Our focus on the communities where Macquarie staff live and work helps to maximise our social impact by leveraging our staff time, expertise and networks as well as providing funding together with our staff. We have supported more than 3,500 community organisations around the world in this way since our inception in 1985 and in FY2017, together with our staff, we passed the milestone contribution figure of $A300 million1.
During the year, $A29.4 million was donated to more than 1,350 non-profits around the world by staff and the Foundation, while more than 50,000 hours of voluntary community service, including pro bono work and community board positions, was contributed.
In addition to matching donations by our staff, initiatives such as the annual Staff in the Community $A10,000 Awards and Foundation Week - a period in October where non-profits receive 'double-matching' of amounts raised up to $A5,000 by Macquarie teams as well as the opportunity to receive $A500 grants if volunteering takes place - demonstrate Macquarie's support for employee community engagement.
Reflecting diverse staff interests, more than $A2 million was distributed to multiple organisations around the world following a range of events held during the 2016 Foundation Week.
We also recognise the pro bono and leadership role staff play when serving on non-profit boards by making $A10,000 donations to those organisations. More than 200 employees give back to the community sector in this way. In New York, London, Sydney and Hong Kong we also further this engagement by formally training and helping recruit Macquarie staff onto the boards of social sector organisations.
In addition to the 70 capacity building and collaboration grants underway in FY2017, nine new grants were approved through the Foundation's quarterly funding approval process. These organisations included charities working to address modern slavery in Asia, homelessness in the UK and internationally, crowdfunding in Australia and early childhood intervention in the US. Scroll through the report to learn more about Macquarie’s grant partnerships around the world.
The biennial Macquarie David Clarke Social Innovation Fellowships, offered in Australia, Hong Kong, the UK and select US cities, were announced in the latter quarter of 2016. These fellowships provide $A20,000 or equivalent for non-profit CEOs to cover airfares, accommodation and other costs associated with an international trip/s to visit and research best practice social innovation in their field.
During the year, the Foundation undertook a review of its strategic goals. Our focus areas for 2017-2019 are to:
We anticipate the successful execution of these goals will deepen the impact of Macquarie’s philanthropic work amongst its community partners and more generally.
