spirit, his resilience and the truth-telling he delivered via his music, Archie Roach AM has left an extraordinary legacy that will live on in the work of the Archie Roach Foundation.
A Gunditjmara and Bundjalung Senior Elder, Archie was a Stolen Generation survivor who was only three years old when he was forcibly removed from his family. His music and activism gave an important voice to the stories and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people.

“Archie Roach was a healer, a unifying voice, a truth-teller and the voice of a generation (for generations),” says Uncle Jack Charles, a friend and board member of the Archie Roach Foundation.
In a statement provided on behalf of the family, Archie’s sons, Amos and Eban, shared a message from their late father and expressed their pride in his powerful legacy.
“Archie wanted all of his many fans to know how much he loves you for supporting him along the way.
“We are so proud of everything our dad achieved in his remarkable life. He was a healer and a unifying force. His music brought people together.”
Established in 2014, the Archie Roach Foundation nurtures meaningful and potentially life-changing opportunities for First Nations artists.
Archie Roach Foundation Director and ACF fund holder, Regina Hill, says she will remember Archie as “such a special person”.
“He was a thoughtful, caring, and gentle man,” Regina says.
“He had a deep and abiding care for others and desire for genuine reconciliation and healing. He expressed that through his music, through the way he interacted with his audiences, and, in so many ways – most significantly, through the way he connected with young ones. His work with young people in detention held a special meaning, as did his mentorship of young and emerging First Nations artists.”
We are so proud … He was a healer and a unifying force. His music brought people together
The Foundation held a special place in Archie’s heart, as a way to “give back and pass on what’s been given to me from people I’ve met on my journey who have pointed me in a different direction to a better way of life and understanding, to freedom,” he explained at the time.
“I hope to be a signpost for others, to walk alongside and empower them to tell their story through the arts to point them in a deadly direction; in particular young people within the youth justice system,” Archie said.
ACF Chief Executive Officer, Maree Sidey, says supporting the work of the Foundation is a powerful way to help Archie’s legacy live on.
“We know the Archie Roach Foundation has run for many years on the strength of its relationships and networks,” Maree says. “For the Foundation’s long-term, sustainable future, it’s important that we show our support by contributing financial resources too.”
The Foundation has a range of plans to embed Archie’s legacy of truth-telling in the national conversation, including using his lyrics and songs as curriculum materials.

“There is much that we would like to do at the Foundation to celebrate Archie’s legacy and continue the work that he was seeking to do in supporting First Nations artists; sharing his story through his memoir, curriculum development and education; justice, truth-telling and reconciliation,” explains Regina.
“We will come to that, but now we are holding Archie in our hearts and our thoughts. His spirit has expanded into the open sky and is flying now, with [his late partner] Ruby. I will miss him, but like so many, I will always be touched by what he shared with us.”
To support Archie’s legacy and contribute to the Archie Roach Foundation’s work from your ACF Named Fund, please email grants@communityfoundation.org
To make a general donation to the Archie Roach Foundation visit: https://www.archieroach.com/support
Read more:
- Archie Roach remembered as a truth-teller and activist who gave voice to many
- Archie Roach: the great songman, tender and humble, who gave our people a voice
- Uncle Jack Charles reflects on the legacy of Archie Roach
Over the past 25 years, Australian Communities Foundation (ACF) has helped hundreds of everyday philanthropists increase the impact of their giving by providing strategy, support and structure that takes donor ideas and turns them into a reality.
V&F Housing Enterprise Foundation, a new private ancillary fund created by Ondine Spitzer and Hugh Belfrage, is a recent example of ACF’s end-to-end support offering for private foundations (PAFs).
Using the experience and expertise of ACF’s philanthropy team, Ondine and Hugh have embarked upon an important and ambitious giving journey that aims to alleviate the housing affordability and accessibility crisis in Australia.
“We see housing as a fundamental human need, up there with food and water,” explains Hugh.
