By 2005, Sue was a recognisable figure in many select circles, particularly in politics, business and sport. As her influence grew, Sue’s advocacy and financial contributions expanded, both within the world of diabetes and into other fields of science and different sectors altogether.
Sue says she had a philanthropic attitude drummed into her from a young age: ‘When I was very young, we had very little in the way of extras at home. We were happy but life was pretty basic. The priorities were strict discipline and a good education. We always had food on the table but I was constantly made aware of the needs of others by both of my parents’. These values were echoed at school, with Sue given a Catholic education at both the primary and secondary levels. In addition, Sue’s father volunteered for the St Vincent de Paul Society for more than fifty years, which had a lifelong impact on his daughter. Sue firmly believes that charitable deeds start at home during the formative years: ‘If we can create a culture of giving early on in the lives of our children, then it will come naturally later on in life’.
Sue says philanthropy is as much a part of her daily commitments as her business interests and passion for football: ‘I believe that if you want to make a difference, you need to get involved in a cause that you have a personal connection with’. She says the feeling you experience when even a very minor breakthrough occurs is almost indescribable: ‘I know from experience with making the large donation to St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research for the islet transplantation program. It wasn’t just me, of course. It involved collaboration with other researchers and institutions around Australia. But we were able to help eighteen people with type 1 diabetes to live insulin-free. It was an amazing feeling’.
Being involved in causes close to her heart was fundamental to Sue’s early interest in Victoria University (VU), which has flourished from its roots in Footscray Technical College and a number of other institutions. Sue has been a long-time champion of Melbourne’s western suburbs through her experience as a child and her father’s connection to the community. She also has a strong belief in promoting lifelong learning opportunities thanks to the very positive memories of her own education at Siena College, to which she remains firmly connected, acting as a patron and contributing to school programs. For these reasons, Sue found that VU’s dual-sector status—higher education and technical education—and its dedicated focus on Melbourne’s west was a natural fit.
It has been well documented that the population in Melbourne’s west faces greater health, economic and social challenges than other parts of the city, and Australia more broadly. Although the area’s health and education profiles have improved with time, it has nonetheless been subject to a long history of disadvantage and lack of resources. So VU has sought philanthropic support to help tackle these issues, including halting the growing impact of chronic disease.
Gus Nossal provides an insight into the culture of the western suburbs from early in his medical career: ‘Footscray was very much a working-class suburb. There was no gentrification at all at that time. I worked as a locum near the football ground and I learned a lot from those people’. As a young medical student hailing from Melbourne’s affluent eastern suburbs, Gus admits, ‘In one’s ordinary life, you may not have a lot of contact with working-class people, and it was very important to me that I experience a wider cross-section of the community than I would in my professional life. I really loved working with the patients there, which included a lot of pensioners. They responded so well to someone taking an interest in them. I got a lot of very positive feedback by way of warmth and general friendliness. I loved working in Footscray and I learned that people are smart, they are good and they’re very hardworking’.
This matches Sue’s personal ethos and her own upbringing in a less-salubrious part of the eastern suburbs. She says, ‘I know what it’s like for kids in these areas. They need help, they need support and they need opportunity’.
The VU promotes itself as being dedicated to its primary student catchment, in these words: ‘As the University of Opportunity and Success, we provide educational opportunities for the many, not the few, and help students fulfil their potential by removing barriers to education and providing the best learning facilities. We also work with local partners on community initiatives to improve community health and education’. The university also acknowledges that higher levels of education correspond to better health outcomes, and that where people live has a significant impact on their health. Sue was seen as the ideal patron by the team at VU, who believe that philanthropic support in public health contributes to healthy lives for those in the west.
Campbell Rose, then CEO of the Western Bulldogs, was the one who saw the synergies between Sue’s philosophy and that of the university, and provided her with the first link to the institution. In 2002, Sue was introduced to its then vice-chancellor, Liz Harman, and the two women clicked immediately. Through Campbell, Sue and Liz, a marriage of sport, education and opportunity became an enduring relationship. The Western Bulldogs Football Club and VU worked in partnership to create the Sport and Recreation Learning Centre at the VU Whitten Oval and develop a training program to help young people complete secondary school.
Sue’s formal involvement started in 2008, as a member of the VU Foundation board and as a contributor to a range of scholarships. She explains, ‘I’m a long-time donor to the achievement scholarships. These go to students from the west of Melbourne and they include opportunities at both university and TAFE. The motto “University of Opportunity and Success” is very much an ethos that resonates with my own values, social intentions and approach to life’.
Liz Harman well remembers the positive effect of Sue applying those values to a clear purpose: ‘As a major benefactor at VU, Sue was absolutely an influence-maker, both in terms of ideas, networking and persuasion, and in demonstration—putting her money where her mouth is’. Liz says Sue inspired her to give at the local community level, at the same time extending the impact of philanthropy beyond Australia’s shores. She says it was ‘through Sue’s vision of what is worthwhile in life, and the ability to show the sort of generosity that she does, that my husband and I set up a small scholarship fund in the school that I attended in New Zealand. It’s a public school in a poor region in north Auckland, where my mother, my aunt and their girls attended. No private benefactor had ever approached the school to put money on the table. We wanted to support girls who graduate to go on to further education, so Frank and I set up a small trust fund and now there are four scholarship girls who receive a few thousand dollars while they are at university’. Liz adds that ‘those people in New Zealand would have no idea of the direct effect of Sue Alberti on their lives. It’s a ripple effect’.
Chancellor George Pappas was delighted to offer Sue the chair of the VU Foundation in 2015. ‘The impact on the people around her was immediate’, says George, who describes Sue as very generous with both her money and her time. As an insight into Sue’s manner in the boardroom, George admits he always gives it a lot of thought before he takes Sue on in meetings, which he does on occasion: ‘Yes, we have robust discussions, but only when I have full knowledge and all the appropriate facts. And not over trivial things. Sue will always listen. She might argue, but she always listens’.
George says that tertiary institutions are becoming increasingly reliant on philanthropy, particularly when it comes to buildings and major programs: ‘Perhaps I look through rose-coloured glasses, but I have noted that there is more and more philanthropy visible in higher education. There was a very small amount fifteen years ago, but since then there have been some really big donations to universities’. This is a very good thing, says George: ‘Universities need donors because it’s pretty clear we’re not getting any more from government and we’re probably getting to saturation level as far as overseas students are concerned’. He adds: ‘The University of Melbourne has raised $650 million and is aiming for $1 billion over a number of years. We’re just getting started at VU but the need is definitely there. We have to pay for our higher education somehow’.
George emphasises that philanthropy is still just the icing on the cake in financial terms, rather than the self-raising flour that lifts the cake in the first place. But he chuckles as he remembers how, at the VU Centenary Dinner in 2016, Sue pledged $1 million to the university’s foundation: ‘We were sitting at dinner and she was sitting opposite me and Sue suddenly started mouthing to me across the table, “A million dollars”, and pointing to herself. She is passionate about scholarships—she didn’t go to university herself. We knew she was going to make a donation, but we hadn’t discussed the amount or the purpose’.
George describes how, after he announced Sue’s gift, other leaders at the university reached into their own pockets and ‘put their money on the table’, including himself: ‘The vice-chancellor and I also made donations to scholarships at the VU. We see our role as adding great value to students who couldn’t afford to go to university. And we are hoping others will follow’.
George Pappas then makes an astute observation: ‘Sue’s obviously been greatly affected by her only child’s health. What a huge personal tragedy to discover Danielle had type 1 diabetes and, despite Sue doing everything she could, her daughter died. Some people could well become almost recluses because of something like that, shut off from the world. Sue did the opposite’.