Macquarie Group Foundation
The Macquarie Opportunity Fund supports non-profit organisations advancing solutions that promote a more equitable and just society for all people in the Americas.
Launched in July 2020, the Opportunity Fund is committed to supporting direct relief programs, research and policy, education and economic equity initiatives that promote racial equity through our people and grant making.
To date, 17 grants have been awarded to non-profits advancing racial equity at the national and local level, including in Houston, Texas, Jacksonville, Florida, New York, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Four of these grants are for funding multi-year programs: Bullard Center for Environmental & Climate Justice, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Robin Hood Foundation and YWCA.
Our staff are also empowered to be catalysts for change with the Opportunity Fund through our People’s Choice Grants. Staff nominate and vote for additional non-profit organisations to receive one-year, unrestricted grants for their racial justice programs. The Opportunity Fund is driven by Macquarie in the Americas, in partnership with the Macquarie Group Foundation and a cross-Group employee-led committee.
In this video, hear from Dr Robert D. Bullard, Founding Director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, and employees from the Macquarie Group Foundation on how our grant is being used to fund the new HBCU (Historically Black College and University) Environmental Justice and Climate Corps (GreenCorps) at Texas Southern University.
Bullard Center for Environmental & Climate Justice The Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University was launched to address longstanding issues of systemic inequality and structural racism that cause disproportionate pain, suffering and death in Black and other people of color communities. Our funding will be used to fund a new historically black college or university (HSBU) EJ Climate Corps at Texas Southern University. The program will equip young people with the tools they need to become the next generation of leaders and educate them on climate change and its impact on communities of color. |
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) The REF is supporting LISC to expand their work building safety and justice alliances and facilitating neighbourhood revitalisation projects in Jacksonville, Florida and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This project will improve neighbourhood safety, increasing opportunity, and building authentic community-law enforcement relationships to reduce over-policing in specific neighbourhoods. |
Launched in 2021, The Opportunity Fund People’s Choice Grants (PCG) award one-year, unrestricted grants to staff selected organisations.
5000 Role Models of Excellence Project The 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project is a dropout prevention, mentoring program in Duval county Florida committed to closing the minority male achievement (access) gap by guiding minority male students along a carefully charted path through grades K-12 and college or ensuring the attainment of other post-secondary credentials, and increasing their employability in higher wage, high skills jobs within high demand industries. |
College & Community Fellowship For the more than 70 million people in the U.S. with a criminal conviction, traditional college and career pathways are often disrupted due to incarceration, structural inequity, and systemic racial and gender bias. or over 20 years, CCF has supported women with criminal justice involvement while obtaining college degrees and leadership skills that promote self-efficacy and civic engagement. Because of CCF’s work, higher education is now considered one of the most cost-effective means to improve one’s quality of life in reentry. |
Harlem Wellness Center Harlem Wellness Center strengthens communities through health justice and racial healing. Born in 2003, when a circle of friends in Harlem asked founder Vivian Kurutz to teach them yoga. Over the next decade, she developed a series of popular yoga classes and pioneered an expanding array of healthy living workshops for Harlem residents. With her leadership and passion for health equity, HWC has evolved into a dynamic, diverse, and close-knit community devoted to creating a city-wide, grassroots movement for health equity, racial healing, and healthy communities. |
Project EATS Project EATS is a living installation transforming vacant lots and rooftops into neighborhood-based food supporting farm stands, pantries, prepared food, art programs, and community programs to catalyze creativity and cultivate greater food sovereignty across New York City. Project EATS end goal is to increase the well-being of individuals and to improve the social, economic, and cultural viability of their communities by providing food and wellness-oriented workshops, community meals and events, and “food-as-medicine” programs to support people’s efforts to live healthier lives. |
Asian American Arts Alliance The Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to ensuring greater representation, equity and opportunities for Asian American artists and cultural organisations through resource sharing, promotion and community building. A4 is the only service organisation in the United States dedicated to the professional development of Asian American artists in all disciplines. |
Clarifi Founded over 50 years ago, Clarifi has helped more than 750,000 families throughout Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley to reach their financial goals. The organisation’s mission is to empower individuals to achieve financial resilience and positively impact their communities. |
Getting Out and Staying Out Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO) partners with people impacted by arrest and incarceration on a journey of education, employment and emotional wellbeing and collaborates with communities in New York City to support a culture of nonviolence. GOSO envisions a world where neither a person’s race nor contact with the legal system determines their future. |
Ones Up Ones Up is working to build economic mobility in Black and brown communities through a career development program rooted in healing, wellness and social justice, designed for youth aged 16-24. Ones Up fights economic barriers for Black and brown youth most heavily impacted by poverty and systemic injustices in North Philadelphia. |
Black & Brown Founders Black & Brown Founders provides community, education, and access to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, allowing them to launch and build tech businesses with modest resources. They believe that profitability is more important than fundability, because it ensures that Black & Brown founders have options as they grow. Their work is advancing racial equity in technology entrepreneurship and changing how ecosystems think about startups. |
Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy works to inspire future generations and preserve the historic legacy of the area in Houston’s Fourth Ward that was settled by African Americans shortly after Juneteenth. Through community education and land protection, Houston Freedmen’s Town is advancing towards their vision of establishing a global heritage district that transform society’s understanding of Emancipation and freedom. |
Stop AAPI Hate Launched in March 2022 in response to the increase in violence reported against Asian American communities, Stop AAPI Hate works to advance equity, justice and power by dismantling systemic racism and building a multiracial movement to end anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate. To achieve this, Stop AAPI Hate partners with local organization across AAPI communities to drive change, gather data to make the case for change and raise awareness of the issues surrounding AAPI hate. Their approach recognizes that in order to effectively address anti-Asian racism, we must work to end all forms of structural racism leveled at Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. |
Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project (YSRP) The Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project (YSRP) works to transform the experiences of children prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system, and to ensure fair and thoughtful resentencing and reentry for individuals who were sentenced to life without parole as children (“Juvenile Lifers”). Partnering with court-involved youth and Juvenile Lifers, their families, and lawyers, YSRP develops mitigation reports; gets cases transferred to the juvenile system or resentenced; and creates connections to community resources to support young people as they prepare to reenter the community. |
Black Girls CODE Black Girls CODE provide African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the US by 2020, and to train 1 million girls by 2040. The REF is supporting Black Girls CODE to elevate a new national alumni program to help high school and college girls receive the critical ongoing support that they need. |
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) The EJI produces pioneering reports and public educational resources that explore the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation shaping many issues of racial inequity today. The REF is supporting EJI to develop digital racial justice education lesson plans and online learning materials for youth educators. |
Neighbors Together Neighbors Together has engaged over 400 low-income New Yorkers in community organising efforts to improve policies that impact their daily lives, like inadequate housing and raising the minimum wage. The REF is supporting the Neighbors Togethers Community Action Program’s member community organising and advocacy efforts to improve public policies. |
Police Athletic League of Jacksonville (PAL) PAL works to foster positive relationships between law enforcement officers and community youth through education, athletics, outreach and teen leadership. The REF is supporting PAL on the launch of a new PAL JAX teen forum on racial equity, justice, policing and solutions for change. |
Thurgood Marshall College Fund The Thurgood Marshall College Fund advances racial equity through scholarships, programs and partnerships for talented students enrolled in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs). The REF is supporting the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to directly support students attending the 47 publicly-supported HBCUs with professional development, career readiness and scholarships. |
