Impact Investment

We are excited by the opportunities that impact investment presents for delivering financially sustainable social goods, and so we take pride in helping clients in the following areas:

Trustee Duties and Directors’ Duties

Anyone that is a trustee of a charitable foundation will need to consider their trustee duties when deciding to invest in an impact investment.

These duties include the duty to invest trust property, the duty to not speculate and a duty to exercise care and diligence, among others.

These duties do not prevent trustees from engaging in impact investments, but they need to be carefully considered and managed.

Directors often have similar and overlapping (but not identical) duties.  If a trustee is a corporate trustee, this can mean there are two layers of duties to consider.

We are able to help clients ensure that they are complying with their trustee and/or directors’ duties while engaging in impact investments.

Structuring Hybrid Arrangements

When Not-for-Profits engage in impact investments, they will sometimes do so through a hybrid structure.  That is – a group structure that includes a for-profit and a Not-for-Profit arm.

There are unique opportunities that can present themselves with this sort of arrangement.  There are also some specific legal issues that need to be considered, such as:

• Ensuring conflicts of interest and duties are well managed.
• In the case of a charity, ensuring that charitable status is not endangered by the sharing of resources on uncommercial terms or the growth of a non-charitable purpose.
• Ensuring that good intentions and actual practice match up to avoid any potential consumer protection law or fundraising law problems.

We can help clients navigate these and other issues to grow a successful venture.

Not-for-Profit Taxation Concessions

We can assist with:

• Advising on the stamp duty implications of a proposed transaction.
• Advising on taxation concession requirements and eligibility at Commonwealth, State and Local Government level.

Documenting Deals

We assist clients with drafting and reviewing the documents that are needed to bring impact investments to life.  These include trust deeds, company constitutions and other agreements.

Call us today on (03) 9629 9629.