AI prospect research for Australian charities
An atlas of Australia's philanthropic funders.
The complete guide to Australian Private Ancillary Funds costs $2,699 a year. The data underneath comes from the public ACNC, ABR and ASIC registers, where it costs nothing. PatronAtlas reads that data with AI and writes you a shortlist of funders that fit your cause, in about 30 seconds, for $290 a year.
$10.7B
Held in Australian Private Ancillary Funds (ATO 2022-23)
2,196
Private Ancillary Funds in Australia (ATO 2022-23)
1,500+
Profiled in PatronAtlas from ACNC public registers
What does PatronAtlas do?
PatronAtlas takes a description of your charity and returns a ranked shortlist of Private and Public Ancillary Funds whose stated funding interests overlap with your cause.
You type in what your charity does, where you operate, and what you need money for. Claude reads the live ACNC charity register, finds the ancillary funds that have given to similar work, and ranks them by overlap. You get the fund name, a short fit reasoning, links to the public source documents, and a draft outreach email.
PatronAtlas does the boring research. The relationship work is still on you.
Key terms
- DGR1
- Deductible Gift Recipient, Item 1. The "doing DGR" status that lets your charity receive distributions from PAFs and PuAFs.
- DGR2
- Deductible Gift Recipient, Item 2. The "giving DGR" status that PAFs and PuAFs hold so they can distribute tax-effectively.
- PAF
- Private Ancillary Fund. A trust set up by a single family, individual, or business to make tax-effective philanthropic distributions.
- PuAF
- Public Ancillary Fund. The same idea, but open to public donations and run as a community giving structure.
Where does the data come from?
Every fund profile in PatronAtlas is built from Australian public registers. Nothing is scraped from competitor databases. Nothing is paywalled.
Honesty note. About a third of Australian PAFs choose not to publish on the ACNC Charity Register. PatronAtlas does not currently include those. If your charity needs the dark third too, hand-curated prospect-research databases cover them at an order of magnitude more cost.
What does it cost?
PatronAtlas has one tier. $290 per year, launching mid-2026.
Pro
$290/yr
- Unlimited queries
- Save lists
- Export draft emails
- Email alerts for new funds in your cause area
Launches mid-2026. First 25 buyers get the first year for $190.
Pro pays for itself the first time it points you at a funder you would not have found on your own. The maths only has to work once a year.
Built for the small DGR1
The charities most likely to get value from PatronAtlas don't have a prospect researcher on staff and don't have the budget for a four-figure database subscription.
PatronAtlas is for you if
- You're DGR1 endorsed and looking for trust and foundation income
- Your prospect research is currently a Google search and an old spreadsheet
- $290 a year is the right order of magnitude for you, not $2,000+
- You want the AI to read the public data and write you a shortlist
PatronAtlas is not for you if
- You have a major-gifts team and need every PAF including the unlisted ones
- You need formal funder relationship history and CRM integrations
- You want a human researcher on call, not an AI
- You've already got prospect research nailed and don't need help
How does PatronAtlas compare to PafGUIDE, GEM Local, Giftsearch, and the Funding Centre?
Public-source check completed 10 May 2026. The comparison below reflects what each provider publishes on their pricing or product pages on that date. "Not advertised" means the feature was not described on the provider's public website when checked. PatronAtlas does not assert any competitor cannot deliver these features, only that they do not advertise them.
| Dimension | PatronAtlasby Waylight | PafGUIDEby AskRIGHT | GEM Localby Strategic Grants | Giftsearchby FR&C | Funding Centreby Our Community |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual price | A$290/yr Pro; early bird A$190 first year | A$2,699+GST single-user; A$3,799+GST multi-user (up to 6) | A$480 to A$990 ex-tax/yr, revenue-tiered | A$995+GST/yr for nonprofit organisations | A$150/yr NFP+School single-user; A$250/yr NFP+School multi-user; A$420/yr business single-user |
| Eligibility | Any DGR1 charity | Open subscription | Charities under A$1M annual revenue | Nonprofit organisations | NFPs+Schools at NFP rate; Business+Government at higher rate |
| What it does | AI-ranked PAF/PuAF shortlist with draft outreach email | Database of every PAF (per their copy), individually researched | Customised grants calendar covering councils, governments, philanthropic trusts including PAFs and PuAFs, corporate and community foundations | Database of 1.25M+ records of philanthropic gifts, sponsorships, and trustees | Grants database plus "Drafter" AI grant-writing assistant |
| AI matching to your cause | Claude reads ACNC + ranks by overlap | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | Drafter is grant-writing AI, different function |
| Coverage of unlisted PAFs | ACNC-visible only (honest tradeoff) | Per their copy, every PAF included | Not advertised | Different scope: gifts/sponsorships/trustees | Different scope: grants directory |
