Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network

Amelia Telford is a young Aboriginal and South Sea Islander woman. For the past seven years she had led the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network, Australia's national grassroots network of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. Amelia first got active on environmental and Indigenous rights issues as school captain of her high school in Lismore, a rural part of Australia. After getting accepted into a medicine degree at the prestigious University of New South Wales, Amelia decided that the crises faced by her community were so urgent and systemic in nature that she would pursue social change instead of becoming a doctor. She then founded Seed, growing it to a large and powerful movement. Amelia has been awarded National NAIDOC Youth of the Year in 2014, Young Environmentalist for the Year in 2015 and Australian Geographic Young Conservationist of the Year 2015.

This project is about dramatically scaling the capacity and power of Indigenous young people to lead change in their communities, especially in Australia's remote Northern Territory (NT). This helps solve two problems: climate change (specifically the expansion of Australia's gas industry), and the racism, poverty and inequality experienced by Indigenous Australians. Australia is already the world's largest exporter of gas and fourth largest exporter of coal. Right now, the fossil fuel industry is planning a massive expansion, much of it on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory. Remote Indigenous communities are one of the few things standing in the way of this proposed expansion. If we fail, Australia will likely account for 17% of global emissions by 2030 and push the world past climate tipping points. Simultaneously, our work elevates humanity by providing a model where Indigenous communities are empowered, connected and benefit from economic development in renewable/non-harmful industries.

51% of Australia's Northern Territory (NT) is under oil or gas exploration licences. Indigenous communities are on the frontlines of gas fracking, a method that risks water, land and cultural sites essential for the oldest continuous living culture in the world to survive. 

However, the impacts of the proposed gas expansion are also broader than the NT - they affect the world's chances of staying below the Paris Agreement's target of limiting global warming to 2 degrees. If fracked, the NT’s Beetaloo and McArthur basin gas reserves alone could release about 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. To put that in context, Australia’s total emissions for the most recent year were 560 million tonnes.

The other problem that our work aims to solve is the racism and inequality experienced by Indigenous Australians. For example, Aboriginal people are massively over-incarcerated, representing only 3% of the total population, yet 29% of the prison population (and 84% in the NT). Our work is a powerful way to support Indigenous youth, helping transform their lives by increasing their skills, confidence, networks, connection and sense of purpose. We have many stories to demonstrate powerful transformation amongst our volunteers and their communities.

Seed is Australia’s Indigenous youth climate network- led by and for Indigenous young people. Our work shows governments and industry that there is no social license for fossil fuels and shifts the politics and economic conditions to keep the gas in the ground. Our broader work focuses on achieving self-determination for Aboriginal communities to lead our own solutions for a sustainable future. We focus on: 

1. Building community power - Bringing together Indigenous people to ensure a strong, unified voice for climate justice. Providing platforms for young Indigenous people to take action, offering transformative training programs that build skills, confidence and networks. 

2. Elevate voices on the frontlines - through traditional and social media, content creation and public speaking we ensure Indigenous voices are heard by decision makers, showing widespread opposition to gas fracking. 

3. Uniting diverse stakeholders - We work in powerful coalitions, uniting Traditional Owners, tourism operators, farmers, unions and others working together against gas. 

4. Shifting decision makers - Through corporate campaigning, media, political and community engagement, we make sure politicians, corporates and decision makers understand the risks. 

5. Building a national movement - Our community organising model allows us to support volunteers in the NT and nationally on the campaign. 

Our work serves, and is led by, young Indigenous people in the NT on the frontlines of gas fracking. Our work also serves Indigenous young people and communities across Australia. Looking at the big picture, we are also serving people around the world who depend on Australia's fossil fuels staying in the ground to avoid dangerous tipping points in our climate system. 

With the majority of the Indigenous population in Australia under 35, Seed plays a key role in addressing the impacts of fossil fuel extraction and climate change on our communities. Seed provides lifelong skills in leadership, social change, communication, project management and advocacy that are transferable across a wide range of social issues faced by Indigenous communities. As our community organiser Angel Owen says: 

"I am 20 years old and began my journey with Seed when I was 15. Seed has provided me with a platform to talk about the impacts of climate change I was seeing not only in my local community, but across the nation. I gained skills to be able to mobilize and empower my community and to educate people about climate change and the impacts that First Nations People across the globe are facing".

Climate change and racial injustice are two of humanity's most difficult problems. In addressing them together we have an opportunity to create a more just and sustainable world.

