THE MENTORING MEN FUTURES FUND
Help bring founding philanthropy and community micro-investment together: a donated foundation alongside small, regular investments that could support mentoring while people retain a financial stake.
Contact us ↗A concept to develop together · Seeking founding and investment partners
COMMUNITY MICRO-INVESTMENT
An opportunity for everyday Australians to support a cause they believe in, help men and build an investment of their own. That is the community opportunity we want to explore.
A founding donation would create MM’s investment base. Alongside it, people could pool small, regular investments — perhaps $10 a month — to help generate income for mentoring and potential returns for themselves. That amount is an example, not a proposed minimum.
Community investors would retain an interest in their money, with choices about receiving, reinvesting or gifting their income. Investors could request a withdrawal when they need their money, under notice, access and valuation terms still to be agreed. No notice period has been selected, and investment value and returns would not be guaranteed. The calculator’s 12-month withdrawal assumption is an illustration, not an established lock-up period.
A STRONGER INCOME BASE
Income that helps cover the full cost of mentorship gives MM more room to plan delivery, sustain the team behind it and focus on men who need support.
A $2 million donation for today’s operations would make an enormous difference. The Futures Fund asks how that same generosity could also build a lasting foundation, keeping capital invested so it can support mentoring year after year. We will continue seeking donations, sponsorships and grants to meet needs today, while exploring a fund designed to make a contribution now go further over time.
We want to establish a dependable recurring income base that eases the pressure of continually raising funds. The fund is unlikely to cover all of MM’s operating costs in its early years. Even an income stream equivalent to 10% of our annual revenue target would be a meaningful building block.
In the default illustration below, first-year funding to MM is about $158,000 — roughly 12% of our $1.3 million annual revenue target. That comparison uses the starting assumptions, not any changes you make in the calculator. It illustrates potential annual income, not secured revenue or guaranteed returns.
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PHASE ONE · INCOME THAT FUNDS MENTORSHIP
The aim is a professionally managed pool, with a clear link between available income and the mentoring it helps make possible.
Seek gifted founding capital and an independent investment management partner to manage the pool on the fund’s behalf, under agreed governance.
Model annual income, costs and reserves. Agree how much can responsibly be distributed, reviewing the budget against actual investment performance.
Agree a payment for each eligible, verified mentoring match, within the available distribution budget. Quarterly payments are one option to explore.
Track matches, the quality of support and participant outcomes alongside the fund’s performance. Use that evidence to refine the model.
A match would be a funding trigger, with its definition and verification agreed in advance. Understanding its impact also means following participants’ experience and outcomes over time.
DESIGNING THE SHARED FUND
Founding gifts and community investments play different roles. The structure would need to protect those ownership distinctions while creating an ongoing source of support for mentoring.
A founding philanthropist or group of partners could gift the seed capital and fund the specialist work needed to test a wider community model. MM would invest and own that donated foundation and all its returns. Retained earnings would stay in MM’s investment; distributions would fund mentoring.
First agree how much of the earnings remains invested and how much is distributed. Then explore an investor-selected split of community distributions between MM and the investor, with a minimum 3% share for MM in this model. Distributed earnings on gifted seed capital would go entirely to MM.
Explore whether investors could receive their income, leave it invested or choose to gift some or all of it to MM. Income they gift would no longer belong to them. Investors could request withdrawal of their remaining interest under agreed notice, access and valuation terms; those terms are still to be developed.
We want to test whether a continuing flow of investment could allow a greater share of earnings to support mentoring now, while sustaining the fund over time. New investments could expand the capital base and its future earning capacity.
The financial modelling would test that possibility against investor withdrawals, costs, reserves and periods of weaker returns or fewer contributions. Incoming investment would remain capital; payments to MM would follow an agreed, sustainable distribution policy.
A community investment would retain an investor interest, distinct from an irrevocable founding gift. The earnings split, reserves and withdrawal terms would need to be agreed before any offer. The personal illustration tests an alternative income-gifting route, not an extra contribution on top of the fund-wide split.
EXPLORING MM’S DGR STATUS
Could an investor keep their capital invested and choose to donate some or all of the income they become entitled to receive?
Part of this project is to establish how income gifted to MM could qualify as a tax-deductible donation, with appropriate donation receipts, subject to specialist tax and legal validation. The personal illustration explores income belonging to the investor first, with a chosen share then gifted to MM. This is a separate design question from the fund-wide sharing model above. An optional standing instruction could support this pattern of giving, with each qualifying new gift recorded and receipted while the investment generates income.
Income already donated would no longer belong to the investor and could not be reclaimed when they withdraw. Any remaining investment interest and undonated entitlements would be valued and dealt with under the fund’s terms.
We would seek specialist advice on income tax, gift eligibility and receipting, including how this option fits with the proposed sharing of returns.
PHASE TWO · ROOM TO GROW
The first priority is to establish an invested foundation that generates ongoing income for mentoring. A possible later role for that donated capital is worth discussing openly.
If the fund reaches an agreed size and can sustain its commitments, MM could explore using part of the original $2 million seed donation for a justified capital investment in a substantial project. This would concern MM’s donated foundation, not community investors’ capital.
That possibility would need to be negotiated and agreed with the founding donor. No threshold, amount or project has been agreed, and there would be no automatic trigger. The calculator models the income phase only; it does not draw on the seed for a later capital project.
Explore the service capacity we want to build ↗WHAT PARTNERS WOULD HELP RESOLVE
Find a professional investment partner and establish the appropriate structure, oversight, investment approach and reporting. Build the fund and donation management system with finance and investment partners, including separate ownership records, distribution choices and qualifying gift receipts. Test sustainable distributions after costs, alongside reserves and the long-term purchasing power of the fund.
Define eligible matches, payment amounts, verification and timing. Plan for lower-income years and agree how service quality and participant outcomes inform funding decisions.
Test whether a community investment route is viable, including investor protections, fees, tax treatment and liquidity. Resolve how withdrawals could work while sustaining the fund and its commitments.
Perpetuity is the design intention. Investment values and income can fall, and neither capital preservation nor on-demand withdrawals can be promised. Legal, tax and investment specialists would need to validate the structure before any offer. This is an invitation to develop the concept, not a live investment offer or a promise of returns or tax benefits.
LET’S BUILD THE MODEL
Talk to us about funding the design and feasibility work, becoming a founding philanthropic partner, or contributing professional investment and structuring expertise.