About Investing for Charity

Our community’s mission

Our mission is to create an engaging not-for-profit giving experience for everyday Australians.

How? By empowering our members to give more effectively to the causes they care about, through a digital charity account service with a curated menu of impactful, Australian-registered not-for-profits.

Our mission forms part of a wider vision: to be part of a compassionate & informed society which gives generously to not-for-profits offering the greatest impact per dollar.

Our trustee APS Foundation is registered with the Australian Charity & Not-for-profits Commission - please see their Annual Reports HERE.

Our story

Investing for Charity was formed in 2009 by a group of student donors looking to leverage our research & business skills for a not-for-profit, volunteer purpose.

We started off collectively donating into our own Public Ancillary Fund, investing this fund in the stockmarket and then distributing its trading profits & dividends to charity.

In 2016, we decided there was a more pressing need to apply our volunteer skills to finding highly effective not-for-profits to donate to.

In 2024, we transitioned I4C's funds to APS Foundation. This improved our legal & investment governance, allowing us to devote our volunteer efforts entirely to improving the donor experience. Today, Investing for Charity does not pick stocks. Rather, we pick impactful not-for-profits to donate to through our structured research process.

Our community is split into 2 member categories:

• Donor volunteers donate both their time & money to create a digital charity account service which can be used by all Australians

• Pure donors donate into their individual charity accounts and get to enjoy the experience of giving to impactful charities

We aim to grow our community by attracting donors who want:

1. a perpetual record of their donations which will last forever - this is made possible through our charity account service

2. a curated menu of charities researched and approved by our donor volunteers

Our values

We’re optimistic about voluntary giving

We run a charity fund service for our donor members. We believe donating makes the world a better place by helping those in need, but also bringing satisfaction to donors themselves.

We’re rational in our selection of charities

Despite our philanthropic idealism, we still base our research on facts, not emotions. While nearly all charities operate with good intentions, they don’t produce the same outcomes. We use our best practice research process to show how charities on our menu address the causes that donors care about.

We’re committed to clarity of communication

Social causes can be complex with differing viewpoints. Our volunteers break these complex issues down into insights that all members of our community can engage with.

We’re respectful of contributions from our members

I4C strives to maximise the impact of our collective donations. But at the same time, we provide career upskill opportunities for our volunteers. This could be in the areas of social impact research, software development and digital user experience design.