ANNUAL REPORT - Australian Conservation Foundation

Generous Gift Inspires OthersACF is grateful forthe many generousdonations made everyyear that allow us tocontinue the work ofprotecting, restoringand sustaining theenvironment. Bill Painewas one of those whocontributed duringthe 2003–04 financialyear; but unusually,he donated his house. Mr Paine’s highly generousdonation struck a chord with others and has inspiredpeople to contribute in a range of different ways.When the news of Bill Paine’s generous giftreceived coverage in the media, it raised a lot ofinterest. Some people found the gesture noble; othersfound it hard to comprehend. Opinions were splitwhen readers discussed the donation on The Agewebsite. “Bill Paine is gutsy and inspiring,” wrote one;“charity begins at home,” reasoned another, who said itis better to look after your family than give to a charity.Coverage of the donation had a flow-on effect.There was an increase in the number of peoplebecoming members via the ACF website. One manwho heard Bill Paine interviewed on the radio decidedto donate a month’s salary.Simone Rosel, ACF’s Donor Liaison Officer, saysdonations like Mr Paine’s encourage others to considerthe impact they have on the environment and waysthey could help improve its health.“This is a significant gift – and not everyone cando this. But there are many ways to contribute to ACF’swork: you can make a one-off donation, a monthlycontribution, volunteer some of your time, activelysupport ACF campaigns by writing letters or phoningtalkback radio, or by leaving your own legacy througha bequest in your will.”Corporate PartnersACF continues to grow and develop relationships withAustralian businesses and their employees. In 2003/2004corporate partners made $152,800 in donations andprovided $200,000 plus in pro bono services.ACF’s alliance with Southcorp Limited has continuedto provide support for our sustainable rural landscapesprogram. An important part of this work over the pastyear has been the development of tools to identifyand manage biodiversity in the vineyard and otheragricultural environments.Workplace giving is a growing method for the staff ofparticipating companies to support the causes for whichthey are passionate. ACF is grateful for their support bothfinancially and because it enables us to reach a muchwider range of people who care about the environment.We also thank the companies involved for supportingthese programs in many cases with dollar for dollarmatching gifts.Existing workplace giving partnerships havegrown and deepened during the year as informationand experiences are shared between ACF and thecompany and its staff. ACF currently has workplacegiving partnerships with Mallesons Stephen Jacques,Australian Taxation Office, Aviva, and Corrs ChambersWestgarth. In addition a number of supporters makeindividual contributions via their company’s workplacegiving programs.One of the most pleasing outcomes of ACF’scorporate partnerships has been the pro bonocontributions of professional services to support ourenvironmental programs. In particular we are verygrateful for our ongoing relationship with ArnoldBloch Leibler who have supported ACF with pro bonolegal assistance.Although ACF has not been able to formally quantifyand include pro bono contributions in its financial resultswe estimate these contributions have provided at least$200,000 worth of legal, research and other professionalservices to ACF.ACF Investments Guidelines and PerformanceIn July 2002 ACF’s Council approved a new Guideline for the selection, management and reporting of ACF’s Investments.The guideline was developed with advice from Ethinvest, one of the original ethical investment advisory companiesin Australia. The guideline defines ACF’s risk return profile, authorised and unauthorised investments, short, medium andlong term strategy, performance benchmarks, investments approvals and reporting.A key requirement of the guideline is the requirement to analyse all investments for conflicts with ACF’s Councilapproved policies, which cover a broad range of economic, environmental and social issues.As a result of the change ACF now has a far greater mix of investments including direct mortgages (Australian SecuritiesLimited), ethical equity funds (Australian Ethical Investments and Hunter Hall), direct property (Unit and House in Sydneyand Unit in Melbourne) and listed property trusts (ING and Macquarie).ACF investments are now much more aligned with our organisational goals and objectives, but have also providedexcellent investments returns (almost double that anticipated under the old investment mix).15