Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation

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Name:	Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation
Type:	Private Foundation, Family Foundation
Established:	1962
Location:	New South Wales
Distribution:	Approximately $8 million
Chair:	Timothy Fairfax
CEO:	Sue-Anne Wallace
Website:	VFFF
Related:	Click here for a list of pages related to this organisation.

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History

The Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation was established as a charitable trust in New South Wales in 1962, through the generosity of the late Sir Vincent Fairfax, CMG. Vincent Fairfax (1909 - 1993) was a fourth generation Australian who served his country in war and peace. He began his life in rural Queensland, at Cambooya near Toowoomba, and never lost his links with rural life and the land.

In 1962, Vincent Fairfax became the first Fairfax in Australia to establish a family charitable trust, which would later become the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation. In a note to his family on Christmas Eve 1973, explaining his motivation for establishing the trust, Vincent Fairfax wrote: "This action was taken on the basis that my children are well provided for and, hopefully, in their turn will contribute further assets to this Family pot of gratitude for all the benefits we have received since landing in Australia in 1838."

Since 1962, the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation has distributed in excess of $65 million to non-profit organizations in Australia, particularly NSW, for public charitable purposes. The Foundation is governed by a board of family and non-family Directors and managed by a small team of professionals.

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Funding

The Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation distributes approximately $5 million annually, through a combination of responsive and initiated philanthropy. Currently, approximately 75% of the Foundation's annual distributions is expended via unsolicited applications. The remaining 25% is expended through initiated distributions, whereby the Foundation selects community partners for special, often substantial, distributions for particular projects of interest to VFFF Directors.

The current major concerns of the Foundation are Australia's future generations Children & Youth, the specific needs of communities beyond our major metropolitan centres (Rural & Regional), the relevance of the Christian faith for the spiritual health of the nation (Christianity) and the general wellbeing of Australians and the communities in which they live (Community).

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