For foundations, PAFs & family giving
Get your foundation right — from the very first line of the deed
Setting up a foundation is one of the most generous things you'll ever do — and one of the easiest to quietly get wrong. The trust deed you sign on day one decides what your capital is allowed to do for the next fifty years. Here's how to get it right from the start — in plain English, with no product to sell you.
Where are you?
Just exploring
Thinking about setting one up
PAF, sub-fund or something simpler? What it costs, what it commits you to, and the one decision most people get wrong at the start.
You already have a foundation
Make it do more than grant 5%
Your deed and investment policy decide what your capital is allowed to do. Most quietly default to 'grants only'. Here's how to change that — and how to bring your trustees along.
You don't want the admin
Give well without running a foundation
A sub-fund gives you a named giving account with the deduction now and the giving over time — none of the paperwork.
Find your fit
Not sure what your foundation is allowed to do?
The mandate-unlock navigator asks a few plain-English questions and tells you whether your blocker is the deed or the board — then hands you the case to change it, whether you're pushing for it or the trustee weighing it up.
Unlock your mandateThe one thing most deeds forget: what your capital is allowed to do
A standard foundation gives money away once, and it's gone. But your capital can also be lent and returned — a recoverable grant that comes back if the recipient succeeds, and funds the next one. The same dollars can help many times over instead of once.
The catch: most trust deeds and investment policies silently permit grants only. If you want the option to recycle capital or invest for impact, that has to be written in — and it's far cheaper to do at the start than to unwind later. Getting the deed wrong is a kind of governance debt: a quiet cost you pay a lawyer to fix years from now.
Thinking about setting one up
In Australia the two main structures are a Private Ancillary Fund (PAF) — your own foundation, viable from around $1M, distributing at least 5% a year — and a sub-fund inside a public foundation, which works from a few thousand dollars with almost none of the admin. Most people don't need the full PAF as early as they think.
Whichever you choose, the moment to get the deed right is now — before it's signed. We'll walk you through the decision in plain English, then, when you're ready to establish it, introduce you privately to the right people (we work with Australian Philanthropic Services and Australian Communities Foundation, among others).
Tell us what you're trying to do
A few lines is enough. We'll read it properly and come back — with a recommendation, a next step, or a private introduction to someone who does this well.
You already have a foundation
You grant out 5% a year. What's the other 95% doing? If your deed and investment policy allow it, your corpus can fund recoverable grants and impact investments — not just sit in the market. If they don't, the fix is a change to the deed or the investment policy statement.
Usually the blocker isn't whether the family wants to — it's that the trustees default to no. So the real task is making the case to your trustees: the fiduciary argument, the objections they'll raise, and the exact wording to change. Our mandate-unlock navigator tells you whether your blocker is the deed or the board, then hands you the case — whether you're the one pushing for it or the trustee weighing it up.
Unlock your mandateGive well without running a foundation
If you love the idea of structured giving but not the paperwork, a sub-fund is usually the answer: a named giving account inside a public foundation. You get the tax deduction when you contribute and recommend grants over time — no trustee duties, no annual compliance.
For financial advisers & accountants
Most clients want to talk about giving; most advisers don't feel equipped to lead the conversation. Everything here is free for you to use with your clients — the glossary, the navigators, the plain-English explainers — and we can give you client-ready versions under your own brand. We stay on the education and philanthropy side; you stay on licensed advice. If you'd like to work together, introduce yourself.
Elevate is a philanthropy platform, not a law firm, trustee company or financial adviser. Everything here is general information to help you ask better questions — not legal, tax or financial advice. Any deed or policy wording we share is a starting point to take to your own lawyer. When you're ready to act, we introduce you privately to trusted specialists.