The largest trust in the country dedicated to improving the experience of ageing for Australians, the Wicking Trust, has opened a national grant round focussed on ‘Bringing death back into life’ - investing in excess of $6 million over the next three years.

The Trust, established in 2002 by John and Janet Wicking and managed by Equity Trustees, is Australia’s most significant charitable trust investing in people, programs and research that improve the quality of life and death for older Australians.

The ‘bringing death back into life’ grant round aims to:

• Create more open conversations about death and dying - increasing death literacy,
• Support older Australians to prepare for and plan for dying and death,
• Facilitate more connected and coordinated formal and informal care networks, and
• Enable better access to information and expertise that connects older people to the support they need, when they need it.

Susie Meagher, Ageing Well Portfolio Lead, at Equity Trustees, said: “John and Janet Wicking were generous in life and in death. They were committed to a path of dignity in ageing and in dying. By partnering with organisations working to ‘bring death back into life’ we hope to honour their wishes and legacy and begin a long and inclusive conversation with Australian communities.”

To ensure the granting reflects the funding needs and understands the barriers of the sector, the Wicking Trust convened a roundtable with 24 leaders from across Australia, all working to improve the experience of dying, death and grieving for older Australians. The co-design approach was aimed at convening collaboration, pushing creative thinking and bringing philanthropy into a ‘listening and learning’ space.

More about the grant round

The grant round has two funding streams – the first aimed at supporting grass roots, community led organisations that understand the needs of their communities and reflect those needs back into their programs.  This community-led grant program is where organisations and the community take the lead, so dying, death and grieving are brought back into life.

“We seek to support programs that engage, educate, and activate individuals and communities to lead support for older Australians at their end of life. We have prioritised local and community-driven solutions, and programs that build community capacity, knowledge and engagement, while supporting innovative approaches that have grown organically from communities,” said Ms Meagher.

The second stream is about backing collective problem solving - supporting working together and differently, to change the conditions that contribute to the challenges older Australians experience at end of life.  Called the Developing Solutions Program, it aims to build the capacity of organisations and partnerships to nourish existing systems, not dismantle them, for example by considering work that contributes to conversations and stories about death, dying and grief becoming more common.

“Funding will be available for Australian organisations with a focus on improving the experience of dying, death and grieving for older Australians and their families and carers,” Ms Meagher concluded.

Funding information sessions

Equity Trustees will hold two online information sessions where the Wicking Trust team will be available to provide an overview of the process and answer questions. Sessions will be held on 17 September at 11am (AEST) and 19 September at 2pm (AEST) - registration is required here.

Equity Trustees is privileged to manage the Wicking Trust acting as the trustee or co-trustee for more than 1000 charitable trusts, and distributing $178 million of philanthropic and charitable funding in FY24.

Download the Media Release

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Further information

Media

Alicia Kokocinski

General Manager – Marketing & Communications         

03 8623 5396 / 0403 172 024

akokocinski@eqt.com.au

 

Equity Trustees was established in 1888 for the purpose of providing independent and impartial Trustee and Executor services to help families throughout Australia protect their wealth. As Australia’s leading specialist trustee company, we offer a diverse range of services to individuals, families and corporate clients including asset management, estate planning, philanthropic services and Responsible Entity (RE) services for external Fund Managers. Equity Trustees is the brand name of EQT Holdings Limited (ABN 22 607 797 615) and its subsidiary companies, publicly listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: EQT) with offices in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.