“To our minds, that puts a responsibility on government to facilitate access to housing, predominantly via regulation of the housing market, and our sense is that government has failed in this, and the market is currently not fit-for-purpose because it is unable to facilitate access for ordinary people.”
Adds Ondine: “We believe government has a responsibility to facilitate access to housing in the same way it does to education and reasonable health care.”
The V&F Housing Enterprise Foundation works to achieve this change by resourcing the reform of relevant policy settings and supporting those advocating for accessible housing.
“Propping up a broken system isn’t enough,” Ondine continues. “It needs to be reset or reregulated.”
We came back to ACF to talk about getting regular and ongoing support to help set us on our way that’s been instrumental to getting us where we are
Getting started and staying focused
The thinking behind the establishment of the V&F Housing Enterprise Foundation was years in the making.
“We knew that I would inherit money and Hugh and I had discussed over many years what we would do with that because our needs are not that great,” Ondine explains. “We believe in contributing to our community and the world.”
Hugh and Ondine agreed early on that targeting a single, fundamental issue in a structured way with their giving was preferable to making ad hoc donations to a range of causes. After researching and comparing different philanthropic structures, the pair opted for a private ancillary fund (PAF) as the vehicle for their giving.
“We knew that we wanted to be very involved and have some control,” Ondine explains. “The PAF gave us control about how we could direct the funds philanthropically and ACF has helped us set everything up administratively and legally – it’s been a very positive experience.”
Finding their place and potential role in the philanthropic ecosystem was another benefit of partnering with ACF Ondine says.
“One of the things that was great for us in talking with ACF was that we had no idea whether we were big fry or small fry; we had no idea whether we were crazy or whether this idea was smart or innovative or conservative. We have a reasonable amount of money but we’re not a Twiggy Forrest.
“After a couple of conversations with ACF we were a bit more sure of ourselves and how we fitted in, and honestly, I remember coming away thinking that we’d found people we could really talk to about our giving and that’s really inspiring.”
After the initial set up and preliminary scoping of their own, Hugh and Ondine realised they had reached a point where they “were not sure where to go from here”.
“We came back to ACF to talk about getting regular and ongoing support to help set us on our way that’s been instrumental to getting us where we are,” Ondine explains. “It’s been a very, very positive partnership.”
ACF’s networks and experience have also helped to connect Hugh and Ondine with important stakeholders and knowledge holders.
“ACF helps us stay focused on our idea and brings us back regularly to look at the tasks and break things down into bite-sized pieces,” Hugh says. “They’ve helped us broker discussions with housing sector experts, economists, taxation experts, academics and develop a brief to commission research,” Hugh says.
With backgrounds in health and social work respectively, the couple spent decades witnessing the challenges that stem from a lack of access to stable housing.
“It’s been an issue that we’ve talked about for more than a decade,” Hugh says. “Housing prices have been rising consistently for more than 30 years and as a social worker I’ve seen the enormous impact that has on families, and in particular children, in lower socio-economic situation. The money coming out of household budgets now towards housing is far more than it used to be.”
“The underlying issue is that housing has been reframed as an asset rather than as a home,” Hugh continues. “Housing prices are now something like seven times the value of household income, whereas it was three times the value of household income in the past.
“Rather than viewing housing strictly as an asset class, the challenge is reframing the idea of housing collectively so that people hold its importance in building a life not just building wealth.”
“That’s why we’re hoping our giving can help facilitate a more informed conversation in the community, because we believe most Australians would agree that reasonable access to housing is a fair thing,” Ondine adds.
Building collaborative partnerships
Hugh and Ondine are under no illusion about the enormity of the task and the change they hope to achieve. Having established the Foundation during the social isolation of Covid, the couple is keen to meet, learn from and engage with other like-minded philanthropic funders within and beyond the ACF giving community.
“If we can ever achieve anything it will be alongside a whole lot of other people and other resources,” Hugh says.
“We’re just two people but we hope we can do our part to build a broader campaign or movement. It’s a terribly difficult problem and it will take a lot of resources, more than ours alone, to solve it.”
