IMPACT REPORT YOUR DONATIONS TO RMIT 02 RMIT UNIVERSITY | IMPACT REPORT 2015 ABOUT RMIT RMIT is a global university of technology, design and enterprise. The University enjoys an international reputation for excellence in practical education and outcome-oriented research. Founded on philanthropy, RMIT is a leader in technology, design, global business, communication, global communities, health solutions and urban sustainable futures. KEY INFORMATION Australia’s largest tertiary institution Founded in 1887 82,000 students Campuses in Melbourne and Vietnam, a centre in Barcelona and programs offered through partners in Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Indonesia. RMIT is ranked Australia’s top university for art and design. The University is among the world’s top 100 in architecture and built environment; engineering (civil and structural; electrical and electronic and mechanical); accounting and finance; and business and management studies (2016 QS World Rankings by Subject). CONTACT US For more information on donating to RMIT, please contact the Alumni and Philanthropy team on + 61 3 9925 5220 or email [email protected]. Visit us online: www.rmit.edu.au/giving This publication was produced by the Alumni and Philanthropy team, as part of the Global Development portfolio, at RMIT University. Cover and page six: Jess Junor, photographed by Carla Gottgens (Bachelor of Arts, Photography, 1999. Master of Arts, 2009). 03 VICE-CHANCELLOR’S MESSAGE Your contributions to RMIT have a wonderful impact on our University and our students. This publication is all about showing you how your support makes a difference, and expressing a very sincere thank you on behalf of the University. From the day our doors opened in 1887 thanks to philanthropic donations, our approach has been captured by a simple motto: “A skilled hand and a cultivated mind.” Our new Strategic Plan to 2020, Ready for Life and Work, outlines how we must remake ourselves in ways that are true to our founding purpose and embrace the disruptive changes happening around us. Our goal is to offer our students life-changing experiences, and to shape the world with our talent, knowledge and learning. In the great tradition of RMIT, we must continue to empower everyone to thrive in this exciting new era of technological, economic and social change. Our vision is to not only be a global university of technology and Vice-Chancellor’s Circle to honour those who have made design, but also of enterprise. significant contributions to the University in recent years. We hope Philanthropy has always been at the heart of RMIT and continues to create more of these opportunities for donors in future. to be vital to our vision. RMIT is an amazing institution, and I thank you again for your By donating to scholarships, you give bright students access to ongoing support. the transformative experience of tertiary education – and all the lifelong advantages that flow from that experience. Your donations will help us to shape the world with our research, teaching and innovation. We hope to continue to support and grow our network of supporters at RMIT. Last year we established RMIT’s Bequest Program to recognise Martin Bean CBE those who will leave gifts to RMIT in their will, as well as the Vice-Chancellor and President 04 RMIT UNIVERSITY | IMPACT REPORT 2015 DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Thank you for supporting RMIT. I’m thrilled to join RMIT University, an institution with its For this edition of our impact report to donors, we wanted to foundations in philanthropy and a growing community examine some of these experiences for students, donors of supporters. and researchers. RMIT is proudly a modern, urban, technical and global university. We asked a selection of donors and recipients of gifts about how We are unique, and philanthropy continues to shape and support philanthropy has transformed their lives. our ability to remain so. From vocational education, travel and The stories that emerged are truly wonderful, reflecting the power PhD scholarships to support for infrastructure and research, of the act of giving, the diversity of impacts giving can have and philanthropy continues to shape young leaders and strengthen the potential it can unleash. programs recognised around the world. I hope you enjoy the report, and that these stories inspire you In my first few months here it’s been wonderful to have the to think about your own experience of philanthropy, and the opportunity to hear some of your stories about why you are so transformations you would like to continue to make through passionate about this University. As you know giving is a hugely giving. joyful experience for donors. The day you choose to give to a scholarship, decide to leave a gift in your will or support research is often a significant moment, and sometimes the realisation of a long-held vision. Leonie Boxtel Director, Alumni and Philanthropy 05 RMIT EXISTS TO CREATE TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES FOR OUR STUDENTS, GETTING THEM READY FOR LIFE AND WORK, AND TO HELP SHAPE THE WORLD WITH RESEARCH, TEACHING AND ENGAGEMENT. READY FOR LIFE AND WORK, RMIT’S FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN TO 2020 06 RMIT UNIVERSITY | IMPACT REPORT 2015 One bequest, 600 scholarships and counting… “I am proud to be a recipient of the John Storey Junior Memorial Scholarship. It allowed me to experience an entirely new environment, pushing my learning beyond the classroom.” Jess Junor (pictured at Storey Hall, City Campus) studied in France with the support of a scholarship. 