^{Feature image: Visitors explore murals painted by participants at The Torch’s Mural Training Workshop at Siteworks Gallery, Brunswick, supported by the Pollinate Fund. Photo by Joshua San.}

Over the past year, Australian Communities Foundation has welcomed more younger people to our giving community than ever before.

“Gone are the days when philanthropy was something you looked to upon retirement,” says Director of Philanthropic Services, Georgia Mathews.

“We’re meeting more and more younger givers who tell us they know they have more than they need, and want to do something good with that money.”

That was the case for Melbourne-based couple Luci and Ben, who recently joined our community by establishing their own Named Fund, Pollinate.

“We had always had an idea in our minds of using our position for good,” says Luci. “It can be daunting though with so much information out there and not knowing how to best give.”

After learning about structured giving and Australian Communities Foundation (ACF) through Luci’s Masters of Social Impact, the couple had found their answer.

“Using the platform and resources that ACF provides, we have been able to slowly educate ourselves, and feel supported and more confident in our giving,” says Luci.

In this recent conversation, Luci and Ben spoke about their decision to start their own fund, their hopes for the future of philanthropy, and their advice for other new givers.

Why did you establish the Pollinate Fund? Is there a story behind the name?

Ben: We’ve always known we wanted a deliberate and thoughtful way to support the people and causes we care about, both now and into the future. We’ve never wanted to just donate money for the sake of it, but instead be able to build our knowledge as we go and give back in an intentional way. The Fund enables us to take this approach.

Luci: As for the name, just as pollination helps fertilise plants to enable them to grow, we picked the name with the intent to use our funds to support the growth of worthwhile causes. It’s a little corny but we like it!

What causes are you supporting through the Fund? Any highlights so far?

Ben: Our focus areas include: Indigenous land rights and community development; sustainability; and human rights, particularly refugee and asylum seeker rights, as well as support for women and children.

Luci: We’ve recently made our first grants from the Fund to Seed’s Heal Country Declaration campaign, Pride Foundation Australia’s Queer Refugee and Asylum Seeker Peers project, and Indigenous arts organisation The Torch. ACF introduced us to each of these organisations, all of which are so closely aligned with our focus areas. We’re also members of the climate giving circle, Groundswell. We pay our membership through the Fund and get to vote alongside other members on which projects we’ll fund together to tackle the climate crisis.

What do you value most about giving through a community foundation?

Luci: The education and support network that a community foundation provides has been extremely valuable. We’re still very green when it comes to structured giving, and the support from ACF has helped us start upskilling.

Ben: Knowing that we are learning, and that each giving opportunity has been curated and is supported by others helps build our confidence, and show us our giving is helping to make a difference.

What do you think the future of philanthropy looks like? Is there something you’d like to see more or less of?

Ben: We hope there continues to be a much greater focus on placing the communities and recipients of funds at the centre of philanthropic work and being guided by their lived experience and expertise.

Luci: It would be great if philanthropy continues to move away from a paternalistic approach and instead take a much more open and collaborative approach to working with communities.

What advice would you give to someone who’s just getting started with giving?

Luci: Even though it sounds ridiculous, it can feel a bit daunting trying to make a decision about who, what, when, where or how to give. There are so many different worthwhile causes, and this can create a bit of a choice conundrum, which can lead to no giving at all. It took us a while to make our first donation as we wanted to make sure we made the ‘right’ decision which ultimately led to no decision and no giving.

Thankfully, the team at ACF have been super helpful in encouraging us to set a couple of key giving goals and to ultimately just make a start by getting to know what organisations are out there (via info from the team), making some small donations and seeing how it all feels.

Ben: The Fund is working well for us and it’s great to be able to support such interesting and impactful causes!