The impact of a gift to La Trobe extends far and wide. Although the immediate support goes directly to deserving students and researchers, the benefits ripple outward, making a difference for their families, communities and more broadly - to all Victorians.
When you give through La Trobe, you support our Make the Difference Campaign, empowering our students, communities, and research to excel. Together, we are enriching the life and knowledge of the nation itself.
Here’s how our community has made a difference in 2023:
Impacting students and communities
- The Golden Lanyard Staff Giving Program has raised $1 million since it began 10 years ago, awarding 84 scholarships to students facing hardship.
- Over $184,000 raised by alumni and supporters for the Student Hardship Fund to help students facing cost-of-living challenges.
- A $120,000 gift from John and Ruth McKenzie endowed the John and Ruth McKenzie Scholarship, supporting students in biological sciences in perpetuity.
- $150,000 from the Department of Health to the Carol Friday Scholarship supported our Maternal Child Health nurses and enhanced future support for communities in need.
- A $14,000 gift from Emily Mudge to the Tom Glazebrook Bursary for Engineering supports young engineers from rural backgrounds.
- Nearly $1.75 million has been raised for the Regional Pathways Program – supporting regional secondary students to pursue higher education. The Gillespie Family Foundation committed $1 million to continue the program in Shepparton and challenged us to raise another $1 million by 2024. Since then, multiple donors have taken up the challenge – helping us to expand the program to Bendigo and Mildura.
Impacting university and research
- A $50,000 grant from an anonymous donor to the Bouverie Centre for the Spoken Word Essay project has enabled the preservation of valuable First Nations community knowledge. This project converts Spoken Word essays by First Nations students into an educational resource for the next generation of students. This grant will also fund research into the impact of the Graduate Certificate Family Therapy course for First Nations students.
- A $510,000 grant from State Trustees Australia Foundation benefitted La Trobe University’s John Richards Centre for Rural Ageing Research. The Centre works with rural communities across north-east Victoria to build their capacity for age-friendly healthcare.
- $1 million contributed by Minsmere Pty Limited, a subsidiary of Cripps Foundation to the Ngura Ninti Project, supporting the research and publication of a 4-volume series on Australian history in collaboration with Indigenous communities. The series will incorporate First Nations perspectives through culturally appropriate mediums such as song, art, and spoken word.
- A $2.5 million donation from the Bertalli Family Foundation to La Trobe’s Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) Lab will help schools adopt well-established, scientific approaches to improve how they teach children to read. That includes the creation of reading and writing clinics at La Trobe’s Bendigo and Bundoora campuses, and funding research into early childhood education for rural and regional children.
