We’ve heard a lot about warming oceans in the past couple of decades.  Even to me it always sounded so far off and technical.  To my mind a 2 degree jump in sea temperature was no big deal.  But that was before I saw what it meant.  That’s when it got personal, when it literally hit me where I live.

Here in WA in the summer of 2010-11, we had a serious marine heatwave.  One morning on the central west coast beachwalkers started seeing thousands and thousands of birds along the shoreline.  Birds as far as the eye could see. When they went down to investigate they saw the tideline covered with dead and dying abalone.  Thousands upon thousands of them.  The sea had suddenly gotten too hot for these molluscs.  So they climbed out of the water and off the limestone reefs to escape, only to find themselves, literally out of the frying pan and into the fire, roasting to death on the blinding white sand.  A mass stranding of abalone.  No one had ever seen the like before.

Just think of that – a creature so desperate to escape its own intolerable world it casts itself on a burning shore to die.  The pathos of it.  And think what it might mean for all those other creatures unseen and unnoticed beneath the sunlit surface.  That really got me.  It went deep and hard.  Partly because abalone has been such an important part of my family culture, my diet, my sense of the ocean’s teeming life.  Some of my happiest memories of childhood are about gathering abalone with my parents and siblings.  When I was a kid this shellfish was a staple, growing in such abundance I could fill a string bag with them in ten minutes before school.  We called it muttonfish.  In the 60s, I’m embarrassed to say, we baited our craypots with the stuff.  On our honeymoon my wife and I dived for them.  Abalone was our first meal as a married couple.  In time we showed our kids how to collect them and cook them, just as our parents had taught us.  Over the years we learnt to collect them more sustainably. We had our secret spots, colonies of the mollusc we collected from sparingly and seasonally.  But now, in our part of the world, the population is decimated and the fishery closed for the foreseeable future.

People talk about the boiling-frog moment.  Well, this was mine. Then last summer images started coming back from the Great Barrier Reef showing massive coral bleaching, and I have to confess I really struggled to accept the reality of it.  It wasn’t nearly as close to home, it’s true, but the implications were so much worse.  Not just for me and mine – for all of us.  And once enough time had passed for scientific surveys to show that 22% – near on a quarter of the world’s largest coral reef – was lost, it was pretty hard to pick yourself up and keep going.

Yes, we’d stopped the dumping of dredge spoil on the reef in 2015, a terrific outcome, and I was glad to have had a tiny part in that.  But this?  It was a massive blow, and it came at a time when the national government was undermining climate science and renewable energy, when it and the Queensland government were doing everything in their power to smooth the way for the world’s biggest coal mine, effectively subsidizing the world’s largest reservoir of carbon pollution in the Galilee Basin, just inland from the Reef.    The sick feeling I had watching this unfold – it really got its hooks into me.

But despair is not an option.  Neither is cynicism.  And what’s a nihilist but someone who has nothing and nobody at stake?  Who can afford that sort of cowardice?  Not me.  And not mine.

At moments like these it’s important to remember that we, ordinary citizens, have real power.  We need to remind each other of this.  When people have access to good clean information, when we share knowledge and spread the word, when we give what we can for the common good, when we get organized, we can do mighty things.  I know this because we’ve done it before.  The Franklin Blockade.  In the old-growth forests of WA.  James Price Point. I’ve seen it happen.  I’ve been there to see it unfold at Ningaloo and in the marine parks decision of 2012.  And in the face of mounting horrors these are the moments I steel myself with.

We are at a moment in history in which we’re fighting for the Great Barrier Reef’s very survival.  The reef is now fighting for its life.  The world’s largest living structure, the only one you can see from space, it looks so enormous and robust.  But it needs help.  Right now.  Our seas are warming and growing more acid.   And if a living structure as big as this is in trouble, then we’re all in jeopardy.

I realize that for many Australians, especially those in southern cities, any kind of coral reef seems like a distant reality.  People will still ask, ‘what’s this got to do with me?’

Well, the answer is pretty straightforward.  Our survival as humans depends on the health of the seas.  70% of the earth’s surface is ocean, and when the oceans die life on this planet is no longer viable.  Whether we realize it or not, we’re in a relationship here.  And for the most part during modernity, it’s been an abusive relationship.  Abuse has its roots in a fundamental lack of respect.  That’s a vital part of what we’re trying to turn around in our grand, global re-education project, this multigenerational existential re-framing that people unhelpfully call the ‘green movement’, or ‘environmentalism’.   It’s been about bringing some respect back to our relationship with nature, the world that makes our life possible.  To me that’s just humanism, enlightened self-interest, a change in attitude and stewardship that’s taken hold in my own lifetime and may yet save us from oblivion.

