What We Do

The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation which supports medical research at The Prince Charles Hospital in Chermside, Brisbane. It was established in 1986 under the Hospital Foundations Act (1982).

We are a health promotion charity and donations over two dollars are tax deductible.

The Foundation is administered by a voluntary Board appointed by the Health Minister which receives advice and guidance from a number of specialist Committees. 

Through the research grants program, The Foundation provides around $1 million annually to medical researchers, primarily in the specialist areas of the hospital. A major focus of the grants is to provide ‘seed’ funding, enabling researchers to develop their projects. The aim is to give researchers the opportunity to expand projects to the stage that they can further seek substantial funding from other sources.

All medical research funded by The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation must be undertaken principally at, or in conjunction with medical, nursing or technical staff at The Prince Charles Hospital. Researchers apply to the Foundation for a research grant and each application is assessed by the Foundation’s highly qualified Research Committee, together with independent assessors, who are considered experts in the particular field of the applicant’s research. 

The Foundation also has an ancillary Trust Fund to raise funds for equipment and other areas of need within the hospital that were not directly related to research but still of significant benefit to patients of the hospital. 

Since we began, The Foundation has allocated more than $10 million to medical research, most of it in the past five years. In 2010, we introduced funding programs for novice researchers and research equipment. Research grants are funded by donations, bequests and fundraising activities.

The Foundation operates The Breeze Café and catering service to offset administrative costs. Through the café and our office, we sell merchandise, Christmas cards and embroidered polo shirts for Hospital staff.

A major annual fundraising activity each year is the Strawberry Sundae stalls at the Ekka. We rely on more than 1000 dedicated volunteers to help us operate four sundae stalls over 10 days. If you'd like to help out at the Ekka, call us on 07 3139 4636 to register or send an email with your contact details. We also run an annual charity golf day at Virginia Golf Club, as well as various raffles throughout the year. Twice a year we run a mail campaign.

Our Vital Steps newsletter is currently produced twice a year and provides updates on research and stories about the real people who have benefited from our research funding.