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AVCAL Charities 2008
AVCAL is a supporter of:
The Australian Charities Fund is an Australian founded and led social enterprise that builds employee engagement and community programs with the aim of growing Australian giving to unprecedented levels. Employee giving and matched giving at the 60+ companies who have launched Workplace Giving programs with the help of The Australian Charities Fund have donated over $36M through their programs since 2003. In order to better understand the Workplace Giving channel in Australia, the Australian Charities Fund is undertaking a research study commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Centre for Social Impact, and all three of Australia’s Workplace Giving providers; The Australian Charities Fund, Charities Aid Foundation and United Way. We believe that Workplace Giving has significant potential and estimate that this channel could generate over $200M per annum excluding company matching. We hope that this research will help us improve the quality and quantity of this fund raising stream, which is consistent, ongoing, and almost zero cost to charities. The research study will be managed and coordinated by The Australian Charities Fund in consultation with various industry bodies including the Fundraising Institute of Australia and Philanthropy Australia. The main aims of the research are to provide statistical data on the key success factors and the current state of play of Workplace Giving programs across the Australian corporate sector and to understand why non-participating companies do not currently have Workplace Giving programs. The research will be conducted in two main parts; the first being in-depth interviews with a cross section of companies who have Workplace Giving programs, and the second being a survey of companies who have an existing Workplace Giving program facilitated by an external provider, those who have an in-house program and also those who do not currently have a program. It is hoped that this research will lead to a better understanding of Workplace Giving in Australia, what makes programs successful and what factors are taken into account by companies when they decide whether or not to implement a Workplace Giving program. To find out more about the Australian Charities Fund or this research initiative, please contact; Mei-Ling Ho
Private equity doesn’t just have to be about making money. One non-profit organisation has found a way to apply private equity principles to the ‘Third Sector’ in an effort to bring about lasting social change. It’s a lofty goal, but the potential rewards resonate well beyond the bottom line. Social Ventures Australia (SVA) was established in 2002 to promote accountability, innovation and collaboration in the non-profit sector. We work with philanthropists and social entrepreneurs to address some of Australia's most intractable community challenges. In order to do that, we use a quasi private equity approach in selecting and working with the underlying non-profit ventures we support. We are well qualified to do this. SVA chief executive Michael Traill was a co-founder and executive director of Macquarie Group’s original private equity team. He discovered in his 15 years in that job that working in private equity and venture capital is a great way to learn about what makes businesses, and people, tick. ‘The best commercial entrepreneurs are not just obsessed about making money, they are passionate about building businesses,’ Michael says. ‘The truly great ones are superb leaders and motivators of people.’ So it is with social entrepreneurs, the individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change. Rather than leaving societal needs to government or community alone, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies to take new leaps Michael has used his private equity learnings to help SVA back promising new ideas and assist early stage ventures and social entrepreneurs. Our homework involves extensive due diligence and careful consideration of whether a niche non-profit entity is a good fit with SVA in terms what we ultimate hope to achieve – social change. Using our performance-based model of philanthropy, we apply business and strategic disciplines to help social entrepreneurs and social investors effect meaningful, lasting change in our communities. We know that we can nurture their growth by providing the money they need to develop, the business and mentoring support to guide their journeys and the tools they need to help them communicate the impact they are having. So like venture capitalists, SVA is about more than handing out money. It’s about helping its underlying venture leaders thrive as business people, offering tools to assist in running their boards better, and advice on managing their stakeholders and volunteers to help them scale innovative responses to entrenched problems and meet the challenges of organisational growth. At SVA, we place the same value on the importance of accountability and transparency as the corporate world. We work closely with the ventures to ensure their accounting and funding is transparent. Our suite of services includes assistance with strategic planning, financial sustainability, measurement and performance evaluation. And we work to ensure our investors can see the impact and outcomes of our work with these ventures in the community. Results are at the heart of the SVA model and are vital for our increasing group of social investors. Many aged between 40-50 years, have generated wealth at an early age and have decided to use that wealth in philanthropy. They allocate their giving just as seriously as they did the process of making their money. We feel we are moulding an emerging community of engaged social investors into a force for change through the funding they provide and the important influence they can deliver to the ventures they support. They are interested in their return on investment – a social return. They understand the importance of addressing the root cause of problems and appreciate that to effect change they need to back visionary social entrepreneurs and support their system-changing models. In an environment where governments around the world can be inefficient and the private sector motivated by profit, the citizen sector is ripe to provide change. The catalyst for this is the social entrepreneur - the visionary individual - who with the appropriate support has the capacity to leave a footprint of a changed and better community. To learn more about SVA, visit www.socialventures.com.au. To learn more about the Third Link Growth Fund, which invests in SVA, visit www.thirdlink.com.au.
