President's Report 1998

This is my final report as President of the Australian Flora Foundation. I have now been President for seven years: it is time to put my imagination to new ventures.

The achievements of the last seven years have been considerable: the Foundation is a reputable funding body fostering research into the biology and cultivation of Australian native plants. With considerable effort, we have become recognized as a reliable source of funds for certain types of research projects. We are now in a position to make significant expansions.

In this new phase our annual accounts are likely to be very 'lumpy', by which I mean that the distribution of grant monies is unlikely to fit neatly into the July to June financial year. At the request of researchers, payments may be delayed to fit in with seasonal plant growth or to avoid other commitments. For instance, a project on an endangered orchid in Victoria, approved in the previous round of selections, could not commence until the orchids appeared in spring, so this project does not appear in this report.

Members of the Foundation have enquired about the two accounts reported in these pages:
The "Research Account" is required to be a separate account to comply with the Income Tax Assessment Act: donations which are tax-deductible must go into the account and all expenditure from it must be approved by the Scientific Research Committee of the Foundation. Membership of this Committee must be approved by CSIRO.
The "General Account" of the Foundation receives all other income including membership fees and bequests. I predict that this account will become a large source of research expenditure because your Board keeps administrative costs miniscule.

Total administrative costs were under $1,600. I thank members of the Board for their voluntary efforts and the School of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University for making facilities available.

The Foundation has a number of loyal donors. Since June 1997. substantial donations, of $150 or more, have been received from the Australian Plants Society (NSW Region), Mackay Branch of the Society for Growing Australian Plants, Maroondah Group of SGAP, Robert Read, M.L. Reed, W.E. Reed, Diana and Brian Snape, J.H. Valder, A. Wheeler, R.R. Williams and T.J. Wood My thanks to all these people and the community groups and to many others for their continued support.

Malcolm Reed, President.