Nicola Forrest makes largest philanthropic donation by living person of $500m-plus to Coaxial Foundation

Australia’s second-richest woman, Nicola Forrest, will put more than $500 million into her own philanthropic vehicle Coaxial to help address “devastation” in communities across the country.

In the single largest philanthropic donation by a living person, early-stage venture capital firm Antler, the Cape York Partnership and national Indigenous children and family peak body SNAICC will each receive funds.

Coaxial Foundation’s first partnerships since its 2023 creation are targeting what Ms Forrest on Thursday said was a desire to “make the changes that need to happen in this country”.

The $500m-plus collective donation is funded by $125m cash and 25 million Fortescue shares, which will remain as shares in the funding pool. A total of $30m over six years has been donated to Cape York Partnership and $7.1m over three years to SNAICC. Antler’s partnership is for up to $30m, including a $20m investment into a specific fund.

Based on Fortescue’s Thursday closing price of $15.79, the donation totals almost $520m.

Driven by a desire to create meaningful impact and change, Ms Forrest has targeted partners aligned to her vision of economic empowerment supporting women and families.

“One of the things that saddens me — I grew up in country NSW — is seeing the devastation across this country, particularly regionally, and the lack of hope that you see in young children,” Ms Forrest told The West Australian.

“We’re seeing it in statistics around suicides, around mental health issues, and then you compound issues with domestic violence and homelessness, and that is why we are focusing on children and women — not that we think we can solve everything, but we need to start at the beginning to try and help change that trajectory.”

She emphasised that turning around the trajectory of children’s and women’s lives was an economic opportunity for the country and was one the “single biggest dividends” it could be paid.

Ms Forrest remains a director of Minderoo, the philanthropic venture set up in 2001 with her then-husband, Fortescue chair Andrew Forrest. She said the funds contributed over the years were now in its foundation’s hands, so she was excited to establish Coaxial as “my own personal vehicle for giving, and to really focus on the areas that are most important to me”.

“It’s complementary to Minderoo,” Ms Forrest said. “It’s not in competition, and the more the merrier.

“There is no lack of need in this country and so that’s why I’m doing it . . . we can’t fix everything but we can highlight those people that have great ideas — either through business or through philanthropy — and help elevate those voices through our long-term support.”

Ms Forrest added that she did not expect universal support for her priorities.

“A lot of the things that I am interested in supporting in this country, people will often say ‘Oh, but that’s very expensive’ or ‘that costs a lot of money’,” she recounted.

“But you know what? it costs a whole lot more not to do it.”

Ms Forrest and Coaxial chief executive Philippa Watson hope the main beneficiaries of the Antler VC partnership will be female founders, who are undercapitalised compared to male counterparts. Industry research points to declining numbers of early-stage angel, pre-seed and seed deals last year. In contrast, Antler’s own figures show all-women founding teams outperforming the rest of its portfolio — at 2.6 times initial investment versus 2.1 times for the fund overall.

“We want to find the best, the most tenacious, obsessed driven, and highest performing founders in Australia and be their first investors,” Antler general partner Michael Kron said.

Ms Forrest said it had been “very hard to find the right partners to work with” but was inspired by Antler’s support of insurance start-up Upcover founder Skye Theodorou, who has since created 50 jobs.

“I truly believe that we can almost make more opportunity through business than through philanthropy,” she said.

“Like any relationship, there’s reciprocity. So it’s not just one way. Often philanthropy can be seen as just grant-making, and there is a place for that.

“But Coaxial is trying to be catalytic in that we support people — anything that we do, hopefully and ultimately, can be leveraged.

“This is about going deeper in places where people already have a track record — we’re not just sort of putting our finger to the wind and saying, ‘Oh, let’s try and find someone’.”

With the partnerships announced on Friday lasting between three and six years, Ms Watson said Coaxial Foundation in five years would hopefully see fantastic businesses emerge from the Antler Fund, as well as other deals.

“We plan to have really meaningful long-term partnerships with a smaller number of partners, rather than going super, super broad,” she said. “I think you’ll continue to see Coaxial doing more along the themes that we’re announcing today with deep long-term partners.”

Coaxial in late 2024 bought the Fremantle Terminus Hotel for $4.5m and then in April the Fremantle Trades Hall for $7.35m.