Since colonization, Indigenous knowledge systems have been deliberately oppressed, to the detriment of communities and environments that had been sustainably cared for, for thousands of years.

Seed works to reduce the power of the fossil fuel industry and increase the power of Indigenous people. Our work increases the chances of First Nations communities being able to exercise their rights to land and self-determination. We are changing Australia's culture, economics and politics.

I was raised to understand the challenges faced by Indigenous Australians, and I became involved in the climate movement in high school. After school, I was accepted to study medicine, but thinking about the reality of climate impacts on Indigenous health, I realised I needed to make a choice. I could either become a doctor OR an advocate for Indigenous people to lead action on climate change. I chose social change – serving our people by trying to achieve systemic change – over serving them individually as a doctor. I moved to Melbourne to start the process of setting up Seed to build a movement of Indigenous young people to become climate leaders. We launched Seed in 2014, the year I turned 20. Over the last five years, Seed has rapidly grown to be a national grassroots network of volunteers. In recent years, our members in the Northern Territory have raised the alarm about the threats of gas fracking planned in their communities. As a network, we undertook a collaborative process and deep consultation. This led to us deciding to focus our efforts on backing NT youth and communities in their struggle against the gas expansion.

This work is part of my cultural responsibility to look after country and support my community.

Protecting the environment (which we call 'country') and being an active part of community are at the heart of our culture. These things were engrained into me by my family at a young age. 

Growing up as an Aboriginal woman, I've experienced racism and have a deep understanding of the challenges our community faces. 

However, I am also in awe of the strength and resilience of our people and culture. I am passionate about keeping this culture alive and thriving. 

At the heart of Seed’s work is a belief that supporting Indigenous young people will have significant impacts on the health and wellbeing of communities in the short and long-term. 

Seed's empowers young Indigenous people with the skills, knowledge and confidence to equip them with the tools they need to take action. We then connect them with each other to create a powerful and inspiring network where everyone encourages each other. 

I am so passionate about this because I have seen the ways that getting involved in Seed has transformed the lives of so many of our volunteers as well as winning climate victories. 

Over the last 5 years, I have led the team of Seed staff and volunteers. Our strong track record of achievements to date include:

• Growing Seed to 7 Indigenous staff and over 250 Indigenous volunteers supported by 20-30 volunteer leaders who coordinate local action groups

• Successfully campaigning to stop the big four Australian banks from funding Adani’s Carmichael thermal coal mine in Queensland

• Securing a pause on fracking by securing and then holding the NT Government accountable to their commitment to an 18 month moratorium. Also ensuring that Traditional Owners were consulted during the Scientific Inquiry into Fracking.

• Mobilising thousands of supporters to pressure Origin Energy (who plan to be the first company to start fracking in the NT) through actions and tactics targeting their customers, shareholders and brand so that it is in their economic interest to walk away from the project

• We sparked national outrage over the bi-partisan attack on Aboriginal Land Rights (Native Title), mobilising over 20,000 people to write submissions and led a creative action on Parliament House lawns that made newspaper front pages 

• Training over 500 Indigenous young people in the last few years through regional training camps and national summits to increase their skills, knowledge, confidence and networks 

• Engaging over 200 Indigenous students in Seed’s pilot schools program 

• Launching an award-winning short documentary called “Water is Life” which gives voice to and tells the stories of Aboriginal communities in the NT fighting to ban fracking.

In 2018 we faced a major setback in the campaign to protect the Northern Territory from fracking - one that deeply affected team morale. 

Our work with Aboriginal communities across the Northern Territory was a key factor in securing a pledge from the Labor Party to support a fracking moratorium. When Labor won the NT election, we thought we had almost won! However, in April 2018, the Labor Government overturned the moratorium. 

Community members and volunteers felt depressed and despairing. Many felt ready to give up.  

I believed in our ability to re-strategise despite the changed political landscape. I knew we had to collaborate across communities - so we could  encourage each other and find a new path to win. 

I convened hundreds of conversations with community members, volunteers, members of Parliament and financial analysts familiar with the gas sector and specific proposed projects. 

After months of conversations and meetings, we pivoted our campaign to focus on corporate targets with consumer-facing brands. In Australia we call them "gen-tailers" - energy generators who are also energy retailers and our first target was Origin Energy, the Australian company who wants to be the first to start fracking in the NT.

In the lead up to the Paris UN Climate Negotiations in 2015, I played a key role in organising Indigenous people to lead the People’s Climate Marches across Australia. 

