Three years ago, Regen Melbourne was established as a community project following the release of our foundational report, ‘Towards a Regenerative Melbourne’. This year, after a successful incubation by Small Giants Academy, we’re celebrating by becoming a registered charity and an independent entity in our own right.  

In late 2020, during the twin crises of the Black Summer and the COVID-19 lockdowns, Regen Melbourne was formed, and catalysed by five keystone organisations. Those organisations were Small Giants Academy, Circular Economy Victoria, Coalition of Everyone, City of Melbourne and the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation (LMCF). 

While 2020 marked the official ‘forming’ of Regen Melbourne, for me the story begins a little earlier and goes right back to when I met and worked with the philosopher Roman Krznaric on another project with Small Giants, The School of Life. Roman has undertaken pioneering work in empathy and long-term thinking, and together we worked on major events on empathy at the Melbourne Town Hall and the Sydney Opera House. Fast forward a couple of years to 2017 and Roman’s wife, Kate Raworth, released Doughnut Economics.

I was lucky enough to interview Kate in Small Giants’ magazine, Dumbo Feather, and our collaborations have continued ever since. When Melbourne went into lockdown, my role at Small Giants became convening forums on what this disruption would mean for the hopeful future we had been striving for. In one of these forums we invited Kate and Roman to join us on the theme of Doughnut Economics and long-term thinking. And it was in this forum that a small group of organisations put their hands up to organise an experiment in downscaling Doughnut Economics right here in Melbourne. 

The founding five organisations came to the table with different resources. Alison Whitten and the City of Melbourne provided some funding and public policy expertises. Stephen Torsi and LMCF provided catalytic funding and an ecosystem view across the impact sector, Sean Trewick and Circular Economy Victoria gave us expertise in doughnut economics and the circular economy. Willow Berzin and the Coalition of Everyone provided deep democracy and facilitation expertise. And Small Giants Academy gave me the time and space to convene the process and build the strategy to ensure the work had the best chance to continue. 

“The timing of it all is rather beautiful. We launched this thing, spent three years in incubation, and now we get to have our coming out party on our three-year anniversary. Happy birthday to us!”

And so we began life as a special project within the Small Giants Academy, which for over 12 years has incubated a range of initiatives that have sought to support systemic transformation both in Melbourne and around Australia (initiatives like the School of Life, Impact Club, and Plan C (Resilient Byron)). Perhaps the highest profile project to be incubated by the Small Giants Academy is B Lab ANZ, who implement the B Corp certification here in Australia and New Zealand.

Regen Melbourne’s incubation has followed a similar path to B Lab ANZ in that we’ve been receiving strategic guidance, catalytic philanthropy, office space, access to networks and – most importantly – love and support. But after three years of incubation, at the beginning of 2023, we began the process of transitioning Regen Melbourne from a project within Small Giants Academy to a standalone legal entity. We established an advisory board, we built the back end and the structures necessary, we registered with the ACNC as a charity, and come the end of this financial year we’ll be operating fully independently.

The timing of it all is rather beautiful. We launched this thing, spent three years in incubation, and now we get to have our coming out party on our three-year anniversary. Happy birthday to us! 

So what does this all mean?

In terms of our day-to-day work, it doesn’t mean much at all. The strategy and team remains the same and the work continues. It’s a change in structural form that is necessary because it’s fit for our purpose. The point of incubation is to incubate something until it's strong enough to stand on its own, and Regen Melbourne is now in that position, so it’s important to celebrate that. 

Symbolically, this moment matters a great deal. Our work is notoriously complex and hard to measure, and the fact that we have the momentum and support in our networks that we are able to go out ‘on our own’ without falling over is a huge reason to celebrate. 

Of course, as well as the support from Small Giants Academy and our five founding organisations, it’s the support of our extended alliance, partners, advisors and collaborators that have helped us reach this point. Together, we’re doing this work to build an engine that’s strong enough to support our ambitious collective goal to move Greater Melbourne into a safe and just future. 

It can be easy to talk about the potential for Regen Melbourne in hindsight. But back in 2020, a leap of faith was made by some really key people within the ecosystem to support the work. And without the concerted incubation and leadership by Small Giants Academy, we don’t get systemic interventions like Regen Melbourne. We honour their role, and the role of the other four founding organisations, in our story. 

Happy birthday to us. Who brought the cake?!

Subscribe today for fortnightly news and views from the Regen Melbourne team.