Endowments for Impact kicks off in New South Wales

The ‘Endowments for Impact’ program officially kicked off in New South Wales last week bringing together a range of family foundations, non-profits, family offices to start the journey.

With grateful thanks to Minderoo Foundation as sponsor and host, the five-part workshop series will run monthly taking the group of Trustees, Directors and Senior Management through a deep dive into the case for transition and the tools and strategies to better align investments with the charitable purposes of their respective organisations.

The first workshop explored the case for change, key myths, barriers and terminology as well as important ‘boundary conditions’ for change including fiduciary duty and threading purpose and values with investment strategy.

The delegates are joining a cohort led by GoodWolf in partnership with investment and legal experts, Brightlight and Milner + Huang. Joining this cohort brings them together with their peers in NSW, those already on the journey in Victoria and those to commence shortly in Queensland.

Simon Lewis, Partner at GoodWolf Partners and program co-founder said “The trusts and foundations sector in Australia is worth $50bn and while great strides have been made in relation to impact on the granting side, while it is estimated a majority of charitable investment portfolios remain inadequately screened for even negative impact.”

“For most, the challenges Directors and Trustees face arise from the philosophical repositioning of investment activities as a way to enhance the Foundation’s mission and unlock public benefit, and rethreading governance and contractual requirements to achieve this. This is a significant change management exercise, rather than simply a ‘switch’ in investment strategy”

“While there is generally increasing knowledge and higher level of awareness of the opportunity and product available as individuals, Directors and Trustees also need to build consensus about this opportunity and change agenda as a whole Board. Trustees, Directors and Senior Managers need sustained support to navigate this journey, and an opportunity to work alongside their peers in the process.”

“Our workshop participants join a growing community of Trustees & Directors on a mission to create closer mission alignment with their investments, and unlock greater public benefits in doing so.”

“The transition ahead is a ‘doing’ problem and starts with building consensus at the Board about why and how to effect this transition.” We will be there to help, as a community of practice of both participants and experts, to help them along the way in this transition.

There will be further opportunities to engage further with the topics explored in this series and beyond; the Endowments for Impact is an exciting first step for Trusts and Foundations sector in Australia.

GoodWolf gratefully acknowledges the Minderoo Foundation for hosting and supporting the NSW series. Their willingness to host and share their own experience is hugely valuable to participants.