In November 2002, Leslie Biensen and Gary Tabor (formerly Wilburforce Foundation) printed a booklet called Australia’s Conservation Paradox: A report for the International Conservation Community outlining opportunities for US funders to consider giving to conservation issues in Australia.
This began a discussion amongst several major Australian foundations and in September 2003, representatives of The Myer, Poola, Pratt and Potter Foundations and the Spinifex Trust attended the US Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA) conference in Toronto, Canada. At the same time, the Reichstein Foundation set up an informal Green Donors Circle with around ten smaller donors.
In October 2004, representatives of The Myer and Poola Foundation’s and the Spinifex Trust again attended the US EGA conference in Hawaii and made several recommendations that included: “setting up an Australian EGA would be highly beneficial in increasing effective giving to the environment in Australia.”
In 2005, the larger trusts and foundations and the Green Donor Circle came together to agree to “test the water” on whether there was interest in establishing an Australian EGA. A steering committee consisting of the Mullum Trust, The Myer, Poola and Reichstein Foundations and Spinifex Trust worked together to hold a conference. In July 2006, a successful conference was held at Cranlana, Melbourne with over 80 people attending a day long workshop and dinner. As part of the conference, 12 people attended a field trip to investigate environmental grantmaking and issues in Cape York.
The steering committee for the conference and field trip met to discuss the results of these two events and agreed to formerly set up the AEGN. The Poola Foundation generously offered resources to help undertake the legal and administrative processes required to set up a new organisation and in March 2008, the AEGN was formerly constituted as a company limited by guarantee.
On 26 November 2009 AEGN was endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status organisation and on the 5 January 2010 was endorsed as a Charitable Institution to obtain charity tax concessions.
Annual General Meetings and Conferences were held in August 2009 and October 2010.
Please see Detailed AEGN History for further background information.
