How funding innovation, tech and partnerships help GreenSTEM grow

The mission to engage students in STEM

Many organisations start by solving a problem right in front of them. For GreenSTEM founders, Daniel Edwards and Dan Langford, this problem was student disengagement with STEM and education more broadly.

Based in Northwest Tasmania, a region with some of the lowest educational attainment rates in the country, they saw students disengaging from learning early.

Unlocking an important opportunity

At the same time, the region was entering a period of significant industry growth with demand for STEM skills rapidly increasing. Yet many young people risked being underprepared for the opportunities ahead.

For Daniel and Dan, their ambition became both a workforce imperative and an educational opportunity.

Business partnership with purpose

Partnerships have been a key to building GreenSTEM from the start.

When exploring options to engage students, Daniel and Dan discovered the Greenpower program, an international electric vehicle engineering and racing program based in the UK. Unlike anything available in Australia at the time, it inspired them to bring something new to the Australian market.

A national opportunity

Thinking beyond just their own classroom, they decided to establish GreenSTEM as a not-for-profit to deliver the Greenpower program to the entire country.

It was either we do this just for our school, or we look at that as an opportunity to bring something to the country.

Daniel Edwards, Founder and CEO, GreenSTEM

This approach has let them take recognised best practice beyond individual classrooms, helping more students, educators and communities benefit. Daniel emphasises that collaboration remains at the heart of everything they do and advises other founders not to do it alone.

Collaboration is key

Partnerships and community engagement are a crucial part of GreenSTEM’s operations.

The biggest thing is networking and making connections with others. It has been huge for us. We’ve been able to achieve much more by collaboration than we could otherwise have done.

Daniel Edwards, Founder and CEO, GreenSTEM

Participating in incubators like The Shift Lab helped Daniel and Dan unlock a better understanding of the business side of their mission. Connecting with local networks like Enterprize helps them find local suppliers and partners.

Daniel believes that if you have a good idea that offers value, people will want to support it. This has been key to GreenSTEM’s ability to foster innovation, collaboration, and engagement within the STEM community.

Structure and systems to support growth

GreenSTEM started with a small team of three teachers working as volunteers. Demand grew, and with interest from schools across the country, time became the scarcest resource.

To help them meet the challenge, GreenSTEM put in place new structure, systems and technology.

From teaching to running a social enterprise

To meet growing national demand, GreenSTEM shifted from a purely volunteer-led model to a model that includes paid staff in roles to support growth.

The leadership team now balance their active roles in education, with strategic work focused on the long term. For Daniel, this includes building partnerships, growing organisational capacity and supporting sustainable national expansion.

Many team members have received national recognition for excellence in teaching. And by continuing to teach, mentor and work directly with young people, they can rapidly test, refine and scale approaches that work.

It’s about investing for growth by design while staying close to program delivery. Finding the right balance as you grow your business is key to helping unlock opportunities while staying true to your purpose.

Scalable business systems and tech

Smart design of systems has also helped GreenSTEM manage growth, while strengthening transparency and accountability for long-term sustainability.

Governance and accountability

Daniel highlights the importance of separating governance from delivery as their organisation grows. In the early days, everyone did everything. Now, as their profile and obligations increase, they need distinct roles and clear accountability across their management and team.

Collaboration tools

Digital collaboration tools have been critical to maintaining momentum and alignment. Platforms like Microsoft 365 have been central to GreenSTEM’s day-to-day operations, enabling distributed teams to collaborate effectively across projects, programs and locations.

Modern systems and tech maturity

GreenSTEM is also investing in more integrated digital infrastructure to streamline operations as it scales. The organisation has begun implementing platforms like Odoo to unify workflows across areas such as finance, CRM, communications and program delivery, helping reduce complexity and improve organisational efficiency. A next step will be to look at how integrated solutions that support multiple functions can help keep things as simple as possible.

A human-led approach to AI

Daniel and the team use AI primarily as a support tool. It helps them document, organise and communicate ideas more effectively without replacing human thinking or creativity. Examples include:

• documenting initiatives and concepts
• preparing and refining communications for different stakeholders
• tailoring messaging for different audiences and platforms.

This means initiatives can be clearly shared with partners, schools, funders and the wider community.

AI helps them reduce administrative load while keeping strategy, decision-making and innovation firmly human-led. For a small organisation, this approach can help scale clarity and consistency without diluting the authenticity of work.

Explore ways to use AI to help boost productivity.

Sustainable funding models

Growing into a bigger, more complex social enterprise has also meant transforming funding models.

As a social enterprise, GreenSTEM is focused on balancing purpose with financial sustainability. They’ve adopted an innovative approach to funding and creating sustainable income, with an eye on lowering entry barriers for schools.

Diverse revenue streams

Daniel explains that programs like Greenpower can be expensive to run. To help them survive and grow, they don't rely on a single income stream. Their diverse and growing mix of funding streams, includes:

• program registrations and subscriptions
• government and philanthropic grants
• corporate partnerships and sponsorships
• educational content and delivery contracts
• events and community activations
• merchandise and resource sales
• donations and community support.

Addressing barriers to entry

To help address the high cost of STEM equipment they’ve introduced a ‘loan-to-own’ strategy. They use grant funding from the Department of State Growth to purchase electric vehicle kits they can loan to schools.

The schools can pay to gain full ownership over time. This approach helps lower upfront cost barriers.

Tips for purpose-led growth

GreenSTEM’s journey highlights the importance of strong partnerships, clear governance and the thoughtful use of technology to amplify impact. Their experience offers learnings for purpose-led businesses who aspire to grow.

Consider the questions below when developing your own business growth strategy.

• Is it better to collaborate rather than compete?
• How can you separate governance from delivery?
• What tools and technology can help a small team deliver big results?
• Can you build multiple income streams to help support financial sustainability?

By building relationships with others, the team at GreenSTEM have been able to expand their impact and create a more sustainable business model. Shared goals can lead to mutual success.

As you scale, you can’t do everything. Defining clear roles can help with efficiency, safety and accountability.

The right business software can help you collaborate effectively as a team and with partners.

Explore ways technology can help you drive business growth.

Disclaimer: Information provided in this article is general in nature and does not constitute financial advice.