Macquarie Group Foundation | 2024 Annual Review
Recognising that many people around the world face systemic barriers to employment, the Foundation uses a range of tools, including grants and social impact investments, to support organisations helping to break down these barriers and build effective pathways to employment.
In addition to our funding, our people volunteer in mentoring, training, and employability programs, as well as provide pro bono support to our grant and social impact investment partners.
In FY2024, the Foundation provided $A13.4 million in philanthropic and impact investment funding to 54 employment-focused partners. Our existing employment focused partners reported supporting 1,300 people into jobs, with a total of 21,000 people supported through training, skilling and employment programs. We are proud to support our partners' work with job seekers and employers, which can help change the trajectory of people's lives.
Courtney Lollback (second from left) and James Gardner (fourth from left) pictured with the Macquarie Group Foundation and GIF Investment pro bono team in London.
Every social impact investment we have made utilises knowledge and expertise from across Macquarie. We collaborate with colleagues around the world who conduct due diligence, including impact, commercial and risk considerations.
During FY2024, Courtney Lollback and James Gardner from Macquarie Asset Management and our Legal and Governance Group provided their expertise to review Macquarie’s social impact investment in the UK’s Growth Impact Fund (GIF), which was announced in October 2023. “The GIF transaction was brilliant in many ways. It’s been helpful from a professional perspective, great to work with different people and to be running towards something that feels purposeful and tangible.” said James
The opportunity to work alongside the Foundation on commercial and financial due diligence of the GIF investment was a highlight of my year. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the chance to put my skills to use to help create positive social change.”
Courtney Lollback
Macquarie Asset Management
Camille Andrada (first from the left, front row) volunteering at the Fair Training Center in Manila.
Across Asia there are several working groups made up of passionate employees who come together to support a non-profit organisation.
In Manila, one working group supports the Fair Training Center (FTC), one of several organisations overseen by Fair Employment Foundation, a grant partner that focuses on ending the forced labour of migrant workers by transforming the migrant recruitment system in Asia. The group has organised fundraising and volunteering throughout the year for FTC and recently collaborated with a local designer to help FTC revamp its video training materials.
Being part of a group of volunteers focused on creating better migration outcomes for migrant workers is a meaningful way to make a difference. I’ve taken volunteer leave and sought matching from the Foundation to further contribute to FTC, so I’m grateful that Macquarie supports me to give back in this way.”
Camille Andrada
Corporate Operations Group
Asia grant partner convening Hong Kong, 2023
The Foundation convenes our grant partners in each region, creating an opportunity for networking, learning and professional development among our portfolio of employment focused grant partners.
Our grant partners help build the agenda for these dynamic sessions to maximise the learning outcomes for everyone, including our Foundation team.
Consistent feedback we receive from our grant partners is that the sessions provide a unique way to share ideas, collaborate and troubleshoot with sector peers and build networks.
The Macquarie Group Foundation gathered the CEOs from their its non-profit grant partners to share insights around our common focus - supporting people facing barriers into employment.
The session was beneficial in many ways, not least because we were able to leverage the experience of some of the partners, who shared insights into a specific funder that we were preparing to apply to. Six months later our application was successful and we secured a six-figure long term grant. I feel this success can be, in part, attributed to the help we gained from that day”
Fatène Ben-Hamza,
CEO, Generation France
Foundation grant partner
Meet some of our new or renewed grant partners in FY2024.
World YMCA's mission is to empower young people and communities worldwide to build a just, sustainable, equitable and inclusive world, where every person can thrive in body, mind and spirit.
Our grant funding is supporting pilot interventions that use digital solutions and innovative financing to move historically underserved young people beyond skilling and into work.
America Needs You serves low-income, first-generation college students to achieve economic mobility. Our third multi-year grant for this partner is supporting the continued scaling of the Fellows Program (with the goal of doubling enrollment) and allow for the expansion of ANY’s FirstGenU pilot online offering which began during the pandemic.
