The first 50 years

Women’s Property Initiatives $200,000 Impact investment loan to help at-risk women and their children to have access to more affordable and stable housing.

Save the Children Trust $90,000 children’s wellbeing initiative 

Uniting Victoria and Tasmania $75,000 Keeping women and children safe by responding to male perpetrators of family violence 

Mornington Peninsula Landcare Network $85,215 for the Dunns Creek Biolink

Mornington Peninsula No Limits Program $120,000 over three years for No Limits to Learning program to improve the oral language of pre-school children 

Odonata $200,000 to establish a safe haven for the reintroduction to Victoria of the Eastern Bettong and other priority endemic endangered species within the new Orana Farm Safe Haven 

Rosebud West Early Literacy Project $60,000 for Ready to Learn program

Colac Otway Conservation Ecology Centre $500,000 for Wildlife Wonders Impact investment

MacKillop Family Services, Overcoming Educational Disadvantage through Therapeutic Life Story Work - $120,000

July 2019 – New five-year strategy released with a refined focus on Educational Equity and Biodiversity Conservation

Refugee Legal, Refugee Legal Core Strengthening Project - $300,000

SNAICC - National Voice for our Children, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander early childhood education – a collaborative advocacy approach - $150,000

Stars Foundation $150,000 over three years to expand school-based mentoring and engagement program for First Nations young women in Victoria.

Victorian National Parks Association $223,000 over three years for ‘Protecting Victoria’s threatened habitats and species’ project

Colman Foundation $300,000 over three years for Our Place program addressing educational under-attainment in Frankston North area

Learning Guarantee Project $200,000 to help students in Western Port to transition from primary to secondary school.

Melbourne City Mission $500,000 impact investment for the Living Learning program, testing how an integrated mental health and flexible secondary school education model can stabilise mental health and support educational attainment for Victorian young people 

Nature Conservancy Australia $287,223 Bringing Back Victoria's Lost Reefs- Port Phillip

The Ross Trust formalises a 10-year place-based commitment to the Mornington Peninsula, building on $4.28 million granted to various project from 1971 – 2020 

Watertrust Australia Ltd– $1 million over five years made to establish of a National Independent water and catchment policy centre 

Westernport Secondary College $300,000 for MyTech program giving students access to technology

Good Beginnings Australia $268 182 Towards the early intervention programs in Gippsland

Human Rights Law Centre $100,000 building organisations capacity and recurrent funding for general operations 

Place-based work in Gippsland. The strategy focused on the areas of South Gippsland, La Trobe Valley and East Gippsland. Funding was prioritised to support, First Nations people, early years, education, mental health, capacity building and community development. The strategy was refined in 2014. 

Welshpool & District Advisory Group Inc $150,000 Towards providing employment pathways and training to strengthening community through social enterprise. 

Whitelion $75,000 employment of a mentor coordinator for the Northern Youth Justice mentoring program 

Youth Affairs Council of Victoria $75,000 youth mentoring accreditation initiative 

Baptcare $20,000 transitional supported accommodation for asylum seekers 

Community College Gippsland $50,000 Warragul Youth leadership and engagement program 

Conservation Ecology Centre $100,000 purchase of 21 acres of land at Cape Otway to revegetate, restore and improve habitat 

River Nile Learning Centre $70,000 capacity building to deliver educational service to young refugees 

Gift of the Hillview Bushland Reserve to the Cardinia Shire Council

Lakes Entrance Aboriginal Health Association $160,000 Towards Building organisational capacity in Aboriginal health and well-being.

The Smith Family $150,000 Towards the Gippsland Education Partnership Hub

Clontarf Academy $90,000 over three years to support school retention for Indigenous students

Museums Victoria towards Connecting community museums; a sustainable network for regional Victoria $150,000

Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Cooperative $11,530 seed collection and establishment of nursery populations of locally rare plant species 

Koorie Heritage Trust $90,000 new technology for a new era website and database upgrade 

Westjustice to provide youthlaw services at the Grange Hoppers Crossing $40,000

Willum Warrain $60,000 over two years to employ program co-ordinator to help keep culture strong in Mornington Peninsula’s Indigenous community

Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre $118,848 towards addressing gaps in provision to Horn of Africa men 

Child Wise $61,000 for family education strategy 

Foundation for Young Australians $621,000 towards equity and quality in public education 

Human Rights Law Centre $483,295 from 2007-29 primarily for organisational capacity. 

State Library Victoria $450,000 towards the Victorian Map series creating online cataloguing records 

Wettenhall Environmental Trust $740,000 from 2008-19 for small environmental grants to go towards flora and fauna conservation 

Operation Newstart, project worker to support students returning to school - $90,000

SANE Australia, reporting on people affected by mental illness - $30,000

STREAT, employment of disadvantaged young people at the STREAT social enterprise café - $25,000

Tomorrow Today Foundation $1 million from 2009-18 for the Education Benalla program over a decade

Victorian Association for the Care & Resettlement of Offenders VACRO, Children of Offenders support Program - $600,000

Brotherhood of St Laurence $36,693 towards refugee youth development program 

Hands on Learning $59,700 towards the HOL Diploma of Applied Learning and student wellbeing 

Justice Connect $40,131 towards the Aboriginal debt clinic 

Centre for Community Child Health $2.6 million in 14 grants from 2001-11 to carry out The Early Years project with Good Beginnings Australia.

