Case Study: Odonata Foundation
Location: Australia
Investment Type: Philanthropic & Public
Odonata is an Australian-based environmental charity founded by Nigel Sharp which has created a range of successful wildlife sanctuaries and nature-based tourism enterprises.
Their work, along with many partners, led to the down-listing of the eastern barred bandicoot from being classified as extinct in the wild to endangered (the third time in Australian history) and has also been instrumental in changing the extinction trajectory of both the eastern quoll and the southern brush-tailed rock wallaby. The foundation is taking a range of systemic approaches to enable and empower different stakeholders to be part of reversing the trajectory of biodiversity loss.
The Odonata Mastermind Academy Program
Odonata’s Mastermind Program supports landholders and businesses to establish a sanctuary on their property. The program seeks to make ecological restoration work both possible and impactful on private land, including farmland, so as to create an expanded network of sanctuaries. This strategic expansion helps build the resilience of threatened species populations by supporting a greater range of species, ensuring genetic diversity and spreading the climatic risks across a distributed network.
Odonata works with participants to build networks across aligned partners, funders and investors to support their sanctuary development.
Wild Ideas Business Incubator Program
Odonata has created a business incubator program specifically designed to support and empower innovative business solutions to Australia’s ecological challenges. The program provides participants with expert mentoring and personalised performance coaching to help develop and launch their nature focussed businesses. It is designed to create a supportive network of change-makers and facilitate connections to future and potential customers, co-founders and investors.
2023 is the 4th year of the Wild Idea program and Odonata are now combining forces with Taronga Zoo and their own incubator program, Hatch.
Research
Odonata is working with emerging eDNA technology and participatory citizen science approaches to accurately and cost- effectively baseline what species we have and where they are located. Developing this knowledge base across Australia is of critical importance to guide effective work in reversing species decline across our landscapes.
In August 2021, with a consortium of partners, Odonata launched the Great Australian Wildlife Search. They activated citizen scientists to collect samples from over 200 sites across Victoria to trace the distribution of platypus across the state’s waterways. Odonata is now working to develop detailed eDNA data across the entire continent, and there are evolving opportunities to work with and support their work as philanthropic partners.
This case study is an extract from Regenerating Investment in Food and Farming: A Roadmap.