Focused philanthropy

Cor Frederiks was a giving man who established a private ancillary fund to support charitable causes he felt passionate about. When he passed away in 2017, Cor’s children came together to establish an endowed PhD in memory of their late father, and mother, who at just 37 years of age lost her life to Leukaemia.

This gift will give early career researchers the resources and encouragement to explore novel approaches for tackling blood cancers today, and well into the future.

In this video, inauagural Frederiks Foundation PhD recipient Dr Julian Linsday talks about his research.

“If the advances in research we have seen in the last 30 years were around when mum was diagnosed, maybe she would be with us, or maybe she would have lived longer. I think dad would have been very proud of our decision to support this worthy cause.”

– Paul Frederiks

Val decided to support the Leukemia Foundation after she lost her husband David, who was diagnosed with Hairy cell Leukaemia in April 2008. This was classified as a rare disease type.

In Australia, clinical trials need to be conducted on a large scale to support public subsidies for new therapies, gaining access can be challenging for people living with rare cancers. A multi-year pledge to the Blood Cancer Genomics trial will give people like David access to precision medicine; a range of personalised treatments matched to their specific profile.

“David had a 9-year battle with blood cancer. I hope my support of the Blood Cancer Genomics Trial will help people liked David not only survive their cancer, but also provide a better quality of life after treatment”.

– Val McAlpine

Tony Fini AM believes if you can give back to the community, you should. Tony came to Australia after World War II with very little. He’s grateful for the opportunities Australia has allowed him and that he is in a position to give back to the community.

For the past 60 years Tony fundraised for many causes. Tony founded the Tony Fini Foundation in 2008 so he could personally donate to many charitable organisations, and contribute most effectively to the community. The focus of the Foundation is on medical research and the wellbeing of children.

“The Tony Fini Foundation has become a great supporter of the Leukemia Foundation, as we believe in the work they are doing to reduce the number of people dying from these forms of cancer and helping them gain access to all new forms of treatment that may not have been available to them without the Leukaemia Foundation’s assistance.”

– Tony Fini AM

Gandel Philanthropy is one of Australia’s largest independent family philanthropic funds. It has been the vehicle for charitable giving by the extended Gandel family since its formation as the Gandel Charitable Trust in 1978.

Thanks to the support of Gandel Philanthropy the Leukaemia Foundation was able to undertake a pilot project for a support program called Cancer Concierge in 2018-2019. Designed to assist people living with blood cancer to navigate both their disease and the health system, the pilot focussed on people diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).

The pilot project demonstrated a large proportion of the participants had never tapped into the Leukaemia Foundation’s services before the Cancer Concierge program and that the personalised support enabled the provision of targeted interventions for participants. These findings are key to shaping the future service delivery of Leukaemia Foundation support services.

Thank you Gandel Philanthropy!