Foundation Accounts

Foundation Accounts are a smart, effective, low cost and uncomplicated way to manage a company's philanthropic giving to charitable organisations.

CAF Australia has a Public Ancillary Fund named the CAF Community Fund. This structure allows sub funds to be created, by either a group of people or individuals, to permit money to be pooled for charitable purposes. This sub fund has the advantage of being able to be named according to the foundation holders choice, and all donations made into the account are tax deductible. In accordance with AusAID and the Australian Taxation Office guidelines these funds are then distributed to charitable organisations as chosen by the account holder. All of the grant recipient charities are first carefully scrutinised with funds then being distributed under the authority of the CAF Community Fund trustees.

A Foundation Account can be structured as an Endowment account that allows donations to accumulate and receive tax free interest; from the growing corpus, donations can be made to charities. Alternatively, a Foundation Account can be structured as a Flow Through account that allows tax deductible collecting of donor funds, possibly from a wide group of entities, before being directed to charity(s) of the Foundation Account holder's request. Some companies choose to build up a corpus of funds, others will use this structure to enable the distribution of grants in a quick and simple way. Corporate clients typically will use a Foundation Account to collect and hold funds for matching Workplace Giving donations, for charitable grants programs and to support Disaster Appeals.

A CAF Foundation Accounts brochure is available.

For more information on establishing a Foundation Account please contact us.

Benefits of a CAF Foundation Account

• Simple to establish
• Ability to self-name the Foundation Account such as the 'XYZ Company Foundation'
• Cost effectiveness, as donations to a Foundation Account are tax deductible
• Any interest earned on donations received is tax exempt
• Investment is made easy as CAF manages the investment policy and administrative aspects of the funds
• Suitable for fundraising with tax deductible donations from the public able to be donated to the Foundation Account
• Flexible options - funds can be built up to form a corpus from which donations can be distributed, or as a flow through account collecting donations for easy and quick distribution
• Easy to manage as CAF looks after all administration aspects including:
  • Compliance requirements such as charity validation, trustee approvals, making community grants and obtaining receipts
  • Issuing of tax receipts to donors
  • Reporting of transactions and financial position, including quarterly online statements
  • All Australian Securities & Investment Commission and Australian Taxation Office reporting requirements
• Private and confidential as all Foundation Accounts are under the umbrella of the CAF Community Fund.

Note: The CAF Community Fund grants the Foundation Account's donations on the request of the holder of the Foundation Account subject to the validation of the nominated charity and the approval of the CAF Community Fund Trustees.

Fundraising Licences

One of the key benefits of a CAF Foundation Account is that tax deductible donations can be received from the public, including employees, clients and suppliers. Depending on the type of fundraising a company plans to undertake State Fundraising Licenses may be required.

If your foundation is a part of the CAF Community Fund, you gain access to our fundraising licenses. Our experienced staff will work with you to identify the licenses necessary to achieve your end goal.

For more information on obtaining Fundraising Licenses please contact us.