“We’re happy to spend down the money we’ve put in,” Ondine adds. “We don’t intend to have the Foundation operating in perpetuity. The idea is to be clear about exactly what we’re trying to do and get other people involved in it who will hopefully be inspired to join us in this quest.”
Propping up a broken system isn’t enough,” Ondine continues. “It needs to be reset or reregulated.
Advice to others who are new to philanthropy
Hugh and Ondine offer three pieces of advice for anyone who’s contemplating getting started on their own philanthropic journey:
“The first piece of advice would be just do it,” Hugh says. “ACF is a fabulous channel to help you come to terms with what you want to do – they will help you find your way through it, big or small.
“The second thing is to choose an area that you have some passion for, because where there’s passion there’s energy.
“And related to that, the third piece of advice is that even though there are lots of worthwhile things to be done, it’s important to stay focused.”
Read more about the philosophy that underpins the V&F Housing Enterprise:
The past three decades have seen the cost of housing rise in an unprecedented way. Purchase of a home has become delinked from normal household income and instead reliant on pre-existing wealth, including housing itself. The whole housing market has been impacted, as booming property prices have pushed many into the rental market, increasing rental demand and driving up rents.
The market has been locked in a rising dynamic with excess demand driving prices upward, driving further demand, in a positive feedback loop. These structural issues have been amplified by the historically low interest rates following the GFC and COVID-19, with emerging negative macroeconomic consequences: compromise of monetary policy for fear of a housing crash, and the locking up of increasing amounts of capital in housing, for static return, at an opportunity cost in the wider economy.
Paradoxically, as a nation we find ourselves in the position of assisting, through the tax system, those who already own homes to buy additional homes, while those seeking to buy or rent a home are required to spend greater and greater proportions of household income, driving many towards housing stress and poverty.
The V&F Housing Enterprise Foundation believes the current unaffordability of housing in Australia is unjust, unacceptable and avoidable. The Foundation seeks to facilitate change by:
- Understanding the landscape
- Forming strategic partnerships and alliances
- Raising the profile of the issue
- Enabling disruption and innovation
Learn more about starting a Private Foundation
“There is no question that philanthropic peers working in partnership creates optimal results,” says Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF) Partnerships Manager, Genevieve Timmons.
Renowned for her vast contribution to Australia’s philanthropic sector, Genevieve speaks from decades of first-hand experience. And as the world continues to be reshaped by the upheavals, restrictions and increased need for support wrought by Covid, collaboration and partnerships are proving to be more critical than ever for achieving impact.
After a successful pilot in 2020, PRF has again partnered with Australian Communities Foundation (ACF) in 2021 to deliver $3 million worth of funding support to vulnerable communities as part of its Covid Response Surge Funding.
The key priority was to ensure PRF funds would reach the organisations and communities most severely impacted by the pandemic in a respectful, timely and cost-effective way.
The support is focused across five areas: social enterprises, family violence, First Nations funding to individuals (in partnership with Australian Communities Foundation funds, Koondee Woonga-gat Toor-rong and Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership), First Nations-led organisations and general Covid funding.
“The key priority was to ensure PRF funds would reach the organisations and communities most severely impacted by the pandemic in a respectful, timely and cost-effective way,” explains Genevieve.
“ACF was able to do this with us. They provided valuable reach so our funds could be delivered to organisations and communities across Australia, particularly in New South Wales and Victoria.”
Though the impact of the funding is still unfolding as grants are distributed across the Covid-impacted communities, the partnership between the two philanthropic foundations has been built upon the unique skills and respective strengths of each organisation.
“Through the partnership, ACF opened up access to a broad sweep of funding relationships they already have in place, and knowledge of the landscape where we were hoping to provide benefit,” Genevieve says. “They also quickly took on research to build new funding opportunities to match our priorities.”
For Australian Communities Foundation CEO, Maree Sidey, the partnership demonstrates the value and deep knowledge a community foundation can bring to the funding equation.
