Tech cohort deep dive — AFR Rich List 2025 × AFR Philanthropy 50 2026
AUSTRALIA'S
TECH WEALTH
& GIVING
TECH WEALTH
& GIVING
7 tech founders hold $82.9bn in combined wealth. Only 4 have an identified philanthropic foundation. Here's what the data says.
Tech cohort combined wealth
$0B
Total FY2025 giving by the tech cohort
$0M
0
Tech founders in the AFR Rich List top 50
0
With an identified philanthropic foundation
0.00%
Average giving rate across the whole tech cohort (incl. non-givers)
$0B
Wealth held by tech founders with no identified giving vehicle
The tech givers — ranked by % of wealth given
Name
Wealth rank
Wealth
FY2025 giving
% of wealth — cause area
Melanie Perkins & Cliff Obrecht
Canva Foundation
Canva#6
$14.14bn
$40.1m
0.28%
International aid & microfinance via GiveDirectly
Mike Cannon-Brookes
Boundless Earth
Atlassian#13
$12.81bn
$22.1m
0.17%
Environment, accelerating climate solutions at scale
Scott Farquhar
Skip Foundation
Atlassian#4
$21.42bn
$35.3m
0.16%
Equality of opportunity, health, environment, catalysing philanthropy
Cameron Adams
4am & Wedgetail Foundations
Canva#22
$6.98bn
$6.8m
0.10%
Environment
Tech wealth with no identified giving vehicle
Annie Cannon-Brookes
$12.18bn
Atlassian wealth · #12 on the Rich List
No separate foundation identified
No separate foundation identified
No foundation identified
Richard White
$10.59bn
WiseTech Global founder · #15 on the Rich List
$75m tech education pledge made in 2023 but no active foundation in Philanthropy 50
$75m tech education pledge made in 2023 but no active foundation in Philanthropy 50
Not in Philanthropy 50
Ed Craven
$4.82bn
Stake.com / crypto · #32 on the Rich List
Newest entrant; youngest tech billionaire on the list
Newest entrant; youngest tech billionaire on the list
No foundation identified
Atlassian vs Canva — which company's founders give more?
Atlassian founders giving
0.00%
$57.4m given from $46.4bn combined wealth (Farquhar + Mike Cannon-Brookes)
Note: Annie Cannon-Brookes ($12.18bn) has no identified foundation and is excluded from the giving calculation
Canva founders giving
0.00%
$46.9m given from $21.1bn combined wealth (Perkins & Obrecht + Adams)
Canva founders give at nearly double the rate of Atlassian founders — driven by Perkins & Obrecht's GiveDirectly commitment
Giving as % of wealth — tech cohort only
Canva-adjacent founders (green) outpace Atlassian-adjacent founders (blue) on giving rate. Annie Cannon-Brookes, Richard White, and Ed Craven are excluded (no identified foundation).
What the tech data tells us
Environment dominates
Three of the four tech givers focus on environment or climate — Boundless Earth (Cannon-Brookes), 4am & Wedgetail (Adams), and Skip Foundation (Farquhar, partly). This is a distinctly tech-founder cause cluster, absent from older wealth cohorts.
$27.6bn is sitting on the sidelines
Annie Cannon-Brookes, Richard White, and Ed Craven collectively hold $27.6bn with no active giving vehicle in the Philanthropy 50. That's more combined wealth than the four tech givers give from.
Canva beats Atlassian on generosity rate
Canva founders give at 0.22% of their wealth vs 0.12% for Atlassian founders — nearly double. Perkins & Obrecht's GiveDirectly commitment is the differentiator, directing the majority of their giving to direct cash transfers internationally.
The ceiling is enormous
If all 7 tech founders gave at just 1% of their wealth annually, that would be $829m per year — almost 8× what the cohort currently gives. At Andrew Forrest's 2.50% rate, it would be $2.07 billion.