Enactus Macquarie presenting at the Enactus Australia National Championships at Monash University.

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The culture of philanthropy is alive and well among Macquarie University students. While many face financial hardship with the rise in the cost of living, students also tackle the big issues, such as mental health, climate change and choosing a meaningful career.

These three student groups are just some at Macquarie that are dedicated to making a difference and raising awareness by doing good in the world and the workplace.

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Enactus

Enactus is a team of like-minded and passionate students, united in their mission for social change and to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. With more than 40 active members, the Macquarie team is just one of the many across 36 countries.

Enactus is an international non-profit organisation that brings together a community of student, academic and business leaders. As part of Enactus, the Macquarie team inspires fellow students to improve the world through student-led enterprises.

They recruit their own team members and set up their own roles and responsibilities. Macquarie Enactus team members also decide their own projects, implement them in the community and present them each year to panels of industry judges from businesses around Australia.

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Effective Altruism

Effective Altruism (EA) is a philosophy and social movement that applies evidence and reason to determine the most effective ways to improve the world. Effective Altruists are concerned with questions such as: ‘To which charity should I donate in order to have the greatest effect?’ and ‘Given that we have limited resources, what causes are most worthy of my time and attention?’

To guide these choices, EA advocates considering three key questions:

1. Is the problem ‘neglected’?

2. How much ‘impact’ can you have, or how ‘scalable’ is a solution to the problem you are working on?

3. Is the problem ‘tractable’, or how much progress towards a solution can you make by working on it?

In other words, EA suggests you look for the low-hanging fruit and where you think you can achieve easy wins in searching for efficiencies in problem-solving.

Current EA causes include climate change, animal welfare, global poverty and development, improving institutional decision-making, great power rivalry, and existential risks such as pandemics or nuclear warfare or AI.

EA is a global movement focused on solving the world’s problems through reason, empathy and evidence, and takes a scientific approach to problem-solving and doing good. EA is coordinated by the Centre for Effective Altruism at the University of Oxford, has chapters across the globe and holds annual EAGx conferences.

The Macquarie group has around 70 members, with a smaller core group of regular members who attend meetings. Current President and co-founder of the group, Ed Chen, says he was influenced years ago by philosopher Peter Singer.

The group currently promotes 80,000 Hours, a campaign and consultancy dedicated to finding a career that will do the most good.

Effective Altruism members at a recent social gathering. 

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Macquarie University Philanthropy Club

The Macquarie University Philanthropy Club (MUPC) is a volunteer group run by students for students. They share one common goal: to improve the world around us. Their philanthropic projects include random acts of kindness, ways to combat loneliness and student wellbeing.

They hold regular activities throughout the year such as Wholesome Hangouts at the UBar, and Paint for Purpose, a fundraiser to support the Centre for Emotional Health at Macquarie.

The group is fun and inclusive. Being a part of the executive team provides students with the opportunity to practice their own set of skills and knowledge as well as gain some experience in marketing, social media, influencing, promotions and more.

Students at the Paint for Purpose Fundraiser.

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This article was first published here.