| Source data | ACNC + ABR + ASIC + ATO DGR list (public) | Hand-curated analyst research, "ongoing project since 2009" | Strategic Grants research team, daily updates per their copy | "Structured analysis of lawful public information" | Our Community grants research team |
PatronAtlas
by Waylight- Annual price
- A$290/yr Pro; early bird A$190 first year
- Eligibility
- Any DGR1 charity
- What it does
- AI-ranked PAF/PuAF shortlist with draft outreach email
- AI matching to your cause
- Claude reads ACNC + ranks by overlap
- Coverage of unlisted PAFs
- ACNC-visible only (honest tradeoff)
- Source data
- ACNC + ABR + ASIC + ATO DGR list (public)
PafGUIDE
by AskRIGHT- Annual price
- A$2,699+GST single-user; A$3,799+GST multi-user (up to 6)
- Eligibility
- Open subscription
- What it does
- Database of every PAF (per their copy), individually researched
- AI matching to your cause
- Not advertised
- Coverage of unlisted PAFs
- Per their copy, every PAF included
- Source data
- Hand-curated analyst research, "ongoing project since 2009"
GEM Local
by Strategic Grants- Annual price
- A$480 to A$990 ex-tax/yr, revenue-tiered
- Eligibility
- Charities under A$1M annual revenue
- What it does
- Customised grants calendar covering councils, governments, philanthropic trusts including PAFs and PuAFs, corporate and community foundations
- AI matching to your cause
- Not advertised
- Coverage of unlisted PAFs
- Not advertised
- Source data
- Strategic Grants research team, daily updates per their copy
Giftsearch
by FR&C- Annual price
- A$995+GST/yr for nonprofit organisations
- Eligibility
- Nonprofit organisations
- What it does
- Database of 1.25M+ records of philanthropic gifts, sponsorships, and trustees
- AI matching to your cause
- Not advertised
- Coverage of unlisted PAFs
- Different scope: gifts/sponsorships/trustees
- Source data
- "Structured analysis of lawful public information"
Funding Centre
by Our Community- Annual price
- A$150/yr NFP+School single-user; A$250/yr NFP+School multi-user; A$420/yr business single-user
- Eligibility
- NFPs+Schools at NFP rate; Business+Government at higher rate
- What it does
- Grants database plus "Drafter" AI grant-writing assistant
- AI matching to your cause
- Drafter is grant-writing AI, different function
- Coverage of unlisted PAFs
- Different scope: grants directory
- Source data
- Our Community grants research team
Swipe sideways to compare across 5 providers.
Sources: PafGUIDE pricing (AskRIGHT); GEM Local (Strategic Grants); FR&C Giftsearch FAQs; Funding Centre membership (Our Community).
PatronAtlas is the cheap, AI-driven, ACNC-visible-only option. The deeper databases above charge more and have wider coverage. We update this section if pricing or feature pages change.
Common questions about PAFs and PuAFs
What is a Private Ancillary Fund?
A Private Ancillary Fund is a charitable trust set up by a single family, individual, or business under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Subdivision 30-B) and the PAF Guidelines 2009. It holds DGR Item 2 endorsement, which lets it distribute tax-effectively to DGR Item 1 charities. Each PAF must distribute at least 5% of its net assets every year. Around 2,200 PAFs are registered in Australia, holding billions in assets together.
How is PatronAtlas different from existing prospect-research tools?
Premium prospect-research databases in Australia have been running since the late 2000s. They employ researchers who individually profile every PAF, including those that don't publish on the ACNC register, and they cost in the order of $2,000+ per seat per year. PatronAtlas is cheaper, narrower, and faster. We use AI to read the public ACNC-visible data and write you a fund-fit shortlist in about 30 seconds for $290 a year. The premium tools are the reference work. PatronAtlas is the daily tool.
Where does PatronAtlas get its data?
Four public Australian registers. The ACNC Charity Register, the Australian Business Register (DGR endorsement type), ASIC Connect (corporate trustee), and the ATO's official DGR list. We cross-reference these on ABN, then enrich each fund with whatever the most recent annual report and recent news say. No scraping of subscription databases. No broker shortcuts.
Does my charity need to be a DGR1 to use PatronAtlas?
You need DGR Item 1 endorsement to receive distributions from a PAF or PuAF. That's federal law, not a PatronAtlas rule. Check your status free at ABN Lookup. If you don't have DGR1 you can sometimes receive funding via an auspicing organisation that does (Creative Partnerships Australia for arts, FRRR for community, Schools Plus for education). You can still use the tool to research, but you'll need an auspicor in the loop before you can apply.
How accurate is the AI's fund matching?
Claude reads what the funds have publicly said about their own giving and matches that against your charity description. The matches are good when funds publish clear giving statements. They're weaker when funds publish nothing. Every recommendation includes the public source so you can verify before you reach out. PatronAtlas does not invent giving claims. If a fund's giving history isn't publicly documented, the AI says so. We are upfront about hallucination risk. That's why every claim has a source link.
Join the waitlist
Pro launches mid-2026. The first 25 buyers get the first year for $190 instead of $290. After that, $290 across the board.