We have come such a long way in our thinking in such a short time. But the natural world is now changing faster than our adaptive response. As citizens, organizations, businesses, governments, we need to think and act faster, more consistently, more concertedly in our mutual long-term interests.  Because we’re getting close to the pointy end, here.  It’s a rescue mission now.  And not just a mission to spare coral.  Because if we can’t save the Barrier Reef we’ve sealed our own fate.  A planet that can’t sustain it’s greatest coral reef will eventually become a place that can’t support human life.  Yes, it’s a rescue mission, alight, but it’s us we’re saving, us and those who come after us.

We’ve been so lucky.  We’re unique creatures, sentient beings, with potent choices.  And a burning will to live and prosper.  A species of genius, with immense capacities and a record of remarkable achievement.  But perhaps our greatest gift is our moral sense.  We have an underlying belief in the common good. Yes, we know we’re lucky.  But we also know that what we do with our good fortune is what defines us.  As individuals, families, nations, as a species.  When it comes to global viability there are no disinterested bystanders – we all have a dog in this race.  Like the abalone, there’s nowhere else for us to go.

We’re at a turning point.  The decisions we make about the Carmichael coal mine will have an impact upon the reef, on our global atmosphere, on the state of our oceans.  When the histories are written about this era let’s hope to God they record the moments when we got it right.   This looks to be one of those moments.  None of us can afford to get this wrong.  Remember, we are creatures of the blue planet.  If we cook ourselves here at home the only other option is a burning beach.

Tim Winton

Robin has a background in finance and investment and is Chairman of Vintage Capital. He is a director and co-founder of Blackwall Property Group, a subsidiary of WOTSO, one of Australia’s largest operators of co-working spaces. Robin mentors at Incubate and manages a small portfolio of investments in technology companies. He qualified as Australia’s 7^th Master of Wine in 1997 and Glenguin is consistently rated in the top 5% of Australia’s wineries by quality. He paddles in the harbour and ocean, is a keen sailor, follows geopolitical events closely, and has been the Australian Ambassador for Singularity University of Mountain View, California, co-founded by Google and NASA.

Robin’s approach to environmental giving is similar to business investment – try to back the right people, nurture the talent and be patient.

How did you become interested in funding marine projects?

I spend a lot of time on the water and Rita has been picking up plastic at Clifton Gardens daily for 35 years. Also there are established areas of Sydney Harbour National Park all around the harbour and Sydney’s coastline, and yet between Port Stephens and Jervis Bay there is almost zero “no take” protection for our marine habitat. I connected with the Australian Marine Conservation Society in 2014 and looked at what they were doing and advocating for and decided to support their campaign for a Sydney Marine Park.

What is it about this issue that you would like others to better understand?

People say to me, “Robin, what are you on about, the harbour is much healthier than it was 30 years ago!” That highlights for me that people haven’t thought through this issue properly. 30 years ago there were open sewage outfalls off North Head, toxic industrial waste going into the Parramatta River, lead-based antifoul on boats, commercial fishing, little control over big industrial vessels, voiding tanks, ‘through the hull’ toilets on boats were also legal. All those things are gone now, so our harbour is no longer nearly as toxic as it was, but the authorities still tell us not to eat any fish caught west of the Harbour Bridge and to eat no more than 100 grams per week maximum of fish caught anywhere else in our harbour. So right here in our “Emerald City” we have the opportunity to set an example to all Australians and the world, and preserve and protect in perpetuity, by establishing some fully protected zones in and around Sydney’s waters. It seems obvious yet the only fully protected areas are 20 hectares in Cabbage Tree Bay (which has no enforcement) and a single hectare at Ship Rock in Port Hacking. This is less than 0.00001% of the close coastal waters stretching from Port Stephens all the way to Jervis Bay.

Are there any lessons learnt from funding this project?

