Macquarie Group Foundation
The Macquarie Racial Equity Fund (REF) 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 REF 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, eight grants have been awarded to non-profits advancing racial equity at the national and local level, including in Houston, Texas, Jacksonville, Florida, New York City, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Three of these grants are for funding multi-year programs: Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Robin Hood Foundation and YWCA.
Our staff are also empowered to be catalysts for change with the REF 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 Racial Equity Fund is driven by Macquarie in the Americas, in partnership with the Macquarie Group Foundation and a cross-Group employee-led committee.
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. |
The Robin Hood Foundation The REF is supporting The Robin Hood Foundation to support The Power Fund initiative, which directly funds and elevates non-profit leaders of colour at the helm of anti-poverty organisations in New York City. The Fund seeks to address the interplay of racial injustice and economic injustice. The Power Fund is working to disrupt this racial disparity in non-profit funding by directly addressing barriers faced by non-profit leaders of colour to access capital through their grantmaking. |
The REF is supporting the YWCA USA Women’s Empowerment 360° (WE360°) program to train 150 minority female entrepreneurs and small business owners in Houston, Texas. As a part of this grant, Macquarie is partnering with the YWCA to expand their WE360° program by offering, for the first-time, a mentoring component that matches select entrepreneurs in Houston with Macquarie mentors. WE360°advances racial equity by eliminating barriers to success faced by minority entrepreneurs by providing access to capital, networks and tailored training. |
Launched in 2021, The REF People’s Choice Grants (PCG) award one-year, unrestricted grants to staff selected organisations.
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. |
