The Future Fund has been established to provide a “forever” income stream to the Royal Rehab Foundation, through the establishment of a separate standalone investment fund. The corpus (total amount invested) is held in trust on behalf of the donors with our partner GreaterGood.
GreaterGood was established by the ACT Public Trustee and Guardian who at the time saw a need to allow funds like ours to have access to their investment and funds management infrastructure. The benefits of partnering with GreaterGood are competitive return on investment, governance and low fees.
How the Future Fund works
Our fund receives favourable rates of return due to GreaterGood’s strong negotiating power. The income earnt from our fund is distributed to the Royal Rehab Foundation annually with the capital growth remaining in the Fund, allowing the investment to grow over time.
This model is focussed on philanthropy, giving maximum satisfaction to donors knowing that their gift will grow and keep on giving both now and into the future.
How the Future Fund started
"It was June 2022 when I was admitted to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. I was dangerously ill and while I was there, I had a stroke.
The stroke impacted my right leg, arm and hand leaving me with no hand or arm movement, however I slowly regained movement in my leg, enabling me to walk again. When I was transferred to Royal Rehab Ryde in July, I scored zero out of five on the manual muscle test for upper limb power and had a grip strength of zero.
I then spent the following month as a Royal Rehab Private inpatient before transitioning to a day patient for a further four months. During this time, I underwent a rigorous exercise program, including hydrotherapy and robotics and gaming technology in the newly opened Advanced Technology Centre. By the end of my rehab, I was scoring four out of five on all joints and a grip strength of 9.8 kg.
The Advanced Technology Centre, is a game changer in rehabilitation and, in my case, having had a stroke, crucial to my recovery. The brain cells controlling movement in my right arm and hand had died and this technology enabled other cells to be retrained and take over. There is a great need for this technology to be rolled out across Australia so it can be available to as many patients as possible. I can see Royal Rehab playing a leading role in achieving this.
Having been a patient of Royal Rehab and witnessing the wonderful work they do putting people’s lives back together, including mine, we decided to gift all future distributions from our family foundation to the Royal Rehab Foundation. In organising this I met with the CEO, Matthew Mackay, to gain knowledge of how their foundation operated and how our distributions would be spent. During this meeting I discovered that the Foundation didn’t have a future fund but that it was something they wanted to do. I explained how our family foundation worked and told Matthew about my past involvement as a board member of GreaterGood and my experience in establishing community foundations.
With this in mind and the realisation that distributions from our foundation would not make a huge difference we decided to rename our foundation the Royal Rehab Future Fund and gift it to the Royal Rehab Foundation. Our hope is to obtain the support of friends and patients, past and present, and if we all give a bit we can grow the fund into something really big, providing a substantial forever income stream. Over time this fund has the potential of having many millions of dollars invested and distributing millions of dollars each year to the Foundation.”
Future Fund Founder, Richard Gibson
Future Fund Founder, Rick Gibson, using the Armeo Power in Royal Rehab Ryde LifeWorks, when he was an inpatient of Royal Rehab Ryde Private.
This SMARTfit used for neurological rehabilitation in Royal Rehab LifeWorks Cairns, was made possible from the inaugural distribution from the Royal Rehab Future Fund.
A message from our CEO
"Royal Rehab has worked tirelessly since 1899 to support people in need. As our organisation has changed over the years so have our needs.The Royal Rehab Group has grown and expanded. We now have over 1,500 employees, operate at over 30 different sites across three states and care for thousands of people each year.
Our foundation offers grants to individual clients experiencing financial hardship to supply them with equipment and services that cannot be funded by any other means and funds programs and equipment that can be utilised in the care, homing and rehabilitation of many clients. For instance all the equipment in our Ryde and Cairns LifeWorks Tech Centres was funded through private donation, government funding was not available.
The Future Fund is an opportunity for our friends to support Royal Rehab by making a gift knowing their donation will be secured and put to work hereonin. Securing the future of our foundation requires long-term investment and its support to the organisation is critical. We cannot do this alone. Join us in supporting the Future Fund to ensure that in years to come the philanthropic spirit of Royal Rehab will still be going strong."
Chief Executive Officer, Matthew Mackay
How to donate to the Royal Rehab Future Fund
All donations over $2 are tax deductible. Donors will be acknowledged on this website unless they advise otherwise.
Donations to the Royal Rehab Future Fund may be made various ways:
- Online
At GreaterGood and select Royal Rehab Future Fund.
Scroll to the bottom of this webpage and select how much you would like to donate to the Royal Rehab Future Fund and follow the remaining prompts. - EFT
Account Name: Royal Rehab - Foundation Account
BSB: 062 245
Account number: 1025 4521 - Cheque
Payable to the Royal Rehab Foundation and mailed to:
Royal Rehab Foundation
Suite 10.01
52 Alfred Street
Milsons Point NSW 2061 - Bequest
Another simple way you can make a lasting gift to the Future Fund is to make a charitable bequest in your Will. When you create a charitable bequest under your Will, you have the opportunity to benefit the clients of Royal Rehab forever with a permanent endowment. Please consult with your solicitor but here is a sample Will clause:
Gift of Residue
I give all of my property, after payment of my estate liabilities, to the Trustee for GreaterGood, the Capital Region Community Foundation, (the ‘Foundation’) as administered by the Public Trustee and Guardian for the Australian Capital Territory (the (‘Trustee’) to be held in the fund entitled “Royal Rehab Future Fund” in perpetuity.
