Since I last wrote, there have been some comings and goings here at the Foundation. Professor Sir Edward Byrne resigned from The Ian Potter Foundation's Board of Governors effective 30 June 2024, as he has taken up the position of President of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.

The Foundation’s Governors and staff thank Professor Byrne for sharing his experience as a leading neuroscientist and clinician and as a highly regarded administrator of higher education and research institutions in Australia and internationally. In addition, his broad interest in the arts allowed him to provide unique and thoughtful insights into our grantmaking in this area.

We have also had a few changes in the management team since our last newsletter in April. Our Public Health and Medical Research Program Manager, Lauren Monaghan has recently joined Diabetes Victoria as Manager of Policy, Strategy and Research.

Likewise, our Communications & Engagement Coordinator, Nina Beer, left us in May to take up an exciting new career opportunity. We welcomed Bianca Suparto in July to take on this role, providing communications support for The Ian Potter Cultural Trust and The George Alexander Foundation (managed by The Ian Potter Foundation).

On behalf of the team, I thank Lauren and Nina for their contributions over the past 5-7 years. We will miss them but are excited for them as they take the next step in their careers.

More recently, I was delighted to assist one of our grant partners, Benefolk Foundation, in launching a new service designed for the social sector. Expert Bar, along with Benefolk's Community Well resources, addresses the lack of support available to social sector leaders, especially emerging CEOs, and the significant gap in accessible, prompt, and affordable support in bite-sized conversations and consultations. Often, CEOs just need 45-90 minutes with a subject matter specialist to get time-critical advice, and Expert Bar makes this possible.

Many funders want to support their social sector partners in building capacity and capability, but the sheer number of organisations makes this difficult to do at scale. Our grant to Benefolk to assist in the development of Expert Bar and the Community Well translates to support for the wider social sector and multiplies the impact. I encourage all social sector leaders to familiarize themselves with Benefolk's resources and services.

This month, we completed our second funding round for 2024. The Foundation awarded just over $2 million to 16 organisations in Environment and Medical Research grants. More details on these grants can be found in our Grants Round-Up. We are currently finalising plans for our 2025 Funding Rounds and expect to share dates for open rounds in late October.