The William Fletcher Trust (now the William Fletcher Foundation) was established in 1985 to celebrate the life and to commemorate the work of William Fletcher whose straitened circumstances, ill health and early death cut short his developing talents. In 1988, the Trust awarded its first grants for study to tertiary students of the visual arts. The William Fletcher Trust was incorporated in 2006 as William Fletcher Foundation following a generous bequest. Since 1988, grants totalling over $400,000 have been distributed to over 500 highly talented students of the visual arts, to assist them to continue their studies.
In 2018 the grant was awarded to Eliza Gosse.