The foundation supported 132 new projects empowering 111 social impact organisations in 2022
— Kuala Lumpur, 12 May 2023 – Yayasan Hasanah (“Hasanah”), the impact-based foundation of Khazanah Nasional Berhad (“Khazanah”), today unveiled its annual report for 2022, highlighting the foundation’s impact in catalysing social change and unleashing human potential across its five core focus areas of Education, Knowledge, Community Development, Arts and Public Spaces, and Environment.
Themed “Igniting Possibilities: Semarak Potensi Kita”, the annual report of the country’s largest grant-maker spotlights the power of human potential and how tapping into it ultimately means greater innovation, creativity, and progress for the nation — true for all Hasanah partners and the communities they support.
In 2022, Hasanah supported 132 new social impact projects and worked with 111 social impact partners while managing RM222.3 million in funding. These milestones meant that Hasanah has cumulatively impacted more than 2.4 million people in Malaysia across all communities since its inception in 2015.
“At Hasanah, we believe in enhancing the potential of our partners beyond traditional grant funding. Guided by our three Cs as a Convenor, Collaborator, and Catalyst for Change — we help break down silos and connect our partners, fiercely advocating collaboration instead of competition, catalysing solutions and investing in innovations. Throughout the years, we’re proud to journey alongside our partners and communities, helping each other unlock new possibilities and discover our true potential as individuals, communities, and as a nation,” shared Dato’ Shahira Ahmed Bazari, Trustee and Managing Director of Yayasan Hasanah.
Ministry of Finance collaborations
In 2022, Hasanah together with the Ministry of Finance launched the Hasanah Special Grant 2022 (“HSG2022”) to amplify its grants programme that enabled the foundation to support more partners benefitting a greater number of people and families in need, including new environmental projects covering flora and fauna.
For example, in addressing post-pandemic learning loss, HSG2022 supported the “Literacy and Numeracy Rehabilitation Project” by Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) and Wesser Solutions Sdn Bhd, that enriched the country’s existing remedial programmes in schools. With the State Education Department of Perlis, the programme assisted 2,300 students in all 74 primary schools in the entire state.
Meanwhile, in empowering communities at the Program Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) Kerinchi, Hasanah through HSG2022 also supported Dapur Digital 2022 by Pepper Labs Sdn. Bhd. The programme enabled micro entrepreneurs to produce larger amounts of food at a cloud kitchen, thus achieving better income compared to running their business from their homes. For some participants, their income skyrocketed from RM500 to RM10,000 a month. The programme also recorded an income increase between 77% to 500% for all participants.
In addition, Hasanah’s Arts for All Seasons (ArtsFAS) has grown to be the largest grant programme for arts, heritage, and culture in Malaysia. The Hasanah Report 2022 outlined a record-breaking year for the grant, awarding the local arts scene with a total of RM4.15 million in programme funding and economic opportunity. Jointly with the Ministry of Finance, ArtsFAS brought to life 107 shows and performances around Malaysia, supporting the livelihoods of 3,332 local artists and performers in the process.
In the environment impact area, Hasanah supported RIMAU’s conservation efforts for the endangered Malayan tiger. As RIMAU employs the indigenous communities in Royal Belum to serve as forest patrollers called Menraq, this approach benefits both the Malayan tigers and the local communities. Throughout the initiative, Menraq has increased in size from 16 patrollers in Royal Belum, to 46 patrollers today in 3 landscapes namely Royal Belum, Aman Jaya, and Korbu, creating a huge landscape for tigers to roam. Today, the number of poacher snares found in Royal Belum forest has gone down by 90% – igniting the possibility of a rising number of Malayan tigers in the wild.
Social Enterprise funding
In another breakthrough achievement, Hasanah and the Ministry of Finance jointly debuted the Hasanah Social Enterprise Fund 2022 (“HSEF2022”), in which RM4.64 million was approved to 32 Social Enterprises, scaling up their capability and capacity.
Shahira adds, “Hasanah Social Enterprise Fund 2022 is the first time Hasanah is awarding 100% organisational development fund to social enterprises to support their organisational growth and capacity development. We are happy to see that this type of support has enabled partners to do more to grow their organisations and overall impact. The funding goes to hiring talent, investing into new machineries and tools for their businesses, thus enabling long-term sustainability of their organisations.”
By providing partners with training, mentoring, and access to resources, Hasanah empowers changemakers to be better equipped to deliver scalable, successful programs that result in greater social and environmental impact for the communities they serve across Malaysia. Equally crucial, when organisations are stronger in their structural capacity, it leads to a more sustainable ecosystem – a step forward in professionalising Malaysia’s social impact scene and attracting more talent into the sector.
“We like to think that our annual report allows not just us as Hasanah, but also our partners and peers in the social impact sector to reflect on our collective progress towards the shared vision of a just and equitable Malaysia,” concludes Shahira.
The Hasanah Report 2022 is now available at thr2022.online.