07 Sixty years since the establishment of John Storey’s bequest in memory of his son, the RMIT community gathered together to celebrate the incredible impact of his gift. John Storey Junior was a mechanical engineers, scientists, designers and engineering student at RMIT in the entrepreneurs – all thanks to one of 1940s, then known as the Melbourne the most significant bequests in the Technical College. He helped found the University’s history. Student Representative Council, acted In July last year more than 150 donors, as its first President and lobbied for the staff, alumni and scholarship recipients establishment of a central library. came together for the special event – He developed leukaemia and died in 1947, Celebrating the impact of philanthropy: 60 aged 22. years of John Storey Junior scholarships. His father Sir John Storey left a sizable gift Vice-Chancellor and President, Martin to RMIT in his will to commemorate the life Bean CBE hosted the event in Storey of his son and establish the John Storey Hall, named in honour of the Storey family Junior Memorial Scholarships program. and their contribution to the University. That bequest is still transforming lives today. He announced the new RMIT Bequest Program, officially recognising the Over the past 60 years more than 600 commitments of all those who wish to John Storey Junior Memorial Scholarships leave a gift in their will to the University, have been awarded to students who and encouraging others to consider have gone on to become noted artists, creating a legacy for the future. ¢ “These scholarships give students the opportunity for educational and personal development, as they explore new places and make lifelong friendships.” Judy Cope-Williams, sister of John Storey Junior, and scholarship committee member Ian George, at the 60 year celebration of the John Storey Junior Memorial Scholarships. 08 RMIT UNIVERSITY | IMPACT REPORT 2015 09 Family ties In the 1950s Gerald and Nell McCraith built an iconic house on the Mornington Peninsula. Their daughter Lois Dixon-Ward, and granddaughters Bin and Kerryn, donated the house along with a scholarship to RMIT. Here they share their family’s inspiring story. Lois (daughter): “The story of how we Bin (granddaughter): “During the war, Kerryn (granddaughter): “We decided came to donate my parents’ holiday house Pa was transferred out of his unit to the to donate the house to RMIT, as well to RMIT begins during WWII. Signals group stationed at Larrakeyah near as scholarships to support art and Darwin. He missed out on being sent to architecture students. Towards the end of the war, there was a Singapore – all the men in his unit were We are very excited to see the writers shortage of food in Europe and across the captured and ended up as prisoners of war who have stayed in the house as part of world – and a rabbit plague in Australia. in Changi. RMIT’s Writers in Residence program – My father, Gerald McCraith, was given So when the war ended, for those war Hannie Rayson, Carrie Tiffany, as well as permission to leave the army to start a veterans that survived, Pa made sure they international writers like Dai Fan rabbit trapping business with his brother. had work in his business. He kept in mind from China. their sacrifice and he wanted to help them. They established a network of rabbit We chose a scholarship to support art and trappers across the country – I remember In 1954 my grandparents built a holiday architecture students because of the way my father describing the trappers as ‘men house in Dromana and called it Larrakeyah, the house has had an impact on us. that didn’t want to necessarily be found’ the name of the Indigenous people of Design can seem frivolous in people’s lives, – but he was helping people who Darwin and the place where Pa was but it’s actually fundamental. Creating a needed work. stationed in WWII. It was designed by great space can have an impact – how you David Chancellor of Chancellor and Patrick Dad and his brother were very build a space that’s not only beautiful, but Architects and is now heritage listed. entrepreneurial. They set up other beautiful to use. businesses to freight the rabbits back to When Mum inherited the house, we You can see that in the house at Dromana Melbourne in freezers and then ship them decided to donate it to an institution – it makes you think about the expansive to the UK and Europe.