When we began shaping the Aspect Impact Fund in 2025, the ambition was simple but significant: to move beyond short-term fundraising and create something that could endure.
As Head of Philanthropy, I’ve spent years working within the cycle that defines much of our sector, annual targets, campaign pushes, and the constant need to secure funding for the next 12 months. That work is essential. But it also raises a fundamental question: what would it look like to fund impact not just for today, but for decades to come?
The Aspect Impact Fund was our answer. Designed as a permanent, self-sustaining endowment, it invests philanthropic gifts in perpetuity, preserving the principal while generating annual income to support programs, and scholarships, and opportunities for Autistic Australians year after year.
What the sector already shows us
Endowments are not a new idea. Some of the world’s most influential philanthropic institutions are built on them.
Organisations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation have relied on endowment models for decades. Their ability to fund work consistently, across generations and changing global conditions, is not accidental - it is structural.
Closer to home, we see similar dynamics in universities and cultural institutions. Endowments allow them to plan long-term, invest in innovation, and weather economic uncertainty without compromising their mission.
And from my own experience endowment can make a meaningful difference. It doesn’t replace annual fundraising, nor should it, but it diversifies revenue, stabilises operations, and gives organisations the confidence to think beyond the immediate horizon.
So why don’t more Not-for-profit (NFP) organisations have them?
This is where the conversation becomes more interesting. NFPs are fully able to establish and manage endowments. The legal frameworks exist. The financial mechanisms are well understood. The investment expertise is accessible.
The barrier, then, is not structural but cultural.
Modern philanthropy has, understandably, prioritised immediacy. Donors want to see outcomes. Funders are drawn to tangible, near-term impact. Organisations are structured around annual budgets and program delivery.
Endowments ask something different of us.
They require patience. They require a belief that building institutional strength is itself a form of impact. And they require a willingness to invest in outcomes that may not be fully realised for years, or even generations.
A shift worth making
At Aspect, we are not suggesting that endowments replace traditional fundraising. Quite the opposite.
The work we do today, in education, employment, inclusion, and research, depends on the generosity of donors who want to see immediate change. That will always be at the heart of what we do.
But alongside that, we need to build something more resilient.
The Aspect Impact Fund is designed to provide exactly that: a stable, growing source of income that allows us to plan ahead, scale what works, and invest where the need is greatest, regardless of short-term funding cycles.
It is, in many ways, a hedge against uncertainty. But more importantly, it is an investment in certainty, the certainty that support for Autistic Australians will not depend solely on the next appeal, the next campaign, or the next financial year.
At a time when NFPs are being asked to do more than ever before, often with constrained and unpredictable resources, we need to think differently about sustainability. Endowments are not the only answer, but they are one of the strongest tools we have to help build long-term resilience, stability and impact.
Shahar Burla, Head of Philanthropy
