Activities such as Kindy at the Farm, Play & Picnic Days and tours are popular at Green Connect. Photo: Green Connect.
Warrawong social enterprise Green Connect has bought a critical runway to enact a plan to secure its future, following an urgent appeal that concluded on 1 August.
The social enterprise, which in May warned that $150,000 was needed by August to avoid “tough decisions” affecting its farm, staff and programs, has raised $140,000, falling just short of its goal but revealing a brighter outlook than a few months ago, according to CEO Robert Servine.
“We received about $115,000 from our fundraising efforts in the community, and further funding in the form of grants from the Westpac Foundation, Wests Illawarra and Collegians,” he said. “That has alleviated a lot of the pressure, but we’re not out of the woods yet.”
Mr Servine said the funding would buy time for the organisation to put into play a business plan to secure long-term financial sustainability. That plan is now under review.
“It’s a year old, and some things have changed,” he said.
“For instance, when we made the plan, we were selling 140 veg boxes. Now we’re at 170, but the goal was 220, so veg box sales have not grown as we hoped. However activities are going incredibly well, so we will be leaning into that more, which won’t just help with revenue, it will in turn feed those veg box sales.
“That’s because people who come to the farm invariably fall in love with it; they start to understand what it is we’re doing here and they want to support us.”
Green Connect recently stepped out from under the national umbrella organisation Community Resources — a move that granted Green Connect independence to chart its own course, but also left it without access to centralised systems such as marketing and HR, which the team has had to rebuild on a shoestring.
While the organisation now has some breathing room, fundraising efforts will continue while the organisation works on its long-term viability.
That will be an uphill task in the current fundraising environment, which Mr Servine said was characterised by fundraising fatigue in a community hit by its own cost of living pressures, a reduction in available funding and more need and competition among charities, not-for-profits and social enterprises.
However, the outlook is more optimistic than it was in May.
“The board recognises that we’ve only been independent for six months and have accomplished a lot in that short time, including securing our DGR status and certification as a social enterprise,” Mr Servine said.
“The community support we’ve received has been a real shot in the arm, and we’re also looking at additional revenue streams.
“We’re not in the clear, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and the possibility of making it is definitely there.”
In the meantime, Mr Servine said the best way the community could support the organisation was by signing up for a veg box.
“When you order a Green Connect veg box, you’re not ordering from a supplier who’s just putting together a box of stuff they ordered from a wholesaler,” he said. “We grow the food, it’s organic and it supports our work readiness programs, which help young people and former refugees in the Illawarra.”
Coming into spring, when there’s a surge of work on the flourishing farm, there’s also a need for more volunteers.
Open volunteers days are Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9 am to 2:30 pm, and the work comprises of basic farm work such as planting vegetables, making garden beds or helping with the animals.
For more information contact Green Connect.
