Ryan Ginard On Catalysing Growth In Australia’s Fundraising Ecosystem And Scaling Social Enterprise

Ryan Ginard, CFRE, is Head of Sector Development and Innovation at the Minderoo Foundation. His career in organised philanthropy spans civic engagement, public policy, operations, and fundraising, including dirtector roles at the University of Texas at Austin, Philanthropy California, and as Chief of Staff for a $185 million philanthropic program across early education and charitable giving, impacting over 11 million students and 22,000 schools in 20 countries.

He has raised over AUD $50 million for charity and pioneering research in machine learning, computational oncology, and social justice.

Ryan is the best-selling, award-winning author of Future Philanthropy and Nonprofit Moneyball and founder of Fundraise for Australia, a social enterprise aiming to train 1,000 new fundraisers by 2030 while mobilising an additional $120 million in charitable donations. His latter work earning him the 2025 Philanthropy Innovation Award at the recent Queensland Philanthropy Awards.

Ryan discusses why strengthening Australia’s philanthropic infrastructure is crucial for a more generous future and the role of social enterprises and community foundations in catalysing local impact.

Highlights from the interview (listen to the podcast for full details)

[Tom Allen] - To start off, can you please share a bit about your background and what led you to working in philanthropy and social enterprise?

[Ryan Ginard] - I moved to Australia in 1997 from England and went to high school in Townsville. Realising the culture shock was a bit too much for me at that time, I moved down to Brisbane to study at QUT. You can see very early on I didn’t have that rigour around my education; it was quite open and free-flowing. Different parts of world history influenced how I do my work today, and that gave me a curious mindset.

At QUT, I became involved in student politics. The allure of free thinking was a bit too much for me, and I spent the next five years working at Parliament House in Canberra for a local member who was also chairing the Corporations and Financial Services Committee during the time of the Storm Financial crisis. It was an interesting start to my career, being exposed to how laws are made and what the future of Australian nation building looks like. It shaped where I wanted to go in my career and helped me build a portfolio of skills.

I went over to the US to try and hitch a ride on a presidential campaign. I guess this was another influence on me, and I managed to get a role with the California Democrats as an organiser on a campaign. It was a fantastic experience. When it ended, I wasn’t ready to come back, and someone I met on the campaign worked for the San Diego Foundation, a billion-dollar endowed community foundation in San Diego.

I never looked back. I became a student of philanthropy, moving from the foundation where I led the Center for Civic Engagement to a small not-for-profit that worked with undocumented students.

We raised a mosaic of funds, which brought me into impact investing, social enterprise, and different ways of applying a charitable lens to support the community. Those early experiences in philanthropy showed me that you could work arm-in-arm with the community, work in place, and help build resources rather than just solicit votes. It was a refreshing new path, a sliding-doors moment.

Everything you mentioned in the intro occurred since then. I found myself moving back to Australia during COVID. With a young family here in Brisbane, it was fantastic to return, initially with the Australian National University, but now with Minderoo Foundation.

I feel like this role is home; it has been the confluence of all my learnings and everything I’ve written about, allowing me to apply modernisation and professionalism to the art and science of philanthropy. Not just in the way we give, but in the infrastructure behind it. It’s a great privilege, and that’s where I am today.

As the Head of Sector Development and Innovation at the Minderoo Foundation, what are your key focuses and what work have you been doing?

I lead the field-building body of work, which is a significant investment into the field itself. I really feel that’s a blind spot for philanthropy. Our theory of change is working through peaks and intermediaries using a “rising-tide-lifts-all-boats” approach. It’s also about looking around and seeing where the ecosystem currently is, where the gaps exist, and most importantly, where the opportunities arise.

There’s a real opportunity given the government’s commitment to doubling giving again. What that means is open to interpretation, but to me, it’s about how we create a more generous Australia. Then there’s the intergenerational wealth transfer, which a lot of your listeners are probably aware of. When we talk about the big numbers ($5.4 trillion over the coming decades), what does that look like for the charitable sector? Is it 3% of GDP? Is that what we should be aspiring to? Or is it about using that opportunity to change the education and understanding of philanthropy through financial advice or investing in fundraisers?

We’ve got about 30 projects at the moment, and a few of them have already kicked into gear. There are several in social enterprise. We see the for-purpose sector as four distinct pillars: impact investing, social enterprise, not-for-profits, and organised philanthropy. It’s very much a strategic approach, and it’s all intersectional. If we pull one lever, we hope to see more money flowing into different parts of the sector. We’re very systems-focused.