Centre for Non-Violence Inc $1 million from 2001-13 for the ‘Solving the Jigsaw: Changing the Culture of Violence’, to work with the school community to change the culture of violence and build a culture of wellbeing.

Ganbina, Shepparton $1.9 million in 7 grants from 2001-18 to address Aboriginal economic employment and training issues

Marie Stopes International Australia $369,454 from 2001-07 for ‘making deadly sex safe’ – supporting the condom social marketing for Australian indigenous communities

Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal $1.6 million from 2002-19 for Small Grants for Rural Communities program

Mornington Peninsula Shire Council $150,000 towards the all-abilities playground

Trust for Nature $1 million in grants and interest repayments to help purchase Neds Corner, now the state's biggest privately held conservation property, and return it to its natural state after 153 years of pastoral enterprise

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre $1.9 million across 14 grants from 2003-2020

State Library of Victoria $900,000 between 2003 and 2011, for the R E Ross Trust Playwright Script Development Awards, with prizes of $30,000 each to Victorian-based playwrights for the development of scripts that have not been produced. 

Philanthropy Australia $241,000 in ongoing support to assist with sector capacity and advocacy. 

Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company towards organisational capacity / sustainability $300,000

SANE Australia production and distribution of a series of SANE Helpline research reports $75,000

State Library of Victoria $300,000 towards the Manuscript and Copyright collections project

The Centre for International Child Health (Royal Children’s Hospital and University of Melbourne) $1.933 million over 15 years for fellowship program for Pacific Island doctors and nurses working in child health, particularly in PNG, to help improve the quality and standards of child health. 

Birds Australia (now Bird Life Australia) Volume 4 Handbook of Birds $50,000

Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company $45,000 for workshops at Fairlea Women’s prison 

St John’s Homes for Boys and Girls $20,000 accommodation for homeless school children 

Birds Australia (now Bird Life Australia) $47,500 for the Peregrine Falcon project 

Boort District Hospital, towards the redevelopment of the nursing home - $10,000

Breakaway Camps, general support - $7,640

Jesuit Social Services, towards a mental health outreach worker - $10,000

Mt Evelyn Special Development School, towards hydrotherapy pool, $15,000

Southern Cross Homes, Springvale South Hostel - $10,000

West Gippsland Hospital, Hospital appeal - $11,959

Trust for Nature $25,000 for the Brolga Wetland and grasslands 

Union Theatre Development $20,000 towards theatre redevelopment costs 

Emergency relief $100,800 for four organisations for the gas crisis 

Kildonan Uniting Care $40,000 for the families and schools program

Rosebud Secondary College $50,000 for construction of two basketball courts

Trust for Nature $150,000 for vulnerable grassy ecosystems 

Life Saving Victoria $25,000 for education and training facility 

St Vincent’s Hospital maternal and child health skin education materials translated into multiple languages $40,000

Trust for Nature $127,900 to purchase 150 hectares of volcanic plains red soil 

Emergency relief Trust starts providing twice-yearly grants for emergency relief

The Salvation Army food bank appeal $115,000

Wesley Central Mission towards the community contact centre in the outer eastern suburbs $50,000

Australian Red Cross the rural recession plan $50,000

The establishment of the Jean Hailes Menopause Foundation $50,000

Victorian Conservation Trust $100,000 for the Towerhill Road National Park development linking the public park at Arthur’s Seat.

Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare $22,150 for adolescent services project

Mission for St James & St John $23,000 emergency accommodation for young children in crisis 

Mornington Peninsula Hospital $23,000 to extend cardiology services 

Frankston Arts Centre $250,000 over five years towards the Cultural Centre to be part of the new Frankston Arts Centre 

Mornington Peninsula Hospital $25,000 for building appeal 

Royal Botanic Gardens $100,000 towards purchase of land at Cranbourne 

Royal Botanic Gardens $50,000 for inventory of fresh water algae

Southern Peninsula Community Care $25,000 towards the purchase of a building to centralise community operations 

Caulfield Hospital Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit $120,000 to purchase a Holter Monitor to evaluate heart rate and rhythm for analysis and rehabilitation treatment 

Monash University – Centre for Early Human Development $19,000 towards the purchase of an Ultracentrifuge 

Prince Henry’s Hospital $27,000 towards the purchase of a Beckman Ultracentrifuge 

Zoological Board of Victoria $99,000 towards the purchase of land to form part of Healesville Sanctuary 

Mornington Peninsula Shire Council $100,000 towards the construction of an Interpretive Centre at The Briars historic farm Mount Martha 

R.E. Ross Trust Fellowship Program established bringing trade teachers and trainers from Pacific Island countries and for four years from East Timor to Victoria

