The Solomon Foundation Limited was officially registered as an Australian Public Company, Limited By Guarantee, on 27 March 2017, and its charitable status was achieved on 6 September 2017 when it received its notice of endorsement as a deductible gift recipient and registration as a public benevolent institution.

The foundation was established largely due to the efforts of Founding Chair, Ian Hosking Richards, and David Taylor and Tanya Segelov of Segelov Taylor Lawyers, who very generously provided all their legal services pro bono. Thank you again David and Tanya.

The idea of establishing a charitable foundation came about after Ian became involved with Solomon Islands through a long-standing outreach programme initiated by The Sisters of Charity at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. This wonderful initiative, whose future is sadly now in doubt, has saved many lives over the years, and has forged strong bonds between many Solomon Islanders and Australians. Under this programme, often referred to as the St Vincents 10 bed programme, the hospital provided free medical treatment to Solomon Islanders for whom treatment in country was not available. These patients had a short life expectancy, but if flown to Australia could be treated with relative ease and with a high rate of success, and post-treatment could integrate back into their communities without the need for specialist follow-up or ongoing treatment.

Whilst of great benefit to Solomon Islands, this programme could only ever treat a very small number of patients on an annual basis. For every patient admitted to the programme, many others were left with no options for treatment, and a very short, and bleak future.

One of the key objectives of The Solomon Foundation is to build capacity in the Solomon Islands healthcare system, so that the necessity to send patients overseas for life-saving treatment is diminished. We can do this by providing vital equipment, as well as providing education and ongoing support to health care professionals. The foundation is also keen to initiate public health campaigns that are focussed on prevention, rather than cure. This approach could ultimately have a significant positive effect on the general health of the population, and help to take some of the pressure off an over-burdened healthcare system that struggles to keep up with the many demands of a rapidly growing, geographically dispersed population where lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart disease are becoming ever more prevalent.

Further to healthcare objectives, The Solomon Foundation is keen to support educational initiatives for young people, as well as livelihood opportunities such as microbusinesses, particularly for women and for rural populations.

More recently, The Solomon Foundation has established FOSI (Friends of Solomon Islands), which acts as a platform for key stakeholders to meet on a regular basis in order to network with like-minded individuals and organizations.