In 1889, a newly formed Grand Lodge and a single generous act laid the seed for what would become the Freemasons Foundation Victoria (FFV). Today, FFV has distributed more than $21.3 million across more than 3,400 grants valued at $68 million - but the story of how it got here is worth telling.

Tim Conolan founded the TLC for Kids charity in 1998, after hearing that really sick children were falling through the gaps of existing...