Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and Creative Partnerships Australia Launch Multi-Year Funding Pilot

With the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation’s (TFFF’s) support, Creative Partnerships Australia (CPA) will pilot a capacity building service offering for Australia’s Private Ancillary Fund (PAF) sector.

Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and Creative Partnerships Australia Launch Multi-Year Funding Pilot

This initiative will celebrate the Australian Cultural Fund (ACF) as a vehicle through which PAFs can provide multi-year funding to recipient organisations.

This pilot will see the ACF, an existing national fundraising platform, provide administrative and capacity building support to Australia’s PAF sector to distribute much needed funds into the arts and cultural sector.

Australia’s for-purpose cultural organisations are in most need of multi-year and operational funding, a need that has only intensified over the past 18 months. To date, this type of funding has been difficult for PAFs to provide, in part, as it requires a certain ongoing level of administrative operations and human resourcing — a setup that most PAFs don’t have.

This new TFFF and ACF partnership signals an alignment with global trends in philanthropy towards open and unrestricted grant making, recognising organisations as expert in their respective fields: “When combined with effective leadership and management, providing unrestricted multi-year core operating support is one of the best ways to build not-for-profit capacity and sustainability” (Fred Ali, President of Weingart Foundation, and Belen Vargas, Weingart’s former Senior Vice President of Programs).

Tim Fairfax AC, Chairman of the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation, spoke about the partnership saying, “The Australian Cultural Fund is a unique fundraising platform in Australia, and it is important that we continue to look for innovative ways to support our arts and cultural sector. This partnership will hopefully do just that.”

CEO of Creative Partnerships Australia, Fiona Menzies, echoed this sentiment saying, “The Tim Fairfax Family Foundation is a philanthropic leader in our community, and it is exciting to be working with the Foundation to provide more targeted and impactful funding to Australia’s arts and cultural sector.”

Michael Sterzinger, Executive Director of Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, one of the inaugural recipients of multi-year funding through this partnership says, “Camerata is very grateful to TFFF and CPA for providing a new reliable multi-year funding stream that respects and trusts the expertise of the not-for-profit sector.

This innovative new funding model will enable Camerata to pursue its purpose for the next three years, including access to live orchestral experiences for regional Queenslanders and employment opportunities for Queensland-based musicians.”

This partnership is one of the cornerstones of TFFF’s recently announced Strategy for the next three years, which will see the Foundation support organisations and endeavours which build connected, resilient, and futureproof communities across Queensland and the Northern Territory. Learn more about the Strategy here.