Charitable Trusts

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Structuring your giving with charitable trusts

Giving via a charitable trust structure is a rewarding and powerful way to contribute to cause areas you’re passionate about in a way that creates real and tangible community outcomes.

As experts in philanthropy, we can show you how to build an impactful legacy that can be started in your lifetime or within your Estate Planning. Charitable trusts allows for your giving legacy to continue well beyond your lifetime, a way to engage future generations of your family and they also ensure that the community continues to benefit from your generosity.

Structured giving: a better way to give

The best way to achieve a long-lasting community impact is through structured giving. While one-off gifts are important, giving via a charitable trust amplifies impact.

By investing your contributions into a tax-exempt investment framework, structured giving provides your nominated charities or cause areas with an ongoing income stream, year after year, rather than simply donating a lump sum of money. Because of its ongoing nature, structured giving is also a great way to involve family members in charitable giving, bringing them together to discuss and demonstrate family values and develop a sense of community.

You can look at the long list of more than 1200 charitable trusts we manage here.

Your partner in Philanthropy

The philanthropy journey is a deeply rewarding one, but not necessarily straightforward. We can help you get started and get the most out of your giving. As your philanthropy partner, we provide you with the following services:

Advise which structures would be most suitable.
We establish and administer your charitable trust or foundation.
We work with you to define your philanthropic goals
We develop investment strategies and manage investment portfolios to grow your trust’s capital base and income over the long term.
We distribute income to your nominated eligible charities or causes.
We provide tax-effective strategies to maximise your charitable giving.

Why give through us?

It’s easy to give away money, but it can be hard to do it well. Managing a charitable trust requires specialist knowledge in numerous areas, including trustee duties, investment, taxation, governance and strategic grant-making. At Equity Trustees, we act as the trustee or co-trustee for more than 1200 charitable trusts, distributing more than $100million each year.

We can assist you in establishing your structured giving vehicle, ongoing investment, governance and compliance responsibilities and connect you to relevant organisations, networks and information to inform your giving.

We can assist you in establishing your structured giving vehicle, ongoing investment, governance and compliance responsibilities and connect you to relevant people, networks and information to inform you’re the future of your giving.

We steward some of the largest Foundations in Australia, including:
William Buckland Foundation, Virertel Foundation and JO & JR Wicking Trust.

Structured Giving Vehicles

Equity Trustees Charitable Foundation

Start structured philanthropy during your life
Initial seed donation: $5,000

Private Ancillary Fund

Establish your own charitable foundation
Recommended seed donation: $1,500,000

Perpetual Charitable Trust

Leave a lasting legacy beyond your lifetime
Recommended seed donation: $500,000+

Creating a sub-account within the Equity Trustees Charitable Foundation (ECF) is an easy way to begin your journey into philanthropy. Equity Trustees manages all of the investment, compliance, governance and administration of your sub-account leaving you to recommend which DGR1 organisations you'd like to support each year. Your interaction with your philanthropy is enhanced by an easy-to-use portal which offers transparency and accessibility to your sub-account.

Your named sub-account can be started with as little as $5,000, can be established within a few days and can be added to at any time, or via your estate planning.

Case Study - The L T Seow Legacy

It was her work as an anaesthetist for 40 years, during which she was heavily involved in public and private hospitals through her clinical work, teaching and research, that drove Dr Lea Thin Seow’s commitment to providing healthcare to communities. Dr Seow was one of the founders of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) – established in 2016 and continues to support it through her philanthropy.

Dr Seow’s sub-fund of the Equity Trustees Charitable Foundation, established in her name, now supports several international projects in healthcare, including the Fred Hollows Foundation, which performs and teaches optical procedures to save people’s eyesight, the Royal Flying Doctors Service, which provides medical services to remote communities in the Australian Outback and Médecins Sans Frontierès Australia.

A Private Ancillary Fund (PAF) is an excellent vehicle if you are interested in establishing a standalone charitable foundation and responsibility and oversight of its operations, including the investment strategy. A PAF allows you to support charities or causes that are important to you and your family or business.

We can establish and administer the PAF for you, ensuring it complies with all statutory, reporting and distribution requirements. Our in-house investment management team have the expertise to ensure funds are invested prudently and responsibly at all times. Alternatively, we’re happy to work in consultation with your external investment adviser if your prefer.

Case study

The Judith Jane Maseon & Harold Stannet Williams Memorial Foundation

When Judith Jane Mason came to us in 2003 to establish a philanthropic trust she was motivated by two things. One was her own life experience of living with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). The other was to honour ‘a most intelligent, wonderful and charitable man’ – her adored father.

When Judith died in 2013 she left behind The Judith Jane Mason & Harold Stannett Williams Memorial Foundation, along with instructions to direct its income to funding medical research into ME/CFS and Alzheimer’s disease. It is now valued in excess of $40 million and distributes more than $1.9 million annually.

A Perpetual Charitable Trust (PCT)is established through your Will and comes into effect after death. This is an opportunity to continue a lifetime of charitable giving or perhaps to honour the memory of a loved one. Each year, the majority of the Trust’s income will be distributed to charities or charitable causes.

You can nominate specific charities to receive income from the Trust or identify a broader cause you would like to support.

A Perpetual Charitable Trust is for people who want to leave a lasting, legacy as part of their Will.

Case Study

The Robert Hicks Foundation

The Robert Hicks Foundation was established when Robert Hicks died in 2009 and is now valued at over $23.6 million. Robert was a successful famer who had substantial land holdings in Caramut in Western Victoria. In his Will, Robert’s preference was to fund the “preservation of the natural environment, including current issues and concerns relating to climate change, agriculture, erosion and salinity levels.”

The Foundation distributes more than $300,000 annually. Mindful of Robert’s forward-thinking intentions about climate change and preserving the environment, the Hicks Foundation is the sole supporter of Climate Action Network Australia’s Small Grants Scheme, whose over-arching objective is to support grassroots organisations working in communities to accelerate the energy transformation as we reduce Australia’s emissions to zero and beyond.