As we prepare to welcome students back to Outward Bound in numbers that we haven't seen since before the COVID pandemic, I am reminded of the whakataukī (Māori proverb) "he waka eke noa", we're all in this waka together.
It is only because of the way our team has worked together with tenacity, grit, and enormous levels of resilience that we are in a position to move forward from the challenges of the last few years. Our people are the heart of this organisation, and it is a credit to this amazing team that we have navigated the difficulties of the past few years so well.
While we do want to look forward, reflecting on the challenges, setbacks and of course learnings inflicted by the COVID pandemic is crucial for our growth and future resilience.
Outward Bound was impacted in a truly unique way. I don't believe anyone who signed up to work at Outward Bound expected to be managing a mini-MIQ facility, conducting medical testing at the start of a course, or responding to students, parents and supporters in a state of heightened stress and anxiety as we implemented government mandates.
It has tested all of us, but we have emerged as a stronger organisation, and in true Outward Bound style, are taking on the learnings.
Financially, the community spread of COVID meant we had to operate at less than 50% capacity through our summer months when we are usually busiest. This had a devastating impact to our bottom line. To ensure we kept our people safe and jobs intact, we required support from the Foundation, and it reinforces the imperative to grow this fund over the coming years, to ensure our future viability during times of stress. It means we can now bounce back quickly and return to the important work of delivering life-changing courses for our students.
In spite of these challenges, we have had some great successes this year, and in particular, it is thanks to the support of our partners, donors and supporter network that have been on the waka with us through these challenges.
We marked 20 years of partnership with Mainfreight, who have sent students to Anakiwa every year for two decades. Both our organisations have grown over the course of this partnership, and Mainfreight has become a New Zealand icon. Throughout this growth, Mainfreight has maintained a loyal and steadfast commitment to growing their team, and we are honoured to play a small part in their amazing leadership programme.
Hyundai brought their Pinnacle Programme into the spotlight with their Future Positive Brand Campaign, and we were thrilled to see some of our amazing alumni showcased through this programme. We’ve partnered with Hyundai for over 10 years, and are very proud that our Outward Bound Classic course is part of the Pinnacle leadership programme.
We were also delighted to start a new corporate partnership with Fidelity Life NZ who are sponsoring a scholarship programme for young New Zealanders to come on Outward Bound courses every year. Fidelity Life will also send their own staff on our professional courses to grow their internal leadership capability and are extending this to their insurance advisor network as well.
Increasingly, we recognise the unique contribution we can make to corporate leadership development, and together with increasing ESG commitments of workplaces, this presents an opportunity for us to work alongside more progressive and forward-thinking businesses, which will be a key focus as we look to grow in the coming years.
We had an enormously successful collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the Lower Hutt Chamber of Commerce, local businesses and schools to launch our Whakatipu course. This is a course focused on education to employment and is a response to feedback that we were getting about low levels of work readiness in our school leavers. Fifty students went through this programme, and we are thrilled to share the outcomes with you in this report.
Cushla Williamson (centre), supporter of the Outward Bound Regional Schools Programme, and two Harakeke course students, Stevye (left) and Hannah (right).
And of course, our donors, every single one of you has contributed to us being able to navigate these challenges and look to the future. Approximately 68% of our students arrive at Anakiwa with some kind of financial support, and your support enables financial circumstances to not be a barrier to accessing the life-long benefits of Outward Bound.
We have also grown our Foundation, and the legacy that is left by donors committing these intergenerational gifts to Outward Bound students today and in the future is truly humbling.
Our Foundation supports hundreds of scholarship students every year and is there to do this in perpetuity, so the donations we have received represent a gift that lasts a lifetime and beyond.
Although outside the timeframe of this report, we have just celebrated our 60th Birthday and welcomed a large party of alumni back to the school to celebrate. We welcomed students from our first-ever course in September 1962 (watch 1), and our first-ever women's course (watch 111) in 1973.
The world is a different place now than it was in 1962, but the stories these alumni shared with us are consistent with what we hear today – Outward Bound set them up for life.
As we close out our 60th year we are now asking questions about our future viability. Who are our rangatahi? What do they need now?
What will they need in the future?
We've been working through these questions for some time, and are more convinced that our role is as important as ever. As the NZ population grows and changes, we need to be responsive to these changes. Everything we are doing is against a backdrop of a youth landscape that is heartbreaking.
The world is a different place now than it was in 1962, but the stories these alumni shared with us are consistent with what we hear today -Outward Bound set them up for life.
So we feel a sense of urgency to play our part in contributing to positive change for New Zealand’s rangatahi. We cannot do it with our current operating model and systems. So we asked ourselves the question, what would a meaningful impact on the youth landscape in Aotearoa New Zealand look like?
We believe it looks like powerful courses that are designed to set our young people up for the challenges of the future. That means developing new courses that are focussed on current challenges, like climate change resilience and employability.
It also means an expansion of our operations, so that we can reach double, and then triple as many students a year. If we achieved this, our impact would be felt in every whare, right across the country.
That would be a meaningful impact on the future of Aotearoa. And that’s where our waka is going, toward an aspiration of one Outward Bound alumni in every whare.
In March, I joined our more than 70,000 Outward Bound alumni, completing my own course under the guidance of our skilled kaiako - instructors Kate and Angie.
It was while sleeping under a fly on solo that I had the time to reflect on how enormous the year had been, and we still had three months left to run. In my journal, I wrote "Outward Bound might just shape the future for Aotearoa. Our young people need us now more than ever. Can we rise to the challenge?"
He waka eke noa. Malindi MacLean Tumuaki | Chief Executive
"Outward Bound might just shape the future for Aotearoa. Our young people need us now more than ever. Can we rise to the challenge?"
