source : the age
One of Australia’s richest women, Nicola Forrest, has donated more than half a billion dollars of her personal wealth to her own fledgling charity in what is one of Australia’s largest ever philanthropic gifts from a single individual.
Forrest is worth an estimated $17.32 billion, according to the Australian Financial Review’s 2026 Rich List and is Australia’s seventh-richest person. Her gift to the Coaxial Foundation follows her split in 2023 from her billionaire businessman husband Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, who is estimated to be worth $15.9 billion, and ranked number eight on the AFR’s annual list.
“I truly believe that if we all do what we can with what we’ve got the world would be a very different place,” Forrest told this masthead on Thursday.
Forrest’s inaugural donation to her foundation has been made from her commercial vehicle Coaxial Ventures and includes 25 million shares worth $391 million in global metal, mining and energy giant Fortescue Ltd, which was founded and is chaired by Andrew. Nicola has also donated $125 million in cash from Coaxial Ventures to her foundation.
“I have a great belief in this wonderful country that we live in. I just think that it should be the lucky country, but we are seeing more and more that there is a great divide between people that have opportunity and those that don’t,” Forrest said.
“Being in a position to be able to help support others is something that I feel very privileged to be able to do.”
About $60 million has also already been committed to fund long-term partnerships with three Australian organisations that reflect the three key areas that Forrest wants to support – children and their development in the early years, First Nations people and women.
“If you want to create lasting change you need to invest early. The idea is that the more we invest in women and children the greater the dividend for the society where they live, the families that they are raising and ultimately for the whole economy,” she said.
“It’s to create the trajectory for a child – the earlier you change that trajectory, the greater the opportunity.”
The $500 million-plus donation is the first money to flow into Coaxial Foundation, which is chaired by Nicola. She did not rule out future donations from Coaxial Ventures and said dividends from the foundation’s Fortescue shares would also be used to fund future grants.
Forrest said she wanted “to redistribute my wealth in my lifetime as much as I can”.
“You can’t take things with you, and my children don’t want to inherit great wealth,” she said. “I just think there is so much that needs to be done, let’s get on with it.”
The donation is in addition to those Nicola and Andrew have made to the Minderoo Foundation – the philanthropic vehicle they co-founded in 2001, and of which she remains a director.
The former couple gave the foundation $400 million in 2017, $520 million in 2020 and about $5 billion in 2023 amid their separation. Nicola also remains a director of the couple’s commercial investment vehicle, Tatterang.
“Mindaroo is doing incredible work, and I’m proud of the 25 years I’ve been involved in it and the more we can all do the better,” she said.
The Forrests split in 2023 after 31 years of marriage. Nicola declined to comment on whether her divorce from Andrew had been finalised, or on her reported new relationship with theatre director and arts boss Scott Rankin.
The Coaxial Foundation will provide $50 million to early-stage venture capital firm Antler over four years to help Australian female business founders access the capital, networks and support needed to build thriving businesses.
The foundation will also give the Cape York Partnership $30 million over six years to support learning and development initiatives for young Aboriginal children, while national child and family peak body SNAICC – National Voice for Our Children will receive $7.1 million over three years to support early childhood learning outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children across Australia.
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