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Below is Chapter 3 of our ‘Private Ancillary Funds’ booklet. To read the other chapters of our booklet, click the links below:
- Chapter 1 – Giving back to the community
- Chapter 2 – Brief history
- Chapter 4 – What is a PAF?
- Chapter 5 – Who can be a trustee of the PAF?
- Chapter 6 – How are PAFs regulated?
- Chapter 7 – What are the reporting requirements for a PAF?
- Chapter 8 – Governance
- Chapter 9 – Winding up a PAF
- Chapter 10 – Common questions about PAFs
- Chapter 11 – Are they a good option for you?
- Chapter 12 – Overview of a PAF
An overview of Ancillary Funds
An Ancillary Fund is a special type of trust that has the sole purpose of providing benefits to registered charities. The Fund itself does not undertake charitable work, but rather can be used as a collection point to pool donations and then distribute them to charities and causes, at the discretion of the trustee.
An Ancillary Fund can be:
- Public; or
- Private.
The main difference between these two types of Ancillary Funds is how they source income. A Public Ancillary Fund (a PubAF) must only source its funding from the public. Whereas a Private Ancillary Fund (a PAF) cannot solicit donations from the public; rather, there must be a close relationship between those that establish the fund and those that donate to it. Donors do not need to be related, but they usually share some form of common interest or close relationship.
The focus of this guide is PAFs.
The information contained in this post is current at the date of editing – 1 April 2026.