About

Background and History

The Bryan Foundation is the Bryan Family Group’s philanthropic fund.

The Foundation adopts a low public profile, but believes it is important to share its activities to encourage other Australian families to consider establishing their own philanthropic funds.

The Bryan Foundation was established in 2009 by Queensland-based Bob Bryan AM and Kay Bryan, to provide a means of giving back to the community and creating a perpetual family legacy.

Bob is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who has had a long and successful career in the mining, investments and property sectors.

Since its inception, the Foundation has donated over AUD$28.4 million and as at 30 June 2023, has a corpus capital of approximately AUD$47 million.

The Foundation’s core focus centres on empowering young Queenslanders through education.

Its specific focus is geared towards organisations whose education and training programs creatively address the challenges faced by vulnerable young Queenslanders, with a particular focus on early childhood education.

As a Private Ancillary Fund (PAF), The Bryan Foundation can only support organisations that have Deductible Gift Recipient status (DGR 1).

Download a background summary about The Bryan Foundation here.


Our Vision

The Bryan Foundation’s vision is to support and empower young Queenslanders to change their lives through meaningful education. The Foundation supports organisations whose education and training programs creatively address the challenges of vulnerable young Queenslanders, with a particular focus on early childhood education.  

Our Values

equity / creativity / empowerment / sustainability / compassion / collaboration


The Board

Jill Simes - Chair

Jill Simes - Chair

Jill’s experience in education saw her teach in rural and remote Queensland, in addition to a number of larger metropolitan schools. Since becoming Executive Chair of the Board, Jill has become the driving force behind The Bryan Foundation’s educational focus and is committed to empowering young people through education.

Matthew Cox - Executive Director

Matthew Cox - Executive Director

Matthew joined The Bryan Foundation in February 2022 following six years as founding Executive Director of one of Australia’s largest child development programs, Logan Together. Widely regarded for pioneering the use of collective impact approaches to make large-scale community change, Matthew established Logan Together after spending over a decade leading the Red Cross’ human services program in Queensland. He currently serves on the boards of several child development programs and social change initiatives around Australia and is also Co-chair of the Early Years Initiative in Western Australia. 

Michael Taylor - Director

Michael Taylor - Director

Michael has worked closely with the Bryan family’s business interests for over 13 years. He is also Investment Manager and Company Secretary of The Bryan Foundation in addition to his role as Managing Director of Bryan Family Group. Michael has extensive experience in financial management across a range of sectors including corporate strategy, philanthropy, finance reporting, property investment and governance.

Kay Bryan - Director

Sally Smith - Director

Professor Scott Bryan - Director

Katie Smith - Director

Meg Simes - Director

James Smith - Director

Chris Titley - Director

Annie Simes - Director