A grant keeps the lights on. It rarely changes an organisation's trajectory. Jim Bildner, chief executive of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation and one of the most experienced venture philanthropists in the world, made that case at a recent event co-hosted by Social Impact Hub and Australian Philanthropic Services, and the room of over 60 funders in Sydney and online seemed to feel it.

The philanthropic tools available to Australian foundations go well beyond the annual cheque, and most boards haven't had a structured conversation about what else is available to them.

You can read the full event recap on Social Impact Hub.

Capital plus capability multiplies impact more than capital alone

The most useful thing DRK gives is not the $300,000. It is the time, judgement and networks that come with it, given to leaders at the stage when those things are hardest to find. An unrestricted grant paired with board support, portfolio help and peer learning does something a grant alone cannot: it changes what the organisation is capable of doing next.

For each organisation you fund, consider what you are giving beyond the money and whether the people on the receiving end would say it actually helped.

Consider how you can crowd in other capital

Sometimes, a grant's biggest contribution is making the next investment possible. Early-stage social enterprises read as risky to most capital, so most capital waits for someone else to move first. A funder's early involvement, or a grant structured to reduce the risk profile of investing in an enterprise, can give other funders the confidence to follow.

In 2025, $1.02 million in QBE Foundation grants assembled a total capital stack of $3.77 million through the Catalysing Impact program, drawing in $2.75 million of external commitments. The grant didn't carry the raise. It made the rest possible.

Multi-year, unrestricted funding gives organisations the capacity to plan

Restricted, single-year grants force organisations onto short horizons and make them spend against someone else's checklist.

Multi-year unrestricted funding backs the organisation rather than one project and lets leaders hire, plan and hold their nerve through the setbacks that come with hard problems. DRK commits for three years at a time, with money the organisation controls. If funders want enterprises to think long-term, the funding has to let them.

Use every tool in the toolbox

A grant is one instrument, not the only one. Depending on where an enterprise sits, a loan or an impact investment can be the better fit, and the different forms of capital tend to work in sequence: philanthropy early, when an enterprise can't yet qualify for conventional finance, then other capital as it matures.

Giving funds have more flexibility here than many realise. Under the Giving Fund guidelines, a fund can make a below-market-rate loan to a DGR1 charity and count the difference between the market rate and the concessional rate towards its minimum annual distribution. The same treatment can apply to a property bought for a charity and let rent-free or below market. There is no standard name for this in Australia the way "program-related investment" exists in the United States, but the mechanism does.

Back great leaders, not only great organisations

Behind every enterprise worth funding is a person driving it. DRK's experience is that the leaders who succeed share a few traits: they are relentless, they use data to steer in real time, and they pivot when the facts change. As one of DRK's entrepreneurs put it: without data you're just another opinion in the room. Funders who back those people and stay with them as they grow tend to see the effect compound. Organisations built around capable leaders keep going through political and funding turbulence, especially once they reach real scale.

None of this requires a larger budget. It requires a different conversation at the board table.

If you’d like to catch up on the conversation, you can watch the recording of the event here.

The Impact Investing Hub can bring impact investing education to your board, covering the mechanics behind catalytic capital, blended finance, and the tools that let your fund achieve impact beyond grants. Contact us.