Australian Sport granted access to $4.4 billion in ancillary funds

For the first time since its inception in 1986, The Australian Sports Foundation can now access $4.4 billion in Ancillary funds to help those with a social disadvantage benefit through sport.

The establishment of a new charitable fund by The Australian Sports Foundation has been awarded Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status by the Federal Government, allowing sport to benefit for the first time from more than $550 million distributed annually by Public and Private Ancillary Funds.

Ancillary Funds currently hold over $4.4 billion in philanthropic assets and are required to distribute a minimum of 5% of assets held every year.

The Sports Foundation intends to use this new status to inject monies into regional and rural sports facilities, to promote and assist gender equality through sport, and to provide funding for multi-cultural, diversity and inclusion sports programs.

Sports Foundation CEO, Patrick Walker, said the trust’s charitable purpose is to help those with a social disadvantage to benefit through sport.

“We believe that every Australian should be able to enjoy the benefits of sport, irrespective of culture, gender or economic circumstances.”

The new Charitable Trust is expected to help the Sports Foundation raise an additional $25-$30 million a year for charitable community sports projects by 2022, rising to over $50 million per year within 10 years.

“Up until now, sport has been unable to access distributions from most Ancillary Funds, despite around 30% of the programs we support meeting charitable criteria,” Walker said.

“The Federal Government’s decision will now allow tens of millions of dollars to be injected annually into under-funded community and grassroots charitable sports projects.”

“Sport is at the heart of every Australian community and has a unique ability to bring people from different cultures and backgrounds together.

“At a time of alarming rises in levels of obesity and its associated health issues, this additional funding will improve physical and mental health outcomes for disadvantaged Australians, get more kids and adults active and provide significant community benefits,” he said.

With arts and cultural organisations in Australia currently receiving more than $50 million per year from associated funds, The Australian Sports Foundation believes sport should be benefiting at the same level within a decade.