A streamlined Minderoo is set to spend more after separation

A streamlined structure put in place at the Forrest family’s $7.6bn Minderoo Foundation, including finalising the appointment of a new CEO, could see it spend more.

DNA collection by researchers in the waters off Western Australia. Source: Minderoo Foundation OceanOmics

The separation of Nicola and Andrew Forrest may well help their $7.6 billion Minderoo Foundation to be more effective in its philanthropy.

That’s because the split could arguably give more authority to the CEO of the foundation, John Hartman, although the couple, as co-chairs, will remain closely involved in the 22-year-old organisation that has reflected their different passions for various causes.

The Forrests said in their Wednesday statement, that Minderoo would not be affected by their decision to live separate lives.

That’s likely to be the case because the big changes to the foundation have already taken place in recent weeks in what appears to have been an effort to sort out any issues ahead of the split.

Mr Hartman, who is also CEO of the Forrest family’s private company Tattarang, which controls the family’s stake in Fortescue, was appointed Minderoo boss in May after several months acting in the position.

In June, came news that Tattarang had donated $5 billion of Fortescue shares to Minderoo, lifting the foundation’s corpus to a staggering $7.6bn.

Minderoo then released a 2030 strategic plan to focus efforts in Australia and the region and in three key areas, signalling an end to the more ad hoc approach to projects for which Andrew Forrest had become famous.

One observer said on Thursday that the events appeared to have diminished Dr Forrest’s control although the family would remain tight and closely involved in the direction of the foundation.

The core designated areas for Minderoo are helping vulnerable communities, which covers the early childhood research and projects that Ms Forrest has pursued for 15 years; gender and equality, which includes the modern slavery work so dear to Dr Forrest’s heart and which will continue to be led by the couple’s daughter Grace; and protecting oceans which is also a passion for the Fortescue founder who in 2019 received his PhD in marine ecology from the University of Western Australia.

Minderoo Foundation researcher Alex Lago diving on Ningaloo Reef. Picture: Carly Keech

In June, Mr Hartman indicated Minderoo would spend significantly more this financial year than last year. He was reported as saying that in the past the foundation’s efforts had been spread too thinly both in the volume of projects and their geographic location.

A number of projects, such as bushfire resilience and Indigenous employment will now have more definite timelines and will come under a section known as “impact missions”.

But the early childhood and learning which Ms Forrest has been deeply committed to will remain a core area of funding. A source said on Thursday that Ms Forrest has maintained a very focused approach to her philanthropy which included theatre and the arts in Perth; but that her husband had taken more of a scatter-gun approach, announcing a big number of separate projects over the years.

In February 2021, Ms Forrest gave a compelling speech to the National Press Club about the need for early childhood intervention. Her appearance was seen by many as an effort to carve out her own space and build her own philanthropic brand separate from that of her husband.

Mr Hartman was not available for comment on Thursday.

No one was interested in talking on the record yesterday about Minderoo’s future, but several involved in philanthropy pointed to other high-profile marriage breakups that had implications for the way the super-rich give away their money.

The best known are Melinda and Bill Gates who divorced in 2021 but still work together on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Mackenzie Scott who divorced in 2019.

Unlike the Gates – and the Forrests’ — decisions to work together, Bezos and Scott went their separate ways in philanthropy. By late last year Ms Scott had given away almost $US4.2 billion of her settlement, with promises to give most of her wealth away during her lifetime.

A similar separation of effort was the choice of Kerr and Judith Neilson, co-founders of Platinum Asset Management, when they divorced in 2015, with each since funding their separate philanthropic projects.

While there was speculation on Thursday about the financial implications of the Forrests’ separation, a leading divorce lawyer said that a separation would still allow for a legal financial settlement.

He said: “A lot of people don’t get divorced as such they simply separate. Divorce is just an administrative act … you can still do a property settlement between two people even without a divorce,”

He suggested that while the wording of the Forrests’ statement was “unusual” it “might just be playing with words”.

“I’ve done a lot of large ones, people associated with public entities, and often they will do a deal where they might divorce, they may not, but the major holding in their listed entity just sits there and remains so as not to affect the market, because frankly they don’t need the money …”

He said the major holding could be held in a trust “controlled by various people, for them and future generations… it keeps the market happy and doesn’t shift market prices”.

Originally published as A streamlined Minderoo is set to spend more after separation