Minderoo Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Minderoo Foundation is based in Western Australia. It makes grants primarily in its home region but supports select causes and organizations globally. Its international focus includes funding for the arts, cancer research, ocean cleanup, responsible technological advancement and ending human trafficking.
IP TAKE: This funder mainly supports organizations in Australia, but internationally, it has supported arts and culture, cancer research, marine and freshwater conservation, human rights and higher education. Its grantees tend to be NGOs or Australia-based organizations with global operations.
Minderoo is not an accessible funder, but it’s reasonably responsive, so contact them with general questions.
PROFILE: Andrew and Nicola Forrest established the Minderoo Foundation, formerly the Australian Children’s Trust, in 2001. Its name derives from the aboriginal word Minderoo, which means permanent and clean water. Based in Western Australia, the foundation aims to “achieve catalytic philanthropy driven by measurement, sustainability, collaboration and prevention” and believes that “by giving a hand up not a hand out,” its grants can “empower communities.” The foundation's current grantmaking initiatives are Building Community, Collaborate Against Cancer, Fire & Flood Resilience, Flourishing Oceans, Frontier Technology, Generation One, Science Research, Thrive by Five and Walk Free.
Four of Minderoo’s nine grantmaking programs focus exclusively on Australia, and some of these narrow their geographic focus even further. These include the foundation’s Fire & Flood Resilience, Generation One, Thrive by Five and Research programs. The foundation’s Building Community, Collaborate Against Cancer, Flourishing Oceans, Frontier Technology and Walk Free programs fund international organizations in the foundation’s areas of interest.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Minderoo supports international arts and culture projects through the Arts and Culture subprogram of its Building Community funding initiative. Grants aim to raise global awareness of Western Australia’s rich cultural heritage and artistic legacy. Past arts and culture grantees include The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Perth Symphony Orchestra, the Black Swan State Theatre Company and Fremantle Press.
Grants for Brain and Cell Research
Minderoo’s grants for brain and cell research stem from its Collaborate Against Cancer initiative, which works “across multiple sectors to accelerate cancer research and improve prevention, detection, and treatment by removing barriers and rewarding collaboration.” The program makes grants to a variety of Projects, some of which are exclusive to Australia. Others, including The Brain Cancer Project and the Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma project, have an international focus.
Grants for Marine and Freshwater
The foundation’s Flourishing Oceans initiative is “committed to ending overfishing; ending the dumping of plastic, heat and CO2 in [the] ocean; supporting the sustainable use of ocean resources; conserving key habitats; and facilitating world class research.” It also works to attract international scientists to Western Australia, build state-of-the-art facilities and “advocate for protecting areas critical to ocean recovery and work with international allies to conserve key habitats across the globe.” Past grantees include the University of Western Australia.
Grants for Higher Education
Minderoo funds higher education via its Frontier Technology program, which works “to advance education on the societal impact of new technologies and technological change, through providing grants and donations to leading universities,” and to “drive policy reform to ensure accountability in the tech ecosystem and protections from harm for the benefit of the public.” The program supports Future Says, a global initiative seeking to advance accountability in the development of new technologies.
Grants for Security and Human Rights
Minderoo’s Walk Free grants invest in organizations that help to ensure the freedom of every child and adult and those working to eliminate slavery and human trafficking worldwide. The foundation supports multiple international organizations, such as Freedom United and is one of the founding partners of the Freedom Fund, the world’s first private organizations dedicated to fighting modern day slavery. Minderoo is also the founder and primary supporter of walkfree.org, an international human rights group focused entirely on ending modern slavery.
Important Grant Details:
Because it is based in Australia and does most of its grantmaking there, it is difficult to ascertain how much of Minderoo’s philanthropy goes to international organizations. Its grants outside of Australia tend to go to large NGOs working in the foundation’s areas of interest. Several of Minderoo’s Australian grantees also have international operations and outreach. To learn more about a few of Minderoo’s grant partners, download its latest annual report.
This funder does not appear to accept unsolicited applications from organizations outside of Australia. General inquiries may be submitted to the foundation’s staff via email or telephone at 61 8 6460 4949.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
