About this organisation
Summary of activities
Donations to Bush Heritage Australia during the 2020-2021 financial year have allowed the organisation to achieve many significant outcomes in line with its purpose to ‘return the bush to good health’, as well as with the four key themes and associated objectives outlined in its 2017-2022 Strategic Plan. Under the first theme, ‘Landscape-scale conservation management’, our achievements include protecting and supporting the management of 11.3 million hectares through our reserves, Aboriginal partnerships and regional partnerships with other landowners and conservation groups. In Victoria, we acquired our first engagement reserve, The Round House, which sits on Taungurung country about 100km north of Melbourne. The reserve protects 87 hectares of habitat for species such as the Powerful Owl, Brown Quail, Brush-tailed Phascogale and Regent Honeyeater. With Tallarook State Forest on one side and Mount Disappointment State Forest on the other, the Round House Reserve provides an important stepping-stone for these native animals in what is a heavily fragmented landscape. We also expanded our Tarcutta Hills Reserve on Wiradjuri country in New South Wales by 70 percent in 2020. The 288-hectare extension protects more woodland habitat that is vital for the survival of birds such as the critically endangered Swift Parrot, which migrates to south-eastern Australia from Tasmania each Winter to forage. In recent years, flocks of up to 60 Swift Parrots have been seen feeding on Tarcutta’s White Box, Mugga Ironbark and Yellow Box trees – a significant number considering that the species’ population is thought to be less than 2000. In Western Australia, we joined forces with the WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions to launch a project that is combatting feral cats, foxes and rabbits across 40,000 hectares. The project aims to restore native animal populations so that species such as the Honey Possum, Western Pygmy Possum, Red-tailed Phascogale and Chuditch can once again thrive. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted our ability to connect with our supporters in person, so Bush Heritage shifted its focus to online events instead. We hosted the tenth Women in Conservation Breakfast virtually for the first time, and attracted a record number of attendees as a result. We also presented 35 virtual webinars and live storytelling events to keep our supporters informed about our work. We also adopted a Sustainability Action Plan which will see us continue to reduce the impact of our operations in a more structured and easily reportable way. The plan includes a goal to have 100 percent of our reserves running on renewable energy by 2030; currently, 81 percent of our powered reserves run entirely or in part on renewables, including two reserves which were connected to solar in 2020. Further details can be found in our 2020-2021 Impact Report at https://www.bushheritage.org.au/who-we-are/about/annual-reports.
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Outcomes
Outcomes are self-reported by charities
Programs and activities
Name: Buying Land For Conservation
URL: https://www.bushheritage.org.au/what-we-do/buying-land
Classification: Environment (Environment)
Beneficiaries:- Animals
- Environment
- General community in Australia
Name: Landscape Management
URL: https://www.bushheritage.org.au/what-we-do/landscape-management
Classification: Environment (Environment)
Beneficiaries:- Animals
- Environment
- General community in Australia
Name: Conservation Science
URL: https://www.bushheritage.org.au/what-we-do/science
Classification: Environment (Environment)
Beneficiaries:- Animals
- Environment
- General community in Australia
Name: Engaging Traditional Owners
URL: https://www.bushheritage.org.au/what-we-do/buying-land/traditional-owners
Classification: Environment (Environment)
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Animals
- Environment
- General community in Australia
Name: Climate Change
URL: https://www.bushheritage.org.au/what-we-do/our-challenge/climate-change
Classification: Climate change (Environment > Climate change)
Beneficiaries:- Environment
- General community in Australia
Name: Impact Measurement
Classification: Biodiversity (Environment > Biodiversity)
Beneficiaries:- Animals
- Environment
- General community in Australia
Name: Biodiversity in Agriculture
URL: https://www.bushheritage.org.au/news/videos/midlands-fund
Classification: Biodiversity (Environment > Biodiversity)
Beneficiaries:- Animals
- Environment
- General community in Australia
Finances
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This graph shows how much revenue (money in) and expenses (money out) the charity has had each year over the last few years. Charities have many sources of revenue, such as donations, government grants, and services they sell to the public. Similarly, expenses are everything that allows the charity to run, from paying staff to rent.
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First off, this graph gives a general indication of how big the charity is - charities range in size from tiny (budgets of less than $100,000) to enormous (budgets more than $100 million). You're also looking for variability - if the charity's revenue and expenses are jumping up and down from year to year, make sure there's a good reason for it.
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want revenue to be slightly above expenses. If expenses is reliably above revenue, the charity is losing money. If revenue is much larger than expenses, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
If a charity receives more money than it spends, that's a surplus (in business, it would be called profit). If it spends more than it receives, that's a deficit. This chart shows surpluses and deficits for the charity over the last few years.
What should I be looking for?
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want a charity to make a small surplus on average. A deficit means that charity lost money that year, which may indicate poor financial management or just a series of bad circumstances. If the charity always has a huge surplus, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
This chart compares the amount the charity receives from various sources, including donations (i.e. money given by the general public or philanthropy), goods and services, government grants, and other sources.
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Donations are an important source of revenue for some charities. Others rely more heavily on government funding, or on revenue from other sources. This is an indication of how much they need donors to accomplish their mission. Note that there is no 'good' or 'bad' amount of donations for a charity to have. It might be interesting to look at values over time - are they going up or down? A charity that gets less donations every year may be in trouble.
What is this?
Assets are things that the charity owns that are worth something. This could be anything from a car to investments. Similarly, liabilities are debts or obligations that the charity owes to someone else, like a loan or an agreement to pay for something.
What should I be looking for?
Firstly, in general a charity should have more assets than liabilities. If it doesn't, it implies that the charity might not be able to pay its debts, and you should look very closely at the charity's annual and financial reports to make sure they are taking steps to remedy this. Current assets should generally be above current liabilities - that means the charity can easily pay off the debts that are coming due soon. Beyond that, look for a large stockpile of assets. While a charity should have enough assets to keep it afloat in hard times (a 'buffer') if that stockpile gets too large the charity could be using that money more effectively. As always, if you have concerns check the annual and financial reports.
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