Oaktree (foundation)

Oaktree

240px
Motto	Young people leading a movement to end extreme poverty.
Founded	2003 and incorporated on 13 February 2008 (2008-02-13)
Founder	Hugh Evans and Nicolas Mackay
Type	International aid and development charity
Focus	General education and poverty relief
Location	Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Area served	Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor
Method	Political advocacy and development through partnership, led by young people
Members	200,000 (2014)
Key people	Chris Wallace, CEO
Revenue	A$2.27m (2013)
Volunteers	150 (2014)
Website	oaktree.org
Formerly called	The Oaktree Foundation

Oaktree is an Australia-based non-government organisation that works to build community and political support for action on ending extreme poverty, and provides aid and development to countries in need across the Asia Pacific. Founded in 2003 and incorporated in 2008, the organisation is run by young people aged 16 to 26, and overseen by an advisory board.

Internationally, Oaktree partners work with developing communities to support quality educational opportunities for young people, aged from 12 to 30 years. In Australia, Oaktree focuses on educating and training young people to be effective agents of change, as well as advocates for policy change through sustained, community-driven campaigns. The organisation claims to be Australia's largest youth-run organisation.

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.

Chief executive officers

Name	Term
Chris Wallace	2014–present
Viv Benjamin	2012–2014
Tom O'Connor	2009–2012
David Toovey	2008-2009
Hugh Evans	2003-2008

External links

• The Oaktree website