In this episode of Executive with a Cause, host Tammy Ven Dange chats with Kate Luke, co-founder of Little Oak Sanctuary. https://www.littleoaksanctuary.org/
Kate and James didn’t mean to start a farm animal sanctuary, but a little pig changed everything for them.
We learn how they transitioned from a “tree change” to their current 200-acre farm with the hundreds of animals they care for today while enduring the challenges of climate change. From bushfires, the Pandemic and now floods, Kate explains how the organisation has focused on future-proofing from a financial and infrastructure perspective with no government funding.
Instead, Little Oak has demonstrated creativity with fundraising and engagement, from glamping experiences to novelty event horse racing alternatives. From this, they have balanced raising funds with advocacy, reflecting an overall commitment to the environment and animal rights. Finally, we hear how the pair hope to step back from their demanding roles and focus on strategy and automation for the organisation and their desire to achieve perpetuity.
Thank you for listening to the Executive with a Cause podcast. Don’t forget to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
IT in Plain English
In this week’s segment, Tammy is asked, “Does it matter which Microsoft 365 licence I buy?” The short answer is YES!
While dearer in price, Tammy explains how the enhanced cybersecurity and IT administrative tools of Microsoft 365 Business Premium may be the right fit for your organisation.
In addition, Microsoft offers discounts and free licences for Not for Profits, meaning the premium solution may not be out of reach, particularly when you consider existing costs for protecting your organisation.
Sign-up here to subscribe to the “Executive with a Cause” newsletter. You can submit your question to Tammy Ven Dange by messaging her on LinkedIn, and maybe she’ll answer it on the show.
Topics from this episode:
- 0.00 | Introduction
- 1.28 | Little Oak Sanctuary
- 12.24 | The impact of climate change
- 15.17 | Life before the Sanctuary
- 17.10 | Clever pigs
- 19.42 | Fundraising concepts
- 26.53 | Volunteers
- 29.10 | Automation
- 31.10 | Challenges for the future
- 34.06 | Lessons learned
- 36.18 | Supporting the sanctuary
- 38.00 | IT in Plain English
Quotes from Kate Luke in this episode:
“We started the sanctuary in his (Little Timmy Piglet’s) honour…so that we could share the stories of individual animals like him, with the hope of helping people make a connection with farmed animals as individuals. Because we very rarely get to see them as individuals. We just see them as a mass of sheep as we drive past. And we don’t really get to know that they’re all actually individuals who are sentient and have the capacity to feel pain and fear.”
“We soon realised the property that we had bought as just a tree change wasn’t going to be appropriate. It wasn’t going to be sustainable as a venue for a farm sanctuary. So, we went searching for a property which we funded personally. So, we bought another property, which is about an hour out of Canberra or two and a half hours from Sydney. And that’s about 200 acres now. So, it’s a lot more sustainable for the type of work that we want to do. But yeah, we have both been working. The Sanctuary has now been running since 2012. So up until the beginning of this year, I’ve been working at least part-time and trying to run the sanctuary as well. And my partner is a professional musician and teaches music as well. And so, he’s still doing that. But we’re working towards having the sanctuary as a primary focus.”
“We are working towards having live-in volunteers. And we’ve also been working quite hard on improving our fundraising so that we actually can employ staff because we want to get the sanctuary to a point where it doesn’t need us whatsoever. So, we can actually be separated from it if need be the time comes. We’re not going to live forever. We want the sanctuary to keep going after that.”
“We had a period of extended drought, which was quite difficult. It led to no pasture. So we had to buy a huge amount of hay and feed. Then we had the fires of 2019 and 2020, and obviously, that was a whole traumatic experience. We had to evacuate most of the animals just to safer areas. And then we had the Pandemic, and then we went into floods. So, it’s been one thing after another.”
“We’ve provided this event (as an alternative to Melbourne Cup), which is basically T-Rex costumes and a set of novelty races of people wearing giant inflatable T-Rex costumes. We ran it in 2019, before the Pandemic, and it’s absolutely the most fun you’ve ever had in your life. It’s just hilarious. They actually flail when they run. So, it just looks like it’s so much fun. And it’s a really good way to just draw people in. And we have information about horse racing at the event and all about the sanctuary and things like that. So, it’s a great way of attracting people to learn more about it. And we do try and have really positive events that draw people in.”
“Our main source of income is donations from the public . We don’t actually get any government funding whatsoever. So, we’re just mainly funded by the public. And then we have probably about 20% through events and merchandise. And then we have been successful in a few grants as well, but that’s generally for capital projects.”
“I’ve been pretty much doing most of the administrative stuff on my own. We have had some help over the years with certain tasks, like certain project-based tasks. But I’ve also, over the past few years, really been trying to streamline things and automate as much as I possibly can, which is still a work in progress. I still have tasks that I think ‘I should be able to automate this’, and I’m just trying to run through ways that I can actually do it. There are definitely improvements that can be had and definitely things that I could outsource. But it’s just finding the time to go through everything to actually work it out. So it’s definitely a challenge.”
“We’re ten years old next year. And looking back at it, we’ve just been driven by our passion. So that’s gotten us through this amount of time, but we only really started to do things strategically, probably about four or so years ago. So, if I had any advice for someone starting out, I’d say get that strategy in place upfront because passion will take you so far, but we could have grown financially a lot faster if we’d had that in place. Obviously, our voices resonate with a lot of people, and so we’ve had that support, but I think having had the strategy, it would have just made things a lot easier as well.”
Links & Resources
- Connect with Kate on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-luke-littleoaksanctuary/
- Visit the Little Oak Sanctuary website https://www.littleoaksanctuary.org/
Other Episodes Mentioned in this Show
- Watch our interview with Jessica Macpherson of Blaze your Trail
Credits
Thanks to our Producer, Nick Whatman, and the entire team at Lonsdale St. Studio. Thanks also to our Digital Content Creator, Laura Kleinrahm.
Tammy Ven Dange is a former charity CEO, Not for Profit Board Member and IT Executive. Today she helps NFPs with strategic IT and data decisions with her business, Roundbox Consulting.