Roadcon Pledges $500,000 to Ballarat Foundation

Ballarat based civil contractor and property developer, Roadcon Group, today pledged $500,000 to community philanthropic organisation The Ballarat Foundation, challenging other businesses and individuals to follow its lead.

It is the largest pledge The Ballarat Foundation has received in its six-year history and will form the basis of a Roadcon Group Fund.  The money will be invested in the foundation’s corpus pool, with the earnings delivered to the community through the foundation’s annual grants program and occasional special one-off grants.  As well as achieving capital growth, the foundation will re-invest 10 per cent of the earnings from the pledge in the corpus, ensuring the ongoing growth of the fund.  The pledge will be received in $100,000 instalments over five years.

Roadcon Group Managing director and Group Board Chairman, Andre Agterhuis, said Roadcon was proud to donate through the foundation for the ongoing benefit of the community.  "We have accepted the challenge to put money into the community in this way and I challenge others to do so as well to whatever extent they feel they are able’’ he said.

"Roadcon believes The Ballarat Foundation is the most effective way of doing this as it seeds continuing community support, year after year.’’

By donating through the Ballarat Foundation, Roadcon has avoided the burden of administration, reporting, investment and distribution which would have been required if it had established its own foundation.  With the funds invested in a corpus pool, the capital is never lost and donations are able to be distributed to community projects annually.

Chairman of The Ballarat Foundation, Prof David James AO, said the pledge consolidated the continuing development of the organisation.

"This massive contribution reflects the efforts of the voluntary board members to get the foundation functioning and growing’’ he said.

"The confidence Roadcon has in the foundation is encouraging. It gives us a real boost in confidence and challenges us all to do more and achieve our goals.’’

CEO of The Ballarat Foundation, Noel Trengove, said that although the Roadcon pledge is spread over five years, its impact would benefit the community for decades to come.

"I am totally humbled by this pledge but, at the same time, I am extremely excited about our future and our ability to become a major contributor to community projects’’ he said.