“As part of this partnership with PRF we’re really pleased to be able to offer the expertise of our fundholders such as Koondee Woonga-gat Toor-rong and the Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership to inform the grantmaking to specific communities,” Maree says.
“ACF’s flexibility and agility, our infrastructure and our connections into these communities have all helped get this funding out the door effectively and efficiently.”
These characteristics have proven to be extremely valuable in response to Covid.
The professionalism and responsiveness that the ACF team brought to our work was invaluable
“An important feature of the partnership has been relying on the specialist operational skills and technology framework that needs to be in place for any effective contemporary grantmaking program, but especially emergency response funding,” Genevieve says.
“The professionalism and responsiveness that the ACF team brought to our work was invaluable. They artfully managed a range of demands that are critical to an effective emergency response.
“Their approach was efficient and light touch, which meant we could move as fast as possible to get funds out to where they were needed.”
Read more about the partnership’s surge funding for women’s shelters here.
Feature image: Supported by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, the National Crisis Response Fund has distributed over $630,000 to 62 organisations, including Albury Wodonga Regional FoodShare and PlateitForward.
The twin themes of community and collective effort have underpinned Peter McMullin’s philanthropic journey for as long as he can remember.
“I’ve always been involved in community life,” Peter says, “so the transition from community engagement to philanthropy felt like a fairly seamless one over time.”
The convergence of Peter’s personal and professional roles is still evident today. A lawyer by trade, he currently chairs the McMullin Group, is Honorary Consul of Timor-Leste and a board member at WorkSafe Victoria.
Previously, Peter was Mayor of Geelong in 2006 and Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne between 1996-99. He was President of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce for three years and chaired the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for eight.
A dear and long-standing friend of Australian Communities Foundation, Peter’s philanthropy has focused on helping refugees, Indigenous Australians, education, international cooperation, the arts and creative industries.
But in 2018, Peter raised the stakes, giving one of his most significant philanthropic gifts to the University of Melbourne Law School to establish the world’s first Centre on Statelessness. The Centre will examine the causes and extent of statelessness around the world, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
Peter recently shared insights from his giving journey at the Australian Communities Foundation’s EOFY celebration. What follows is an extended conversation between Peter and ACF’s Nicole Richards, which took place earlier in June 2019.
NR: What was the catalyst for your philanthropic journey? When and how did you get started?
PMc: In hindsight it’s a bit hard to identify the point where my community involvement and philanthropy merged.
Perhaps it was when I became one of the founding directors of the Small Change Foundation set up by Ellen Koshland [in 1989] which paved the way for the idea that small amounts of money can make big change. Specifically, in this case that small amounts of money could go to public schools and teachers could run a program that was transformative like encouraging girls to do engineering, science and maths.
To be honest, that’s been a continuing theme in my philanthropy. Australia has a shocking record when it comes to women and girls in science – it’s something that needs to be structurally altered. Philanthropy has a role to play because it can help drive complacent or unimaginative governments to think differently about issues.
I became involved with Australian Communities Foundation back when it was still Melbourne Communities Foundation; I knew Hayden [Raysmith] and a lot of the other members at that time. The community foundation model is a good one and we were all about the same sort of thing: How do you collectivise this activity of giving? How do you get people to see philanthropy as not just the realm of the rich, but the realm of everybody?
We’ve got a way to go in that space in Australia. Traditional philanthropy has been a bit siloed and remote and inaccessible to a lot of people.
There has been some amazing work done by families in Australia and particularly in Victoria, but I think it’s important that we publicise the benefits of philanthropy and popularise it in a more extensive way than we’ve done so far. That’s not to criticise anyone – it’s an evolving process.
You’ve long been an advocate for philanthropy’s role in fostering positive change while also recognising the interplay of business and government. How do you think philanthropy can be most effective in this equation?
From my perspective, philanthropy is the driver. And the leader.
Working up proposals which government or business can embrace is the job of philanthropy.
I think the ‘how’ is what governments and business want to hear.
