Educating The Future traces its beginnings back to the minds of two high school students from Sydney who participated in a school immersion program to Timor-Leste in 2014. It was on this trip when the pair began to understand the global disparities in access to quality education around the globe, looking back on their own education with newfound realisations of how fortunate they were. Co-founders Adam Hegedus and Alessandro Piovano made a promise to each other and ourselves to go back to Timor-Leste, and make a contribution for the better.

Arriving back in Australia, Adam and Alessandro began to further research the issue and understand more and more about the historical and geopolitical complexities that impede many Timorese children from receiving a quality education. 

There is significant need for preschool infrastructure development in Timor-Leste, with the local government prioritising an emphasis on preschool education throughout the nation. The 2013 immersion trip had ignited a fire that would not sputter or wane until they had done all in their power to help. 

Upon graduating high school in 2015, the 18-year olds founded the initiative ‘Schoolies For Schooling’, an independent fundraising campaign in the form of a 758 kilometre trek from Bondi Beach to Byron Bay. The campaign sought to raise awareness about the state of education and its importance in Timor-Leste, and raise funds to create a preschool in one of the remote villages they visited two years prior. The initiative became known as ‘The Walk’, and the gruelling trek lasted three intense weeks emulating the daily trek thousands of Timorese children face every day, just to attend school. 

The initial fundraising goal was $10,000, which was superseded by the 5th day of the trek. The enormous support encouraged the fundraising goal to rise to $15,000, ultimately reaching a grand total of $20,000! The support garnered from the Sydney community encouraged the co-founders to use the momentum to inaugurate a more long-term plan for the donations. 

The following year, Adam and Alessandro changed their initial plans to donate the funds to an existing organisation, and instead founded Educating The Future in April of 2016. The rationale was that there was no single destination for the money that could assure the boys, and all their stakeholders, that the money would be reinvested back into the Railaco Motahare community they visited in 2013. Educating The Future was founded with the vision to empower members of impoverished communities to achieve an improved quality of life and capacity to achieve their potential. 

The two co-founders were joined by five former classmates in a study room of a university library and began to work towards the construction of Educating The Future’s inaugural preschool with the Railaco Motahare Community. The team of seven rapidly gained momentum as friends, family and fellow students aligned with the cause and Educating The Future formalised its volunteer base. The organisation dedicated meticulous effort to registering as a Not-For-Profit with the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profit Commission (ACNC) and organising all the governance structures and due diligence for the organisation to flourish in the future. 

The team continued to build momentum and the volunteer base grew to 50+ student volunteers. An Expert Advisory Panel of experienced industry professionals was established to guide and effectively balance the young ambition of the volunteers. This foundational period saw thousands of hours of behind the scenes work translate into appropriate registration and accreditation with various relevant bodies, as the organisation became a fully-fledged, operational Australian Charity.

Today, the organisation is accredited with the Australian Council for International Development, has raised close to $400,000 and engaged over 200 volunteers that are the young leaders of our region.