Eligibility of your organisation
Under the terms of the deed of The Ian Potter Foundation and Australian taxation laws, The Ian Potter Foundation can only make grants to organisations with BOTH Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) Item 1 and Tax Concession Charity (TCC) status.
DGR requirements
There are two distinct types of DGR. This is identified on an organisation's notice of endorsement from the Australian Taxation Office as either a deductible gift recipient item 1, or item 2.
- The Ian Potter Foundation is limited to funding DGR's where the "provision for gift deductibility" is "item 1 of the table in section 30-15 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997". That is, we can only make grants to organisations endorsed as DGR Item 1.
- The Ian Potter Foundation is a public ancillary fund and cannot make grants to other public ancillary funds (PuAFs) or to private ancillary funds (PAFs). If your notice of endorsement as a DGR states the provision for gift deductibility is item 2 of the table in section 30-15 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, your organisation will be an ancillary fund and therefore not entitled to receive grants from us.
An organisation's name or ABN can be used to search the Australian Government's online Australian Business Register to check details of its DGR and TCC endorsements.
Please also note the following regarding DGR status:
- Organisations must be EITHER endorsed by the ATO as a DGR item 1, or they must be specifically named in Subdivision 30-B in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 as being a DGR.
- If an organisation uses more than one name (for example, a legal name and a trading name), then any grant application must be made in the name which holds the correct DGR status.
- Some organisations also hold DGR status only for a fund which they operate, or one aspect of their activities. Applications from such organisations must relate to the fund or activities for which DGR status has been endorsed or approved.
More information about DGR and TCC status can be obtained from the ATO Non-Profit Organisations website.
Eligibility of your project
Please make sure you read the funding objectives and specific exclusions for each of our program areas as you go through the Apply process on the website.
General Exclusions
Projects that fall into any of the following categories will not be considered for funding.
- Retrospective funding – projects which are already underway or which will commence prior to the date indicated in our online application information are not eligible for consideration.
- Recurrent expenditure for which there is no future provision.
- Capital or endowment funds established to provide a corpus for institutions.
- Research for undergraduate, masters or doctoral students.
- Auspicing* is not permitted – the organisation applying must be the one that will run the program or project.
- Applications for public charitable purposes outside the Commonwealth of Australia*.
- Applications for projects that have previously been declined by the Foundation cannot be resubmitted.
- Applications will not be accepted from organisations that have not successfully acquitted previous grants from the Foundation
- We do not directly support schools
Please note that in the indigenous sector the Foundation is currently only funding major, strategic programs.
*Geographical constraints on grants
The Foundation is limited to providing money, property or benefits for public charitable purposes in the Commonwealth of Australia. However, the Foundation is able to provide a grant for activities outside the Commonwealth if the grant is made for a public charitable purpose in the Commonwealth. For example, a grant might be made to an Australian university to enable it to fund an overseas study tour by an Australian researcher engaged by the university.
** Auspicing
Auspicing refers to the practice of an ineligible organisation (one that does not have DGR and TCC status) applying to the Foundation via an eligible organisation. Auspicing arrangements are excluded under the Foundation's guidelines.
The organisation applying to the Foundation must be the organisation that will run the project or program for which a grant is being sought.