Often, you’ll speak to people in business who may be interested but don’t know how to do it. A big part of what I’m going to do with my philanthropy is around collaboration and providing opportunities for people to join in and support things.
Governments aren’t imaginative; they’re really struggling to do what they used to do and people need to think about the society they want to live in.
I think the private world has to step up now.
Why is statelessness an issue close to your heart? What outcomes do you hope the Centre on Statelessness, which you’ve funded for the next 10 years, ultimately contributes to?
In my early career as a lawyer I did a lot of immigration law; it was pretty uncommon and esoteric at the time – a lot of people didn’t know what it meant.
I became a member of the Commonwealth Refugee Tribunal in and back in those days [McMullin served on the Tribunal between 1993-96] Australia was the leading country in the world for processing refugees. People used to come to Australia to see how it was done; we were the envy of the world.
We had a complex High Court decision about what it meant to be a refugee and there was a system in place and people were either determined to be a refugee or not. They got residence or not.
It was a tough thing to do; I didn’t enjoy it one bit. You met people who’d been through the most amazing struggles to get here and then if you must tell them they can’t stay it’s not at all pleasant. But there was a rule around it, and now that’s all been whittled away and very few rights remain.
I became frustrated by the position Australia was adopting and thought, what can I do?
Statelessness as an issue has been on the backburner for about 50 years. There have been various attempts to establish a statelessness convention, but it hasn’t had a lot of institutional support. That’s changing.
The Centre on Statelessness has become a fulcrum for people around the world who’ve had statelessness on the edge of their desk.
António Guterres, the Secretary General of the UN beamed into the opening of the Centre a year ago and said statelessness is the number one human rights issue of his tenure.
I think we’re going to hear more about statelessness more than we ever have in past.
You’ve had a sub-fund in the past and you’re exploring different vehicles like PAFs and PBIs for your next philanthropic venture but you’re not a big fan of the label ‘philanthropy’. Why is that?
I feel sometimes with philanthropy the dollar amount becomes the story and people forget what the thing’s all about.
Even with the Centre on Statelessness, I wasn’t interested in the headline: ‘McMullin gives X’, I was more interested in a headline that said statelessness was being addressed.
Philanthropy needs to think about engagement and how we do these things differently. I think we need to change the approach to excite the community’s interest. That’s why I don’t like the world ‘philanthropy’. It puts people off, I think.
People don’t quite know what it means other than being associated with elites and that’s never been popular.
At its most fundamental level, why is giving important?
There are so many benefits to giving. I derive an emotional benefit, no question.
I enjoy the fact that I’m in the fortunate position where I can actually help achieve good outcomes.
For me to be able to engage directly with some like [journalist, human rights defender, award-winning writer and Manus Island detainee] Behrouz Boochani is just…Well, I’ll give you an example. I called him the other day and his face was on my screen but he couldn’t see me or hear me and I have to say, his face was the saddest face I’ve ever seen.
It’s that sad face I want to help. It’s very moving. Very moving to think that this person is languishing there on a remote island in Papua New Guinea with no prospects. If that doesn’t move you, I’m not sure what would.
All the areas I support there’s an emotional connection somewhere. That’s valuable self-knowledge about who you are. For me to be able to contribute is an emotional response to the world that I live in.
What advice would you give someone who’s just starting out on their philanthropic journey?
Join the Australian Communities Foundation, set up a sub fund and contribute to it every month. See how it grows.
As Paul Keating used to say, it’s the magic of compound interest. You don’t have to do anything other than think about what you’re going to do with it when it grows.
Also, participate. Learn about what other members of the foundation do and why they do it. Meet people. It’s all about relationships – just like business is all about relationships, so too is philanthropy.
When all’s said and done, what kind of impact do you hope your philanthropy makes?
Not to resort to clichés, but it’s about making a difference. I’m not into legacy creation per se but I am keen to see change happen. I’m keen to be actively involved in the philanthropy I do.
Engagement is really my mantra. To do what we can, while we can.