Sustain: The Australian Food Network

What Sustain: The Australian Food Network does

Sustain: The Australian Food Network is a Melbourne-based, non-profit health promotion charity and accredited social enterprise founded in 2016 to transform Australia's food systems. It operates as an integrated 'think and do' network through four interlocking programmes: (1) the Australian Food Network membership platform, a digital community connecting over 350 food system change-makers (farmers, chefs, policymakers, academics, community leaders) at $60–$1,400+ AUD annually; (2) consulting services delivered to local councils, state government departments, and NGOs, structured around a proprietary four-phase Local Government Food Systems Journey methodology (Gathering, Deepening, Acting, Monitoring) and including food system mapping, strategy development, community engagement, and capacity building; (3) the Growing Food Justice community farm collective, operating across three urban farms in Naarm/Melbourne with volunteer and youth internship programmes; and (4) advocacy and research, including the Vote for Food national campaign, the Food Security Pulse Check Survey, Food Policy Forums, and a body of policy analysis (e.g., analysis of 187 submissions to the 2023 federal inquiry into food security).

The organisation is funded through a blended model combining fee-for-service consulting contracts with government and NGO clients, tiered individual and organisational membership subscriptions, event and forum registration fees (including the biennial Urban Agriculture Forum reaching 47,000+ Australians), and tax-deductible donations plus grants from a base of named philanthropic supporters including Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation, Myer Foundation, McLeod Family Foundation, VicHealth, Bennelong Foundation, Inner North Community Foundation, Commonland Foundation, and Bank Australia. Its technology foundation is rooted in systems-thinking frameworks applied to food policy and on-the-ground community farm practice; it does not operate proprietary software platforms, instead relying on a third-party community platform (mn.co), standard GIS mapping, and survey analytics. Sustain is governed by a board including co-founders Nick Rose (Executive Director) and Kelly Donati (Vice-Chairperson), with directors drawn from commercial, legal, and finance backgrounds (MYOB, CPA-qualified finance leaders, PSM KC-level legal expertise), and is registered with the ACNC as a charity with DGR status.

Name

Sustain: The Australian Food Network

Legal name

Sustain: The Australian Food Network Ltd.

Website

https://sustain.org.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sustain is a Melbourne-based non-profit health promotion charity that operates a national food system transformation network combining consulting, research, advocacy, and community farms to serve Australian governments, councils, NGOs, and food system change-makers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Food Systems Consulting and Advocacy

NAICS

Community Food Services (62421), Community Food Services (624210)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Agriculture, Food Security & Nutrition Technical Assistance (BPADAEAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Food Systems & Value Chain Development for Nutrition (BPADAJAG), Resilient Livelihoods & Climate-Smart Food Security (BPADAJAH), Agriculture & Food Security Development (BPAGABAB), Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems (BPAGAGAI)

Keywords

• Food systems consulting
• Community food initiatives
• Local government advisory
• Food security research
• Urban agriculture programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Preston, Melbourne

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Fee-for-service consulting work for governments, local councils, NGOs, and community organisations. Services include research, strategy development, community engagement, and capacity building.
2. Membership Fees: Individual memberships at $60 AUD annually with one month free trial. Organisational memberships from $250 AUD annually, including multiple individual memberships. Not-for-profit, charity, philanthropy, industry, university, and government membership options.
3. Events Revenue: Revenue from events including forums, webinars, and conferences. Local Government Networking Forums have registration fees ($50 for non-members, free for member councils).
4. Donations and Philanthropy: Tax-deductible donations (over $2) from individuals and organisations. As a non-for-profit organisation registered as a charity with ACNC and DGR status.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Sustain: The Australian Food Network is a health promotion charity and accredited social enterprise that delivers food system transformation consulting, research, community network-building, and advocacy services. It operates The Australian Food Network membership platform connecting food system change-makers, runs the Growing Food Justice community farm collective across three Melbourne urban farms, and provides fee-for-service consulting to local councils, state government departments, NGOs, and community organisations covering food system mapping, strategy development, community engagement, and capacity building.

Product overview

Sustain: The Australian Food Network is a health promotion charity and accredited social enterprise that operates as a 'think and do' network rather than a traditional product company. Its core offerings consist of The Australian Food Network (an online membership platform for food system change-makers), Growing Food Justice (a community farm collective across three Melbourne urban farms), and Consulting Services including research, strategy development, community engagement, and capacity building for governments and organisations. The organisation also runs advocacy campaigns like Vote for Food and supports community food initiatives. The Australian Food Network membership platform is available at individual ($60 AUD annually) and organisational levels (from $250 AUD annually), while Growing Food Justice operates across urban farms with volunteer and youth internship programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Growing Food Justice: A community farm collective working to make food justice a lived reality for everyone, operating across three Melbourne urban farms.

