Emerge Foundation helping Veterans who served and protected Australia

The Emerge Foundation, the longstanding charity run by financial advisors, fund managers and other financial services professionals, has broadened its fund-raising efforts to help Australia’s former armed services men and women.

The foundation has set up a scholarship program for veterans to help them transition to tertiary education through a course at the Australian Catholic University (ACU). The scholarships enable veterans – or their immediate family members – to attend the bridging course. The ACU established the highly successful Veteran Transition Program in 2020, with 140 students so far attending and 86 per cent of those going on to complete their tertiary studies.

Ian MacRitchie, the Emerge foundation founder and chair, says that for many Australians around ANZAC Day our thoughts are with those who have served our country and the sacrifices they and their families have made. In recent years, more attention is being given to the help we can, and should, give to those to transition to better lives at the end of their service.

“Each year close to 6,000 members of the Australian Defence Force leave the military, however the transition to civilian life can be a challenging endeavour for many, with high rates of unemployment and mental health challenges prevalent in this community,” Mr MacRitchie says. “We have partnered with the Australian Catholic University to help create better opportunities for veterans through higher education.”

The Emerge foundation, established by Ian and his wife Marionne MacRitchie in 2007, is well known for its education and healthcare programs in Timor Leste (the former East Timor), with which it partners with the ACU.

Emerge has raised about $5 million for its Timor Leste initiatives since then. These include 1,214 teachers and 400 maternal childcare participants graduate with a university degree and providing more than 5,000 children with regular sporting participation.

Ian is a well-known former financial adviser who, with Marionne, built up the IMR Financial Advisors business in Sydney over 30 years. It merged with the Stanford Brown private wealth group in 2016.

The foundation has 46 supporting financial services companies, primarily major fund managers, and its annual fund-raising events, such as the ‘Rugby Long Lunch’ and upcoming ‘Legends of Sport’ lunch (on May 10), attract a who’s who across the financial services industry.

Mr MacRitchie says that he was drawn to steer the Foundation to consider helping veterans and their families through educational opportunities following its successful working relationship with the ACU in Timor Leste.

“I saw firsthand the problems veterans had back in South Africa before I migrated to Australia in 1986,” Mr MacRitchie says. “We all had to do compulsory military service there, and I saw many young men and women suffer a lot both during and after their service.”

He says: “At least there’s no compulsion in Australia, but it’s terrible to see how many are impacted by their time in the military, mentally and physically. And how their families often also suffer. We believe that improving educational opportunities can be an important part of the rehabilitation process.”