Departure of CEO Lin Bender

During Lin’s 8 year period as CEO the Trust corpus grew from $95m to more than $140m, and more than 500 grants exceeding $37m addressed needs in the education, community, arts and culture, environment and health sectors.

The Trust’s mission of working for a strong, just and sustainable Victoria was a passion for Lin, as was the needs of each of our grantees. Key features of Lin’s leadership were her deep relationships across the sector, her thought leadership and her care for all who connected with the Trust to explore philanthropic partnerships.

Lin was dedicated and indefatigable in her time with the Trust and left with the goodwill of the board and staff.

Helen Macpherson Smith Trust is one of Victoria’s major philanthropic trusts having distributed over 5,000 grants to Victorian charitable institutions since 1955 totalling more than $130 million: an extraordinary legacy grown from an initial bequest of £275,000 in 1951 made by Helen Macpherson Smith.