Kuala Lumpur, 2 April – Today, Malaysia’s leading impact-based foundation, Yayasan Hasanah (“Hasanah”), in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance (MoF), announces the launch of the Hasanah Special Grant (HSG) 2024. The grant programme seeks to award funding across Hasanah’s five key impact areas: Education, Community Development, Arts & Public Spaces, Environment, and Knowledge. HSG 2024 aims to raise the floor for Malaysians and foster the betterment of society.
To fulfil this aspiration, HSG 2024 via its funding will support organisations in addressing pressing social and environmental concerns facing the country. For Education, priority is given to projects tackling learning loss, strengthening school leadership, and supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing. Whereas in Community Development, the grant focuses on initiatives to generate income and employment opportunities for marginalised communities, while the Arts & Public Spaces area seeks to support programmes that boost the creative economy. Meanwhile in Environment, the grant focuses on the conservation of flora and fauna. Additionally, consideration is given to projects that improve rural infrastructure, particularly in water and electricity access.
“Introduced in 2020 and now in our fifth instalment of HSG 2024, building a robust grant process is key to ease the application journey and encourage quality submissions. This year, we are excited to introduce Catalyst, a new online portal that simplifies and streamlines the application process from start to end. For successful applicants, the project monitoring with Hasanah will also be facilitated through this online portal, towards a more transparent and collaborative process,” shared Dato’ Shahira Ahmed Bazari, Trustee and Managing Director of Yayasan Hasanah.
Since its establishment in 2015, Hasanah has collaborated with more than 470 partners on over 600 projects, positively impacting over 2.4 million individuals in Malaysia. “We extend our gratitude to the Ministry of Finance Malaysia for their continuous support through the Hasanah Special Grant (HSG). This collaboration has enabled us to significantly expand our reach and impact in the lives we touch. More importantly, it has developed the capacity of Malaysia’s social impact sector,” Shahira emphasised.
HSG 2024 is designed to catalyse lasting impact through two funding streams: Organisational Development Funding aimed at strengthening partners’ operations, and Programme Management Funding aimed at supporting the sustainability of initiatives. Grant amounts vary based on project duration and nature, with a maximum allocation of RM2.5 mil for three-year projects, while smaller amounts are available for pilot and shorter initiatives. Beyond grant disbursement, Hasanah also offers capacity-development opportunities for its partners, including mentorship, training, networking, and best practice sharing; in line with Hasanah’s aim to deepen programmatic impact across Malaysia’s social sector.
Applicants of HSG 2024 must be registered companies, organisations or social enterprises actively driving positive change, for at least two years. Project proposals should demonstrate measurable outcomes, ideas and initiatives which are replicable or scalable, long-term thinking and planning, and potential to become a voice in policymaking.
The Hasanah Special Grant 2024 is now open for submissions! Eligibility checks must be completed by 26 April 2024 and grant applications must be submitted by 19 May 2024. Learn more at https://yayasanhasanah.org/hsg2024.