Steve Ashton and his wife Ro Nixon have established a philanthropic bequest to support architecture, medical research and the environment. Steve always thought that the business skills developed in his Graduate Diploma of Business Administration at Swinburne contributed greatly to the success of his firm, ARM Architecture.

In particular, the bequest will support the professional development of young architects through the provision of scholarships, to pursue training in business and related fields.

The Steve Ashton Scholarship at RMIT supports study towards graduate certificates, diplomas and degrees in business management, leadership and human resources.

The Ashton Nixon Scholarship at Monash University supports Monash art, architectural and design graduates to study an MBA at Monash.

A new addition, the Steve Ashton Scholarship for the Architectural
Profession at Swinburne University of Technology will support eligible
students each year studying either a vocational education or postgraduate
level qualification in an aligned business and/or management
specialisation at Swinburne.

The bequest is part of a public ancillary fund (the Australian Philanthropic Services Foundation ABN 38 981 887 768), which means anyone can contribute to the bequest and their contribution is completely tax deductible.