It’s too early to tell but if business experience is a guide, ‘don’t quit’ seems appropriate at this stage. Oceans produce most of the oxygen in our atmosphere. A dead ocean would result in the end of life on earth as we know it. To me, protecting our oceans and marine life is the standout, pressing environmental issue of our time, but it’s also one of the most difficult. You can buy land and put a fence around it and if we could do that in the ocean, that’s what I’d do, because it’s more effective than advocacy, certainly in the short/medium time. And yes, I am worried that in a world focused on short term outcomes, this issue won’t be adequately addressed. But we should not give up.

Was there a lightbulb moment that changed your perspective about marine conservation?

In 2014 we were visiting Silicon Valley and had the fortune to spend a day with Tod Bensen who was the Chair of WildAid – the highly successful NGO devoted to stopping the illegal wildlife trade. Their motto is: “When the buying stops, the killing can too”. WildAid was catapulted onto the global stage when Tod and his team decided to target shark finning. I learnt a lot that day by listening to Tod.

When my grandson Alex was born nearly four years ago, it was a seminal moment. You think about your grandchildren in a different way than your children. With your own children, you are just getting on with getting through the day. But by the time your grandchild is born, you think, “How do I explain that on our watch, we the boomer generation, we had it all, had a 50 year incoming economic tide, took maximum advantage and didn’t even have to serve our country in war; so how come we left the planet in such a mess?”

What keeps you awake at night?

To me, the big issue of our time is getting through this bottleneck of maximum population and at the same time bringing an additional 2 to 2.5 billion people from poverty through to the middle class – people who want stuff in addition to water, food and shelter. We will probably reach a plateau of about 9.5 billion people and then it will fall away. You can’t stop that, it’s going to happen.

We think we’ve got demands on the environment now – wait till this happens. The issue is what kind of environment will be left in the 21^st century? The great biologist E.O Wilson who is arguably the father of evolutionary biology said, “How many species will make it through this bottleneck?” We will make it most likely. How many will make it through with us? How many totemic species? How many rhino and elephants, whales and fish? What kind of world will it be in 2100?

Robert May (an Australian scientist who has been President of the Royal Society and Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Govt) says we are destroying the book of life before we’re even reading it – we are losing species before we even discover them, often at a microbial level.

Superficially it is the most wonderful time for a child to be born (longest life expectancy, highest standard of living, lowest level of violence etc), and we have been the most fortunate generation on earth. All of these wonderful things, but it’s come at a price. What are we going to do as we go through this period? I want to be able to explain what we did on our watch. For me, this is the most important issue facing our generation.

Tell me about your property in the Hunter Valley?

When we bought the property 24 years ago it had been used for cattle grazing. Nothing denudes landscape like cattle and sheep who eat the emerging trees and bushes, spreading noxious fireweed and saltbush everywhere they go. Most of the property, including nearly 2km of riverfront, is now given over to the regeneration of native bush and we have thousands of trees where previously there were only 30 or so old ironbarks! We have resident kangaroos, wallabies, geese, native ducks, wombats and lizards not to mention the goannas, snakes and abundant birdlife. The area under vine represents less than 15% of the land, and vines are only planted on the gravel and ironstone slopes, plus a patch of sandy loam over red basalt at the bottom of the hill.

What is your favourite plant?
I have two – the baobab and the Spear Lily.

What is your favourite animal?
Again, I have two! The humpback whale and the leopard.

What is your favourite place?
Home.

Who has inspired you lately?
The team at Australian Marine Conservation Society and the team who managed Cassini which revealed never-before seen events which are changing our understanding of how planetary systems form and what conditions might lead to habitats for life.

Tell us a bit about your background and your current job at Koda?

I specialise in advising wealthy individuals, families, foundations and large non-profit organisations and have been an adviser for over 16 years. I love the variety in my role at Koda – the opportunity to help families develop a clear wealth strategy aligned to their needs and values and to help non-profits and foundations align their investment portfolios to their mission and helping them with governance and strategic issues. Koda’s success shows there is a clear gap in the market for this type of advice and the collaborative culture makes it a great place to work.

What are the key things that philanthropists come to you for help with?

Advice on how to get started or how to do things better – sometimes triggered by a liquidity event or a significant family event (death or divorce), sometimes simply by an awareness that their current adviser isn’t able to help on issues outside the traditional investment arena – things like philanthropy, family dynamics, next-gen involvement and tax planning.

How do these client relationships evolve?

