From the very beginning, Educated by Nature has chosen to be a Social Enterprise – an organisation with the mindset of a business and the heart of a not-for-profit. We are registered and operate as a company. Daniel Burton is our Chief Executive Officer and Trudi Bennett is our Business Development Manager. We act for the welfare of the community and the environment. We keep our profits low and invest 50% of any profit made into community capacity building and nature connection initiatives.
“Using the power of the marketplace to solve the most pressing societal problems, social enterprises are commercially viable businesses existing to benefit the public and the community, rather than shareholders and owners.” Social Traders
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A social enterprise should have a defined primary social purpose, environmental or other public benefit.
Our mission is to build resilience through connection by creating opportunities for children, families and teachers to learn within nature. On a deeper level, we want to increase the mental, emotional and physical health of children. In doing so, we hope to foster stewardship and a deep love for the natural environment. This includes:
- Building the personal resilience of children, families and teachers through interaction within nature and community.
- Safeguarding the health of our natural world, forming strong relationships through natural learning.
- Revitalising community through childhood play, meeting instinctive needs for connection and childhood freedom.
We are actively building deep nature connection and rites of passage experiences, supporting cultural repair within our community.
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A social enterprise derives a substantial portion of its income from trade.
We are grateful for all the families, schools, childcare centres, local councils and other organisations who support us through engaging our services and recommending us to other people.
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A social enterprise reinvests 50% or more of its annual profits towards achieving its social purpose.
This statement forms part of our strategic plan. So far, we have used our modest profits to support the community in the following ways:
- Growing our business to support the expansion of our services in the community. We now have 5 part-time staff (in addition to Daniel and Trudi) and 16 casual facilitators supporting the growth and delivery of our programs. Additionally, we have 3 vehicles to help transport our equipment.
- Assisting with the personal growth of our staff. For example, we recently subsidised a Rites of Passage training retreat. Staff develop skills to use for their own personal development and in their communities.
- Supporting other not-for-profit services and businesses in their programs. We provide discounted services in our collaborations with Nature Play WA, Boshack Outback, FORM: Building a State of Creativity, Millenium Kids and Mind the Change.
- Providing free activities and sponsorships through in-kind donations at events such as the Chittering “Wear Ya Wellies” festival, Nature Play WA’s Cubby Town and the Scribblers’ Festival.
- We have also supported school fundraisers with gift vouchers and donated to organisations such as SERAG who do an amazing job caring for natural spaces along the river.
We are proud to be a social enterprise working within the community to enhance the health and wellbeing of children and the environment.
