HOW WE WORK

ASF has negotiated with accredited education and training providers across Australia to provide free or discounted executive management, mentoring and training programs in a range of management disciplines to directors and staff of not-for-profit (NFP) organisations. These providers include universities, for-profit colleges, professional services associations and businesses with in-house education and training programs. In many cases the access to such courses is at little or no marginal cost to the providers and offers them a low cost opportunity for expanding their community involvement.  

ASF provides scholarships to directors, employees and to volunteers who play a significant role in their NFP organisations, whereby the completion of the applied course would benefit their employing NFP organisation. The ATO defines a NFP organisation whereby "any profit (surplus) the organisation makes goes back into the operation of the organisation to carry out its purposes and is not distributed to any of its members."  Some of the categories of activity for NFP organisations include:

• Heath & Welfare;
• International Aid;
  
• Environment;
• Education & Research; and
• Culture, Sport & Recreation

Scholarships are offered in such practical disciplines as finance and accounting, leadership and management, IT, marketing and fundraising, NFP board governance, leadership mentoring, executive coaching, HR and related training, etc. The range and type of course offerings is continually expanding and include full and part time study, online study and participation in in-house programs provided by large corporations and professional services firms. Applicants must always meet the specific course and training requirements stipulated by ASF’s providers and sponsors – see FAQ and the individual scholarships sections for further details.

The Scholarship Process

1. At regular intervals through the year ASF publicises the availability of new rounds of scholarships via online communications to a large number of NFP organisations and invites applications.
2. Applications for these scholarships are processed online and as appropriate, considered by ASF Scholarship Committees.
3. Successful applications are then recommended by these committees to the Council of ASF for approval.

ASF also provides Australian philanthropists with low cost access to the ASF grant and assessment process to help them make their own capability building scholarships. Corporations, trusts and foundations, as well as individuals with PAFs, can provide their own scholarships in cash or kind, using the nation-wide ASF scholarship application and assessment committee network. The publicising, online scholarships application processing and ongoing monitoring of successful applicants is effectively outsourced to ASF.