The Australian Brain Bank Network (ABBN) was established in 2005 with enabling grant funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, allowing integration of the network by provision of dedicated staffing and infrastructure. Unfortunately this important funding ceased at the end of 2014, placing financial strain on individual brain banks. Although we will continue to operate into the near future, the outlook for individual brain banks without other means of financial support will be jeopardised. In the meantime, we remain dedicated to our brain donors and their families and will strive to support their wishes. Similarly, we remain optimistic in our abilities to enable world-class medical research by supplying high quality tissue samples to scientists.