Jane Reidy in her book Te Kaitiaki O Te Putea about the history of the ASB Community Trust says: “Philanthropy is trying to separate itself from charity, which is about easing the symptoms of distress, and...turn itself to investing in solutions to the underlying problems.”

Today’s philanthropists are entrepreneurial and visionary, willing to take calculated risks but expecting accountability and sustainability from the projects they support. Applicants for funding should ask themselves:

1. Does our project have measurable and proven impacts?

2. Are the impacts cost-effective?

3. Will the impacts be sustained?

4. Can the model be scaled and replicated?

If they can answer “yes” to all four questions, they will have a greater chance of securing philanthropic support, especially if they can also support their application with relevant, current research in their field of work.

Sometimes philanthropic organisations will undertake their own research, or contract someone to do research, in a particular field , and publish the findings. The ASB Community Trust and The Tindall Foundation are two that do so.