# The Myer Foundation

The Myer Foundation is a Foundation based in Melbourne, Australia.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Foundation
- **Headquarters:** Melbourne, Australia
- **Region:** Oceania
- **Address:** Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- **Founded:** 1959
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** myerfoundation.org.au
- **LinkedIn:** https://au.linkedin.com/company/sidney-myer-fund

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Myer Foundation was established in 1959 by Sidney Myer's sons, Baillieu and Ken Myer, as a vehicle to channel the retail wealth generated by the Myer Emporium into a just, creative, and sustainable Australia. It operates in tandem with the Sidney Myer Fund, a dual-foundation architecture devised to cover philanthropic domains outside the original will's scope. Rupert Myer AO serves as President, while Andrew Myer AM chairs the Sidney Myer Fund, keeping governance firmly within the founding lineage. The foundation's strategy blends a low-volatility endowment core with direct venture and early-stage commitments, spanning seed through late-stage deals. While public portfolio disclosures remain thin, the institution is known to hold significant physical assets: Cranlana and 4 Grant Avenue in Toorak, The Well at Camberwell mixed-use development, and Roi Apartments in North Fitzroy. The Gantner Myer Collection of Australian Aboriginal Art and the iconic Sidney Myer Music Bowl round out a portfolio where cultural infrastructure carries equal weight to financial return. Martyn Myer AO, a former President, is now Life Governor, while the Baillieu family — linked to the Myer lineage through marriage and co-founders of Mutual Trust — represents a parallel advisory axis. The foundation leverages networks including Philanthropy Australia and YPO for deal-sourcing and governance collaboration. In a notable structural decision, its investment and grant-making functions are managed jointly with the Sidney Myer Fund, consolidating a small team across two legal entities. The foundation's true structural differentiator is its dual-entity inheritance structure, which separates a century-old fortune into two collaborative but legally distinct foundations. This architecture compels perpetual co-management rather than a single-family office consolidation, making its governance a function of compromise between two philanthropic charters — a dynamic few Australian family offices replicate.

## Sectors

- Venture (General)
- Real Estate
- Arts & Culture

## People

- Rupert Myer AO — President
- Andrew Myer AM — Chairman of the Sidney Myer Fund
- Martyn Myer AO — Life Governor and former President

## Questions

### How does The Myer Foundation relate to the Sidney Myer Fund?

Both entities were seeded by the wealth of Sidney Myer, founder of the Myer Emporium, but operate under separate legal charters. The Sidney Myer Fund executes the philanthropic vision outlined in Myer's original will, while The Myer Foundation, established by his sons in 1959, addresses contemporary sectors not initially covered. The two share management and are often treated as a unified philanthropic operation despite their distinct governance structures.

### Who runs investment decisions at The Myer Foundation?

Rupert Myer AO is President of The Myer Foundation and a Director of Myer Family Investments, which handles the broader family's financial holdings. Andrew Myer AM chairs the Sidney Myer Fund. Investment and grant-making decisions are run jointly across both foundations, though the specific internal delegation of authority between the board and the family's separate investment entity is not publicly detailed.

### Which physical assets does the foundation control?

Altss research records the foundation as holding interests in Cranlana and 4 Grant Avenue residential properties in Toorak, the mixed-use The Well at Camberwell, the Roi Apartments in North Fitzroy, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Kings Domain, and the Gantner Myer Collection of Australian Aboriginal Art. These assets function as both cultural legacy holdings and real-estate investments.

### How is the foundation's governance structured across generations?

Third-generation family member Rupert Myer AO holds the presidency, while his cousin Andrew Myer AM leads the Sidney Myer Fund. Martyn Myer AO, a second-generation member, retains the title of Life Governor. This distributes influence across multiple branches of the Myer family, with no single lineage dominating day-to-day control.

### Is the AUM publicly disclosed?

The Myer Foundation does not publicly disclose its endowment size. Altss estimates the figure at approximately $60 million USD based on its scale of grant-making, known property holdings, and comparative Australian foundation data, but this is an operational inference, not a firm-confirmed number.

## Related profiles

- [Saint Francis University](https://altss.com/profile/saint-francis-university)
- [William & Elaine Kaplan Family Charitable Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/william-elaine-kaplan-family-charitable-foundation)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/the-myer-foundation

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