The Financial Planning Association of Australia’s (FPA) Future2 Foundation will now include the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) Association participants, as board director Sarah Abood steps down.
Members of these associations could now nominate their local community for the “make the difference” grants program, which would open in August. Moreover, they could participate in fundraising activities that impacted locally, on an Australia-wide basis.
Where previously, the focus was solely on young Australians, the foundation would also now include all Australians experiencing social, financial or physical hardship.
“We have been working with FPA members since 2007 to identify and support grassroots, community programs around Australia, helping those experiencing hardship,” said Julie Berry, chair of Future2.
She added that they would continue their partnership with the FPA through the new association, the Financial Advice Association of Australia, once the merger of the FPA and AFA was completed.
It was also announced that the FPA’s chief executive Sarah Abood would step down from the Future2 board, alongside Julian Place and Mahjabeen Zaman, who were following suit. The foundation would look to appoint new board members shortly.
Berry continued: “It is really rewarding to see the funds raised at work, and exciting to think that we will now have more financial services professionals involved, with the opportunity to make a difference”.
Since its creation, the foundation has supported over 150 local community programs and distributed $1.6 million to those causes. In its 2022 funding round, $149,000 was awarded to 15 not-for-profit organisations.