Ross House opened The Ross Trust helps purchase and refurbish Ross House, providing a ‘home’ for smaller charitable organisations to co-locate and share administrative support

Victorian Conservation Trust $80,000 towards the purchase of land to form part of the Otway National Park 

Baker Medical Research Institute $100,000 towards the purchase of equipment for the heart risk reduction clinic 

Caulfield Hospital $40,000 towards the purchase of equipment for the Cardiac rehabilitation unit 

Mercy Hospice Care towards the extension of the hospice services $50,000

Child & Family Care Network towards the building of a Youth development centre at Glen Waverley $100,000

The Anglican Mission to the Streets & Lanes of Melbourne towards the cost of new premises $100,000

The Bionic Ear Institute $300,000 for the construction and development of laboratories at the Royal Eye and Ear Hospital 

Australian Red Cross general support $50,000

Southern Peninsula Rescue Squad $100,000

Victorian Conservation Trust $39,000 towards the purchase of Lot 8 Tereddan Drive South Kilsyth 

Australian Conservation Foundation $300,000 towards the information and education centre at Wilsons Promontory National Park

Odyssey House general support $25,000

Victorian Conservation Trust $75,000 towards the purchase of Fisher’s Island adjacent to Churchill Island

Zoological Board of Victoria $100,000 to support the Sir Colin Mackenzie Fauna Park in Healesville 

Southern Peninsula Hospital Rosebud $50,000 building appeal 

Task Force $200,000 Youth Support for the purchase of a building to be used as a Centre for youth activities

Braille & Talking Book Library audio production unit $25,000

Victorian Conservation Trust $25,000 for the purchase of land adjoining the Clarkesdale Reserve to form part of the flora park now under development 

Epworth Medication Foundation equipment for the Cardiovascular stress monitoring, $17,755

Kildonan Uniting Care $75,000 purchase of property in Fitzroy/Collingwood to be used as a family group home

Australian Red Cross Society $50,000 general support 

The Richmond Fellowship of Victoria $35,000 towards the farm project at Apollo Bay 

The Royal Melbourne Hospital $100,000 purchase of an Analytical Fluorescent Flow Cytometer and Data Acquisition System

The Salvation Army $100,000 towards the construction of the Mary Anderson Emergency Lodge for women and children in crisis 

Victorian Conservation Trust $150,000 for the purchase of land for preservation in the Long Forest Mallee area 

Victorian Conservation Trust $9500 for the National Parks Service towards the purchase of Crown Allotment in the Parish of Anakie to form part of Brisbane Ranges National Park

Victorian Council of Social Service $10,000 towards establishing a volunteer resource centre 

The Ross Trust and Mornington Peninsula – Mornington & District Intellectually Handicapped Persons Welfare Association $2,000 towards building costs (1 June 1976) 

North Richmond Community Health, Towards employment of a Youth Worker - $12,000

Riddells Creek Kindergarten Centre, Building Fund - $5,000

Sunshine Christian Community Services, Emergency Relief - $5,000

Trust for Nature, Towards purchase Hammonds Land - $20,000

Victorian Council of Social Service $5000 towards general support 

Institute of Cultural Affairs Victoria towards Community Forums $7,500

Victorian Council of Social Service $5000 general support 

Buoyancy Foundation of Victoria, Towards general support drug counselling program - $5,000

CERES, General support - $5,000

Melbourne City Mission $30,000 towards Hospice Care Unit

Melbourne Citymission, Hospice care Unit - $30,000

The Uniting Church in Australia Victoria towards Harrison House boys’ hostel $60,000

The Victoria Conservation Trust $7000 to complete the purchase by the Warrnambool Nature Reserves “the Nirranda land”

Victorian Conservation Trust $18,000 towards the purchase of Donaldson’s land, Shire of Narracan 

Collaboration between Children’s Protection Society and Melbourne University towards the study of the impact of state welfare administration on neglected children $15,000 each year for two years.

First grant Brotherhood of St Laurence $12,000 towards family centre in Fitzroy (plus a further $45,000 in 1972)

Monash University $40,000 (over three years, $20k, $10k, $10k) for partnership with Papua New Guinea Institute of Technology to develop mathematics teaching programs for students from Papua New Guinea.

University of Melbourne $50,000 towards a Chair of Social Studies

Broadmeadows & Districts Vocational Rehabilitation towards workshops for people with a disability $30,000

Victorian Conservation Trust $16,000 for the National Parks Service to purchase Bridgewater’s land. 

Victorian Council of Social Service $5000 towards regional social planner 

The Cairnmillar Institute (Psychological and trauma counselling) towards an International Centre $14,000

Trust for Nature $30,000 First Ross Trust grant for land acquisition was for land to be included in the Mallacoota Inlet National Park and land to be included in the Brisbane Ranges National Park

Asthma Victoria $20,000 general support 

Ecumenical Migration Centre $8,000 the Clearing House on Migration Issues (CHOMI). CHOMI provided broad range of research and educational resources on immigration, ethnicity, government and community policies, discrimination and race relations.