IMAGINE going to work each day and trying to live up to the example of a saint.
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That is what staff at the Mary MacKillop Foundation will face after Mary MacKillop is canonised on Sunday.
From football for young refugees, to scholarships for trainee doctors who want to work in indigenous communities, the foundation's aim is to continue MacKillop's legacy by supporting small, life-changing projects, said its chief executive officer, Sam Hardjono.
''We help projects that aren't well known, where people can't get funding from other sources,'' he said.
One project to receive support is Football United, which provides social opportunities and leadership training for disadvantaged youth.
Mr Hardjono said an important side effect of a small grant in 2006 was that it encouraged other charitable organisations to become involved.
Football United's founder, Anne Bunde-Birouste, said the program had trouble convincing sponsors of its potential until the foundation came on board.
''It gave us hope. That's what enabled us to keep going, and the program to be what it is today,'' she said.
From humble beginnings Football United now runs programs for more than 400 young people in NSW and Queensland and has plans for a national program.
It also sent a team to South Africa for the Football for Hope Festival during the FIFA World Cup, which brought together 32 teams of disadvantaged young people from around the world to participate in coaching workshops and a football tournament.
As well as sponsoring projects, the foundation also supports indigenous Australians in tertiary education.
A scholarship helped a Noongar man, Greg Spice, from Western Australia, graduate from Sydney University medical school in 2008 and he now works in indigenous communities in Darwin.
''I always have a picture of Mary MacKillop stuck to my filing cabinet, staring out at me to keep me on the straight and narrow,'' Dr Spice said.
The foundation employs only two part-time staff and works with the Sisters of St Joseph, the order founded by MacKillop, to identify worthy causes.
''Our barrier to a certain degree is funding; the money comes in and goes straight out,'' Mr Hardjono said.
In the past few years the foundation has sponsored more than 300 projects and helped more than 30 indigenous Australians graduate. Another $300,000 will be disbursed for projects and scholarships in the next year.
