Wicking Trust Delivers $8M in Grants
25 January 2017 at 1:06 pm
The University of Tasmania, the National Ageing Research Institute and The GroundSwell Project are the beneficiaries of major grants from one of Australia’s largest funders, The Wicking Trust.
The grants, totalling more than $8 million in discretionary distributions, are in addition to ongoing funding commitments to Vision Australia and the O’Brien Foundation (formerly the Microsurgery Foundation), as part of the legacy wishes of founders, businessman John Wicking and his wife Janet.
The trust, which is managed by Equity Trustees, supports organisations working in the areas of wellness and the quality of life of the aged and those with, or at risk of, Alzheimer’s disease.
John and Janet Wicking
The Wickings were notable philanthropists and benefactors during their lifetime, particularly in the areas of the arts, microsurgery and vision impairment.
“The Wickings spent their lives in a true partnership that was marked by generosity and compassion,” the general manager of philanthropy and not-for-profit services at Equity Trustees, Tabitha Lovett, said.
“They live on through the legacy of the trust, which continues their commitment to improving the wellness and quality of life of older people and people with Alzheimer’s disease in Australia.”
2017 Wicking Trust major grants:
- University of Tasmania: Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre ($3.72 million over five years). The five year commitment will enable the expansion and reach of its dementia training offering via its Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).It aims to reach more than 400,000 Australians and 1 million people globally over five years. This grant extends the trust’s support of the centre to almost $8 million over 14 years.
- National Ageing Research Institute: Melbourne Ageing Research Collaboration: Improving the Lives of Older People ($3.18 million over five years). This initiative brings together a cross-sector consortium to propel theory into practice, supporting initiatives around older people living independently and, at the end of life, experiencing a good death.
- The GroundSwell Project: Building Death Literacy: New Conversations, Innovative Practices ($390,000 over three years). This grant provides seed funding for a project which supports this emerging world leader in the field to develop and pilot a national death literacy benchmark tool and conduct the first national survey of death literacy in Australia.
In addition, the Wicking Trust has engaged The Australian Centre for Social Innovation to support the Groundswell project by investigating what is needed to build “death literacy” in the Australian community as the basis for better end of life experiences.
Click here to learn more about The Wicking Trust grants.