Products and services

• The Australian Food Network (Membership Platform) Online community platform connecting food system change-makers including farmers, chefs, educators, policymakers, community leaders, researchers, and citizens; offers daily networking, resource libraries, skill development sessions, movement-building conversations, and event invitations. Individual membership $60 AUD/year, organisational membership from $250 AUD/year.
• Growing Food Justice A community farm collective operating across two to three community-led urban farms in Naarm (Melbourne), practising food justice through collective farming, First Nations allyship, corporate volunteering, and youth internship programs.
• Food Systems Consulting Services Food system transformation consulting for governments, NGOs, and organisations, including food system mapping, GIS mapping, food retail environment mapping, food system network analysis, needs assessments, strategy development, community engagement, and capacity building for local governments.
• Food Systems Research Services Publicly accessible research on food systems including mapping studies, food price comparison research, food security scoping studies, surveys, needs assessments, literature reviews, and feasibility studies.
• Local Government Food Systems Journey A four-phase pathway for local governments to engage with food system transformation: Gathering (mapping and needs analysis), Deepening (capacity building), Acting (strategy development), and Monitoring (impact measurement and evaluation).
• Events and Forums Program Hosting of events including biennial Urban Agriculture Forum, annual Urban Agriculture Month (reaching 47,000+ Australians), quarterly Local Government Food Systems Networking Forums, Victorian Food Policy Forum, and National Food Policy Forum. Registration fees apply for non-members.

Quantifiable outcome

• 47,000+ Australians connected with local food systems through Urban Agriculture Month
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered supporting, minor and core.

• Ripe for ChangesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding supporter working on sustainable food systems. Collaborative relationship in the food systems movement.
• William Angliss InstitutesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational institution founding supporter. Co-founder Kelly Donati developed Australia's only Bachelor of Food Studies at this institute.
• Cardinia Shire CouncilsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal government founding supporter and client. Collaborated on Cardinia Community Food Strategy (2016-2022).
• Agriculture VictoriasupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment department client for food system consulting and transformation work.
• NEPHU (North Eastern Public Health Unit)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to map local food environments across ten councils in Melbourne's north and north-east.
• Give Where You Live FoundationsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity foundation client for Food for Thought Research assessing food security in Geelong region.
• Box DivvyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVictorian event partner for Victorian Food Policy Forum 2026. Food box home delivery enterprise that distributed Food Security Pulse Check Survey.
• Just Food CollectiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity food project that Sustain mentors and supports.
• Youth World Food GardenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity food initiative mentored by Sustain as part of Just Food Collective.
• Brimbank Community World Food GardenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity food project supported by Sustain.
• Pay the RentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVictorian Aboriginal-led initiative that Sustain directs 10% of its membership fees to, supporting First Nations self-determination.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance: Farmer-led national organisation advocating for food sovereignty and agroecology in Australia. Comparable to Sustain as both engage in food systems advocacy, policy submissions, and convening alternative food movement stakeholders.
• Open Food Network Australia: Australian non-profit cooperative operating a digital platform that connects farmers, food hubs and communities to build alternative food systems. Comparable to Sustain as both run digital community/marketplace infrastructure to enable local food system change in Australia.

Emerging players

• Regen Australia: Australian network promoting regenerative agriculture practice, policy and markets across farming communities. Comparable as both work on transforming food systems through networks, advocacy, and practitioner engagement in Australia.
• Food Frontier: Australian independent think tank working on alternative proteins and food system transformation through research, policy and industry engagement. Comparable as a mission-driven food systems organisation doing research-driven advocacy and stakeholder convening.

Others

• VicHealth: Victorian health promotion foundation and a major grantor/partner of Sustain. Included because they sit at the same intersection of public health, food systems and policy, and fund much of the food security research agenda Sustain executes against.

Broad incumbents

• Foodbank Australia: Largest food relief charity in Australia, distributing food to welfare agencies and running national hunger research (including the Hunger Report cited by Sustain). Comparable as both address Australian food insecurity through a mix of direct service, research and advocacy.
• OzHarvest: Australia's leading food rescue charity redistributing surplus food to charities and schools. Comparable as a large-scale Australian non-profit tackling food system waste and insecurity through operations, advocacy and education.
• SecondBite: Major Australian food rescue organisation redistributing surplus food to community organisations nationally. Comparable as a national non-profit addressing food insecurity through redistribution and partner networks.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sustainaus
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@sustaintheaustralianfoodne496
• Facebookfacebook.com/sustainaustralia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sustain-the-australian-food-network
• Instagraminstagram.com/sustainaustralia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sustain: The Australian Food Network