Oaktree (foundation)

History

Oaktree was founded in Melbourne by Hugh Evans and Nicolas Mackay in 2003. After winning a World Vision contest to visit development programs in the Philippines, aged 13 years, Evans went on exchange to Woodstock School in the Himalayas in India two years later. A further trip to the rural valley communities of the KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa, where he volunteered with World Vision, saw him return to Melbourne in 2003 and join with Mackay and other young people to establish Oaktree, with the purpose of combating some of the inequalities that Evans had witnessed. In October 2013, Oaktree launched a new brand and website to mark its 10th birthday.

Oaktree has invested over A$2.5 million into aid development projects between 2003 and 2012.

Mission

The mission statement of Oaktree as of 2013 is "Young people leading a movement to end extreme poverty." Oaktree aspires to achieve its mission in three ways:

1. raising awareness about extreme poverty in Australia to educate and inspire;
2. fundraising to work with local organisations which directly tackle poverty oveseas; and
3. influencing policy change at the highest levels of the Australian Government.

As of October 2013, Oaktree has an office in every Australian state and in the Australian Capital Territory. With 125,000 supporters and 350 volunteer staff as at 31 December 2011, Oaktree generated A$1.76 million in revenue.

International development projects

Oaktree supports the following international aid and development:

1. Cambodia: Beacon's School Initiative by redeveloping school environments to better suit the climate and culture
2. East Timor: Youth Livelihoods that provides income generation opportunities for youth groups in the Aileu districts
3. East Timor: Youth Empowerment Peace Building Project that builds capacity for young people to prevent, manage and resolve violent situations peacefully and without violence
4. South Africa: HIV/Aids Peer Mentorship Scheme that aims to reduce the incidence of HIV infection among high school aged students in the province of KwaZulu Natal
5. Papua New Guinea: Men and Women's Vocational Training Project that works to address issues of gender inequality, youth unemployment, low literacy rates and lack of vocational training in Port Moresby
6. Papua New Guinea: Yangis Community School Teacher Training to give people in the remote location of Yangis a higher education so that a school will be re-opened in their community

National programs

Oaktree runs educational programs that aim to transform Australians into dedicated and effective agents of change in acting on extreme poverty.

Live Below the Line, run in partnership between Oaktree and the Global Poverty Project, is a 5-day extreme poverty awareness and fundraising campaign. The campaign encourages members of the general public in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom to participate in order to develop a better understanding of the daily challenges faced by the 1.4 billion people experiencing extreme poverty. For each of the five days of the campaign the participants are encouraged to limit their food expenditure to the equivalent of the extreme poverty line, set at US$1.25. The participants use their daily experiences to bring extreme poverty to the awareness of others. During 2011, this program generated A$1.4 million from 6,518 participants.

Other smaller programs include Generate and Schools 4 Schools focused on advocacy and peer-to-peer education respectively.

In 2009, Oaktree claimed that, together with World Vision and other advocacy groups, their advocacy via the End Child Slavery campaign contributed to an announcement by Cadbury Australia that it will change its milk chocolate range to fair trade sources.

Make Poverty History concert

The Make Poverty History Concert was the brainchild of Daniel Adams from the Oaktree Foundation. He, along with Hugh Evans, John Connor (formally of World Vision), Emeli Paulo of The Reach Foundation and a team of volunteers from the Oaktree Foundation organised the event on behalf of the Make Poverty History Coalition in Australia. Small performances were also held in the regional Victorian cities of Geelong and Ballarat. The purpose of the Make Poverty History Concert was to generate wide public support for the Make Poverty History campaign. Another aim of the concert was to encourage the G20 to make policies that are equitable for developing countries.

The concert was held on the night of 17 November 2006 produced by Dan Adams, Hugh Evans, Emeli Paulo and John Connor at Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, Australia. The concert was timed to coincide with the G20 Summit which was being hosted by then-Australian Treasurer, Peter Costello. The aim of the event was to create public awareness of preventable poverty and to get the message to members of the G20 summit that "more financial aid should be given to poorer nations". The concert was free to attend, as the focus of the concert was not to raise money, but to raise awareness amongst the Australian public, particularly the younger generation.