America Needs You fellows participated in Macquarie’s first ever Racial Equity Fund externship, designed to expose students that have been historically underrepresented in the financial services sector. Nearly 50 college sophomores in Houston and New York completed the externship.
The Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation (LMCF) addresses various social and environmental issues through cross-sector collaboration, innovation, and a long-term approach to change. Our funding contributed to the establishment of a pooled philanthropic fund, managed by LMCF, that supports work integrated social enterprises employing young people who face barriers to mainstream jobs.
One of the grant recipients, HoMie, is a Melbourne-based streetwear clothing brand that supports young people who have experienced homelessness or hardship by equipping them with the skills and confidence to be work-ready and better prepared for the future.
The Majurity Trust is a philanthropic organisation that works with donors and social impact partners to build a thriving and sustainable community for all in Singapore.
Our funding is supporting the expansion of a pooled fund to include migrant domestic workers (MDWs), focusing on advancing research and capacity building to better tailor programs for these workers and their dependents.
Telemaque aims to increase social mobility for vulnerable young people in France through supportive programming to help young people reach their full potential.
Our funding is supporting the Telemaque Pro program, providing mentoring, collective workshops, and financial support to over 500 young people. It has also funded the employment of a full-time mentoring officer.
A meeting between World YMCA and Macquarie Group Foundation. Left to right: Olivia McDonald, Alex Harvey, Lisa George, Carlos Madjri Sanvee (World YMCA), Lauren O’Shaughnessy, Jan Owen (World YMCA), Susan Clear and Caroline Chernov (World YMCA).
Image supplied by Homie, a recipient of LMCF’s pooled philanthropic fund supporting work integrated social enterprises
Macquarie volunteers at Asha India Foundation, a Macquarie Group Foundation grant partner.
Across Asia we support 15 grant partners helping to break down barriers to employment for migrant workers. Seven of these partners are located and work in India including The Don Bosco Network, which in addition to Foundation funding, receives support from a dedicated working group of volunteers.
In FY2024, the Foundation invested in the Growth Impact Fund and Pursuit, joining Good Return and White Box Enterprises in our global social impact investment portfolio.
| Headquarters | London, UK |
|---|---|
| Reach | United Kingdom |
| Overview The Growth Impact Fund (GIF) provides patient and flexible capital to social purpose organisations (SPOs) founded by individuals from marginalised communities in the UK. By 2025, GIF aims to provide wraparound support to around 100 SPOs, to invest in around 60 of these, and provide greater access to capital to businesses supporting people in communities experiencing acute poverty, inequality and marginalisation. Macquarie’s $A2.8 million (£1.5 million) investment represents the first institutional capital into the investment layer, helping signal investment-readiness to encourage the ‘crowding in’ of other similar investors. |
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| Website | Growth Impact Fund |
| Headquarters | New York, USA |
|---|---|
| Reach | USA |
| Overview Pursuit seeks to equip selected low-income individuals, including those without a college education, with technical and leadership skills to secure and excel in long-term careers as software engineers at Tier-1 companies. Pursuit’s ‘Commit’ program provides three years of post-hire support for individuals transitioning to software engineering roles at Tier-1 companies. Our investment provides mission-aligned working capital, alongside four US-based impact investors, to support sales and program delivery expenses required to scale Pursuit’s Commit program, targeting 1,100 Fellows supported in five years. This social impact investment was accompanied by a philanthropic grant to Pursuit’s Core program, a one-year software engineering program designed to train high-potential individuals to become software developers. |
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| Website | Pursuit Commit |
Image supplied by Growth Impact Fund which provides patient and flexible capital to social purpose organisations founded by individuals from marginalised communities in the UK.
Aspiring software engineers from Pursuit at Macquarie’s 2024 Mentoring Week in New York, where employees lead panel discussions, networking and knowledge sharing about their careers in the financial services industry.
