Our Purpose

This is a simple statement of how we want to give together.
It is not a legal agreement and is not intended to be restrictive.

Why we exist
The Hunter Community Fund is collective of donors who support charities in our neighbourhood and wherever we can have the greatest impact.

We believe that giving together:

  • Helps us have more impact than giving alone

  • Makes giving more meaningful and joyful

  • Inspires others to give too 

How we contribute
Each member is invited to contribute $1 per day, every day.

Donations are meant to be:

  • Affordable for members

  • Given freely

  • Distributed to our nominated charities once per year 

How we decide where the money goes
Our donations are distributed evenly. Half goes to charities working in the Hunter Valley and half goes to highly cost-effective charities.

 We decide which Hunter Valley charities to support by:

  • Seeking recommendations from our donors (that’s you!)

  • Undertaking due diligence checks

  • Shortlisting our charities, giving preference to smaller organisations headquartered locally

  • Deciding between our shortlisted charities by popular vote

 We decide which highly cost-effective global charities to support by:

  • Seeking recommendations from evidence-based charity evaluators, like GiveWell

We accept that we won’t all agree all the time but commit to supporting decisions once they are made. 

How we stay connected
Nominations, voting and updates from the charities we support will be shared by email.

We plan to meet in person at least once per year.

Participation is encouraged but not required. 

How we take care of the group
We accept that our donations are irrecoverable once made.

Members can pause or stop making donations at any time, but accept that doing so will forfeit their right to nominate or vote on charities we support.

The Fund will accept one-off donations, or donations of less than $365 per year, but will not allow those donors voting rights.

Everything we do is based on the principles of transparency and respect.

Anything else
Our donations will not be used to support a charity that exists for the purpose of having a political candidate elected or proselytising a religion. Any nominations for such charities will be void.