Westpac Bicentennial Foundation - Social Change Fellowship (2025)

The Westpac Social Change Fellowship is an incredible opportunity for social entrepreneurs to spend time investing in their skills, leadership capabilities and networks. A truly bespoke offering, the fellowship is completely tailored to the individual and is designed to offer experiential learning opportunities that will help you drive sustainable positive change in Australia.

Our fellows receive funding to invest in their professional development not their organisation. That’s because we believe in the power of passionate individuals to drive genuine change and aim to build a community of socially responsible leaders who can create a brighter future for all.

Whether you’re looking to expand your networks, explore global best practices or build your leadership capacity, we’ll help you curate a development plan that supports you. 

Who can apply?

We’re looking for purpose driven individuals committed to driving positive change. To be eligible to apply you must:

1. Be over the age of 18. 
2. Be an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident. 
3. Be leading an existing social change initiative to address a clearly defined social need in an Australian community at a local, state or national level. 
4. Seek funding for your personal development and learning. 
5. Be able to demonstrate support from the community that your initiative is seeking to benefit. 
6. Be able to demonstrate that your proposed personal development will directly benefit your ability to deliver and lead your initiative. 
7. Be able to demonstrate how your initiative is an innovative approach to the social problem you are trying solve. 
8. Be able to provide contact details for a community referee and an expert referee who are familiar with your work and will support your Fellowship application. 
9. Be able to complete the Fellowship in the award year. 

What kind of initiative do I need to be working on to qualify for a Fellowship?

Your initiative must be an innovative approach to address a clearly defined social need in an Australian community at a local, state or national level.

The following initiatives and uses of funds are specifically excluded from the Fellowship:

• Initiatives for the benefit of communities outside of Australia; 
• Tertiary qualifications and/or course fees; 
• Initiatives that promote religion, animal welfare or change in law, government policy or practice are not eligible; 
• Medical research; and 
• Funding of the actual initiative, capital items, refurbishments, organisations, sponsorships, salaries or fundraising activities.

The Fellowship Program

Each year, up to 10 successful candidates will receive:

Funding up to the value of $50,000 to invest in their personal capacity to lead social change

The Fellowship will enable you to create and put in place a personalised development plan designed to build your capability, knowledge and networks. The aim of the program is to give you the time and space to invest in yourself and to become an even more effective social change leader.

The funding may be directed toward covering:

• Costs associated with overseas or domestic travel to attend conferences or study tours; 
• Meetings with organisations delivering leading practice in your field of social change or aligned with your development objectives; 
• Short courses (no longer than 4 weeks in length);
• Stakeholder engagement and networking opportunities to build stronger connections with relevant people and organisations; 
• Mentoring and coaching; and
• Lifelong membership of Westpac 100 Scholars Network.

Fellows will be invited to join the Westpac 100 Scholars Network, a network that connects those with bold ideas to build a better future for all Australians. Growing by 100 Westpac Scholars each year, the Westpac 100 Scholars Network offers lifelong access to networking, mentorship, collaboration, learning and development opportunities. The W100 is an incredible platform that will enable every Westpac Scholar to surround themselves with a diverse group of other inspiring leaders. This is a community driven network, where Scholars actively support each other to achieve their goals.

Invitation to the Westpac Scholars Summit (March 2024)

Each year the 100 new Westpac Scholars from our five scholarship programs come together in Sydney to participate in tailored workshops, hear from business and academic luminaries, and form connections with fellow scholars. The Westpac Scholars Trust covers domestic travel and accommodation required to attend the Summit; this expense does not come out of the Social Change Fellowship funding.

Leadership Development Program (In-person residential, 18 - 22 February 2024)

All Westpac Social Change Fellows will complete a leadership development program together. The expected time commitment for the in-person residential is up to 5 days. Additional online components are scheduled throughout the year. Costs of this program and travel are included within the final Fellowship budget.

Full attendance and participation in the Westpac Scholars Summit and the Leadership Development Program is a requirement of holding a 2024 Westpac Social Change Fellowship.