1. About Ethical Partners
Ethical Partners Funds Management is a boutique Australian fund manager that is fully owned by its staff. We have a dual focus on performance and investing ethically. Our approach directly manages risk for our clients, provides the ability to invest in line with your values and actively advocates for change. Ethical Partners’ core values are:
Responsibility. We are responsible for our clients’ money. We are responsible, where appropriate, for influencing the way companies conduct their business. The financial services industry as a whole has a responsibility to do things better and have a positive influence on the environment, human rights and society. We want to play an important part in this.
Accountability. We are accountable for the decisions we make to all our stakeholders. We are accountable for performance. We are accountable for our clients’ money. We realise that there are consequences to the actions we take. We will stand by our decisions and what we believe in. We won’t always be right but we will always be accountable.
The confidence to be different. We understand that our views on companies, the market and the way we invest may be different to a majority of others. We have the confidence in our process, our approach and our decisions. Sometimes the best decisions for the long term are the ones that aren’t recognised at the time or require courage of their conviction in the short term.
2. The Ethical Partners Tatrai Giving Fund
The Ethical Partners Tatrai Giving Fund is an initiative of Ethical Partners Funds Management. It encompasses the provision of funding to approved initiatives that are consistent with the Giving Fund’s Purpose. In addition Ethical Partners will match staff donations, provide mentoring and volunteering initiatives to not for profit causes. The Giving Fund is funded by Ethical Partners Funds Management and its founders and is open to funding contributions from service providers, friends and clients. Link Fund Solutions (part of the Link Group; ASX: LNK) has agreed to support the Giving Fund. The Giving Fund is a sub fund of the Australian Philanthropic Services (APS) Foundation.
3. The story behind the name
Tatrai is a tiny village in the rural north west of Cambodia. The Nacard and Parkin families travelled to Cambodia several times from 2015 to 2017 to assess appropriate sites for a new school and maternal and child health centres. With the support of friends, colleagues and family we were able to fund two maternal and child health centres and a large school in the village of Tatrai after which the Giving Fund is named. It was during these experiences in some of the most remote, disadvantaged yet beautiful areas in the world that the concept of Ethical Partners was developed. It was here that we resolved to have a clear purpose and mission to enable change both through our core business and through the Tatrai Giving Fund.
4. Tatrai Giving Fund Purpose
The purpose is:
Helping to provide the next generation with the best opportunity to thrive.
This can encompass healthcare and education initiatives as well as equality and justice oriented programs. It will also extend to projects that place emphasis on the family unit and or poverty reduction as both of these areas are shown to clearly benefit children.
5. How the Giving Fund will operate
The Ethical Partners Tatrai Giving Fund will be a sub fund of the Australian Philanthropic Services (APS) Foundation (public ancillary fund).
The Giving Fund is funded by Ethical Partners, its key counterparties and friends and clients. It will provide grants to approved not for profit causes that are consistent with the Giving Fund’s purpose and values. The first grants will be made in July 2019 after which a formal grant application and approval process will be established for the 2019/20 financial year. More information will be provided on the Ethical Partners website.
In addition, Ethical Partners will match employee’s donations for approved causes. Ethical Partners will investigate causes and projects to which it can donate its time and expertise in a manner consistent with the company’s core values.
6. Governance framework
The two Managers of the Ethical Partners Tatrai Giving Fund are Matt Nacard and Robyn Parkin. Both Matt and Robyn have extensive experience in the not for profit sector.
Over the last ten years in particular, Matt has used his experience and skills to contribute to disadvantaged groups in Australia and overseas. He has been a Non-Executive Director of batyr since 2012 focusing on strategic input, fundraising and in the financial aspects of the organisation. batyr is an Australian based charity which aims to reduce the stigma surrounding young people’s mental ill-health. He was a member of Macquarie Foundation Global Committee from 2014 to 2017, which had a particular focus on the reduction of modern slavery in Asia as well as managing business charitable donations in India. He was a judge in the Macquarie Foundation Kickstarter Awards each year from 2011 - 2014 which aimed to help start-up charitable organisations. Matt was an organiser of Kilos4Kids, Macquarie Securities Australia’s major fund raising drive raising ~A$1m for charity over 2011-2015 and was a participant in the Po Leung Kuk Mentoring Program in Hong Kong.
Matt is particularly passionate about young people’s charities in the areas of sustainable improvement in education, poverty reduction and mental health.
Robyn has always been passionate about making a difference and caring for those in need. She is currently studying her Masters of International Development through RMIT in Melbourne and also holds postgraduate qualifications in International Public Health from UNSW. Robyn is particularly passionate about children's health, wellbeing and development. Prior to working with Ethical Partners, Robyn was a Registered Nurse working in Neonatal Intensive Care, Paediatrics and Child and Family Health. She and Nathan have also been very involved over the past few years, in spending time in and supporting many community-level programs in Cambodia, such as Maternity Clinics, bicycle school transport programs, income generating agriculture programs, urban slum educational programs.
