The Australian Scholarships Foundation (ASF) is is the operating arm of AusSchol Incorporated (ABN: 83 420 919 581).  ASF is dedicated to providing scholarships to help council members, managers and the senior staff of charitable organisations enhance their knowledge and skills, and to improving the management and accountability of charitable not-for-profit organisations.

AusSchol was formed in 2007 and is recognised by the Australian Taxation Office as a charitable institution. ASF is a registered fund within AusSchol and is a deductible gift recipient .

ASF has secured the support of a wide range of private sector sponsors, including education providers and other training and professional organisations, in making available scholarships that will enable the managers and senior officers of charitable organisations to improve their knowledge and skills in the management of those organisations.

ASF recognises that donors generously provide funds to charities in order to help those in need.  Charities are, naturally, reluctant to spend those funds on such items as staff training and development, however important that might be.  As a consequence the not-for-profit sector of the economy is unable to benefit from improved management practices and greater accountability.  ASF seeks to remedy that situation by helping managers and senior officers of charitable organisations obtain the training and development they need to do their jobs better.

Opportunities and resources provided by private sector sponsors

In its initial stage, AusSchol entered into partnerships with two major organisations in the accounting field, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and KPMG. ICAA and KPMG have sponsored a series of scholarships that will bring training and professional development into the realm of affordability for charities. Freehills have generously provided legal services to AusSchol on a pro-bono basis.  Since its launch in 2008, ASF has negotiated a number of additional scholarships, and more are in the pipeline

Details of the scholarships will be found on the Scholarships page of this website, with links to the sponsoring organisations.

Opportunities provided by Universities

The University of Adelaide has joined ASF as a sponsor. ASF offers two scholarships for places in the University’s Graduate Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

In the private higher education sector, Kaplan Business School and Kaplan Professional, the AICD and other providers offer scholarships for a series of programs at different levels to meet the individual needs of managers and staff of recognised charitable organisations.

ASF is negotiating with other Universities to enable it to provide scholarships for a range of different awards and programs to assist the professional development of managers and staff of recognised charitable organisations.

Details of the scholarships, including conditions and applications forms can be found on the Scholarships page of this website

ASF’s role

ASF promotes the scholarships widely within Australia and manages the selection process in association with Rotary. Selection of candidates for each scholarship is based on merit and all candidates meet all of the normal selection criteria (such as pre-requisites, academic achievement, work experience, and so on) for each program.

ABN: 83 420 919 581