Philanthropy Australia

Philanthropy Australia is Australia's national peak body for Philanthropy. "The philanthropic sector is estimated at over 1200 trusts and foundations disbursing up to $500 million per annum." [1]

According to their 2005 Annual Report "The most significant event of 2005 for Philanthropy Australia was the Second International Philanthropy Conference entitled ‘A Wealth of Experience: Building Philanthropy, Corporate Citizenship & Community Capacity’, held in Melbourne in October."

Philanthropy in Australia

"Commissioned by the Australian Government on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership, the Giving Australia: Research on Philanthropy in Australia report shows the value of individual giving, $5.7 billion in 2004, has increased 88 per cent since 1997.

Furthermore, total donations from "Australians and businesses [is]... more than ever before, contributing more than $11 billion in 2004.

"Business giving has more than doubled since 2000-01, with more than 525,000 businesses, or 67 per cent of all businesses, giving $3.3 billion in money, goods and services during 2003-04." [2]

Networks

"A network is a group of (mainly) funders who come together through a common interest to share experience, knowledge, expertise and resources.

"Two corporate networks continued to meet throughout 2005. They were the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Network in Sydney, and the Melbourne Corporate Funders Group. Philanthropy Australia worked in partnership with Freehills to establish the Sydney group, and with Goldman Sachs JBWere to establish the Melbourne group.

"A third network, the Maimonides Society, was established by the Asia-Pacific Centre for Philanthropy and Social Investment at Swinburne University of Technology, in conjunction with Philanthropy Australia." [3]

Membership

"In 2005, Philanthropy Australia membership grew by 10 per cent." [4]

Leading grantmakers

Private/ Independent Foundations Disbursing Over $1 Million Per Annum in Australia updated March 15 2005 [5]

• 1 The Pratt Foundation - $12 million
• 2 Colonial Foundation Trust - $7.5 million
• 3 The Myer Foundation / Sidney Myer Fund - $7 million
• 4 The Ian Potter Foundation - $6.2 million
• 5 Helen Macpherson Smith Trust - $5.5 million
• 6 Foundation for Young Australians - $4.4 million (Government-initiated foundation)
• 7 The Jack Brockhoff Foundation - $3.8 million
• 8 The R E Ross Trust - $3.5 million
• 9 The Sylvia & Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation - $3.5 million
• 10 The William Buckland Foundation - $3.3 million
• 11 Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation - $3 million
• 12 J.O. & J.R. Wicking Trust - $3 million
• 13 Collier Charitable Fund - $2.6 million
• 14 Geoffrey Gardiner Dairy Foundation - $2.5 million
• 15 Garnett Passe & Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation - $2.5 million
• 16 The Besen Family Foundation - $2 million
• 17 Clive & Vera Ramaciotti Foundations - $1.8 million
• 18 Percy Baxter Charitable Trust - $1.8 million
• 19 Lord Mayor's Charitable Fund - $1.73 million
• 20 The Alfred Felton Bequest - $1.7 million
• 21 Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal - $1.44 million (Government-initiated foundation)
• 22 CASS Foundation - $1 million +
• 23 The Gandel Charitable Trust "In excess of one million, full amount not disclosed."
• 24 Sherman Foundation $600,000 - $1 million

"The total amount disbursed annually by these foundations is in excess of $83.27 million.

"NB: This list includes only Australian private foundations whose primary purpose is to make grants, for which we were able to obtain information. It does not include corporate foundations, charities, or foundations whose income is derived from legislated levies."

Other Grant makers

• Foundation for Young Australians

Staff

• Gina Anderson - Chief Executive Officer
• Jackie Purdie - Executive Assistant
• Andrew Lawson - Community Foundations Development Officer

Council

• Lady Southey AC - President - Director of The Myer Foundation and President of St Catherine’s School Foundation
• Ms Dur-e Dara OAM - President of the Restaurant and Catering Association of Victoria and Convenor of the Victorian Women’s Trust
• David Ward - Treasurer - Managing Director of ANZ Trustees with responsibilities including acting as sole or co-trustee for several of Australia's leading Foundations including The Alfred Felton Bequest, The Charles and Sylvia Viertel Charitable Foundation, The William Buckland Foundation, Alexander Wright Wales Trust, and The J.O & J. R. Wicking Trust
• Ms Gina Anderson - Chief Executive Officer
• Mr Christopher Arnold - Melbourne Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman of the National Board of Dibbs Abbott Stillman Lawyers
• Mr Barry Capp - Chairman of Delhi Holdings Limited and a Director of Australian Infrastructure Fund Limited. He is currently Chairman of Trustees of The William Buckland Foundation and the Westpac Foundation
• Ms Jan Cochrane-Harry - was previously Head of Philanthropic Foundations at Perpetual Trustees Australia Ltd for 5 years. She is a trustee of the Margaret Lawrence Foundation and the Greenlight Foundation, and a member of the Transurban Corporate Social Responsibility Committee.
• Mr Terry Macdonald - Principal of Macdonald Technical Services. He was President of the Reach Out for Kids Foundation 1996-2003 and still holds office in several Community organisations in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He joined the Board of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Fund in 1999 and became Chairman of the Grants Committee and a member of the Executive Committee of the Fund in 2003. He was elected to the Board of United Way Australia in 2005 and is a member of the Hosting Committee of UWA preparing for the United Way World Congress in Melbourne in 2006
• Ms Sam Meers - Executive Director of the Nelson Meers Foundation, an arts foundation established in July 2001 with her father, Nelson Meers, a former Lord Mayor of Sydney. The Nelson Meers Foundation was the first ‘prescribed private fund’ to commence operation in Australia
• Dr Noel Purcell - has served as a senior executive of Westpac since February 1986. He is currently the Group General Manager, Stakeholder Communications, with responsibility for all media, government, investor and community relations, as well as the Westpac Group corporate sustainability and internal communication. Noel recently joined the Global Governing Board of the CAUX Round Table
• Mr Christopher Thorn - Principal of Goldman Sachs JBWere and Chairman of StreetSmart Australia

Source and biographies

Publications

• Annual Report 2005, (For other Annual reports see: http://www.philanthropy.org.au/aboutus/annreport.htm)
• Philanthropy Australia, Facts About Australian Foundations
• Journal, Australian Philanthropy

Contact

Level 10, 530 Collins Street
MELBOURNE VIC 3000
AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61 3 9620 0200
Fax: +61 3 9620 0199
Email: pa AT philanthropy.org.au
Website: www.philanthropy.org.au

Related sourcewatch resources

• Marion Webster - founding executive director
• Council on Foundations
• Funding Exchange (Progressive foundations)
• The Foundation Center
• Elizabeth Cham - Former National Director

Books critical of foundations

• Robert F. Arnove (ed.), Philanthropy and Cultural Imperialism: The Foundations at Home and Abroad, Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980).
• Irene L. Gendzier, Development Against Democracy: Manipulating Political Change in the Third World, (Hampton, CT: Tyrone, 1995).
• Mark Dowie, Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995).
• Mark Dowie, American Foundations: An Investigative History, 2002.
• Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism, (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003).

External links

• Dr Diana Leat, The Development of Community Foundations in Australia: Recreating the American Dream, 2004.

• Wealthy Australian philanthropists, Crikey, 19 May 2006.
• Family Foundations LINKS
• Giving Australia research project, 10 October 2005.