Atlassian Foundation backs climate impact fund

The Atlassian Foundation has committed US$1 million ($1.5m) to a new impact investing partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF) that will help catalyse more capital for Australian communities facing a changing climate.

The foundation will match capital invested through PRF's $60 million Impact First Fund.

The partnership will target charities and community organisations delivering social and environmental outcomes for Australian communities facing challenges arising from climate change.

It is also designed to attract additional funders and increase the pool of capital available for impact investments.

Atlassian Foundation director for operations Farzad Yazdanparast said the initiative could broaden both the scale and diversity of funders investing climate resilience.

"This partnership is a first of its kind in Australia, and it gives the Atlassian Foundation a way to support genuinely catalytic investments in climate resilience here at home," Yazdanparast said.

"We're really proud to be a founding partner and see enormous potential for this to scale and bring other funders in alongside us. We're hopeful this is the start of something big."

PRF director for investment and impact capital Ben Smith said the partnership was intended to help unlock capital for opportunities that can be difficult for conventional finance to support because they are early stage, complex, small or uncertain.

"Our aim is to support First Nations and community organisations operating at the intersection of climate and community and unlock more capital for their work," Smith said.

The allocation from PRF's Impact First Fund will form part of a dedicated investment portfolio focused on community and climate impact.

Smith said the partnership could also provide other funders with a pathway to develop their understanding and capability in impact investing.

"We hope that this provides a pathway for funders to explore the mechanisms of impact investing, enabling them to make informed choices about deploying impact investment and building their own impact investing capability," he said.

The initiative is modelled on the UK's Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Environmental Finance and Learning Fund.