Social Ventures Australia : The Importance of Connection The difference between a merely prosperous society and a truly great one lies in the strength of its non-profit sector – often referred to as the 'social', 'third' or'community' sector. With a strong social sector, we have within our grasp the means and opportunity to create the truly great Australia that we want for ourselves, our families and our neighbours. But this goal will only be accomplished if all sectors – business, non-profit and government – work together in new ways. Social Ventures Australia (SVA) works to connect to these sectors by aligning the interests of philanthropists with the needs of social entrepreneurs (innovative non-profit leaders) to address some of our country's most pressing community challenges. Headed by Michael Traill, the co-founder and executive director of Macquarie Group's original private equity team, SVA is a non-profit organisation established in 2002 that promotes accountability, innovation and collaboration. It directs its efforts and resources to the following areas:
SVA's model brings about tangible, measurable and enduring benefits to some of Australia's most disadvantaged and vulnerable people. SVA is committed to responsible and effective philanthropy where funders do more than just give money; where they also contribute their expertise and skills, monitor the impact of their philanthropy and participate in the journey of making change happen. The pioneering Third Link Growth Fund is one example of the kind of innovative, sustainable philanthropy that SVA encourages. Launched by SVA executive director Chris Cuffe in April 2008, the Third Link Growth Fund provides both a competitive offering for investors an a valuable contribution to the non-profit sector because all management fees, net of expenses incurred, are donated to SVA. Third Link is able to contribute the majority of its management fees, which are comparable to similar funds in the industry, because of the extraordinary and generous support of a number of service professionals, advisors to Chris and fund managers who have agreed to waive some or all of the fees that would otherwise be due to them for services rendered. These fees are diverted, in effect, non-profit sector and provide an ongoing annuity income stream to support SVA as it continues its important work. The Fund has unique access to experienced fund managers through its 'fund of funds' structure. It capitalises on Chris' industry knowledge, considerable contacts and many years of experience in the investment management industry (primarily with Colonial First State and Challenger Financial Services Group). Through the Third Link Growth Fund, investors can link best of breed investment with philanthropy, without diluting investment returns. To learn more about Social Ventures Australia,
visit www.socialventures.com.au.
To learn more about the Third Link Growth Fund,
visit www.thirdlink.com.au.
The Australian Charities Fund & Veda Advantage (A Pacific Equities Partner’s Investment) The Australian Charities Fund is an Australian founded and led social enterprise that builds employee engagement and community programs with the aim of growing Australian giving to unprecedented levels. Employee giving and matched giving at the 60+ companies who have launched Workplace Giving programs with the help of The Australian Charities Fund have already donated over $34M through their programs. The run rate for contributions is expected to exceed $10M in 2008. Donated funds benefit over 180 large and small community organisations. The beneficiary charities provide services in 13 different areas of social need. ACF has already had involvement in the private equity sector. For example, we currently work with the PEP Partner Company Veda Advantage. Veda Advantage is Australasia's leading provider of business intelligence services and solutions. Major activities include date-driven services and solutions in relation to credit risk, marketing, decisioning, fraud protection and identity verification. The Australian Charities Fund commenced working with Veda Advantage (then Baycorp Advantage) in mid 2005. The charities selected in the Workplace Giving program - BlueSky cover a spectrum of humanitarian, medical and environmental causes. An extensive employee consultation process was undertaken resulting in the selection of the 7 charities Veda supports. The Australian Charities Fund works with the BlueSky committee to organise various Workplace Giving drives and volunteering opportunities. The goal is to further increase participation rates and therefore provide even more for the community. The program has had great success to date with 18% of employees currently participating. Over $180K (including Veda matching) has been donated to the 7 charities. ACF has also recently worked with Veda to provide a re-brand of all BlueSky communication materials. To find out more about the Australian Charities
Fund, please visit; |
