Co-founder, Legaseek
Legal AI infrastructure for restricted capital.
When a college closes, merges or cuts programmes, its restricted gifts outlive the schools, departments and buildings they were made for. Legaseek builds the fund-by-fund record the people responsible need.
Early days, and not selling yet. I'm working with people who handle restricted gifts through closures, transfers and mergers.
What Legaseek produces
A record of every restricted gift, fund by fund.
Restricted gifts are made with a specific promise attached. Years later, the hard question is what exactly was promised, and where that record is now.
What each gift says
The wording of the restriction, and where that wording sits in the file.
What each named unit became
Schools, departments and buildings get renamed, merged and closed. The record follows each one.
Which documents are missing
The gaps in the file, listed, so nobody discovers them at the moment they matter.
Every line is cited to a document and page, or to a dated archival capture. We state the facts; the institution and its counsel make the decisions.
Who I'm talking to
People who handle restricted gifts when institutions change.
- General counsel
- Outside counsel
- Advancement services
- Gift administration
- Finance
We're starting with US colleges, universities and foundations. If that's your world, I'd value 20 minutes of your experience. I'd like to hear how your institution handles this today, with no pitch.
Why this problem
Law, software and philanthropy, in that order.
My first role in philanthropy was as a legal researcher for the University of Sydney's Advancement Services and Office of General Counsel.
I researched the law on wills, bequests and gifts, and helped shape how the University accepted them. Part of the work was looking at what happens to a gift's paperwork years after it was promised.
The legal training taught me to read complicated instruments and pay attention to exact wording. Software taught me to turn messy problems into systems. Legaseek is where they meet.
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2008 to 2009
University of Sydney
Philanthropy legal researcher for Advancement Services and the Office of General Counsel. Researched the statute and case law on wills, bequests and gifts, and drafted policies for how the University receives donations.
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2011
UCL Faculty of Laws
Master of Laws (LLM), International Law.
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2011 to now
3CK
Co-founder, CEO and CTO. I build the systems Australian charities use to receive, record and receipt gifts online, for organisations including Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, Sydney Children's Hospital Foundation and Cystic Fibrosis NSW.
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2013 to 2017
PeoplePledge
Co-founder, CEO and CTO of Australia's first medical crowdfunding platform. It processed $1M+ for families in medical crisis and won the Pride of Australia Medal.
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2017 to 2021
Fluent Forever
Founding engineering team at a US venture-backed language-learning company, from $0 to $2.5M ARR (Series A). Owned end-to-end test strategy across web, iOS and Android.
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Aug 2026 to now
Legaseek
Co-founder. Legal AI infrastructure for donor-restricted gifts and endowments, grown out of 3CK's work on how charities receive and record gifts.
Writing
Notes on gifts, records and donor intent.
What is cy-près?
Donor intent disputes can turn on records created decades ago. Why the original gift record matters when a department closes or a programme changes.
Read on LinkedIn → Third Sector AuWhat ANZ's Shout for Good closure teaches charities about donation-platform vendor risk
The quieter problem when a donation platform shuts down: the recurring donors whose gifts just stop arriving.
Read the article →3CK. I run Legaseek and 3CK with my co-founder, Phuong Nguyen. 3CK builds Donation Engines and websites for Australian charities.
Visit 3CKHandle restricted gifts? Let's talk.
I'd value 20 minutes of your experience: how your institution finds and reads the original gift record today, and where it gets hard.