Macquarie Group announces five winners for $A50 million philanthropic award to mark its 50th anniversary

Macquarie Group today announced the five winners of the Macquarie 50th Anniversary Award, a $A50 million philanthropic commitment that seeks to initiate or support projects that address an area of unmet social need.

From close to 1,000 applications and an exceptional field of 12 finalists, the winners have been selected to each receive $A10 million to impact millions of lives in meeting social needs in the areas of lifesaving healthcare, protection from devastating diseases, improved social mobility for low-income workers and action to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.

As part of the Award selection criteria, the successful projects have the potential for lasting community benefit and a defined approach to measuring social impact. The projects will be delivered over the next five years, with funding to be released according to an agreed project timeline and a strong sustainability model post the funding period.

The Award, which marks Macquarie Group’s 50th anniversary of operations, supplements the ongoing activity of the Macquarie Group Foundation which, in the year ended 31 March 2019, contributed a record $A31.7 million alongside Macquarie staff to over 1,600 non-profits globally. The Foundation also recorded approximately 53,000 hours of voluntary community service by Macquarie employees.

“The Macquarie 50th Anniversary Award extends the longstanding approach of our Foundation to give back to the communities in which our staff live and work,” said Macquarie Group Chief Executive Officer Shemara Wikramanayake. “The Macquarie Group Foundation’s activities have always been driven by our people, whose involvement in their communities is an important part of our work since inception in 1969.

“We are delighted to work with these organisations over the next five years. Their projects are addressing areas of significant social need and promise meaningful, lasting community benefit.”

Macquarie Group Foundation Chair Mary Reemst said, “These five winners all put forward bold ideas which have the potential to impact millions of lives.”

“I would also like to recognise the calibre of the almost 1,000 original applicants, the 60 semi-finalists and the 12 finalists and the inspirational and quite outstanding proposals they brought to us throughout this process.”

Lisa George, head of the Macquarie Group Foundation said the five Award winners had been through a robust and transparent process that included extensive due diligence, site visits and input from independent experts in each field.

The winners and their nominated projects are:

Last Mile Health (United States)

Project: Sub-Saharan Africa

Community-based primary healthcare for vulnerable and remote populations in sub-Saharan Africa.

Monash University (Australia)

Project: Global

A self-sustaining, cost-effective, biological control solution to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne tropical diseases. The World Mosquito Program’s aim is to protect 100 million people by 2023.

Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (Australia)

Project: Global

The World Scabies Elimination Program’s objective is to eliminate scabies and to alleviate suffering and disability caused by the disease, affecting more than 200 million people worldwide.

Social Finance (United States)

Project: US

Dedicated to mobilising capital to drive social progress, Social Finance aims to unlock $US1 billion of impact investment capital, building the first evergreen investment fund focused on workforce development and helping underskilled and underemployed individuals achieve economic mobility.

The Ocean Cleanup (Netherlands)

Project: Global

Developing advanced technologies to rid the world's oceans of plastic, The Ocean Cleanup plans to remove half of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch every five years after reaching full deployment and a long-term goal of ridding all oceans of 90 per cent of plastic by 2040.