Community Impact & Foundations
From little scholars to future leaders – shaping Australia’s future through education.
Vision
Creating better futures for all Australians
Westpac, Westpac Foundation and Westpac Scholars Trust are united by a shared commitment to shaping Australia’s future through education.
By investing in partnerships, grants and scholarships, Westpac and Westpac Foundation focus on improving numeracy and literacy outcomes for primary school children, while Westpac Scholars Trust supports Australia’s future leaders to tackle some of the world’s most complex challenges.
Why Education matters
Laying the foundation for the future
When children have access to high-quality learning, they build the skills and confidence to participate in their communities, find meaningful work, and contribute to Australia’s future.
But right now, 1 in 3 primary school children aren’t meeting minimum benchmarks in reading and maths. And we know that if a child falls behind by Year 3, it becomes much harder for them to catch up later. Reading and maths are the building blocks for everything that follows, from educational achievement to employment and participation in society. When those foundations aren’t strong, the impacts can last a lifetime.
Improving literacy and numeracy is one of the most direct ways to break cycles of disadvantage.
Taking action, now
By aligning behind one clear vision we can create lasting impact, combining scale, targeted funding and long-term investment. Our approach to this is outlined below.
We are investing in strategic partnerships with trusted education organisations to strengthen leadership capability in schools and improve outcomes for students. Our partners are deeply connected to schools and communities, and bring the expertise needed to create lasting change in education.
We also provide support by:
- Connecting our employees with schools and the community organisations supporting them as mentors and volunteers
- Helping bring new ideas, perspectives and support into education environments.
It’s about working alongside schools, not just funding them, and helping build the conditions where long-term change can take hold.
Australian Schools Plus
Central to our work is a shared partnership with Australian Schools Plus. Through this shared model:
- Westpac funds coaching and evaluation to strengthen teaching practice, build leadership capability in schools and identify areas needing further support
- Westpac Foundation funds the resources needed to deliver locally tailored teaching and learning programs.
ABCN
Through our partnership with ABCN (Australian Business and Community Network), we’re helping school leaders build strategic capability to drive change in their schools, while supporting our own employees to broaden their perspectives, coaching and leadership skills.
Our new mentoring program matches experienced business leaders from Westpac with school principals to strengthen their strategic leadership, decision-making and operational planning skills.
Springboard Trust
Springboard Trust brings more than twenty years of experience supporting school leaders to drive improvement in learning outcomes.
This partnership will help inform the ABCN program, as well as provide mentoring opportunities in New Zealand, where Springboard Trust originates.
Our foundations have come together to deliver a united grants program, providing funding to organisations working directly with schools and communities to prepare children for the classroom, keep them engaged in learning and improve literacy and numeracy outcomes.
Principal Partnership – Australian Schools Plus
Supporting schools at scale
As part of the shared partnership with Westpac, Westpac Foundation has committed $3 million over three years to Australian Schools Plus to support its Foundations for Learning program.
This partnership reaches schools directly, supporting teaching and learning where it matters most. Together, Westpac Foundation and Schools Plus are working with school communities to design and deliver literacy and numeracy initiatives for students experiencing disadvantage.
Better Futures Grants
Backing local communities
These grants are designed to support organisations providing opportunities and wrap around support for primary school children, so that they can show up to school ready to learn.
Valued at $50,000 a year for 2 years, these grants focus on practical, on-the-ground solutions that help remove barriers to learning and keep children engaged.
Impact Grants
Driving long-term change
Impact Grants focus on the bigger picture — supporting collaborations that aim to shift how education challenges are addressed over time.
Valued at $100,000 each year for two years, these grants support organisations and networks working to tackle complex, system-wide challenges in education, and strengthen collaboration across schools, communities and sectors.
Westpac Scholars Trust are committed to transforming the future of Australia by investing in the next generation of leaders with the passion and drive to bring big ideas to life.
Each year they fund 100 scholarships valued at over $4.5million for university students, researchers and social entrepreneurs with a genuine desire to create a more sustainable, innovative, inclusive and globally connected Australia.
Beyond funding, the programs also offer unique leadership development opportunities, global experiences, networking and mentoring, all of which are vital in preparing scholars for successful and meaningful careers and to step up to lead Australia in the future.
- Research Fellowship - working with some of Australia’s leading research universities, the program invests in the brightest, most innovative early career researchers to enable them to do their best work and help them influence positive change. Recipients receive a minimum of $400,000 in flexible funding over three to five years.
- Future Leaders Scholarship - supporting outstanding postgraduate coursework and research students eager to make a difference in Australia, the program provides up to $120,000 to empower individuals to become leaders in their field, helping them to drive positive change.
- Social Change Fellowship - backing individuals leading social change in Australia, the Westpac Social Change Fellowship invests up to $50,000 in their growth. It provides resources and tailored opportunities to build the skills, knowledge, and networks needed to accelerate their impact.
- Young Technologists Scholarship - designed for high school graduates passionate about technology and eager to explore its potential for good. Valued at $20,000, the program provides networking, a week-long leadership development program in Singapore and growth opportunities for young innovators.
- Westpac Asian Exchange Scholarship - an immersive international experience to help develop cross-cultural thinking and provide access to networking opportunities. Valued at $12,700, the program aims to forge relationships between the next generation of young Australian and Asian leaders.
Little Scholars
History
We’ve been helping people in need for over 140 years
In 1879, Westpac became the first company in Australia to establish a charitable organisation. Launched by then CEO Thomas Buckland, the Buckland Fund (now part of Westpac Foundation) originally helped widows and orphans of bank employees.
Since then, we’ve invested heavily to establish four other philanthropic foundations, including St.George, Bank of Melbourne, BankSA Foundations and Westpac Scholars Trust, which have now united behind a single purpose of improving numeracy and literacy outcomes for children experiencing disadvantage.
2025 Impact Report
In 2025, the foundations delivered significant impact in the local community. Find out more about their collective achievements.
Employee programs & other community initiatives
Through our Workplace Giving Program #DoubleTheGood, Westpac offers employees a generous donation matching program.
We also actively encourage our people to volunteer their time and skills to support the local community through the provision of general volunteering leave, and the skilled volunteer network.
A number of our commercial sponsorships also have a community focus. Find out more about these programs here.
Sustainability is about constantly challenging ourselves on ways we seek to create the most meaningful economic, social and environmental impact where it matters most to our customers, communities, employees and our business.
We aim to integrate sustainability into our operations through our Sustainability Strategy, which is supported by a variety of position statements, policies, and action plans. Find out more about our approach to sustainability.
We provide regular reporting and aim to be as transparent as possible to help stakeholders compare our performance over time through our Sustainability Reports.
We offer a range of products and services for community organisations including:
- Supplier opportunities for social enterprises through our Supplier Diversity and Inclusion program
- Assistance for Westpac Group customers in financial difficulty through our Westpac Assist team.
We have many initiatives to partner with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations to help build stronger, more prosperous communities.
Visit the First Nations Hub to find out more.
Jawun secondments provide an opportunity for Westpac employees to assist Indigenous organisations in refining and delivering their initiatives on country while developing their own social leadership and professional skills.
Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the First Peoples of Australia and recognise their ongoing role as Traditional Owners of the land and waters of this country. We acknowledge Westpac’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees, partners, and stakeholders, and pay our respects to their Elders, both past and present.
Things you should know
In addition to establishing the foundations, Westpac Group continues to provide administrative support, skilled volunteering, and funding for operational costs for the Foundations, although they are not part of the Westpac Group.