Hopefully, a lot of the recommendations or pilots we fund can either be invested in more broadly over a number of years or potentially lead to regulatory changes and laws changing, so instead of investing millions, we are seeing billions flow in to support those in need.

As the author of multiple books, I imagine the writing process inspires a lot of reflection and insights. Can you share more about the books you have written, what you learnt from this process, especially as it relates to developing this movement in Australia?

The books are very much my curse, as it were. I find writing very cathartic, and it helps me compute things in a way that can move my work forward. My writing approach is very much a mosaic of ideas.

The book Future Philanthropy is structured around tech, trends and talent. It’s in three distinct parts, and that’s because I’m dyslexic. My writing reflects that and the way I understand things. I can’t read long-form op-eds; I usually get through the first couple of paragraphs, and then it turns into a blur. I jump to the recommendations and backfill what I imagine could be there.

A lot of my work is not just out-of-the-box thinking, it’s thinking from a totally different box. I think that’s why it’s been so well received. Future Philanthropy, for example, focuses on the technology and people that will fuel the field over the next 10 years. It’s deconstructed and demystified in a way people can understand. If they understand it, they can lead. They can take the ball and run with it. That can be done with a bit of co-design.

That book took off and was fuelled by my experiences during COVID. I moved to the University of Texas about three weeks before everything shut down, and they were very good to the fundraising team, keeping everyone on even when we couldn’t travel. We were still working out how to engage with donors in a meaningful way.

At that time, I leant into all of the world-class professors that were there and started learning about quantum computing, machine learning, and AI. Not in a way where I was looking for mastery, but for competence. This was done knowing we’re moving into an economy that values knowledge brokers and generalists.

Applying that, and what we know about tech and what the economy is going to look like in the future, we need to ensure not-for-profits are embraced. They shouldn’t be seen as just an end-of-cycle revenue vertical.

We need to understand AI is going to automate a lot of work and unfortunately make many roles in traditional industries obsolete. Those people are going to move into the services industry, whether that’s in healthcare or not-for-profits. We’ve got to be ready for this.

The other book (Nonprofit Moneyball) was a quirky sophomore project. I like using a lot of sporting analogies, and it riffed off a movie I watched during COVID. But I think my most significant piece of work was Fundraise for Australia, because it really underpinned the scale and scalability of the Fundraise for Australia social enterprise.

It was also (believe it or not) the first ever textbook for Australian fundraising, which blows my mind given that people have been fundraising in Australia for decades. But there hadn’t been anything that applied the work at a 101 level with the local context, taking into account the different vehicles we have.

Often we look at America and Europe and how they give, and just mimic that.

Sometimes people say we’re 10 years behind the fundraising world, but the reality is, we are where we are. Hopefully this book will help reset the table and encourage more people to see themselves in fundraising moving forward. I just put ideas out there, and if they land, they land. But my whole goal in writing is simply to spark conversation and lean into that, because if we don’t, we’re just embracing the status quo, and that’s dangerous for progress.

Where do you see key opportunities to grow the business for good movement in Australia, and how might philanthropy support that?

Philanthropy can definitely support it by linking arms with those who are already doing the work. Peaks and intermediaries such as Social Enterprise Australia, White Box Enterprises, Social Traders, Impact Boom, and the Business For Good Network are examples. Philanthropy knows what it can do, but it has to meet them where they are, be an active listener, and see how the movement is being shaped.

I see small business, which I feel now is more a reflection of working-class Australia, on one side, social enterprise in the middle, and not-for-profits on the other side of the ledger.

Business for good is core to the growth of business in Australia. You can be a small business and become a social enterprise, or you can be a not-for-profit that evolves into a social enterprise, depending on your values and your mission.

There are a lot of misnomers around how not-for-profits work. If you’ve got a really innovative product or service, you may not be fit for purpose, or you may be held back by your governance structure. Social enterprise is emerging, and when I say emerging, it’s not new, but we’re starting to see some big wins in terms of procurement channels.

We saw this with the Olympics in Paris and the statistics that came with their embrace of the local for-purpose economy.

The sky’s the limit for social enterprise. It’s just about getting enough evaluation to prove out the models. Social enterprises will be successful, especially if they continue to be mission-driven and continue producing quality products and services that are as good as commercial entities, but at a better price point and with social impact embedded. I’m very bullish on social enterprise growing over the next decade.

Sometimes we look for sweeteners, and I think the Olympics in Brisbane in 2032 could be a replicable milestone, much like what happened in Paris.

From your experience, what have you observed as some of the most important traits of a social entrepreneur? What have you witnessed in those you’ve worked alongside?

