Many funders want to understand how best to structure their charitable operations and be able to compare what they are doing and the costs that they are incurring in running their fund(s) against those of their peers. While there are benchmarking studies of overseas trusts and foundations, there is no Australian and New Zealand based study. This research seeks to address that gap. It is designed to gather information about Australian and New Zealand philanthropic funds, trusts and foundations, their staffing structure, the scale, scope and focus of their grant making and other charitable activity and associated costs so that we can produce a report that Australian and New Zealand funders can use to benchmark themselves against like grant makers.
How the survey is set up:
We have worked hard to make this survey as short and straightforward as possible. It should take about 30 - 45 minutes to complete. It will be helpful if you have your most recent set of financial information, annual report and grant making summary beside you to refer to as you work through it.
We have set the survey up so that you can complete it in different stages or get different members of your staff (if applicable) to log on and complete specific sections if that is useful. (You will see a 'Save & Continue Survey Later' option at the top of all except the first page of the survey. If you click on that option you will be asked to enter your email address. A link will be sent to that address that will allow you, or a colleague, to return to your survey so that you can complete it at another time.)
How the data you provide will be managed and used:
All data collected through this survey will be treated as confidential. It will be stored on secure servers through Survey Gizmo's online survey system and when downloaded for analysis will be held on local, password protected, organisational server systems. The raw data will only be viewed by Effective Philanthropy staff, the researchers commissioned by Philanthropy Australia to conduct this study. The data will be used to prepare benchmarking reports that will be published by Philanthropy Australia. The reports will present data in an aggregated format only. Care will be taken to make sure that individual survey respondent's data is not able to be identified. Once the above analysis has been completed the data will be transferred to the secure Australian Data Archive at the Australian National University where the data will be retained so that it can be used as a reference point in future versions of this benchmarking study. In completing this survey you are assumed to have consented to the management and use of the data that you provide in this way. If you have any questions about the survey or the management and use of data collected through it please contact Effective Philanthropy Director Regina Hill on 0411 156 159 or reginahill@effectivephilanthropy.com.au. If you wish to withdraw from the study at any point after having completed this survey you can do so by contacting Regina Hill.