The Ross Trust Programs have been designed and developed to achieve positive impact for the benefit of the public in areas of priority to the Trust.

Programs are developed in a number of ways but usually involve either commissioning work defined by specified outcomes from an individual organisation with special expertise or inviting a small number of organisations with expertise and interest to apply to undertake defined work.

The work is defined to achieve the positive impacts towards which the Trust aims to contribute. Programs continue for a minimum of three years.

Current Programs are described below:

THE R E ROSS TRUST EMERGENCY RELIEF AND MATERIAL AID PROGRAM - with various community services organisations
The RE Ross Trust established its Emergency Relief and Material Aid Program in 2001, to assist charitable organisations meet the immediate and basic needs of those most disadvantaged and vulnerable in Victoria. Since its establishment the program has been reviewed and expanded every three years, the most recent review was conducted in late 2010.

Organisations participating in the Program receive grants to provide direct financial assistance or material aid - food, travel, health related costs, housing, education expenses, clothing, toiletries, utilities vouchers and direct financial assistance - to individuals and families adversely affected by poverty and disadvantage. Individuals and families often face serious difficulties as a result of a one off or ongoing crisis such as drought or other natural disaster, job loss, homelessness, physical or mental health related problems, asylum seeker status or those experiencing ongoing financial hardship as a direct result of increases in housing and petrol costs.

In 2010, the Ross Trust made a commitment of $488,540 each year for three years, towards Emergency Relief and Material Aid, which is to be shared by 17 organisations.

The Ross Trust will not be accepting any new unsolicited applications during 2011-2013 for the purpose of Emergency Relief and Material Aid.

A full list of the Program's beneficiary organisations is below:

Anglicare
Towards emergency relief and material aid for clients in the northern metropolitan growth corridor

Asylum Seekers Resource Centre
Towards providing emergency relief and material aid for asylum seekers and refugees

Brotherhood of St Laurence
Towards the purchase and distribution of educational packs in inner Melbourne and rural Victoria

Council of Single Mothers and their Children
Towards assisting single parents in the central city and rural Victoria

Cranbourne Information & Support Service
Towards educational and recreational assistance for children

Emergency Accommodation and Support Enterprise Inc. - Loddon Mallee Accommodation Network (LOMA)
Towards education and recreation support for children who are experiencing homelessness

Eastern Emergency Relief Network
Towards assisting member agencies to access furniture and household goods for clients who may require assistance for basic living costs

Frankston Community Information and Support Centre
Towards assisting the most disadvantaged and vulnerable clients with direct aid in the Frankston area

Hanover
Towards clients who are homeless and at risk of homelessness

Hotham Mission - Asylum Seeker Project
Towards emergency relief and material aid for asylum seekers and refugees

MacKillop Family Services
Towards assisting clients and other agencies in the outer Western suburbs

Mornington Community & Support Centre Inc.
Towards assisting people living on the Mornington Peninsula and surrounding areas

Orbost Neighbourhood House
Towards emergency relief and material aid

St Mark's Community Centre
Towards emergency relief and material aid for people living in Fitzroy

Southern Peninsula Community Support & Information Centre Inc.
Towards assisting clients on the Mornington Peninsula

The Queen's Fund
Towards emergency relief and material aid to assist women and children

Western Port Community Support Centre
Towards people living in the Western Port area of the Mornington Peninsula

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PROSPECTUS DEVELOPMENT GRANTS PROGRAM
The Ross Trust acknowledges that most not-for-profit organisations must seek their funding from a diverse range of sources - government and philanthropic grants, commercial business sponsorships and donations from businesses and individuals. One of the aims of the Ross Trust is to help not-for-profit organisations improve their capacity to source the funds they need to meet high priority community needs.

In February 2008, the Trust launched a Prospectus Development Small Grants Program to assist organisations to use the Framework to prepare a prospectus.

See the Prospectus Development Guidelines and download the Prospectus Development application form for more information on the program.

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SMALL GRANTS FOR SMALL RURAL COMMUNITIES PROGRAM - with the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal and a number of other donors.
In 2002, The R E Ross Trust decided to join with the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal and a number of other funders to establish the Small Grants for Small Rural Communities Program. The purpose of this collaborative Program is to make small grants more accessible to communities in rural and remote Australia. It is designed not only to improve access to charitable grants for rural and regional communities but also to provide them with a simpler application process, to make better, targeted use of charitable funds and to enhance efficiency and effectiveness for philanthropic trusts and foundations who wish to support small communities.

Applications for grants must be made direct to the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal www.frrr.org.au.

