In 2003 Hugh Evans and Nicolas Mackay founded the Oaktree Foundation to harness the potential of young people to reduce poverty and empower developing communities through education.
Hugh Evans lived and worked in the rural valley communities of KwaZulul-Natal, South Africa. Here he came to understand that bringing opportunity and hope to the community could only be achieved through a spirit of partnership.
Oaktree grew from young people sitting in living rooms, cafes, school classrooms and church halls throughout Melbourne who were committed to building on this vision.
Our first partnership was created with an organisation in South Africa called Sethani. Sethani set out to build a community resource centre that would provide educational opportunity for 750 orphans and vulnerable children. The success of this program has continued with many more similar initiatives developed in other countries.
Oaktree today
Since 2003, Oaktree has emerged as one of the most dynamic and groundbreaking development and aid organisations in Australia. Our volunteers are provocative, dedicated and determined.
We now have more than 73,000 members, have spoken directly to well over 500,000 individuals about extreme poverty, and achieved an incredible media reach of over 100 million.
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