2021: The Ashton-Nixon bequest supported the Bob Brown Foundation again, particularly in its efforts to protect the takayna Tarkine region.
2021: The Ashton-Nixon Bequest supported the Magnetic Island Nature Care Association(MINCA) in its purchase of Claude’s Block, which is adjacent to the Bolger Bay Conservation Park managed by MINCA.
2020-21: The Ashton-Nixon Bequest supported the revamping of an unloved courtyard at Gippsland Grammar School which was named Ashton Court, in honour of Steve and his parents. Stuart (architect) and Jean Ashton (chemist and science teacher) supported the school in many ways, including fundraising, relief teaching and architectural design. The landscape architects were Rush Wright Associates who have worked closely with ARM over many years.
2018: The Ashton-Nixon Bequest supported the Magnetic island Nature Care Association in 2018. One of the aims of this grant was to support a feasibility study to provide a new walking track alongside a section of the Arcadia-Horseshoe Bay Road, to increase the safety of walkers and cyclists. Steve and Ro have had a long association with Magnetic Island.
2017: The Ashton-Nixon Bequest supported the Bob Brown Foundation in 2017. Steve and Ro met Bob in the Tarkine in 2013 and subsequently met in Hobart in 2015.