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THE R E ROSS TRUST PLAYWRIGHTS' SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT AWARDS PROGRAM - with the State Library of Victoria and fortyfive downstairs www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/literary/ross
The R E Ross Trust Playwright Script Development Awards Program offer up to $30,000 in prize money to Victorian-based playwrights for the development of play scripts that have not been produced. The Awards are provided through a grant from the Ross Trust to the State Library of Victoria www.slv.vic.gov.au. The Library seeks, receives and arranges the judging of the applications for an Award and the announcement of and presentation to the winners.

The aim is to support the development of plays as works-in-progress. The prize money is available to fund workshops or support further work with a director, dramaturg, script editor and/or actor(s). The Trust also provides an additional grant of up to $3,000 to enable a Ross Trust Awardee to attend the National Playwrights Conference held each year.

Starting in 2006, the State Library of Victoria began hosting "Flashpoint", an annual series of play readings and performances. In May 2007, Fhlashpoint was extended to fortyfive downstairs, an art gallery in Melbourne's Flinders Lane, annually holds a series of free theatre readings, performances and conversations with previous winners of The R E Ross Trust Playwrights' Script Development Awards.

For more information on the R E Ross Trust Playwrights' Script Development Awards Program and Flashpoint Series see www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/literary/ross

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THE R E ROSS TRUST REGIONAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM: Paediatrics and Child Health Leadership in Papua New Guinea - with the Centre for International Child Health www.rch.org.au/cich
Since 2005, the Ross Trust has been funding the Centre for International Child Health to deliver a Fellowship program for qualified and experienced medical practitioners and nursers working in child health in Papua New Guinea. In 2008 the program was extended to the Solomon Islands.

The Fellowships involve the Fellows coming to the Centre in Melbourne for one or more short periods of study time and some visits by Centre staff to the Fellows in their work places in Papua New Guinea. The topics chosen for study by the Fellows will contribute substantially to knowledge on important health issues affecting children and mothers and are chosen from among the Papua New Guinea Government's nationally endorsed Child Health priority areas. Topics of particular relevance are the evaluation of affordable clinical, preventative or primary care interventions aimed at reducing newborn or child mortality and interventions aimed at improving the health of mothers, children or adolescents.

For more information on the program contact:
Trevor Duke
Centre for International Child Health
4th Floor Front Entry Building
Royal Children's Hospital
Flemington Road
Parkville Victoria 3052
Ph: 03 9345 4986
Email: trevor.duke@rch.org.au
Web: www.rch.org.au/cich/

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THE R E ROSS TRUST TRAVELLING SCHOLARSHIP AND THE R E ROSS TRUST TRAVELLING SCHOLARSHIP IN PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH - with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
In 1992 and 2000 the Ross Trust provided grants to the Royal Australasian College of Physicians to support a Travelling Scholarship each year targeting postgraduate medical students or medical practitioners from countries in Australia's Pacific region to undertake research or advanced study for one to three months at a hospital or university in Victoria, Australia.

In 2005, the Ross Trust asked the College to establish a second Travelling Scholarship aimed at improving paediatrics and child health in the Pacific region and Timor Leste. Countries include Fiji, Kiribati, Noumea, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, The Cook Islands, The Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. The Scholarship is designed to enable medical and health professionals to gain additional knowledge and experience relevant to issues of strategic and vital importance to child health services in the recipient's home country, thus contribution to the development of key health personnel and local capacities.

The Travelling Scholarship was reviewed in 2007 and the Trustees approved an extension of the RE Ross Trust Paediatric Child Health Travelling Scholarship for a further three years. The study period is normally between one and three months and the value of the scholarship is $12,000.

For selection criteria and application forms, please contact:
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians
Research and Education Foundation
145 Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Ph: 61 2 9256 9639, Fax: 61 2 9252 3310
Email: foundation@racp.edu.au
Web: www.racp.edu.au

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THE R E ROSS TRUST VICTORIAN SMALL RURAL GRANTS SCHEME - with the Normal Wettenhall Foundation www.nwf.org.au/
In 2008, The Ross Trust and the Norman Wettenhall Foundation joined together to create a new environmental grant program. The Norman Wettenhall Foundation is an environmental organisation whose objective is to support projects that enhance or maintain the vitality and diversity of the Australian natural living environment.

The R E Ross Trust Small Victorian Rural Grants, administered by the Norman Wettenhall Foundation, focuses primarily on the enhancement and protection of flora and fauna in rural Victorian communities. Grants are up to $10,000, but are usually $5,000.

Applications for grants must be made direct to the Norman Wettenhal Foundation. See www.nwf.org.au/grants/RE%20Ross%20Trust.html for information on closing dates and the program's funding guidelines.

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