About Us

The Fund’s vision is an environmentally sustainable world in which biodiversity is preserved.

The mission of the Fund is to advance, primarily through education of individuals and organisations, environmental sustainability and preservation of biodiversity.

The Sydney-based Fund was established in August 2004 by Robert Purves AM, who is committed to making an impact for a better environment.

Robert is an investor and an environmentalist. He is co-founder and a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. He is also Chairman of Sustainable Business Australia, a Director of the Peter Cullen Water Trust, a Patron of the Lizard Island Research Station and a Governor of Australian Youth Climate Coalition.

In 2012 Robert was appointed as the President of WWF Australia for a second term. His first term was from 1999 to 2006. He also has been on the WWF Australia Board of Directors since 2010, and was a former board member of WWF International.

In addition, Robert has had a long career in business including the role of Chairman for 10 years of DCA Group Limited, then the leading provider of radiology and the largest private operator in aged care in Australia. 

The Fund is registered on the Register of Environmental Organisations and is a Deductible Gift Recipient (ABN 78 930 366 807).

The Fund grants gifts (funds) to support advocacy and education on climate change and landscape managements, and to improve environmental policy through the use of elite science as well as to strengthen NGOs through capacity building.

The charitable purposes of the Fund are as follows:

(a) to protect and enhance the natural environment;

(b) to enhance the protection of Australia's unique biodiversity for the benefit of future generations through the protection of native species and the ecological processes that support them, particularly in the primary production landscape;

(c) to provide information and education about the natural environment and to improve the Australian community's understanding of the urgent need for greater sustainability; and,

(d) to support scientific research and field projects that are aimed at supporting catalytic work to find solutions for important environmental issues that are not currently supported by environmental groups or government.