Chairman's Report

For The Year Ended 30 June 2009

The Bennelong Foundation represents the philanthropic interests of the Bennelong Group.  Since inception in 2002/03, the Bennelong Foundation has made over seventy grants to worthy and needy causes.  The grants range in size from five or ten thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars.

The beneficiaries of these grants have been spread across our five areas of interest as follows:

Medical Research	25.5%
Community Health	15.5%
Migrant Community Welfare	17.0%
Crisis Support	25.0%
Youth	17.0%

Bennelong Foundation continues to involve the staff of Bennelong Group in its activities and this has increased significantly during the year through activities such as:

• the introduction of two new members to the Youth Committee, Darlene White of Bennelong Funds Management and Leanne Sullivan from Crown Content;
• donation matching for the Bushfire Appeal in February;
• visit days to organisations such as the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, Wintringham and Whitelion.  These visit days included both directors and staff;
• lunches at Bennelong House and Sportsbrand where grant recipients presented to staff stimulating discussion on charities and volunteering;
• work experience at Sportsbrand and Bennelong Property Funds Management for two Horn of Africa participants in Mission Australia’s Getting to Work project.

We also had our inaugural Bennelong Make A Difference Day in January 2009 where 20 employees from the various companies attended in support of the Mirabel Foundation, with 50 disadvantaged children enjoying a day of excitement at Luna Park.  Bennelong Group employees took on tasks including chaperoning children around the park, going on rides with the kids, preparing food and generally ensuring all had a fantastic time.  The next Make A Difference Day will be held in December 2009 in conjunction with Cottage by the Sea in Queenscliff for children affected by the devastating bushfires last February.

The next 12 months will be challenging and this has been reflected in the number and type of applications received from all areas, particularly crisis support, youth and education.

During the year the Bennelong Group was very pleased to reach agreement with one of our long term international partners, Dubai Duty Free, for their respective Foundations to co-fund a project/s in financial year 2009/2010.  Several projects have been submitted for co-funding and this will be decided on by the end of 2009.  This co-funding will be in recognition of Dubai Duty Free’s celebration of its 25^th anniversary.

The Bennelong Foundation is audited by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and is a fully compliant Prescribed Private Fund.  I would like to express my appreciation to our grant recipients for their dedication and hard work, to my fellow Directors and to the Advisers to the Board for their guidance, time and effort and to all those who work with and for the Bennelong Group for generating the growth and earnings to provide the funding base for the Foundation.

Jeff Chapman
Chairman