Empowering Change Through

Alice O’Brien’s Legacy

About Alice

Alice Olive O’Brien (née Flecker), born in 1918, lived a life dedicated to family, community and purpose. Together with her husband Desmond, she raised five children, welcomed 18 grandchildren, and as of 2025, 32 great-grandchildren.

Alice’s deep care for health, well-being, and social good inspired the creation of two trusts:

  • The Research Trust: Focused on advancing medical research, particularly in areas close to Alice’s heart, such as arthritis and stroke. The trust seeks to create a sustainable impact through both grants and strategic investments.

  • The Charitable Trust: Supporting tax-deductible charities across Australia to improve lives and empower communities.

Initially stewarded by Alice’s children, Jacinta and Tony, the trusts are now led by her grandchildren, Simon Costello and Gemma Tovey, ensuring Alice’s vision for a healthier, brighter future continues.

Granting Principles

Our principles guide us in ensuring every investment, whether a grant or equity opportunity, delivers lasting impact and aligns with Alice’s values:

Mission aligned 

Projects or opportunities must align with the core purpose of the Alice O’Brien Research Trust or the Charitable Trust.

Evidence-based 

We prioritise projects that demonstrate proven effectiveness while encouraging bold, innovative solutions.

Outcomes and impact 

Projects must define clear, measurable outcomes that demonstrate attributable results and long-term value.

Sustainability and Enduring Impact

In addition to providing grants, the Research Trust considers sustainable investments—such as equity in research companies or initiatives—that have the potential to deliver a financial return. These returns will help sustain and amplify the trust’s mission over time.

Scalability and replicability 

Preference will be given to opportunities that can scale or be replicated, maximising the impact of our investment.

Grant Types and Eligibility

Eligibility 

  • Tax Status: Organisations must be endorsed as a Tax Concession Charity (TCC) and hold Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status under Item 1, Section 30-15 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

  • Location: While we prioritise Australian-based projects, opportunities with significant global impact will also be considered.

Key dates

  • Applications are considered year round.

Grant amounts

  • Grants typically range between $5,000 and $63,000. Grants can be single investments, or multi-year investments.

  • The trusts allocate funding in the following proportions:

    • 2/3 to the Alice O’Brien Research Trust (medical research, grants, and sustainable investments).

    • 1/3 to the Alice O’Brien Charitable Trust (charitable giving).

Medical Research - Investment Principles

The Alice O’Brien Research Trust seeks to create an enduring and impactful legacy through a thoughtful, long-term investment approach. While grants remain a central focus, we also aim to explore opportunities that ensure the trust’s corpus is sustained, grown, and reinvested for future generations.

To achieve this, the trust adopts a dual strategy:

  1. Investing the interest or dividends generated from the trust corpus into high-impact medical research initiatives.

  2. Making strategic investments into companies or entities engaged in medical research, with the capability to recoup funds or achieve a greater return, amplifying our ability to reinvest and create lasting impact.

Goals of the Medical Research Approach

The overarching goals are:

  • To provide ongoing funding for medical research aligned to Alice’s passions, such as arthritis, stroke, and related health areas.

  • To ensure the trust corpus remains self-sustaining and enduring by growing its value over time.

  • To generate a positive financial return where possible, allowing for reinvestment into additional research opportunities.

Types of Investments Considered

The Research Trust’s funds may be allocated in the following ways:

  1. Direct Equity Investments: Investing in organisations, companies, or startups engaged in medical research or innovation with proven potential to deliver both impactful results and financial returns.

    • Example: Supporting a biotech startup developing breakthrough arthritis treatments.

  2. Impact-Focused Partnerships: Collaborating with research institutions, universities, or foundations to fund initiatives with measurable and long-term outcomes.

  3. Strategic Grants with Potential Recoupment: Offering funding for research projects where future success could result in royalties, licensing opportunities, or other financial returns to the trust.

Guiding Principles - Medical Research Investments

To ensure clarity, alignment, and consistency in decision-making, the following principles will guide the Research Trust’s approach to medical research funding and investments:

  1. Alignment with Alice’s Vision
    All opportunities must align with Alice’s values and areas of passion—primarily medical research in arthritis, stroke, and related health conditions.

  2. Enduring Sustainability
    Investments must support the long-term growth and sustainability of the trust’s corpus, ensuring funding is available for future generations.

  3. Evidence-Based Opportunities
    All investments and grants must demonstrate proven scientific merit, backed by credible data and evidence, with a clear path to impact.

  4. Return Potential
    Preference will be given to opportunities that can deliver financial returns—whether through equity growth, dividends, royalties, or other means—allowing the trust to reinvest funds into new initiatives.

  5. Measurable Impact
    Investments must outline clear, measurable outcomes for medical research or innovation, demonstrating both societal and financial benefits.

  6. Risk Management
    All investment decisions will be evaluated based on a balanced assessment of risks, rewards, and alignment to the trust’s enduring purpose.

Example Applications of the Principles

Here are a few examples of how the principles might be applied:

  • Investing in a medical research startup focused on arthritis treatment, with the potential for a commercial product that benefits patients and provides financial returns to the trust.

  • Partnering with a university research team working on breakthrough stroke prevention methods, funding their clinical trials while securing rights to future royalties.

  • Allocating funds into an impact investment portfolio with companies focused on healthcare innovation, generating dividends that can be reinvested into further research.

Through these principles, the Alice O’Brien Research Trust aims to strike a balance between delivering immediate impact and creating a sustainable, self-replenishing fund to support groundbreaking medical research for years to come.

How to nominate

Have a cause that you would like to nominate for grant funding or medical research investment? Complete this simple form

Impact

The Alice O’Brien Charitable (C) and Research (R) Trusts have given to the following recipients in the past.