As a community foundation, Greater Melbourne Foundation connects the people, ideas and funding to strengthen the collective effort to drive change where it is needed most. By giving through Greater Melbourne Foundation, supporters become part of a collective solution. “We are all approached by charities every day of the week and we often just give with little thought to it,” Greater Melbourne Foundation Philanthropy Engagement Manager Carolyn Williams said. “Structured giving through a community foundation enables people to give to the causes they care about in a planned, strategic way that can support more impact over the longer term.” Greater Melbourne Foundation is working towards a more just and equitable Greater Melbourne where communities thrive. This ethos of social responsibility is embedded across the organisation. This ethos extends to the Foundation’s investment portfolio, where investments are guided by an ethical investment policy. Chief Executive Officer Peter Walton said, as custodians of the Foundation’s corpus, alignment of capital to purpose is important. “It’s not just ‘do no harm’, it’s increasingly investing funds that are making a positive contribution to society,” he said. “Our investment portfolio is responsible and sustainable, and it is increasingly creating positive impact and contributing to solutions for many of the challenges we see in society.” “We're an organisation that wants to grow our corpus, not for the sake of growth, but in response to the huge challenges facing Greater Melbourne and Victoria,” he said. “There's always a discussion around can we find win-win solutions where there's a terrific financial return and also a positive contribution to society. “Because if an investment is making a negative difference, it’s actually counteractive.” Climate Justice is a priority area of the Foundation and two years ago the Foundation committed to decarbonising its investment portfolio. It has now achieved a 60 per cent decarbonised portfolio. Peter said the Foundation was working toward carbon neutrality by not investing in fossil fuels and increasing investment in more energy efficient options. “Those areas also align with several of the Foundation’s goals – it's shifting us from ‘do no harm’ and just a responsible investment approach to absolutely contributing in a positive way by using our capital and investments,” he said. Community foundations are built of a strong set of ideals and work to support donors in aligning their personal values with their giving. “We have a deep understanding of the charitable sector and community organisations in Victoria,” Carolyn said. “That means we can advise donors about different options, such as charitable giving funds and gifts in Wills, that align with a donor’s giving interests and long-term goals.” As a community foundation, donors’ charitable giving funds are collectively invested, and Carolyn said the amplification effect was extremely powerful. “It's an amplification and a multiplication of what you can achieve through your generosity, and that’s an important factor when considering the change you want to see,” added Carolyn.