Community Foundation Accounts
FRRR has long been an advocate and support of Community Foundations. Our Community Foundation Accounts allow Community Foundations (CFs) to leverage FRRR’s unique tax status to attract funds from Private and Public Ancillary Funds and to provide grants to organisations in their communities that do not hold DGR1 status.
In addition, Community Foundations can establish several sub-accounts under the Community Foundation Account, each of which can be managed and reported on as a separate sub-account, if required.
This allows Community Foundations to fundraise for a wide range of purposes, such as endowments to their corpus, capacity building, subsidise or enhance general operations, improve or purchase infrastructure, buildings or IT, operate grant programs or scholarships, undertake disaster appeals, leverage Back to School vouchers or other charitable activities or projects.
Community Foundation Accounts may enable CFs to:
- Partner with FRRR to support organisations and projects that CF’s can’t support directly with tax-deductible money (such as granting to or fundraising for non-DGR entities for charitable projects using tax-deductible money);
- Access donors or partners they may not otherwise be able to accept funds from (such as Item 2 DGR Donors, e.g. PaFs, PuAFs, Trusts and Foundations requiring Item 1 DGR status);
- Partner with FRRR to engage with rural, regional or remote economic development as a charitable activity;
- Operate more efficiently – FRRR can relieve the burden of administering a public fund, or receipting donations.
Each Account must have nominated geographic boundaries within rural, regional or remote Australia and be aligned with FRRR’s charitable purposes. It should also be noted that funds held in a Community Foundation Account are owned and managed by FRRR. FRRR will consider the Community Foundation’s preferences when deciding on grants to be issued through the Community Foundation Account. However, as all donations to FRRR are a gift, FRRR has the overall responsibility for final grant decisions. FRRR cannot issue grants retrospectively – activities supported must be yet to occur.
All grants made through the Community Foundation Account must be assessed as charitable within FRRR’s purposes, as reviewed by FRRR.
Fees charged are modest – a one off 2.5% fee is deducted from each donation, capped at a maximum of $5,000 per donation. There is no minimum start up value or minimum of funds required for an Account. There are no requirements for funds to be invested longer term, although this can be accommodated. Other than the standard agreed fee per donation, there are no ongoing or annual partnership management fees. Fees are waived for sub-accounts established for the purpose of fundraising for disaster recovery for a limited period of time, and for BTS voucher fundraising. Accounts with funds over $100,000 for any month are credited interest quarterly.
Applying
The below diagram provides an overview of the process to set up an FRRR Community Foundation Account. Your first step is to contact FRRR’s Philanthropic Services Manager to have a chat about your organisation and whether you might be eligible.
FRRR requires all Community Foundations wishing to establish a new Account or to vary approved purposes to complete a Community Foundation Account Application Form. These forms are available by contacting FRRR’s Philanthropic Services Manager.
Further information
Please contact FRRR Philanthropic Services via info@frrr.org.au or call 1800 170 020.
Case studies
Totally Renewable Yackandandah
Totally Renewable Yackandandah (TRY) is a driving force behind its town’s push for renewables and increasing local ownership. TRY received $4,878 from the Australian Communities Foundation’s (ACF), through their FRRR Community Foundation Fundraising Account, to invest in community engagement and education around renewable energy hubs.
Foundation Barossa
Foundation Barossa’s story is a particularly good example of how FRRR’s Community Foundation Accounts are able to help a community respond to emerging local needs quickly and efficiently. The account is flexible in the way that it can fundraise and grant funds, and direct funds toward a great variety of projects in the geographic area.
Northern Rivers Community Foundation
Northern Rivers Community Foundation (NRCF) was established in 2004 with the purpose to connect people who care with local causes that matter, to improve community well-being for the Northern Rivers region of NSW. They provide annual grants to a wide range of community groups for projects ranging from mental health, to growing fresh food to ensure children are well nourished and can learn, to distributing Back to School vouchers.