However, a fortnight before the climate rallies, another rally was called by a grassroots Aboriginal organisation to protest against the forced closure of remote Indigenous communities in Western Australia - planned for the same day and time as the People's Climate Marches. 

We risked a situation where we had two sets of clashing rallies, fuelling the narrative that there is little common ground between environmentalists and the rights of Indigenous people's. 

I decided to take on a leadership role in coordinating dialogue between the organisers of the two rallies, organising meetings and negotiations. Playing the role of trusted connector and mediator and a leader in both the Aboriginal community and the climate movement, I helped each side see the connection between Indigenous justice and climate change. 

As a result, the organisers changed the start times so that the rallies could occur right after each other, the organisers cross-promoted both events at the same time, and a platform was given to Aboriginal speakers at the climate rally. Many participants attended both rallies. 

For the past 7 years Seed has been an arm of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), a nonprofit. However, because of our rapid growth in the past year, we have begun the process of establishing ourselves as a separate legal entity (also a nonprofit). This was always the plan knowing that Seed would eventually "outgrow" the AYCC. The timing is well suited in the current context of the #BlackLivesMatter movement - as there is increased understanding of the importance of Indigenous organisations to be governed by Indigenous people. We will remain strong partners with AYCC.

Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network is innovative in the way we are tackling both environmental and racial injustice together through a climate justice lens. Our training programs and campaigns build skills of young Indigenous people to address the climate crisis, for example fighting the expansion of gas fracking in the Northern Territory. At the same time, we build the capacity of our young people to build strong and resilient communities and look at other opportunities for creating jobs and economic opportunities that do not harm our land, water and culture. Seed is unique: we are Australia’s first and only Indigenous Youth Climate Network, and we are led by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. We are working for transformative change in Australia's culture, economy and politics - disrupting the extractive colonial mindset that has been a huge part of creating the climate crisis and other environmental challenges, and re-asserting our cultural values of custodianship and care for land and people. 

Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity and core to this crisis is the loss of country, culture and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples in Australia and across the world. By building solutions that work towards justice for all people, the climate crisis presents an opportunity to create a more sustainable future.

We believe that it is only through a huge, diverse and committed social movement, led by those with the most at stake, that we will see the changes that our world needs. By building the power of those most impacted, we can inspire new community-led solutions from the bottom up and demand better decisions from government and business.   

That’s why at Seed, we are bringing together and building the capacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to organise in their communities and take action together on campaigns that will have the biggest impact on stopping the climate crisis and building strong, sustainable communities for our people. 

We focus on energy because we believe that by transitioning Australia’s energy system away from fossil fuels to renewables we can have the greatest impact on climate change. Seed’s role within this is to work with Indigenous communities affected and at risk of fossil fuel extraction, whilst also mobilising and building the agency of young mob across the country to stand in solidarity and take action together with non-Indigenous people to secure the changes needed to protect our country, culture, climate and rights of Indigenous peoples. 

Our theory of change related to our Northern Territory gas campaign is: by supporting Indigenous communities to exercise self-determination and our rights to free, prior and informed consent, we can delay or stop the proposed gas expansion and increase the odds of avoiding climate tipping points that will tip the world over 2 degrees of warming. By investing in, and connecting, our young people, we build leadership with the ability to support the rest of their communities to get involved in political and corporate campaigning to protect our land, water, culture and climate from dangerous gas fracking. 

If the Northern Territory gas expansion goes ahead, it severely reduces the odds of the world avoiding the dangerous threshold of 2 degrees of global warming (above pre-industrial average) that scientists call “the reddest of red lines”. In this sense, this project serves all of the world’s people, because we are all affected by climate change. 

More specifically, the work we do to increase the odds of us winning this campaign involves increasing the skills and leadership capacity of young Indigenous people across Australia, primarily in the Northern Territory, and the communities that they are part of. There are 58,246 Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory and the median age is 25 years (2016 Census). There are 847,190 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Australia. Seed currently has 300 volunteers. We are on track to increase that within 12 months to 500 young people. With the right philanthropic support we have the ability to dramatically scale the number of young people involved. This involves hiring more community organisers and campaigners to train more young people, and support them to get involved in Seed and the Northern Territory work. 

Our goal within the next five years is ensure all fossil fuels in Australia are kept in the ground and get the transition to 100% renewable energy underway as quickly as possible. 

Specific goals within the next 12 months include: 

1. Make fracking a major issue in the lead up to the Northern Territory election, demonstrated by increasing media coverage and voter polling showing it is a top 3 issue that will influence decision of voters in marginal seats. 