Ultimately, we help clients develop a strategy to achieve maximum impact in the areas they care about.  Every family is different – for some this can lead to us facilitating really rich, impassioned conversations across the generations, bringing out values and issues that perhaps may not have been shared before.  These discussions can build greater understanding and respect amongst different family members and provide a stronger foundation for other conversations that need to be had around the family wealth.

What initiatives have inspired you most in the last year?

I have been really excited by initiatives that bring the sometimes very different worlds of investing and philanthropy together. Some examples include using water rights to achieve better environmental water flows in the Murray Darling, new environmental technology that provides cleaning and sanitisation with electrolysed water and a brilliant new engineering solution that coverts plastic waste into fuel at a commercial scale, saving landfill and emissions.

Is there anything that still surprises you about working with philanthropists?

I am often surprised and impressed at the many different ways that people approach their passions and interests. And once they start their journey, there is often a real fire- in-the-belly to learn more about an issue they want to tackle. When we have a boardroom full of inspired people to discuss a particular issue, the energy is palpable and there is genuine desire to learn from others and share experiences.

What are the qualities that you think philanthropists are looking for in an adviser?

A genuine commitment to philanthropy, knowledge and expertise, empathy and integrity and a personal and thoughtful approach.

Produced by the AEGN, the Guide includes a range divestment options and a step by step roadmap which will take you from mission alignment and policy development to implementation and reporting. The Guide also shows how to bring your key stakeholders along on the journey – whether they be your board, management, staff, investment committee, asset consultants, fund managers or advisers.

Read how early adopter foundations have delivered good returns by lowering their exposure to carbon risk, and discovered along the way that the process can be easier and less costly than anticipated.

The Guide includes:

• The argument for divestment and investment
• 25 example policy statements from institutions to illustrate the options available
• Two in-depth case studies
• A five step process to work through with your colleagues and stakeholders
• A literature review which distils the most essential and current research available
• A tiered list of Australian fossil fuel companies and their index weightings
• A list of international fossil fuel companies and their rankings
• A list of all foundations worldwide that have pledged to DivestInvest
• A list of all Australian organisations (including foundations) that have pledged to DivestInvest

The release of AEGN’s Guide coincides with the global announcement this week that pledges to DivestInvest have doubled in the last year.  This year’s figures revealed that 680 organisations with assets under management of over US$5trillion are now part of the movement. We believe that AEGN’s DivestInvest Philanthropy Guide is a valuable addition to the growing body of expertise in this area.

To place your order for a printed version please email Lou on lou@aegn.org.au or download below:

DivestInvest to print

DivestInvest to view online

“I’m a kid from Broken Hill. Some people looked at that arid country and didn’t see beauty, but I felt that beauty. Many years ago, I convinced my wife, Paula, who was living in New York, to come back to Australia – and I experienced the excitement of her seeing the Great Anabranch of the Darling River, for the first time.

“Thinking about the Darling Anabranch makes me sad now. We used to catch – literally – sugar bags of yabbies. And it wasn’t like we were eating too many! They were truly abundant. And now the Anabranch no longer gets water because of the over allocations on the Murray Darling system – it’s no longer a vibrant, natural part of the system.” Read full interview.

The migratory bird project – tell me why you are so passionate about it?

These birds fly all the way from South Australia to Siberia every year and back again. It’s about 10,000 kilometres over two weeks, with just one or two stopovers in China, Japan or Korea. The wetland that they return to each year in South Australia is their home – it’s where they breed, recuperate and start the cycle again. But now that wetland is earmarked for development of 2,500 homes. So we pooled our resources with other funders to purchase the land so that we can protect this incredible phenomenon. I knew nothing about all of this until last year when I visited a nature reserve on the Yangtze River. The guide said, “These birds have just come from Australia and they’re on their way to Siberia”. And that’s where it all began. Just imagine – we could lose these exceptional birds in our lifetime. By the way, we are still fundraising – may I ask the members if they’d like to contribute?!

What are the things in life that bring you the most satisfaction these days?

I love innovation with financial instruments, which is why I’m so interested in and involved with venture capital and social enterprise and impact investing. And the delight of six beautiful grandchildren.

Do you think there are similarities between private equity and philanthropy?

Yes, I do. Philanthropy is the risk capital for the social sector. Just like private equity is risk capital for new ventures. It feeds innovation. People say it’s only an average of 8% of total funding for non-profit projects, but it’s such an important 8% because it’s frequently the catalyst for change and innovation.

