Community Capital Completes its Third Grant Round
We are proud to announce the four newest recipients of Community Capital’s FY25 grant round, each bringing an innovative approach to addressing some of the most entrenched challenges facing communities across Australia, while demonstrating a viable pathway to long-term sustainability beyond the grant.
All grants are awarded following a detailed identification and assessment program driven by our leading venture philanthropy partner, 10x10 Philanthropy, and an independent selection committee that includes Airtree Co-Founder, Daniel Petre.
The FY25 cohort exemplifies scalable impact, cultural integrity and systems-level ambition. Each recipient is leading change not just within communities, but across sectors.
Bandu – Enabling culturally safe transitions for young First Nations people:
Bandu works alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students through the transition from school into employment, tertiary education and adulthood. Since launching with just 15 students two years ago, the organisation now supports over 130 across four states and territories. With this new funding, Bandu aims to reach more than 200 students by mid-2026, grow its regional workforce, increase its student services by 50 percent and invest in infrastructure to track student outcomes. The approach remains grounded in cultural safety and community leadership.
The Youth Impact Foundation (TYIF) – Restructuring the youth mental health ecosystem through consolidation and scale:
TYIF is a newly launched national platform built through the merger of several youth mental health organisations. It delivers preventative programs to over 50,000 young Australians and is working to streamline a fragmented sector. With Community Capital’s support, TYIF aims to expand into Western Australia, West Arnhem Land and regional Victoria, reach more than 73,000 young people in the next 18 months and deploy a new sector-wide impact measurement system co-designed with the University of Melbourne. The foundation will also grow its social enterprise revenue to reduce reliance on traditional grants.
FoodLab Sydney – Elevating underrepresented food entrepreneurs and inclusive hospitality:
FoodLab Sydney supports refugee, migrant and First Nations food entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses. In six months, 11 program graduates created 21 jobs, the majority within their own communities. With this funding, FoodLab aims to triple its graduate numbers, expand its social impact catering arm, increase staffing capacity and launch a visibility campaign to raise the profile of culturally diverse food entrepreneurs. The initiative is creating pathways to economic self-determination and transforming hospitality into a more inclusive and community-driven industry.
Eat Up – Combatting student hunger with national reach and local impact:
Eat Up is Australia’s only national provider of free school lunches. Currently delivering over 40,000 meals each week to 1,100 schools, the organisation is expanding into remote and regional communities and piloting a new cooked meals model for schools experiencing high levels of food insecurity. This grant will support a 45 percent expansion in school partnerships, upgrades to nutritional offerings and investment in core systems, operations and volunteer engagement to meet growing demand.
These four organisations are delivering more than programs. They are redesigning systems to be more equitable, resilient and community-led. We are proud to support their work and look forward to the impact this next phase of growth will deliver.