PNI Foundation

Pinnacle is passionate about enabling better lives through investment excellence. This belief is reflected through Pinnacle’s strong commitment – together with affiliated fund managers – towards partnering with the PNI Foundation (Foundation) to drive positive, long-term social change.

Through building the capacity of excellent Australian not for profit (NFP) organisations, the Foundation is helping to deliver tangible impact within communities across five key focus areas – identified as critically important by employees and stakeholders of Pinnacle and Affiliates.

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Current Partnerships

Multiple partnerships with 17 NFPs are driving long term sustainable impact across five core focus areas:

MENTAL
WELLBEING

SEXUAL,
DOMESTIC AND
FAMILY VIOLENCE

DISADVANTAGED
CHILDREN AND
YOUNG PEOPLE

SPECIALISED
MEDICAL
RESEARCH

ENVIRONMENTAL
SUSTAINABILITY

Funding Approach

PARTNERSHIP PHILOSOPHY

In every partnership the Foundation’s aim is to facilitate the delivery of solutions which can be analysed and assessed, strengthened and scaled.

As an early-stage backer which frequently offers seed funding to encourage trials and incubate new projects, the Foundation has often been able to invest in the future of young, passionate not-for-profit (NFP) entities as they seek to have a growing impact within their communities. Many partners have leveraged this initial support, securing further funding from private and public donors to successfully build their long-term capacity to drive change.

Aiming to grow the reach and impact of creative and clever organisations, five core focus areas are currently supported.

MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Offering support through community connection, together with mental illness prevention and early intervention strategies

SEXUAL, DOMESTIC AND FAMILY VIOLENCE

Facilitating legislative reform and legal support, together with advocacy for the power of lived experience, for abuse sufferers and survivors

DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Providing face to face and online education, individual and group-based support, and pathways to empowerment for young people

SPECIALISED MEDICAL RESEARCH

Seeking early diagnosis, new trials and treatments, and ultimately cures for children’s genetic diseases and for dementia sufferers

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Focussing on water resource management and regulatory frameworks, disaster recovery and drought mitigation

Partner Support and Selection

The Foundation provides annual funding of between $20,000 and $100,000 for specific projects and programs, which are approved via a formal application process. Partnerships are by invitation only, with no open grant rounds or public submissions.

The goal is to build multi-year engagements which foster strong and close relationships, and support the ability of selected NFP partners to address often complex social issues. These reflect UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) identified and adopted as priorities by the Foundation.

PNI Group FY24 Aggregate Giving

In FY24, the Foundation made donations of $594,000 to our 17 long-term NFP partners. Affiliates donated a further $445,000 to jointly support a number of these partners.

A further $265,000 was provided by the Foundation, Affiliates and Pinnacle to other NFPs with strong connections to employees, and to support events championed by the financial services industry and Pinnacle.

Matched workplace giving programs across the Group contributed a further $79,000, giving regular, monthly support to key NFP partners plus more than 60 other NFPs.

The combined financial impact of donations was therefore in excess of $1,380,000.

This support has been incredibly important in making a tangible difference – enabling our partners to provide workshops, forums, online help, counselling, education, training, furniture, publications, legal advice, technology support and emergency relief, plus undertake new research, pilot projects, rebuild community infrastructure, and bring a sense of purpose and positivity to their operations.

Wider NFP Sector Support

In order to further support the NFP Sector and spread impact to more grassroots NFPs, the Foundation formed a partnership with The Funding Network (TFN). The partnership will allow TFN to build the capacity of their current offering to their alumni organisations, including ongoing connection and professional development support. In addition, Foundation funding will potentially allow TFN the opportunity to work with the “runners up” their events; those unable to be selected for profiling but still deemed exceptionally high quality by the assessment panel.

One-off major donation

In recognition of the challenges facing women seeking emergency accommodation, a one-off donation of $30,000 was made in FY24 to the Sydney-based Women’s Community Shelters (WCS). WCS collaborates with local communities to establish new safe crisis accommodation options for women and children. At a time of reduced government spending, WCS is offering a new and ground-breaking ‘tri-partite’ funding model in which government, philanthropy/business and community all work to provide funding to establish and operate shelters.

History and Vision

Tracing its history back to Pinnacle’s antecedent companies in 1987 – including Wilson HTM, Wilson & Co and the Wilson family – today’s PNI Foundation is closely aligned with the strategic business objectives of the Pinnacle Group (ASX: PNI).

Rebranded at the start of 2024 from Pinnacle Charitable Foundation, and now reflecting Pinnacle’s ASX ticker, the PNI Foundation is supported by the Group to achieve its vision of “helping to build a more compassionate, creative and clever Australia.”

The PNI Foundation operates as an independent public ancillary fund (PuAF), registered with the ACNC (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission) with DGR Type 2 status.

Board of Directors

The management and control of the business and affairs of the Company and Foundation are vested in the Board of honorary Directors. The Board provides direction, control and accountability for overall governance, strategy and performance. The Directors delegate day to day duties and responsibilities to the executive team, to enable efficient and effective operation.

Jonathan Trollip - Chair

Lorraine Berends AM - Director

Mark Connors - Director

Andrea Heffernan - Director

Alex Ihlenfeldt - Director

Jayne Shaw - Director

Gerald Willeston - Director

Resources

Foundation Newsletter - December 2023

FY24 Annual Report

FY24 Impact Summary