The best of Australian philanthropy will be celebrated at this year's Australian Philanthropy Awards.

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The Awards

The Australian Philanthropy Awards recognise and celebrate extraordinary achievements in contemporary philanthropy for work that is visionary, high impact and transformative. They also celebrate partnerships between philanthropy and for-purpose organisations and honour those who are working to create lasting, positive change. The awards ceremony will be held on Tuesday 16 November 2021.

Philanthropy has a duty to act and, more importantly, lead. In these uncertain times, it is important to recognise and celebrate best practice philanthropy and create a sense of hope – as philanthropy will play a critical role in how we respond and build back better during this significant period.

The relationship between philanthropy and community is an important one, now more than ever, and the Australian Philanthropy Awards highlight this by celebrating positive change and impact achieved through philanthropic partnership and support.

The 2021 Australian Philanthropy Awards celebrate philanthropic work that has occurred prior to 31 December 2020. 

Nominations across nine award categories are now open. Please click the links below to learn more about each category and nominate.

Philanthropy Australia Awards: 

• Leading Philanthropist – Australian philanthropy’s highest honour awarded to an individual
• Better Philanthropy Award
• Bolder Philanthropy Award
• Best Grant Program Award

Cause-related awards:  

• Community Philanthropy Award
• Environmental Philanthropy Award  
• Gender-wise Philanthropy Award
• Indigenous Philanthropy Award
• International Philanthropy Award 

General eligibility

The Australian Philanthropy Awards are open to all members of the Australian philanthropic and broader social change community – anyone is able to submit a nomination, and any organisations that work in partnership and align with the criteria are eligible to be nominated.

Organisations and projects that have previously been nominated for an award and not received it may be nominated again in 2021. 

Funding initiatives that have previously received an Award may be nominated again in a different category. 

Each nomination must contain details of at least one person from each organisation who consents to be contacted in relation to the nomination and is equipped to answer or provide information on relevant questions, should the need arise.   

You can nominate your own organisation i.e. the nominator can be the same as the nominee.

Philanthropy Australia board members, current staff and members of the Australian Philanthropy Awards selection panel are not eligible to submit a nomination OR themselves be nominated by a third party.  In the instance that a selection panellist’s organisation is nominated, they will remove themselves from the selection process for that category.
 

Important nomination information and submission instructions 

The nomination period for the Australian Philanthropy Awards 2021 closes at 5.00 pm (AEST) on Friday 9 July 2021. Please ensure that you plan and allow ample time to complete your nomination and provide any additional materials that may be required.       

Instructions to complete and submit your nomination 

• All nomination forms must be submitted via Survey Monkey; a Word format is available for drafting purposes and can be accessed for each award category within the Survey Monkey form.
• Please adhere to the specified word limits and follow the guidelines for supporting documents 
• Please submit your completed and final nomination via Survey Monkey.
• Supporting documents (see below section) may be included with your nomination as provided for in the ‘additional documents’ section of the Survey Monkey form. Attachments must not exceed 5MB. 
• If you have any queries or need assistance completing or submitting your nomination form, please contact awards@philanthropy.org.au.
   

Supporting documents

Nominations may be accompanied by up to six pages of supplementary and supporting material (excluding letters of support). This may include a biography, resume, organisation information, video links and articles. We ask that you please do not include an annual report as part of any submission.  

Supplementary and supporting material may be submitted as PDF.  

Please note that all materials included with the nomination will become the property of Philanthropy Australia and will not be returned.   
 

Selection process

Nominations will be reviewed by the selection panel in August for announcement at the Australian Philanthropy Awards ceremony which will be held on Tuesday 16 November 2021.

All nominations and nominees will remain confidential and only recipients will be announced at the ceremony. Please note that all decisions made by the Australian Philanthropy Awards Selection Panel are final. Due to the high volume of nominations received, Philanthropy Australia is unable to share specific feedback. In the instance that your nomination is selected for an Award, the listed contacts for each organisation will be requested to work closely with Philanthropy Australia in the lead up to the ceremony.

If you have any questions or would like additional information about this year’s Australian Philanthropy Awards, please contact us at awards@philanthropy.org.au.