AI prospect research for Australian charities
An atlas of Australia's philanthropic funders.
PatronAtlas reads the public ACNC, ABR and ASIC registers with AI and writes you a ranked shortlist of Australian Private and Public Ancillary Funds that fit your cause, every match cited to its source record, in about 30 seconds. Free to use now. A Pro tier is planned.
Live preview, no signup. Describe your charity, get a ranked funder shortlist in about a minute. Or see a worked example.
$10.7B
Held in Australian Private Ancillary Funds (ATO 2022-23)
2,196
Private Ancillary Funds in Australia (ATO 2022-23)
2,688
PAFs and PuAFs profiled in PatronAtlas (ACNC + ABR verified)
What does PatronAtlas do?
PatronAtlas takes a description of your charity and returns a ranked shortlist of Private and Public Ancillary Funds whose ACNC charitable-purpose profile overlaps with your cause.
You type in what your charity does, where you operate, and what you need money for. The AI reads the ACNC-registered, ABR-verified ancillary funds and ranks them by overlap of cause, registered state, and size band. You get the fund name, a short fit reasoning, a link to the fund's public ACNC record, 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. Some Australian PAFs choose not to publish on the ACNC Charity Register. PatronAtlas only covers funds that are on it, so those unlisted funds are not included. Hand-curated prospect-research databases cover them, at an order of magnitude more cost.
What's the difference between free and Pro?
Free finds you the funders. Pro works the list with you. The free tool is the whole research instrument: describe your charity, get your matched DGR funders, the reasoning, the ACNC links, the draft emails. That does not expire and the matching does not get worse over time. It stays free, and it stays good.
Here is the part the free tool does not touch. You found the funders. Now you have to actually contact all of them, remember who you wrote to, work out when to follow up, and notice when a new fund shows up that fits. That loop is what eats the time you do not have, on top of the actual job of running the charity.
Pro is the direction we are building for that loop. It is not a finished feature list and it is not a launch-day promise. It is three possible shapes, and which one gets built first depends on which one would actually take work off your plate. So the labels below are the real question, not decoration.
A. Runs the loop
Pro keeps the list for you: who you have contacted, who owes you a reply, when to chase, and it re-runs the match on its own as new funds register. You work the outreach, it holds the admin.
B. Goes deeper
More detail on the public funds you already see in your results. Their recent grants, their giving statements, the trustees, the months they actually open for applications. Same funds, read more closely, so a first approach is less of a cold guess.
C. Tells you first
A weekly refresh, plus an alert the moment a fund that fits your cause registers, so you are early instead of finding out a year late.
One question, and it decides build order. Which of these, A, B, or C, would actually save you time in a normal week? Tell us. We are building the one that takes the most off real fundraisers first, so the answer changes what gets built, not just what gets noted. Use the free tool first, then tell us.
What does it cost?
The matching tool is free. A paid Pro tier is planned at an intended $290 per year; price and timing are not yet fixed and may change.
Pro
$290/yr
- Unlimited queries
- Save lists
- Export draft emails
- Email alerts for new funds in your cause area
Planned, not yet live. Price and timing are current intentions and may change. The matching tool is free to use today.
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
- Free now, low-cost Pro later, is the right scale for you, not an enterprise data contract
- 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 | Matching tool free now; Pro planned around A$290/yr (not yet live) | 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 | AI 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
- Matching tool free now; Pro planned around A$290/yr (not yet live)
- Eligibility
- Any DGR1 charity
- What it does
- AI-ranked PAF/PuAF shortlist with draft outreach email
- AI matching to your cause
- AI 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.
What's the difference between free and Pro?
Free finds you the funders. Pro works the list with you. The free tool is the complete research instrument: describe your charity and get matched DGR funders, the reasoning, ACNC source links, and draft outreach emails, with no expiry and no degradation. Pro is being built for the ongoing outreach loop: tracking who you have contacted, follow-up timing, and surfacing newly registered funds.
Where does PatronAtlas get its data?
Public Australian registers. The ACNC Charity Register for charitable-purpose, state and size data, cross-referenced on ABN against the Australian Business Register to verify DGR Item 2 (ancillary fund) endorsement. We do not scrape subscription databases. We do not broker introductions.
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?
The AI ranks each fund by how well its ACNC charitable-purpose tags, registered state, and size band overlap your charity's cause, region, and ask. It does not have funds' grant history, amounts, or application processes, and it does not invent them. Treat the shortlist as a starting point to verify, not a prediction of success. Every match links to the fund's public ACNC record so you can check it before you reach out. We are upfront about AI error: verify each one against the source.
Join the waitlist
The matching tool is free to use now. Join the waitlist to hear when the paid Pro tier (ongoing outreach workflow) is ready, and to help shape what it does.