Establishment
The R E Ross Trust is a perpetual charitable Trust established in Victoria in 1970 by the will of the late Roy Everard Ross.
Mr Ross' will provides for five Trustees to administer the Trust. The Trustees are supported by the staff of the Trust and companies providing professional accounting, investment and legal services. The Trust's accounts are audited externally each year. A copy of the audited accounts are provided to the Attorney-General of Victoria, together with a report by the Trustees on their work during the year. Taxation Status
The Trust is an Income Tax Exempt Charity but is not a Deductible Gift Recipient. Assets
The original corpus of the Trust comprised the whole of the Estate of Mr Ross after the deduction of bequests, expenses and probate duties. The assets may not be distributed but must be managed to generate income for distribution. One of the Trust's assets which was part of the original corpus is Hillview Quarries Pty Ltd www.hvq.com.au. The quarry is located at Dromana and provides a significant proportion of the income of the Trust. Income and its distribution as grants
Since 2000, the Trust has on average made over $3 million in grants annually for charitable purposes. Grants are made in three main ways, through Collaborations, Programs and the Trust's unsolicited grants program where any organisation is able to apply to the Trust for a grant if the purpose fits the Trust's guidelines. Sixty percent of the grants the Trust makes are in response to unsolicited requests. The Trust receives between 150 - 200 applications each year of which an average of 65% are approved. The Ross Trust does not have minimum or maximum granting limits; however the majority of grants made are between $10,000 to $20,000 per year.
Mr Ross provided for the Trust to distribute its income to charities and for charitable purposes and while he expressed a number of wishes as to these purposes, he gave his Trustees the discretion to make all granting decisions.
Mr Ross' wishes were that his Trustees, "having regard to the circumstances prevailing from time to time give consideration to the desirability of the provision of funds for the education and maintenance of foreign students in Australia and for the acquisition preservation and maintenance of national or public parks and particularly the protection and preservation of flora and fauna".
The Trustees have granting policies and support projects which have regard to Mr Ross's wishes. Policies and projects are varied from time to time to respond to changing circumstances and thus enable the Trust's income to contribute effectively to public benefit.