2. Origin Energy is the first company likely to start fracking in the Northern Territory. We are running a corporate campaign with the goal of significantly increasing pressure from Origin Energy’s customers, shareholders and staff, to convince them to abandon their plans for their NT fracking project. 

3. Securing a permanent territory-wide ban on fracking in the Northern Territory, inspiring other states and territories to push for fracking bans

4. Work with at least 5 Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory to start the process of setting up locally-led renewable energy solutions for their communities 

5. Supporting 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people across Australia to volunteer to protect country from the causes and impacts of climate change

6. Change the narrative in the broader Australian community by increasing the amount of media coverage that highlights both the negative impacts that fossil fuel industry has had on Indigenous country and culture and the critical leadership role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in climate solutions.
   

We have identified four key barriers that we have plans to overcome:

Capacity building of core team and volunteers: Our organisation is youth-led and recruited from the small pool of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people who care about climate change, and have the passion, skills, time, and willingness to take on life sacrifices for the greater goal of climate justice. Proper capacity building and training for our core staff and volunteer team so that they can build up other young people is key. 

Logistics: Logistical barriers include organising travel in remote communities, which is difficult and expensive; limited access to reliable internet and technology for online organising; and volunteer capacity in communities who face many other challenges related to racism and poverty. 

Financial barriers: We currently lack a diversified income stream, relying primarily on grants and major donors. We need to grow and diversify our support base into a large network of smaller givers in order to create a sustainable longer-term business model. Only 2.5% of charitable giving in Australia goes to the environment - even less to climate, and even less to Indigenous-led organisations.

Voter Suppression: The systemic racism of the political system in Australia is a barrier to Indigenous participation in the democratic process eg. through recent electoral changes that have reduced the ability of Indigenous people to vote in elections by requiring complicated ID requirements that act as barriers to voter engagement in remote communities in the Northern Territory. 

Capacity building of core team and volunteers: we are establishing an Advisory Council of Indigenous leaders with experiences across diverse sectors and campaigns to support Seed’s growth and strategic direction and investing in professional development of our staff through external training from experts in Australia and around the world. 

Logistics: The Elevate Prize would increase our capacity to pay for costs that would overcome some of the barriers we face with complicated and expensive travel and lack of technology. 

Financial barriers: we are planning to diversify our income stream to achieve long-term sustainability. We would allocate some funding from the Elevate Prize towards growing our small-dollar monthly donor program, to increase the number of smaller donors giving us regular income each month.

Voter Suppression: we are partnering with other groups focused on strengthening voting rights and embarking on an ambitious enrol-to-vote campaign across the Northern Territory to increase the political power of Indigenous voters. 

As a nonprofit organisation we use a community organising and campaigning model as the basis for our impact. Our programs and activities are driven by a network of volunteers, who are in turn supported by a small team of staff and regular training opportunities. 

 With a focus on training and empowering Indigenous young people, Seed plays a unique role within the climate justice movement and offers opportunities for young people to build their skills and confidence in a wide range of areas that they can carry forward into their careers and work in their communities. 

Our primary beneficiaries are our volunteers as well as the frontline communities we work with; for example, Traditional Owners in the Northern Territory who we have supported to access information about the fossil fuel projects proposed on their land, tap into national media and storytelling opportunities, and have the resources to bring their communities together and discuss key issues relating to climate change and the protection of country. Seed also plays a valuable role in educating the wider Australian public about climate change, the injustices facing First Nations people and opportunities to take action on these issues. 

As described below, Seed relies upon philanthropic support and community donations to fund our impact and activities. A large proportion of our donors are non-Indigenous allies who share Seed’s vision and make financial contributions in solidarity: from wealthy philanthropists, to small-dollar monthly donors contributing upwards of $10 a month. 

As a nonprofit organisation, donations and grants are Seed’s primary source of income. Over the past six years, Seed has grown significantly by establishing strong, long-term relationships with grant-makers and philanthropists and developing a range of strategies to diversify our revenue base - from establishing a monthly donor program, conducting highly successful online crowdfunders, and a developing a small revenue stream through the sale of merchandise. 

Currently, we primarily rely upon grant funding and major donors, and are working on strategies to build a diverse and sustainable giving base for Seed. This strategy includes strengthening our monthly donor program and growing our base of grassroots smaller donors via regular giving and peer-to-peer campaigns. This would reduce risk to revenue, strengthening our capacity and long-term organisational sustainability.