Robyn also has a long history of volunteering with many local community organisations, such as World Vision, Samaritans Purse Australia, Austcare, Meals on Wheels, the Ovarian Cancer Foundation, Red Nose Day and Lifestart Austism services.
The Giving Fund Managers will meet regularly to assess opportunities and will report back to the Ethical Partners Board and Giving Fund supporters. The Trustee of the Australian Philanthropic Services Foundation (APSF) will administer the Tatrai Giving Fund sub fund.
Code of Conduct
The Giving Fund will aim to operate in a manner that is inclusive, work in partnership, be participatory, and community engaged. It will aim to be sustainable, build capacity and do so in an equitable way. It will be accountable, transparent and effective, and always hold dignity, respect and people’s rights as central. It will be as inclusive as possible, be people focused and aim to build capacities of children, families and local communities. Projects and charities funded must be empowering and respectful.
7. Australian Philanthropic Services (APS)
The Ethical Partners Tatrai Giving Fund will be a sub fund of the Australian Philanthropic Services (APS) Foundation (ABN 38 981 887 768) - a public ancillary fund. Australian Philanthropic Services Foundation Pty Limited (ACN 158 036 349) is the Trustee of the Giving Fund. APS Limited is a not-for-profit organisation that inspires and supports effective philanthropy. APS sets up and administers private and public ancillary funds and provides grant making advice.
The idea behind APS began in 2009 when Chris Cuffe AO commissioned a research project to look at why more wealthy Australians weren’t engaged in structured philanthropy. He found the experience with his family’s PAF, the Christopher Cuffe Foundation, very rewarding, but was frustrated by the low awareness, lack of expertise and poor quality service that was available at the time. The research showed that there were many barriers preventing people participating in structured philanthropy. The Directors of APS include Chris Cuffe, David Gonski, Belinda Hutchinson and Gail Kelly. As at May 2019, APS had 383 clients who had $802m in assets. As at 30 June 2019, the APS Foundation had over $100m in assets across 246 sub funds.
A public ancillary fund is a type of charitable trust in which an individual, family or organisation can establish a sub-fund to put aside money for charitable purposes over the long-term. All administration, investment and governance activities are the responsibility of the trustee, leaving sub-fund holders such as Ethical Partners to solely think about the charities they would like to support.
There are a number of advantages to this structure:
- The APS Foundation is simple and hassle-free as the trustee handles the administration, investment and compliance, freeing sub-fund holders up to focus solely on grant making;
- Set up and administration costs are minimised so as to maximise the amount of money given to charity recipients;
- Donations to the sub-fund (Tatrai Giving Fund) are tax deductible;
- Public ancillary funds can accept donations from anyone, so corporate partners, friends and family members can also contribute to the sub-fund;
- A minimum of 4% of the assets must be given away to charities with Deductible Gift Recipient Item 1 status each year. Ethical Partners plans to give most of the available funds (above the minimum balance required to be kept in the sub-fund) away each year to charities.
Ethical Partners is seeding the Giving Fund with an initial donation. Each year Ethical Partners and its partners will donate additional money to the Giving Fund. There is no restriction about who can donate to the sub-fund so others, such as corporate partners, friends and family, can also make tax deductible donations to the sub-fund.
Link Fund Solutions (part of the Link Group; ASX: LNK) has agreed to support the Giving Fund. Link Fund Solutions (LFS) is a specialist provider of outsourced middle and back office administration, fund accounting services and custodial services to a range of clients. LFS is the administrator of the Ethical Partners Australian Share Fund and has worked with Ethical Partners since the establishment of the business. Ethical Partners is grateful for the support of LFS.
The Trustee handles all administration, accounting and investment activities for the APS Foundation, including arranging the annual independent audit. The Trustee ensures compliance with the ATO Public Ancillary Fund Guidelines, Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission governance standards and NSW Trust Law. As a sub-fund holder, Ethical Partners makes recommendations about the charities that it would like to support from the sub-fund.
8. Measuring success
The Giving Fund will require organisations that receive grants to be accountable for the way in which they allocate funds provided. Metrics will include financial aspects as well as evidence of how they have addressed and complied with the Foundation’s purpose and values.
The Managers of the Giving Fund will where possible visit and spend time at a project or program in order to personally assess its impact and alignment with the organisation’s values.
9. Enquiries
To enquire about making a donation to the Ethical Partners Tatrai Giving Fund or the grant application process please contact either Matt or Robyn via the details below.
Matt Nacard Robyn Parkin
Manager – Tatrai Giving Fund Manager – Tatrai Giving Fund
matt.nacard@ethicalpartners.com.au robyn.parkin@ethicalpartners.com.au
Ph: 0499778050 Ph: 0438169566