What is the future for your own Private Ancillary Fund?

We plan to spend the PAF down, probably in 10 or 15 years. We’ve been influenced a lot by Chuck Feeney’s notion of Giving While Living. David Thomas has had a similar epiphany. A lot of us talk about it now – it’s a very different model than it was ten years ago.

Describe an impact investment you’ve been involved with?

The Murray Darling Balanced Water Fund which had its initial close last December at AUS$27 million. This investment model is the first of its kind (anywhere) and it’s been enabled by the fact that Australia has the largest traded water markets in the world. But what is unique about this water fund is that it has a goal to deliver a balance of environmental, financial AND agricultural returns. The fund invests in permanent water rights. When water is scarce and agricultural demand is high, most water goes to agriculture. When water is abundant, and agricultural demand is low, more water is allocated to wetlands. It’s a bit of an irony that the best time to water wetlands is when it’s wet.  The fund has just completed its first release of water – 1,300 megalitres – to a wetland in Wentworth, NSW that has not received water since 1985!  That water helps to restore critical migratory bird, fish and frog habitats as well as important Indigenous cultural lands. It really is a win-win situation.

How would you explain the importance of biodiversity to someone at a BBQ?

I would talk about Jack Ma from China, founder of Alibaba (the world’s largest online retailer), becoming a conservationist.  He is now the biggest philanthropist in China and Chairman of The Nature Conservancy there. He says he is going to do all he can to get clean water in China because our health and lives rely on these things not being jeopardized.  And we know when it comes down to it that life on earth depends on clean air and clean water. Biodiversity plays such a crucial role in doing that. When they cut the forests in Kalimantan for palm oil, it led to such haze and hazardous conditions that our grandchildren had to leave Singapore. That’s an example of loss of biodiversity impacting human health.

What is one project that you have funded that made a big impact?

The savanna burning rollout across Northern Australia where we’re looking to reduce CO2 by six to seven million tonnes in a few years’ time.  That’s the kind of thing that is just dramatic. We also see it as being a significant creator of jobs for Indigenous people as rangers.

What do you wish other people could understand about that issue – from a practical or a philosophical perspective?

When you live in Southern Australia, we have fires, but we think of them as being unnatural. In Northern Australia, fires are a very natural part of the landscape with lightning strikes and managed burns. Over time, we have learned that Indigenous people use fire to manage the landscape. They use it for hunting. But they do it in a way where they burn small areas in a mosaic pattern and as a result they have avoided these catastrophic wildfires that now happen at the end of the dry season that cause so much damage to property and to flora and fauna. The other thing that hit me was that a few years ago, CO2 from fires amounted to 20% of all CO2 generated in Western Australia. So it’s that kind of thing I wish people might understand better – knowing the landscape, knowing the history of Indigenous people.

What is your favourite plant?

The Saw-tooth Banksia and watching the honeyeaters and wattlebirds feeding, it’s wonderful.

What is your favourite animal?

The kangaroo, how can you go past a kangaroo?  I love the way they move.

What book have you read lately that you really loved?

I’m not a great novel reader but I was just so moved by The Eye of the Sheep that won the Miles Franklin Award last year about a difficult subject – domestic violence and a child with learning disabilities. But you saw love and compassion just resonate throughout that wonderfully written book.

What was your favourite recent holiday destination?

The Maldives. It has these white sands and turquoise waters that are indescribably beautiful. But they have also had these devastations of their coral reefs from tsunami. What I was so taken by was that the children are now actually rebuilding the reef structures and when people come to stay at the resort, they invite them to make a contribution and you get a little video each year to see how the new reef is growing. And five years on you see a reef that’s filled with coral and with 50 or more species of fish!

If could write a book, what would it be about?

Problem solving!

“Often philanthropists are the ultimate entrepreneurs. They start out with an idea and limited resources – relative to the problem they are trying to solve – and then build something amazing from that.”

You’re passionate about philanthropy and wealth advice – what was your light bulb moment?

About 5 years ago I was speaking with a client about what was important to him and he said it was his not for profit work. He seemed curious (and really pleased) that I was interested.  He completely lit up when he talked about it and also told me about his philanthropy in the same area. From that moment on I realised that talking to clients about what is important in their world is not only interesting, it’s a real opportunity to deepen your engagement with them.

