Updated October 2024.
A record year for charitable giving was reported by Australian Philanthropic Services (APS) in the last financial year, with APS clients collectively giving $200 million—a sizeable uplift from the $162 million in 2023.
Through its latest IPAP (Impact Philanthropy Application Program) insights, Perpetual Trustees reported $32 million committed to charities through the IPAP process. Perpetual reports distributing around $120 million annually to charities across the country. Perpetual also just released their insights on a decade of philanthropy, which you can download and read here.
And in 2023, Equity Trustees reported a record breaking $122 million in grants and bequests, translating into more than 5,000 individual grants to community, for-purpose and charitable organisations nationally in one year.
This snapshot of giving across the sector from some of Australia’s trustee grant-making organisations is certainly an indication that charitable giving is on the rise. And while building, and nurturing, relationships with your donors and funders are critical for long-term grants success (we share many insights about this on our blog!), there are some newer initiatives and campaigns that are worth getting excited about.
Keep reading to find out some of the philanthropic campaigns Team SG are keeping informed on.
Double philanthropic giving by 2030
According to Philanthropy Australia:
Australia is well positioned to create a more generous culture and double giving by 2030.
We have unprecedented wealth. Over the two decades to 2040, $2.6 trillion will pass to the next generation. If we could pass even just 5-10 per cent to charity, this would unleash $130-260 billion, helping to catapult us to being among the leading philanthropic nations in the world.
The Government has committed to work with the philanthropic, for-purpose and business sectors to develop a Strategy to double giving by 2030.
Keep informed on Philanthropy Australia’s strategy to double giving by 2030 here.
Future foundations for giving
Following on from Philanthropy Australia’s strategy to double giving by 2023, the recently published inquiry report states the Government Productivity Commission’s findings to lay the foundations for philanthropy in Australia. Some of the highlights of the report include:
- Over $13 billion was donated to charities in Australia in 2021 and 6 million people volunteered in 2022.
- Philanthropy in Australia is increasing, and government policies are supporting this growth.
- The report focuses on reforms to build firmer foundations for philanthropy in Australia, so that the benefits of giving can continue to be realised into the future.
- Four main focus areas: improving the system that determines which charities have access to tax-deductible donations; improving access to philanthropic networks for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; enhancing the regulatory framework for charities and ancillary funds; and improving public information on charities and donations.
- The Commission has designed policy principles to inform the minimum distribution that ancillary funds are required to make each year
Pay What It Takes & Reframe Overhead campaigns
The Reframe Overhead Campaign is an initiative of the Pay What It Takes (PWIT) Charity Consortium Australia. PWIT is a collection of individuals and organisations working collaboratively to address the critical challenges faced by Australian Not-For-Profits, focusing on the crucial but often underfunded area of overhead costs.
For years, funders in Australia have been reluctant to fully fund overhead costs. Low overhead rates are paid when funding various non-profit organisations, regardless of their actual needs.
This leaves a sector starved of basic infrastructure – the infrastructure needed to run programs, help beneficiaries and deliver meaningful outcomes.
Research by the Reframe Overhead committee found that non-profits are afraid to speak to the need for overhead, but research shows that donors want to know about the outcomes of their investments!
We encourage all fundraisers (and anyone in the sector) to sign the pledge, plus check out check resources that share tips to discuss why overheads costs are important.
Some of our favourites:
- Instead of talking about “administration” speak about accountability and investment.
- Instead of “capacity building” share your effectiveness and impact.
- Instead of visuals that show “helping people” vs “overheads” break things down further and give donors the detail they crave.
She Gives
She Gives is a movement that seeks to highlight women’s giving at any scale, to any cause, accelerating positive social change. Their ambition is to celebrate, share, and inspire women’s giving in Australia.
My take-aways from the Brisbane launch:
- Whether you give time, expertise or money – give what you can, when you can. It all contributes to social change.
- You don’t have to be wealthy to be a Philanthropist, just give – and amplify the culture of giving.
- Women will inherit up to $3.4 trillion or two-thirds of intergenerational wealth in the next 20-years (JB Were report, March 2024) – women have historically, and will continue, to play a critical role of giving in Australia.
Read more about this initiative here.
Whether you are a grant-seeker or grant-maker, we each have an important role to play in increasing philanthropic giving, understanding and communicating the true costs of delivering social good, building social capital, and meeting the needs of Australian society today—and in the future.
2024 marks 15 years of Strategic Grants. Find out more about our team, and how we work together with our for-purpose partners to deliver partner funded projects, meaningful outcomes and mission.