Twelve of Australia’s leading philanthropic foundations distributed $207 million in grants to the Australian community between 2009 and 2011. The report, Where the Money Goes: Private wealth for public good examines how and where these funds were distributed.

Lead author of the report, Centre for Social Impact Philanthropy Fellow Gina Anderson, says that given the extensive amount of detail collected over time by philanthropic foundations on the projects they fund, there was a wonderful opportunity to make much greater use of this data.

“Data collection can inform not only the individual foundation’s grant-making, but also feed into the wider philanthropic and not-for-profit sector – to help make real, positive, social impact for the community benefit,” says Anderson.

“It can potentially enable foundations to avoid duplication in their granting, identify under-served communities and geographic regions, and the hard-to-reach. Additional benefits include the promotion of collaboration among funders and information for inclusion in public policy making.”