Future Generation Global — Expression of Interest

In February 2022, we ran an Expression of Interest process to establish partnerships with a group of like-minded, prevention-focused organisations who have ambitious impact growth strategies.

Through these partnerships we’ll provide multi-year funding and additional capacity building support, tailored to each organisation’s circumstances. We will work with partners to track outcomes, learnings and share widely.

Pivoting to prevention

Watch this short video to hear Future Generation CEO, Caroline Gurney and Social Impact Manager, Emily Fuller discuss why Future Generation Globalhas pivoted it’s focus on mental health to support prevention and wellbeing and how our new impact measurement framework will help quantify our social impact

About Future Generation Global

Future Generation Global (ASX: FGG) is a dual-purpose investment vehicle. Its purpose is to deliver excellent financial and social returns, with a focus on young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Future Generation and our Expression of Interest

What is Future Generation?

The Future Generation Companies, Future Generation Australia (ASX: FGX) and Future Generation Global (ASX: FGG), are Australia’s first listed investment companies to provide financial and social returns. This short video explains our model.

Renowned fund manager and philanthropist Geoff Wilson AO founded the Future Generation model as a way for the funds management industry to make a significant and ongoing impact in the community via two ASX-listed investment vehicles. The Future Generation Companies have over 15,000 shareholders and $1.3 billion under the expert management of 27 different leading boutique fund managers.

How much does Future Generation donate?

Since listing in 2014 and 2015 respectively, Future Generation Australia and Future Generation Global have invested $52.9 million in Australian charities. This annual investment is enabled by a range of leading Australian and global fund managers who offer their services pro-bono so that 1.0% of net tangible assets each year can be donated to charity.

Each year in August, all Future Generation shareholders have the opportunity to allocate their 1.0% portion of our donation through a voting process. Donations are paid in November annually. Shareholders can also nominate to donate their dividends to our partner charities.

Please note that our funding model includes two variables:
1) performance of financial markets, and
2) shareholder donation voting so funding amounts cannot be guaranteed in advance.

What is the Expression of Interest?

In early 2022, Future Generation Global (FGG) is running an Expression of Interest process to establish partnerships with a group of prevention-focused organisations that have ambitious impact growth strategies. Through these partnerships, we will provide multi-year funding and additional capacity building support, tailored to each organisation’s circumstances.

The Expression of Interest is an online form which can be accessed through the FGG website. There is a range of information available on the website to assist potential applicants assess their alignment with our social investment goals. Those whose work is aligned and wish to apply for partnership with FGG should complete the online form by COB 1 March 2022.

Expressions of Interest will be assessed throughout March and a shortlist progressed to a second stage in early April.

Background to our refined social investment strategy

Why is FGG changing its social investment strategy?

When we established in 2015, our charity partners proposed particular projects for five years of support from FGG (2016 to 2020). In 2020, conscious of the increasing demand for support from young people and the monumental reform challenges facing the mental health sector and those that support it, we felt compelled to review our strategic focus within youth mental health to ensure we are playing the most useful role we can.

Our observations of the sector suggest the focus on servicing mental health problems will continue as a priority. It opens up the possibility for private givers to increase their own impact through finding ways to support organisations working in complex untested space, on the next frontier of solutions.

Australia has a long history of philanthropy pioneering new ways of doing things: Colonial Foundation’s seed funding in 2001 for Prof. Patrick McGorry’s work on early intervention led to global advances in the evidence around efficacy, and subsequent proliferation of early intervention programs.

More than ever, we’re seeing the chance for considerable change to happen in the wellbeing and prevention space, where initiatives aim to build young people’s resilience and stop mental health issues developing in the first instance. So we are excited to continue driving for the best outcomes for young people by supporting partners to build this next frontier of wellbeing and mental ill-health prevention.

What is FGG’s vision for young Australians and its role in reaching that?

Young Australians have a brilliant future, in which they drive their own wellbeing.

In the future, mental health will increasingly focus on optimising wellbeing rather than only treating illness. This will take place within the full social context of everyday life. Approaches will be proactive, person-led and personalised, blending clinical and non-clinical aspects, digital and face-to face modalities. Mental health and wellbeing will have parity and work in proactive coordination with health, welfare and education systems that safely share and use data to optimise outcomes for people. Mental health and wellbeing will be a comfortable conversation at school, at home and at work. Young people will have the agency, knowledge, resilience and tools to drive their own wellbeing, and access to the right additional care if and when they need it.

