If you decided you wanted to ‘make a change’ in a regional community, what would be the ideal situation to walk in to?
How about meeting an amazing cast of innovative, creative and bold individuals and teams that work on meaningful projects.
How about having an instant network of people around you that are supportive, curious and inspiring.
How about being asked questions that provoke you to think about things you otherwise would have missed?
That’s the sort of support that Pollinators in Geraldton has created for people who want to ‘do something that matters’.
I spoke to Andrew Outhwaite, one of the founders of Pollinators.
While only 4 years old, Pollinators appear to be making a huge social positive change in Geraldton’s community and business activity.
Curious to know more and get insights into their inspirational story I asked him “How are you making change?”
Andrew was quick to answer; “By nurturing changemakers so they can better do their thing.”
Sounds simple, but Pollinators is quite complex. Andrew went on to explain how Pollinators was consciously initiated as the start of a whole ‘ecosystem’ of support for social entrepreneurs. His personal motivation for being involved is from a personal a decade-long commitment to help the Midwest be good for the world.
Andrew and the other people who started Pollinators were well-trusted and connected in the community. They all were seeing a common theme, that inspirational people who want to make a change felt alone, not sure what was going on and not supported by existing institutions and structures.
Out of this need Pollinators formed and quickly.
Pollinators demonstrated through some early wins (like opening WA’s first coworking space) how it could get things done. Now Pollinators has fantastic physical resources (not to mention a top website) and a team of people who enable change; Pollinator’s board, partners, staff and members.
Andrew’s role in Pollinator’s has transformed so that he now enables his team to enable change in the community!
I asked Andrew, now 4 years into Pollinators, what does he see now? “I see around me a building, an organization, changes in conversation and changes in the landscapes and institutions. There are new collaborations between artists, social workers and business people. New not-for-profit organizations are forming, and buildings are being refurbished that were once abandoned and looked ugly”.
Andrew went onto say;
“ I hear a new language being spoken in Geraldton. People are using words like social enterprise, profit for purpose, collaboration, social entrepreneur to describe who they are and what they do”.
Visit the Pollinator’s website and be inspired by what the community of Geraldton have established to build a culture of possibilities and goodness.