The RE 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. The program was reviewed and expanded in 2004 and again in March 2008. In 2008, the Trust has committed $456,850 to the Program, to be shared by 17 organisations each year for the next three years.

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.

Following the Trustees' decision to commit $456,850 a year for the next three years towards Emergency Relief and Material Aid program, the Trust will not be accepting any unsolicited applications for the purposes of Emergency Relief and Material Aid in the 2008-2009 financial year, this decision will be reviewed on an annual basis.

back to top

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 decided to institute a Prospectus Development Grants Program to assist organisations to use the Framework to prepare a prospectus. Please consult the Ross Trust Guidelines which are downloadable from this site.

back to top

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.

back to top

The R E Ross Trust Playwrights' Script Development Awards Program - with the State Library of Victoria www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/literary/ross
The R E Ross Trust Playwright Script Development Awards 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 is also providing an additional grant of up to $3,000 annually for three years to enable a Ross Trust Awardee to attend the National Playwrights Conference held each year.

There have been two further extensions, funded by Ross Trust grants, now being presented under the title of "Flashpoint". Starting in 2006, the State Library of Victoria hosts an annual "Live at the Library" series of play readings and performances. Starting in May 2007, fortyfive downstairs, an art gallery in Melbourne's Flinders Lane, will hold the first "Live at fortyfive downstairs", a new series of free theatre readings, performances and conversations with previous winners of The R E Ross Trust Playwrights' Script Development Awards.

back to top

The R E Ross Trust Regional Fellowship Program: Paediatrics and Child Health Leadership in Papua New Guinea - with the Centre for Community Child Health and the Centre for International Child Health www.rch.org.au/cich
The Trust invited the Centre for Community Child Health, in collaboration with the Centre for International Child Health, to submit a proposal for establishing Fellowships in paediatric and child health leadership in the most vulnerable countries in the Pacific region. The two countries with the highest infant and child mortality rates were Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste. Due to language and other difficulties in Timor Leste and the existence of strong partnerships between the Centres and the University of Papua New Guinea, it was decided that the first Fellowships would be established for qualified and experienced professionals from Papua New Guinea.

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.

back to top

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 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 study period is normally between one and three months and the value of the scholarship in 2006 is $7,000.

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
Website: www.racp.edu.au

back to top