Recognising that many people around the world face systemic barriers to employment, the Macquarie Group Foundation’s grantmaking focuses on breaking down these barriers and building pathways to greater economic security.
In Asia, we support non-profit organisations that empower young people (15-24 years), women, and underserved minorities into employment. Guided by our grantmaking framework, we prioritise organisations and initiatives that work to address one or more of the following challenges:
mismatch in skills, education and employers’ expectations
quality and accessibility of education
barriers faced by vulnerable groups due to digitalisation
migration and mobility risks
For those organisations that align with our grantmaking framework, a key consideration will be whether lived experience of the beneficiary community is embedded within the organisation.
We are now accepting expressions of interest (EOIs) for multi-year grant funding.
For this round of grantmaking, we are accepting EOIs from organisations registered and operating in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines (Manila only).
Eligible non-profits that align with our grantmaking framework and are registered and operating in Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila are now invited to submit an EOI until Thursday 24 April 2025, HKT/SGT/PHT 9:59pm.
We acknowledge the time and effort non-profits put into grant applications and, as part of our efforts to make our grantmaking more equitable, we have tried to make this process as straightforward as possible.
1. Review your eligibility: Check whether your organisation is eligible to apply by reviewing the eligibility criteria outlined in the FAQs.
2. Create a Versaic account: We are accepting EOIs via our grant management platform, Versaic. To get started, select the ‘Submit your EOI’ button below, then follow the prompts to create an account on Versaic.
3. Submit your EOI: Once you have completed the eligibility and EOI questions, select the ‘submit’ button at the end of the EOI form. You will then receive an email from Versaic confirming your submission was received. You won’t be able to make any further changes at this point. A copy of your EOI responses will be saved in your Versaic account, where you can also download a copy for your records.
If you would like to submit an EOI for a Macquarie Group Foundation grant in Asia, please create an account in our grant management platform Versaic, answer the eligibility and EOI questions and submit by the deadline.
| Action | Details | When |
|---|---|---|
| EOI submission | EOIs open | Monday 24 March 2025, 6am HKT/SGT/PH |
| EOIs close | Thursday 24 April 2025, 9:59pm HKT/SGT/PH | |
| EOI review | EOI review period will involve multiple reviewers and a consistent reviewing methodology to reduce bias. All organisations will be notified of their EOIs status via email, with successful organisations moving to the shortlist. | May - July 2025 |
| The shortlist process involves gathering additional information from shortlisted organisations. This may include a virtual call with the Macquarie Group Foundation grantmaking team to better understand your work. All shortlisted organisations will be notified of their status via email, with successful organisations moving to grant application. | ||
| Grant application prepared | The Macquarie Group Foundation grantmaking team will work alongside successful organisations to develop their grant application. | August - October 2025 |
| Grant consideration | Grant applications will be reviewed by the relevant Macquarie Group Foundation grantmaking committee and successful recipients will be advised. | November - December 2025 |
| Funding dispersed | Grant funds disbursed | By March 2026 |
The minimum requirement is that an organisation is a registered charity in the market(s) that it is operating in.
Only organisations registered and operating in the local markets of Singapore, Hong Kong, and/or the Philippines (Manila only) are eligible to be considered for this round of grant funding in Asia.
Applying organisations must confirm they align with our grantmaking framework. Within that, the following types of organisations are excluded:
houses of worship or strictly religious organisations
educational institutions (other than universities)
political organisations
professional associations
sporting groups (except via Macquarie Sports grants)
organisations funding military activities
media outlets
private and corporate foundations
We will preference EOIs from organisations who can clearly demonstrate a greater focus on young people (15 to 24 years old), women, underserved minorities (e.g. people from low socio-economic, diverse cultural background or living with a disability) and who have clear alignment to our grantmaking framework.
We have approximately $A1.8 million for allocation by the end of March 2026.
We expect to support up to eight organisations from Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines (Manila only) through this funding, with individual grant amounts ranging between $A150,000 - $A400,000. All approved grant applicants will then have an equivalent amount pledged for FY27 and potentially FY28 also.
We will not ask you to specify an amount in the EOI. Instead, we will assess the request for funding against other requests to determine the approximate grant amount we are able to provide in the context of our overall grant portfolio.
Yes.
There are no other EOIs confirmed at this stage.
EOIs will be assessed by several reviewers from the Macquarie Group grantmaking team against a consistent reviewing methodology to reduce bias.
We will preference EOIs from organisations that best align with our grantmaking framework. For those organisations that do align well, a consideration will be whether the organisations are reflective of the identities and lived experience of the community they are trying to serve.
No. We will only consider one EOI per organisation.
Please add noreply@system.versaic.com to your safe sender list to ensure you receive communication from our team regarding the outcome of your EOI.
Yes, you are encouraged to regularly save your EOI responses prior to submission. Please note, the period of inactivity before you are timed out is 20 minutes, so please save your form regularly. Once you click the ‘submit’ button you will not be able to make any further changes.
Yes, you can view the questions you will be asked during the EOI process here.
We will only consider EOIs submitted via our grant management platform Versaic and these need to be submitted by the deadline.
The EOI is a two-page form which has been designed to capture the minimum amount of information required for the Macquarie Group grantmaking team to assess alignment with our grantmaking framework. To continue to improve and refine our approach, we encourage you to share your feedback on the EOI process via the comments box at the end of the EOI form.
Please email foundation@macquarie.com with any queries (there may be a delay in response if there is a high volume of correspondence).
We will update our FAQ section with additional information for recurring queries, so please check back as appropriate.
Please note that to be fair to all applicants, we will not be able to provide individual feedback or review your EOI ahead of the submission deadline.
We know feedback is helpful for organisations wanting to understand why their request for funding was unsuccessful. We will aim to share general insights and provide feedback where possible.
Personal or organisational details provided in this EOI form will only be available to the Macquarie Group Foundation team.
We are unable to re-assess EOIs.
