The ACF Celebrates
60 Years of Giving Back
to the Anglican Community and
Making Anglicans Financially Stronger
Ian Leverington, Executive Officer, Anglican Community Fund (Inc)
This year, the Anglican Community Fund, or the ACF as we are widely known, celebrates its 60th year of operation, and I wish to give thanks and acknowledge this important milestone.
The ACF was founded at the Anglican Diocese of Perth’s 1965 Synod when a resolution was passed to form the Anglican Loans Fund to be launched on 1 May 1966. The purpose of the Anglican Loans Fund was to ‘raise funds by way of interest -bearing-loans to enable the Diocese to carry out its work more effectively’. The ACF has undergone several name changes over its 60 years, being renamed in 1974 as the Anglican Deposit Fund, then incorporated in 1994 as the Anglican Deposit Fund (Inc), and subsequently changing to its current name, the Anglican Community Fund (Inc), in 2004.
What has not changed over the 60 years is the commitment and mission of the ACF to ‘Give Back to the Anglican Community’. As the first letter of St Peter reminds us, ‘Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received’ (1 Peter 4:10).
In 1994, the year of our incorporation, the annual distribution to the Diocese was $125,000 (approximately $275,000 in today’s money). At that time, the ACF had already been in existence for 28 years, so the distribution amount indicates that the ACF was quite a modest operation in those early years when compared to the distribution of $2.4m in 2025.
Since our formation, we have distributed a little over $37.0m. In the past 10 years, we have given back almost $11.5m, or almost one third of the total since formation, which shows the recent significant growth of the ACF. If the Synod of 1965 had not had the foresight to commence the ACF, this significant financial resource would have been lost to Anglicans.
While giving back is important, so is the stewardship of our customer funds lodged with the ACF.
Like all financial organisations, the ACF has navigated many economic cycles and challenging macro events. From the introduction of decimal currency in Australia in our year of formation, the floating of the Australian dollar and Financial deregulation in 1983/1984, the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the ACF has been able to successfully operate through these major events. This is evidence that a well governed and managed organisation, embracing Anglican values can not only survive but thrive over many decades.
The ACF takes its fiduciary duty to its customers to keep their funds safe as a core principle by governing its operations using the guidelines of a regulated Bank. In addition, we have been diligent in strengthening and growing our financial position. We currently have assets in excess of $450m and equity of $37m. Being a financially strong organisation ensures our future sustainability and the ongoing ability to achieve our mission.
While we are proud of our past achievements, we understand our success was and is only possible with the generous and loyal support of our valued customers who wish to support the Anglican mission by supporting us. We are privileged to have a wonderful group of customers and we strive to provide them with friendly and efficient service to make it easy to use our services.
I wish I were able to share names of long serving staff members from the past, their milestones and achievements but bankers are not great historians, so old records other than financial records are scarce. It will need to suffice that we acknowledge and give a big thank you to all of the Board Members and staff of the ACF who have contributed to this milestone.
While we will acknowledge and celebrate our anniversary year with activities, we always keep an eye on the future. To ensure that the ACF remains relevant and sustainable for many years to come, we are investing in replacing and upgrading our Core Banking System that will underpin our daily operations and provide an improved customer experience through the Online Services platform. The new Core Banking System will also provide the capability for future new and/or improved payment services to be introduced. We look forward to keeping you informed as the implementation of the new system progresses.
The ACF is truly thankful it has made a significant contribution to the Anglican Community over six decades, and we strive to do so for many years to come, committing our work to the Lord (Proverbs 16:3).