Approximately one third of Seed’s revenue is currently generated from sustainable small-dollar fundraising streams, and we are seeking to increase this to 50% over the next 1-2 years. 

Since 2014, Seed has grown with the support of a diverse range of donors and philanthropists, including dozens of major donors and hundreds of donations from everyday members of the community. Below is a snapshot of our key revenue streams across 2019 (actuals) and 2020 (targets). Should you require more details about the revenue streams or specific donors, please get in touch. 

Please note the below figures are approximations based on AUD to USD conversions and 2020 figures reflect our fundraising forecast for this calendar year. We have currently secured 90% of our target revenue for 2020. 

Income

Core philanthropy, grants and major donors

2019 –  $389,911

2020 - $636,930

Campaigns program philanthropy and major donors

2019 – $67,604

2020 - $55,350

Training program philanthropy, grants and major donors

2019 – $92,774

2020 - $17,400

Regular giving program

2019 – $50,100

2020 - $107,004

Small dollar fundraising (online donations, peer-to-peer fundraising, crowdfunders & merchandise)

2019 – $86,680

2020 - $249,755

TOTAL (USD)

2019 – $687,098

$2020 - 1,066,439

Please see the previous question for a summary of Seed’s fundraising goals in 2020. We seek to build upon this in 2021 by strengthening relationships with new donors and grant-makers, as well as investing in our small-dollar fundraising programs through increased staff capacity to ensure that we have sustainable revenue sources outside of the generous contributions of our major donors. 

Below is Seed’s high-level organisational budget for 2020. Please advise if further detail is required.

Please note: Given the landscape around coronavirus and the economic uncertainty facing us as a result, Seed is intentionally using 2020 to build our financial reserves to invest in impact not only this year but also during 2021 when face-to-face activities are expected to be possible again.

Expenditure items 2020

Staff wages (Seed currently has seven staff members and looking to grow our team size)

$348,000

Core expenditure (rent, technology, staff travel , fundraising costs, etc)

$165,000

Campaigns budget (advertising, printing, grassroots campaign resources, media stunts, consultants etc)

$50,000

Communications (advertising, website, videography, design, artwork etc)

$25,000

Training program (materials, volunteer camps and travel, tech platforms for online training etc) $35,000

NT remote community organising (staff travel, community events, catering, resource creation, printing, venue hire, etc.) $15,000

TOTAL (USD)

$638,000

The Elevate Prize will be transformative in funding capacity building for Seed's work, specifically our work on the Northern Territory fracking campaign: raising our power to protect our country, communities and culture.

Receiving the Elevate Prize will raise the global profile of the threat to Indigenous land, water and culture from the fossil fuel expansion in Australia - and the risk that this expansion poses to the world's efforts to stabilise global temperatures below 2 degrees in line with the UN Paris agreement. 

Winning the Elevate Prize will be a huge morale boost to the Seed team, volunteers and partners - and inspire even more young Indigenous people around the world to take on a leadership role in their own communities and on the issues affecting them.

By elevating the power and knowledge of First Nations communities in Australia, we elevate, empower and protect humanity worldwide.

In order to have the biggest impact on solving climate change and building leadership of Indigenous young people, we need to invest in both new staff and building the skills of Seed’s core team and volunteers, including dedicated staff to manage partnerships with Indigenous communities and other organisations, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

We recognise to do this kind of complex, long-term and transformative work requires a deeply skilled and connected team. To grow our movement and enter into powerful partnerships and alliances we also need strong structures, processes and staff with experience in this area.

Seed has always been inspired by the leadership of Indigenous communities across the world, namely in the U.S, Canada and throughout the Pacific Islands. Due to our shared experiences of the past and ongoing impacts of colonisation, racism and climate change, and our shared stories of struggle and resilience in our communities, we aspire to build the capacity of Seed by partnering with and learning from other Indigenous communities and Indigenous-led organisations across the world. 

As we grow we would like to deepen partnerships with other Indigenous organisations in Australia and internationally including Indigenous Climate Action Canada, the U.S. Indigenous Environmental Network and Pacific Climate Warriors. Powerful partnerships can also inspire non-Indigenous people to support the leadership of Indigenous communities presenting a united voice on key issues. 

From partners with more experience in this work, we will seek guidance across many areas including strategic planning; organizational development, measurement and evaluation, how to ensure culturally appropriate and culturally safe processes, policies and procedures; mentoring and coaching for our team.