La Trobe University has launched its first-ever fundraising campaign to raise $50 million to fund life-changing scholarships, bold research and the very best facilities.
As the University celebrates 50 years of combining social equality and academic excellence, its Make the Difference Campaign will secure this legacy for the future.
In an impressive show of commitment to La Trobe, the University has already received campaign commitments of close to $20 million.
Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar said the Campaign was a significant step towards building an even stronger future for La Trobe and the communities it serves in Melbourne’s north and across regional Victoria.
“Over the next five years, our Make the Difference campaign will raise $50 million to support La Trobe to continue redefining what it means to be a great modern university,” Professor Dewar said.
“The Campaign will fund scholarships for disadvantaged students, provide resources for our researchers to address the issues that are important to all of us, and allow us to provide our staff, students and communities with the very best facilities,” he said.
At the Campaign’s official launch on Wednesday 18 March, it was announced that La Trobe Distinguished Alumnus and Chair of the Make the Difference Campaign Cabinet, businessman Andrew Abercrombie, and his wife Shadda, had committed a donation of $1 million to the Campaign to support business education at La Trobe.
Fellow Distinguished Alumnus and former Chief Executive Officer of Swisse, Radek Sali, together with his wife Helen, also committed $1 million to the Campaign.
Distinguished Alumnus and Adjunct Professor Ahmed Fahour AO committed to endow two half scholarships a year, which will be awarded to women from diverse cultural backgrounds who have demonstrated a commitment to social inclusion and community leadership.
La Trobe Chancellor Professor Richard Larkins and Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar also announced personal pledges of $100,000 each to the Campaign as a demonstration of their support and commitment to the University.
To find out more about the Make the Difference campaign, visit https://www.latrobe.edu.au/giving
You can see video interviews of Andrew Abercrombie, Radek Sali, Ahmed Fahour and Professor Dewar at the University’s Living History web page and read a copy of his speech on the night here.