I love chatting to folks running social enterprises. They have vision, grit, and all the other qualities I admire in people and why I love working in this sector. What always makes me a sucker for social entrepreneurs is they have good hearts.

Social entrepreneurs know the importance of being in community and serving community, and that’s refreshing. I definitely encourage anyone, whether you’re a funder or an elected official, to do some site visits. Don’t just show up, get the photo, have a coffee, and leave saying, “this is a great concept.” Spend a good couple of hours there. Talk with the employees, talk with the team in the office out the back about what their future looks like, and you’ll get some interesting perspectives on where they see the sector heading.

The sector can grow, and it can obviously improve. Growth always brings teething problems when you’re establishing a new economic model or approach. But go and listen to these folks. They’re salt of the earth, and they’re really going to fuel a lot of the work forward. Show them curiosity and respect.

What inspiring projects or initiatives have you come across recently creating a positive impact?

I get inspired by all sorts of things, even walking between meetings, looking at buildings, and spotting quirky details in the rooftops is inspiring to me. Recently, at Brisbane City Hall, I saw the ibis nest they have with one of the keys to the city. Little things like that inspire me, but it’s not just about projects; I’m inspired by the brilliance of people.

If I were to drill down to a project or movement, I’d say the Community Foundations of Australia are the ones to watch. Community foundations were where I started my career in philanthropy, and I believe giving in place and “give where you live” is the future of giving. Understanding how your local area works is going to improve civil discourse. Simply knowing your neighbours links to safety, vibrancy, and community wellbeing.

What excites me is that they’ve just been successful in a national campaign to get a new community charities designation in the tax code for deductible gift recipients. It’s a big mouthful, but what it means is that many more community foundations can now emerge.

They won’t be restricted by governance structures, so they’ll be able to take local donations, establish giving circles, and accept large bequests. In the past, they struggled to do this or had to be auspiced by other entities like the Australian Communities Foundation.

I’m really excited about this shift. Speaking with the Australian Communities Foundation’s CEO, Ian Bird, who comes from the Canadian Community Foundation Network and also chairs the international group, he’s completely changing the narrative. Ian is looking at Australia and identifying its lack of community-controlled capital. Without that, we aren’t doing enough funding in place, we’re not understanding the needs of local areas, and we’re falling back on harmful alternatives like pokies. That model has to change. It has to be good for the economy, the people we serve, and the environment. It all connects.

They’ve just launched the Field Catalyst Fund to seed more community foundations. Any foundation working with democracy or community-based initiatives has a natural partner in place through these community foundations.

By the end of my career (in 20 or 25 years), I’d love to see foundations across Australia with significant funds under management, supporting more social enterprises and more community groups. There’s always debate about whether we have too many charities, but ultimately the community decides that. Having community foundations as anchors across the country will be incredibly powerful. Sometimes innovation doesn’t need to be brand new, it just has to be new to you, and applied in a local context.

That’s why I think this is the movement to get on.

To finish off, what books or resources would you recommend to our listeners?

I’ll pick three that have really shaped my work, and they’re from across the past decade. I’m more of an Audible person, so for me to say I’ve read these cover to cover a couple of times says something!

The first one would be Whatever It Takes by Paul Tough. It’s about Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Children’s Zone. That project showed how poverty influences learning through a cradle-to-career approach, and it went on to inspire the Obama administration’s Promise Zones work. When I worked for Access Youth Academy, which was the not-for-profit I mentioned earlier, this book really resonated with me. It’s powerful stuff; they built a dynamic capital stack, all stemming from one man in Harlem who believed in his community and wanted to see young people there reach their potential.

The second book I’d recommend is Citizenville by Gavin Newsom. We all now know Newsom as the Governor of California and a potential future presidential candidate, but back when he was Lieutenant Governor, he wrote this book about civic engagement and civic tech for good. I found Citizenville fascinating because it explored how tools of the future could be applied locally, for example, rerouting garbage trucks to save time and money, putting dollars back into the public purse. It’s a great book, super easy to read, and it actually became the genesis for Future Philanthropy, which, as you know, I wrote a few years later.

The final one is The New Localism by Bruce Katz from the Brookings Institution. I believe in cities, and I believe in place-based work, and this book really fuelled that belief. It will change the way you approach your work. It lays out assumptions and examples in a clear blueprint for change. The case studies they use are absolutely fascinating. Hopefully, because Australia lacks a lot of formal case studies from educational institutions, this kind of case learning can help our towns, cities, and states become more dynamic and go through a much-needed modernisation process.