Turning five bucks into millions

As the name suggests, budding philanthropists need only pledge five dollars a week to join the Five Bucks movement.

That money is funnelled into three areas of philanthropic focus: climate, living standards and education. Five Bucks has the backing of the Australian Communities Foundation, which lists Five Bucks as a “named fund”, enabling donors to claim a tax deduction.

Founder Brianna Kerr, who is running her operation from Our Community House in North Melbourne, is starting small, but has high hopes for the fund.

“If one million Australians chipped in five dollars a week, we’d raise $260 million a year.”

Five Bucks has not been heavily promoted, but in just three months more than 200 people have joined. Its next goal is to reach 500 “Buckeroos” or supporters, a relatively modest target that would raise $100,000 by June 2025.

“I think it could be something that kicks people into action who haven’t been giving in the past,” Kerr said.

The concept has attracted the attention of Charities Minister Andrew Leigh.

Kerr said she was shocked to be namechecked by Minister Andrew Leigh in a keynote address at the recent Philanthropy Australia conference.

Dr Leigh was outlining the federal government’s agenda to double giving by 2030, and in front of 1000 leading philanthropists declared, “The status quo tends to suit established players. But if we’re going to double giving, we need to find ways to boost new types of giving, and support organisations and practices that aren’t currently mainstream.”

The example he chose was Five Bucks.

Leigh described Kerr’s effort with Five Bucks as “one young Australian’s invitation to her generation to join a community of givers”.

“It provides a light-touch gateway for a future generation of impact-driven donors. Five Bucks was established as a named fund under the umbrella of the Australian Communities Foundation. We need more organisations playing this kind of accelerator role to back innovation. We need to try new things to find out what works.”

Soon after that endorsement, Kerr met the minister personally, and they spoke at length about community building and the decline of giving.

“We just talked about kind of the fracturing of society and community, and that one of the reasons that giving in Australia has been declining is because we're living these hyper-individualised lives, we don't gather like we used to. And that has impacts that go beyond the monetary… [What] does it mean about our social cohesion, our responsibility to one another?”

It’s no accident that Kerr is targeting younger givers in their mid-20s to mid-30s, a cohort of donors who feel locked out of traditional philanthropy.

A survey Kerr conducted in June found that more than 80% of that group wanted to give more and could give more but were held back by financial constraints (65%), alongside cynicism and distrust (57%) about big philanthropy.

The opportunity to give at a much lower entry point has been a game changer for many.

That’s the evidence from social media posts, mostly from new participants.

Asked about the “secret sauce” driving her campaign, Kerr said she believed building a community was the key, more than the lively chat about Five Bucks on social media, or her new podcast explainer.

"I don't have a background in campaigning, but something that's been a thread through much of my work is relational: community building and connecting with people.”

“While I'm not a campaigner, I'm a community builder and maybe there's some overlap between the two.”

“When we talk about young people, many point to technology as the solution to all their problems. In charity, for example, we often hear, 'Let's just build an app for young people, and they’ll engage or donate.' But we know that doesn’t work. Five Bucks is trying to take a different approach – one that's focused on community building. We're working to get people to connect, come together, and feel part of something bigger than themselves.”

She said young people want “to hang out with their mates, talk about what matters to them, and come together around common causes”, prompting her to host Five Bucks parties in Melbourne and Sydney to encourage greater involvement.

Kerr believes that connection is a great foundation for giving big.

“Someone said to me the other day, ‘Imagination is infinite. Execution is limiting.’ So why can we not imagine that a million Aussies would give $5 once a week?”

“You're better off having that big hairy audacious goal and be moving towards that and trying to make moves to get closer to it than setting your scope too small.”

Either way, Five Bucks is well on the way to becoming a new force in philanthropy.