The most well-documented and widely acknowledged leap towards this future lies in wellbeing promotion and prevention of mental ill-health. The evidence and consensus about the benefits of greater investment in prevention are overwhelming, however our concept of mental health and the subsequent public funding remains concentrated on treating illness. Australia has succeeded in steadily reducing the burden of disease of numerous health conditions (infectious diseases, some cancers, diabetes, heart disease and stroke) by focusing on prevention as well as improving treatments. By contrast, primary prevention has largely been neglected in mental health policy and the personal, social and economic impacts of mental ill-health have not decreased in over 25 years.

We see our role as accelerating the impact of high potential not-for-profits forging the future of mental health and wellbeing with young people. We’ll invest in prevention-focused organisations that are innovating, agitating and challenging the status quo to transform mental health and wellbeing for young people.

As an investment manager, we identify under-valued companies and invest to realise growth. Bringing this approach to our social investment, we’ll back high potential not-for-profits and invest in the organisation to realise impact growth. Through these partnerships we’ll provide multi-year funding towards partners’ growth strategies and additional capacity building support, tailored to each organisation’s circumstances. We will work with partners to track outcomes, learnings and share widely.

Why focus on wellbeing and prevention?

As we see it, our immediate task is to direct our contribution so that it punches above its weight in improving mental health outcomes for young people in the long term. We aim to complement others’ efforts and as private investors, take on risk to accelerate change.

Servicing mental health problems will continue as a priority for Governments. We see our greatest opportunity as investing in the next frontier of wellbeing and prevention, aiming to build young people’s resilience and stop mental health issues developing in the first place.

The case for and consensus about the benefits of investing in wellbeing and prevention are overwhelming:

They have been identified as priorities in national and state policies since the First National Mental Health Plan in 1992. However, the majority of public funding continues to be concentrated on treating mental illness once it has become severe (currently governments spend less than 1% of the mental health budget on prevention)
Decades of reform in mental healthcare and steady increases in per capita funding have not reduced the prevalence of mental health conditions, which are increasing among young people
Australia has succeeded in reducing the burden of disease of many health conditions (infectious diseases, cancers, diabetes, heart disease, stroke) by focusing on prevention as well as improving treatments. Primary prevention has largely been neglected in mental health policy and the personal, social and economic impacts of mental ill-health have not decreased in over 25 years
Treating one individual at a time will not curb the growing burden of mental ill-health
70% of young women and 80% of young men who need help do not access treatment services
There is strong evidence that mental health conditions are not inevitable, and many common conditions can be prevented from occurring, or at least substantially delayed, through a focus on prevention
Prevention-focused approaches are more cost-effective than treatment approaches
Investing in wellbeing and prevention of mental ill-health has a positive flow-on effect for a range of services including health care, drug and alcohol services, education, child and family services and the justice system

Sources: Prevention United Consensus Statement, SANE Australia, Everymind

What about FGG’s current partners?

With the support of our valued shareholders and pro bono fund managers and services providers, FGG is enormously proud to have supported a group of leading mental health charities since inception.

Their many achievements and insights generated over the last five years will have ongoing impact for young people, their families, communities and the mental health sector long into the future. Our partners have leveraged our support to raise millions of additional dollars towards their ongoing work in improving youth mental health and preventing suicide. Many have been recognised for advancing the field with significant funding from the Federal and State Governments.

2021 was the fifth and final year of the projects our partners proposed at the beginning of our partnership. In late 2021, FGG provided all current partners an additional year of funding. Current partners whose work aligns with our forward strategy are welcome and encouraged to submit an Expression of Interest.

What does this mean for FGG shareholders and other contributors?

FGG is enormously grateful to its shareholders and pro bono fund managers and service providers for their contribution and enthusiasm for its social investment. In refining our social investment strategy, we remain dedicated to youth mental health and to striving for the best social return for our investment – the best outcomes for young people.

Our model is unchanged, in that we will continue to donate 1.0% of our assets annually towards a range of charity partners and shareholders will have the opportunity to allocate their portion of the donation in August annually.

With our forward focus on wellbeing and prevention, we will have a number of new partnerships to share with shareholders in August following the conclusion of our Expression of Interest process in the first half of 2022.