Established on 13 January 1984 the Foundation’s original directors included Mrs Rebecca Lillian Cooper, who endowed the Foundation on that date.  The other directors were Mr Kevin Cahill (Chairman); Mr Al Rosenstrauss (Secretary); Dr Nick Gregory; and Dr Tom Cromer.

Mrs Cooper died on 29 April 1984, bequeathing her one hundred and five properties to the Foundation.

The majority of these properties were old terrace houses located in the inner suburbs of Sydney, predominantly in the prestigious suburbs of Woollahra, Paddington and Bondi Junction.

At the time of her death the properties were mainly dilapidated or derelict.  The Board has continuously worked to renovate the properties to a standard, commensurate with the expectations of the rental market with the result of improving the financial return to the Foundation.

The Board has continued Mrs Cooper’s philosophy, that the properties should be maintained within the ownership of the Foundation and not sold.  

The Foundation’s progress has not been unimpeded.  Most of the properties are within heritage areas and therefore the renovations are somewhat more costly than would otherwise be the case. An early notable battle was with the Australian Tax Office which was settled in 1998, at a tenth of the original demand of $3.2 million against the Estate of Mrs Cooper.

Since 1984, the annual income of the Foundation has increased dramatically, from less than $80,000 per annum to $3.0 million in financial year 2007-2008.  A large part of our income continues to be used for improvement of the properties and with the accelerated return that this work provides, the time will come when a far larger proportion of income will be available to the medical research fraternity.  It is envisaged that in time we will be able to invest beyond our original endowment, thereby ensuring the continued growth of the Foundation. 

2008 is the 24th year in which the Foundation has given medical research grants.  It took 7 years to achieve our first $1.0mil in grants commencing in 1984 with two grants totalling $9,640.  As at 2008, the Foundation has given more than $11.3 million in grants. 

One of our early major grants was for the establishment of the Rebecca L Cooper Laboratories at the Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria.  An early focus of the Foundation has been on schizophrenia research (now headed as Brain Sciences), which to date has received in excess of $2.2 million.

We began to sponsor genetic research in 1991.  This group currently accounts for a large slice of the grant funding, reflecting the increasing number of applications received under this heading.  In 1999 The Foundation granted its first three year PhD scholarship in Schizophrenia research, followed by scholarships in the other categories that are supported.  We now support four such scholarships each year.