Structured Giving and Impact Investing in Australia | Ethical investing insights for Australians

If you donate occasionally or set up monthly donations years ago and have barely thought about them since, or you sponsor a child, round up at the checkout, and back friends in every fun run they enter, you are already a giver. Most Australians are. What far fewer of us do is pause and ask whether there is a more deliberate way to go about it, one that gives more to the causes we care about and asks a little more of the money along the way.

There is, and it is more within reach than most people assume. It is called structured giving, and you do not need to be wealthy to use it. You need enough to set aside a sum you are comfortable giving away, and a wish to do it with more thought than a tap at the door.

What structured giving actually is

Strip away the jargon and structured giving is simple. You put a lump sum aside in a dedicated giving account, you claim the tax deduction for it straight away, and then you give that money out to the charities you choose over the following years. Dave Rae, a financial adviser at UNLESS and a Certified Financial Planner who invests for impact himself, describes it as, “Separating two decisions most of us rush together, the choice to be generous and the choice of who to support. You lock in the first now, and take your time over the second."

The formal name for these accounts is an ancillary fund, and the tax office treats gifts to them as fully deductible. You can spread that deduction across up to five years if it suits your tax position. The money then sits in the fund, invested, with a set share granted out to working charities each year. Think of the whole thing as a savings account whose only job is generosity.

Why this is more meaningful

Giving one donation at a time is fine, and you should never stop. Structured giving simply adds three things on top. You decide your generosity once, in a year that suits you, and take the tax benefit then, instead of chasing receipts every June. You give yourself room to choose recipients with care, backing a charity for years rather than reacting to whichever appeal lands in your inbox. And because the money is invested while you decide, it can grow, so the amount you eventually give away can be larger than the sum you started with.

Two ways to start

There are two main structures, and the simpler one is very accessible. The easy on-ramp is a sub-fund. Picture a named giving account that sits inside a larger, professionally run foundation, often one attached to a community foundation. You can open one from around $20,000, sometimes less, usually in a day or two. The foundation handles the paperwork, the compliance and the investing, and you simply recommend which charities receive grants. For most people taking a first structured step, this is the natural place to begin.

The bigger option is your own Private Ancillary Fund, or PAF. This is your own standing foundation, with your own trustee and full say over how the money is invested. That control is worth having once the sum is large, generally from around $500,000 up, because a PAF takes a couple of months to set up and needs its own audit every year. It suits a substantial, long-term commitment, and it is overkill for a first step.

Either way, the fund gives out a minimum share of its value each year, and those minimums are rising to 6 per cent from 2026–27 under new rules, with time for existing funds to adjust. In plain terms, the structure is built to keep money flowing to charities, not sitting still.

What this looks like in real life

Take an everyday example, and to be clear it is illustrative, not a real client. Say you give around $200 a month to a couple of charities, about $2,400 a year, and you have $50,000 in savings you would like to put to better use.

You could keep donating exactly as you are. Or you could place that $50,000 into a sub-fund. You claim the deduction now, spread over five years if that helps. The balance is invested in a portfolio that reflects your values, and each year the fund grants a share to the charities you nominate, comfortably more than the $2,400 you were giving before. Because the balance stays invested, your giving can keep going for many years, and that invested balance is backing good companies the whole time rather than working against your intentions. Same instinct to give, with a structure that makes it go further and last longer.

At the bowser and on your phone

If this sounds like you, start by deciding, roughly, how much you would be comfortable setting aside. If it is in the tens of thousands, a sub-fund with a community foundation is the simplest first move. If it is much larger and you want your own foundation, that is the point to ask about a PAF. Either way, ask the one question most people forget, which is how your giving money will be invested and whether it can be invested in line with what you believe. And look for an adviser who handles both halves, the giving structure and the investing, rather than treating them as separate errands.

Our advisers at UNLESS are always open and glad to have this open conversation with you as a starting point. No pressure and no product, just a clear look at your options. You can open the conversation by booking a free call here.

This article contains general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice. UNLESS Financial Pty Ltd is authorised to provide financial services. Before acting on any information in this article, consider whether it is appropriate for your personal circumstances. You should seek advice from a licensed financial adviser.

Sources and further reading

Australian Philanthropic Services | [Private Ancillary Funds] (https://www.australianphilanthropicservices.com.au/private-ancillary-fund/) | 2026 | Explains PAF structure, establishment costs and the practical minimum corpus for running a private foundation

Australian Taxation Office (ATO) | [Ancillary fund guidelines and minimum annual distributions] (https://www.ato.gov.au/non-profit-organisations/gifts-and-fundraising/ancillary-funds) | 2026 | Sets the minimum annual distribution rules for private and public ancillary funds and confirms DGR item 2 status

Community foundations / sub-funds | [Australian Communities Foundation — giving sub-funds] (https://www.communityfoundation.org.au/) | 2026 | Explains sub-funds as a low-entry, professionally administered way to give, typically from around $20,000

Philanthropy Australia | [Choosing the right structure] (https://www.philanthropy.org.au/tools-resources/private-ancillary-funds/) | 2026 | Industry guidance on sub-funds versus PAFs, including the approximately $500,000 practical starting corpus for a PAF

The Treasury | [Reforms to ancillary fund distribution rates] (https://treasury.gov.au/consultation/c2026-philanthropy) | February 2026 | Announced the increase in minimum distribution to 6 per cent from 2026–27, with a transition period, as part of the goal to double giving by 2030