The best time to

START GIVING

was yesterday

StartGiving is a not-for-profit organisation inspiring a new culture of giving in the Australian innovation community.

We’re on a mission to make giving by successful tech founders the norm, and the expectation.

Giving back is a responsibility

Giving back is a 

responsibility

A virtuous circle of good

We believe that wealth comes with a responsibility to give back to society.

If you’ve been successful as a founder, you’ve undeniably worked hard. But you’ve also received some gifts along the way: your health and talents, your upbringing and access to opportunities, living in a rich, peaceful nation.

If these lucky breaks have helped you achieve considerable wealth and security, we think it’s time to use some of what you don’t need to help others.

Female founder in front of a whiteboard with planning content on it

Why

Now?

Make the move, be the change

Giving money to good causes now creates impact that compounds.

Approaching a liquidity event? This is the ideal time to establish a giving structure. You can set aside funds for charity and make use of the structure’s tax advantages in a high tax year.

Want to start sooner? The most intractable social or environmental issues don’t wait for funding rounds. By moving a portion of your on-paper wealth to a giving structure, you can start making a real difference in the world today.

Join our bold movement to change the culture of giving in Australia.

Changing the culture of

Australian giving 

Male founder in an office with bookcases stacked with books

Making giving the norm

As the wealth of our richest citizens has doubled in the last five years, Australia’s collective giving has barely grown.

We’re kickstarting a new philanthropic movement in Australia. Our goal is to make giving by successful tech founders the norm and the expectation, creating millions in new funding for charitable causes while building an impact-led community.

We’ll do this by helping hundreds of people in the innovation sector, just like you, to start your giving journey. With a longstanding passion for philanthropy, Daniel Petre founded and is personally funding StartGiving in full, so our service will always be free.

Insights and perspectives from tech givers

Hosted by our founder and chair, Daniel Petre, and CEO, Antonia Ruffell, the StartGiving podcast is for Australian tech founders looking to start or scale their giving journey.

Listen to our latest episode with Canva’s co-founder and COO Cliff Obrecht as he discusses a practical way to start giving early and how keeping billions of dollars was never an option for him and his wife Mel (Canva’s co-founder and CEO).

Our founder

“In the end, all of us have to put our heads on our pillows at night and deal with our thoughts. If you can sleep soundly in the knowledge that you could have helped those in need today but decided not to, then that is your choice. However, I have yet to meet one founder who feels like that.”

Daniel Petre AO

Our founder - Daniel Petre AO

Our Expert Offering

A trusted guide for your philanthropic journey

Our team combines decades of experience in the innovation and philanthropic communities.

We use our knowledge and networks to concierge you through the process of setting up your giving structure, connecting you to ideas, specialists and like-minded peers. With deep expertise managing the complexities around foundation establishment, donating equity and dealing with third-party regulators, you are in expert hands.

How it works

Scale your impact with structured giving

Set UP

Move cash and/or equity into a structured giving vehicle

Tax benefit

Receive an immediate tax deduction, which can be spread over five years

Give

Gift a % of the balance to charities of your choice every year

Scale

As your cash is invested or your company grows, so does the balance of your foundation

How

Much?

Male founder in large bright office looking directly at camera

Start with a meaningful percentage

We’re asking founders to move a percentage of their equity and/or cash into a private ancillary fund (PAF). That percentage will be different for everyone.

It should be a level that won’t materially affect your lifestyle or put you at risk if markets take a downturn. But by establishing a PAF now, your giving potential grows over time, allowing you to scale your impact and make a tangible difference each year in line with your own success.

For example, if you have $20m on-paper wealth, you might put 5%, or $1m, into your PAF, requiring you to give $50k to charity in year one. If, after a liquidity event, you have a lump sum of cash, you may give a larger percentage, maximising the tax benefit in a high tax year, locking down your good intentions and enabling you to support charities into the future.

As seen

And heard

We’d love to hear from you

Complete this form to arrange a time for us to speak, or to join our mailing list and stay up to date with all things StartGiving. We will never spam you.