How do you know when it’s right to start a conversation about philanthropy?

I often approach it from a hypothetical perspective – “If you had more time, what sorts of things would you like to do more of?” Clients often talk of travelling to remote or wild areas – like Antarctica or the Kimberley, which tells me they are probably passionate about the environment. Or if they want to visit the developing world, we often discuss the causes associated with that.  Others will say they want to spend more quality time with their family – and family togetherness and cohesion is so often a catalyst for setting up a family foundation.

Name one philanthropy project that a client has funded that brought them great satisfaction?

I remember speaking with a client who had committed significant contributions to The Hunger Project to fund a clinic in Ghana designed to help local communities become self-sustaining. My client had been in the corporate world for many years, but when he told me about visiting the project and seeing what they had achieved, it was immediately clear that in his mind it was one of the best investments he had ever made.

For advisers wanting to help their clients with philanthropy, what advice you would give? 

First, don’t be afraid to ask! My experience is that you are rarely going to harm a relationship by asking clients what causes are most important to them and their family and if they have ever considered a more structured approach to how they support those causes.

Second – remember that everyone has something to give. I don’t (yet) have the capital to give that some of my clients do, and between full-time work, two young kids and an MBA – I don’t have nearly as much time to give as I’d like to. However, what I do have is a great network of clients and colleagues. I am passionate about engaging with that network, using my platform to help get a message out, to try and facilitate greater involvement around philanthropy and make a difference that way.

If you could invent one technology, what problem would it solve?

I’d love to invent a “spend a day in their shoes” machine. All too often technology has definitely made the world more relatable and accessible, all too often entrenched perspectives and opinions hold back our fundamental human empathy – which is the one vital skill we need to resolve many of the world’s issues.

Do you think you’ll use your MBA to further your interest in philanthropy?

I have been exploring the idea of doing a placement with the Jawun project that Westpac supports. Jawun’s goal is to draw on skills from corporate Australia to build capacity in Indigenous-led projects. If possible, I would love to build that placement into my MBA as an elective unit!

We took a closer look at the study to see how impact investment is faring in the philanthropic sector – namely trusts, foundations and private ancillary funds. Here’s what we found:

• 45 philanthropies responded to the survey – this was the largest response group of the four (total 123)
• Total AUM of the philanthropies that responded was $1.3 billion, with the average corpus size being $41 million
• 42% of the philanthropies that responded are currently active in impact investing
• Of those who are not active, 81% are either curious, interested or very interested in the area
• By far, the main motivation for impact investing amongst philanthropies is mission alignment
• For philanthropies currently active in impact investing:
  • Clean energy is the most popular investment area for the future, and is the second most popular investment area right now
  • Most are interested in private equity or venture capital, impact bonds and ‘real assets’ (real estate, land, agriculture, infrastructure etc), with less interest in public equities
  • Almost half expect competitive market returns, while 25% had expectations of below market or capital preservation returns.
  • 81% expected verified evidence of the social or environmental impact of the investment
  • 57% felt that their impact investments had met or exceeded their financial return expectations whilst 76% said that they had met or exceeded social or environmental impact performance

Read the full report.

With donations made during his lifetime, David’s total giving to the Australian environment will exceed $60 million, making him Australia’s largest environmental philanthropist.

Following the successful sale of Cellarmasters, his mail-order wine business, to the Foster’s Group in 1998, David and his late wife Barbara established The Thomas Foundation in support of conservation, education, medical research and the arts.

David said he hoped that his contribution would stir change in the collective Australian mindset to support not-for-profits.

He had always planned to give away half the Foundation’s wealth through grants and the remaining half through bequests.

Leading conservation organisations including The Nature Conservancy and The Pew Charitable Trusts have worked hand-in-hand with The Thomas Foundation to achieve the Foundation’s goal to stop the decline of biodiversity in Australia.

David has also worked closely with the AEGN and has been a great supporter of our work.

AEGN CEO Amanda Martin, said “The environment receives less than 5 percent of all philanthropy in Australia, which does not reflect the high level of importance that people place on nature for their well-being, for fresh air, food and water, and for our economic prosperity. We believe that David’s wonderful commitment to solving major environmental issues facing Australia will be a clarion call for others to look more closely at what can be achieved.”

The story behind David’s passion for environmental grantmaking is told in this video.

 “A donation to environmental care is an investment for eternity,” he says.