Macquarie Group Foundation: Future grantmaking strategy
Everyone living in Australia should be able to participate in the community and economy in a way that is fulfilling to them. However, youth unemployment and underemployment are persistent issues both in Australia and around the world, depriving young people of opportunities for income and meaningful engagement in the workforce, and our economy of the skills they might contribute.
The Macquarie Group Foundation (MGF) has a focus on improving employment outcomes for young people. MGF reached out to SVA Consulting for support to determine how their grants program could be most effective at supporting improved employment outcomes for young people in Australia.
The project
SVA Consulting was engaged by MGF to prepare a research report collating evidence on ‘what works’ to improve employment outcomes for young people, and to support MGF to develop their grantmaking strategy for Australia.
The objective
To develop an evidence-informed grantmaking strategy that would support MGF to maximise its impact for youth employment in Australia.
The role we played
Research report on ‘what works’
SVA Consulting collated a range of sources to support the research. This included academic literature and publications by key sector organisations, research institutes, think tanks and relevant government entities (including National Youth Commission Australia (NYCA), Centre for Social Impact (CSI), Per Capita, Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and Productivity Commission). We also conducted interviews with a small number of sector stakeholders to expand on and fill gaps in available research. The resulting report brought together a clear picture of the current state of youth employment in Australia, what has (and has not) worked to improve employment outcomes for young people, and where more focus is needed.
The research demonstrated clear opportunities for MGF to play a role in unlocking innovation and collaboration to support improved outcomes for young people, and provided a solid foundation for the strategy.
Support to develop MGF’s grantmaking strategy
SVA Consulting supported MGF through a series of strategy workshops to align on its future purpose, focus, principles and initiatives related to the grantmaking program. The strategy process centred around the prior research and evidence, with a view to maximising MGF’s potential impact.
The resulting strategy was launched in May 2021 and will guide MGF’s ongoing grantmaking activities.
Project impact
The work has helped to create an evidence-informed strategy for future grantmaking, creating a framework to enable future funding allocations to go to those programs and organisations that have the greatest potential for impact. Equally important, it has helped to set the foundation for stronger collaboration and genuine partnership around ‘what works’ to improve outcomes for young people.
Read the report
Learn about the project
