The Connected funding stream – delivered in partnership with the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) – supports the dedicated and impactful work of community organisations enriching the lives of outback towns and remote First Nations communities. In June 2025, TFFF devolved $400,000 to support FRRR’s Small & Vital and Larger Leverage grants in its Strengthening Rural Communities program across Queensland and the Northern Territory in FY26. Our thanks to FRRR CEO, Natalie Egleton, and Grants Manager (North & East), Marjolein Righarts for their dedicated support of these programs and remote and rural communities.
Last year the TFFF invested in the operational Resilience of 40 not-for-profit organisations, with Directors and Advisors approving 16 new multi-year agreements totalling $6.66 million. As rising overhead costs further strain already tight budgets, the TFFF encourages its philanthropic peers to join us in providing flexible, multi-year, operational support for well-run organisations doing impactful work.
Collaborative initiatives under the Futureproof stream continue to tackle complex, intergenerational problems by empowering community led solutions. In FY26 new investments include primary and tertiary education infrastructure in Arnhem Land, and the place-based initiative Gladstone Region engaging in Action Together. The TFFF’s support of Brain Health in Queensland Schools initiative entered Stage 2, with another $1 million committed for 2026 delivery.
The TFFF complemented these direct-to-community investments with a further contribution to support the Leadership of Australia’s for-purpose sector. Over the past three years, 39 leaders of Queensland and Northern Territory organisations have completed the TFFF Executive Leadership Program — delivered in partnership with The University of Queensland Business School.
In this most recent year a co-design working group of past and prospective participants worked with the University team to design the next iteration of this program, and we look forward to the program’s fourth cohort commencing in August 2026.
Across the year, TFFF Directors, Advisors, and staff made 31 visits to different organisations, in community and on Country. We are grateful to all those organisations and communities who spent time sharing their stories, their achievements, and their challenges with us. From the Lockyer Valley to St George, and Mount Isa, up to Darwin, across to Katherine and Maningrida, along the east coast to Cairns, Townsville, Gladstone, and Bundaberg, we met remarkable people doing remarkable work.
We would like to acknowledge the dedication of Board Directors Gina Fairfax AC and Jim Peterson and congratulate long-standing Advisors Sarah O’Brien and Prue Pateras on their appointments as Directors of the TFFF. We extend our sincere thanks to Directors, and Advisors Lucy Coulson and Fiona Poschelk, for their guidance of the Foundation and engagement with its partners.
Above all, we recognise the innovators, steady hands, team players, and volunteers who make up the for-purpose sector across regional Queensland and the Northern Territory. Our work exists because of yours. Together we will continue creating Connected, Resilient, and Futureproof communities.
| Tim Fairfax AC Founder and Chair | Dr Neal Harvey CEO |
Photos by Thomas Oliver for Atmosphere Photography
