Click 'Join the Movement' to submit an inquiry to us. From there, one of our team will be in touch to give you all the information you need.

We harness the power of technology, kind people and goodwill to ensure our costs are kept to a minimum.

For the costs that we aren’t able to avoid altogether, our co-founders pay them out of their own pockets – in addition to their regular 5% contributions.

We have never paid for operating costs or fees out of the 5% contributions from members.

It might not sound like much, but your 5% contribution can make a real impact where it’s needed most.
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The scale of global challenges might seem intimidating, but by pooling and growing our donations, we can make a difference. Our model of philanthropy makes your donation work harder and go further than it ever could alone.

We have built a range of tools to help you visualise how your 5% could make a difference.

We recommend that members donate 5% of their 'net' income. The best way of doing this is by donating 5% from each paycheck you receive, and 5% from any tax return paid to you.

However, you don’t have to stop there! You can donate more than this amount if you wish. Also, all donations are tax deductible.

In short: it’s about maximising the social impact of money over the long-term. Click here to hear more about our model.

We allow everyone who donates to the Five Percent Foundation to vote for how they would like the Foundation to donate the profits of our investments. We then redirect the profits of the 5% donations to the charities we support.

Want to support a charity we do not currently distribute to? We’re always open to considering new charities who align with our values. You can suggest a charity by contacting us.

Yes! We're a charity ourselves, and while we adjust the investment ‘profits’ each year to account for inflation, we otherwise donate 100% of the profits. Click here to learn more about our model and why we adjust for inflation.

We partner up with some of the most effective charities, who have proven track records of achieving positive social impact.

These charities have stringent reporting procedures which ensure funds raised are being put to good use. We are also exploring technology and reporting techniques to ensure that you will have full transparency and can track where your hard-earned dollars end up.

We recognise that circumstances change, which is why you’re able to pause your donations at any time. When you’re back on your feet, we’d love to have you back!

However, to achieve the greatest impact, we recommend that you continue donating if you can.

If you can’t commit to donating 5% of your income, you will not experience the benefits of our model, and so we recommend you donate to the charities we support directly. 

If you’d like to donate to the Five Percent Foundation to help us cover our operating costs and increase our impact, you’re welcome to do so and we would be greatly appreciative of your generosity. Please click here to contact us to discuss.

Unfortunately, we currently are only able to accept donations via bank deposit. However, we are working hard to set up a direct debit solution.

No. It's important to note that a donation to the Five Percent Foundation is a permanent charitable donation. But rest assured - your money will be put to good use, generating funds for worthy causes for the rest of time.

While past performance does not guarantee future performance, Australian Ethical have a great track record of producing at least 5-10% profit per year, including an average of 7.8% over the past 5 years. Please click here to view their detailed investment returns (we invest in the Balanced Fund).

The Five Percent Foundation is co-founded and run by 13 professionals from a range of disciplines: law, finance and business, marketing and journalism, tourism, hospitality, urban design and clinical neuropsychology – including prominent social entrepreneur and 2018 Young Victorian of the Year, Dan Poole.

The Five Percent Foundation is a registered charity (ABN 79 449 837 519). You can look us up on the ACNC register here.
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We are endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient. Donations of $2 or more to the Five Percent Foundation are tax deductible in Australia.

Yes. We don’t believe it makes sense to invest in things that are doing damage to anyone or anywhere. Our investments are conducted in accordance with our Ethical Investment Policy.

As with all investments, there is a risk that there could be a loss for a particular year. If this were to happen, we would not make any distributions to our charity partners in that year (as we only distribute our annual return on investment, minus inflation). This is so that we can ensure that the Five Percent Foundation will outlive us all. However, please note that Australian Ethical have a great track record of financial returns, including an average return of 7.8% per year over the past 5 years and 7.5% per year over the past 10 years.

It's about making the Five Percent Foundation future-proof.

Basically, we want to make sure the 5% donations people donate to the Five Percent Foundation retains the same value (or 'purchasing power') forever. To do this, we need to account for inflation (which is typically around 2% per year). In practice, this means that we donate about 2% less than the actual profits, and retain that amount in the fund.