Youth In Philanthropy

Throughout Terms 2 and 3, Mac.Rob’s Youth in Philanthropy committee (an extension of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Fund) was given $10,000 to delegate between organisations of their choice. The committee was first asked to determine our philanthropic objective (i.e. what we wanted to achieve via such donations to charity), and eventually concluded that action towards climate change and net zero emissions was of utmost importance.

“Our Youth in Philanthropy committee aims to provide meaningful education to students of similar age who are keen on learning about the effects of climate change and what we as a community can collectively do to tackle this issue. Through our grant distribution, we aim to support programs that tackle the heart of this issue and are compatible with our distribution requirements. Our chosen programs will help to instigate positive change within our community so that our efforts have lasting impacts on our environment and positive effects on our future generation. As young students, we also hope to enhance our leadership skills and extend our philanthropic work within the community.”

We then selected environment-oriented organisations whose campaigns and projects were of interest to us (namely the Climate Council of Australia and Monash University’s ClimateWorks) and began to explore the grants they submitted, which outlined what funds they were requesting and the forecasted impact our contributions would have. 

The Youth in Philanthropy program allowed us to understand the not-for-profit sector on a more realistic scale, and understand the process of writing, reading and analysing grant applications. We also had the opportunity to meet the organisers of ClimateWorks, who spoke to us about their Net Zero Momentum Tracker, a project designed to increase transparency between S&P/ASX 200 companies and their commitments to a net zero future. 

Ultimately, our immersion in the Youth in Philanthropy program provided us with an invaluable experience and furthered our understanding within the philanthropic sector. We are extremely thankful to have been given the opportunity to engage with such inspiring organisations, and extend our gratitude towards the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Fund.

Mac.Rob’s YiP Committee: Amani 10C, Selina 11G, Kate 10K, Kelly 11A, Isabelle 10H, Chloe 10H, Nicky 11D, Melani 10G