Alyssa: So welcome to Funding the Future, Stories Behind the Missions. I'm Alyssa, your host, and as a co-founder of GrantDrafter, I know how easy it is to get stuck in the day-to-day of grant writing and lose sight of what funding actually means for an organization. Funding can look like forms and deadlines, but behind every grant is a story of people, purpose, and real world change. This is where we share those stories, one mission at a time. And for today's guest, I have Nat Heath, founder of TriMob. Thanks so much for joining me.
Nat: Nah, thanks for having me. Yeah, love what you guys are looking at doing and yeah, looking forward to the chat.
Alyssa: So we might dive right in. Could you give us a quick snapshot of TriMob, what's your mission, who are you supporting and how did you get started?
Nat: Yeah, so TriMob is a First Nations led organisation, registered charity under the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profit Commission. Also a triathlon club as well, and one of two clubs in Australia that are nationally based. So no matter what state or territory you can be a member. But effectively what we're about is moving the mob. So getting more First Nations people moving, but we use the sports of triathlon or swim, bike and run.
Nat: Our three key goals are to increase participation of First Nations people in the sport of triathlon. And the reason for that is historically it's not a sport that our people have participated in and had the opportunity to participate in. In participating in the sport or getting out more moving, we want to improve our health and wellbeing. And then thirdly, we want to provide a mob led space for all Australians or people around the world to celebrate and learn about First Nations people and our communities.
Nat: That then links back to our health, particularly emotional health, because if more Australians are accepting of who we are and not trying to adjust us to suit a non-Indigenous narrative, it's much better for our emotional wellbeing.
Nat: Our origins are, we started in 2020, just before COVID. A couple of people had started coming up to us saying they were really interested in doing triathlon. I'd been in the sport since 2011 and there just wasn't many First Nations people. There was this growing interest and I was like, that's it, I'm gonna set something up. I didn't know what it was gonna be. But TriMob was born. It really just started off as an Instagram page to create community interest and then being a place to encourage mob into it and ask questions and showcase those that are moving their body and showcase our culture to people in the sport of triathlon.
Nat: Five years down the track, we're a registered charity. We have our own unique specific programs to support mob in the sport. And it's creating quite a nationwide movement.
Alyssa: That's amazing. Had you started an organization before, or was this totally new experience?
Nat: Yeah, completely new. I'd worked in the Aboriginal space in a range of fields. From non-for-profit Aboriginal led orgs, worked at universities, early childhood education services. So I had a bit of experience in the non-for-profit sector, but probably not the understanding of leadership, governance, creating an organisation. It's completely new to me, the whole establishing an organisation, running it, and there's a lot of mistakes that are made along the way. There's no template model like, hey, this is step-by-step guide of how you run an organisation.
Nat: One of the biggest challenges is actually having a sustainable organisation, both sustainable in programs you deliver, but sustainable financially. And that's been a huge learning piece for us. I was probably a little bit naive to that.
Alyssa: Well look, it's an amazing achievement. Starting something from scratch and having a national impact. What inspires you most about working there?
Nat: I've always been inspired by doing things that are going to empower our communities. Often people look at First Nations communities and see deficit or use deficit discourse. Something that really inspires me about TriMob is because it is community and First Nations led, it's really using a strengths-based approach and all the evidence shows that's what works best.
Nat: I'm passionate about our community, but I also love triathlon. So it's like two loves being combined. Our first ever program was the Iron Mob program, which is a 14 month program where we take First Nations people, most of them have never done a triathlon, and train them up to do an Ironman Triathlon, which is the hardest one day sporting event you can do.
Nat: To see people go from terrified or not have the ability to swim a couple of hundred meters to then 14 months later swimming just under 4K, then getting out and riding another 180K, then running 42K. That journey and progress for them on a physical standpoint, but probably more importantly, a mental, emotional, wellbeing standpoint to have courage and confidence to be able to do that. That's what I love.
Nat: And then seeing our apparel and products out everywhere. We have this mantra, which is "up the mob." And every third person's yelling out "up the mob" as soon as they see one of our athletes out there racing. People who get to be a part of our community are just like, wow, the amount of support we get. I love hearing that and seeing the uplift that gives them as people to be seen, to be heard, but for who they are as First Nations people.
Alyssa: That's amazing. I know people that I would consider sporty that would never attempt an Ironman. So to go from not really exercising to completing something like that is an amazing achievement.
Nat: The program teaches people to be a bit more disciplined. Your motivation comes and goes, but discipline is something that can be put into daily practices. That can then transverse into work life, into family. One of the things the program does is if you've got chinks in the armor, it'll find them. If things aren't going good in home life or social life, that'll play out in your ability to be able to do the sport.
Nat: It forces you to over time address those issues and try to create a balance. If you look at life as balloons filled with oxygen, if you just fill one balloon up and all the rest get deflated, that's not a healthy balance. The program helps people understand who they are, what's important to them, and how to ensure they are looking after themselves in a more holistic approach to life.
Nat: Within our communities, mob who are particularly connected are driven to give back to community and family. Sometimes that comes at a cost to themselves. This program gives people an opportunity to do something for themselves, which actually allows them to give back more. Our programs are always 50% First Nations women. Often our women are the first to give up things for the betterment of the family or community. It's beautiful to watch them say, I'm going to do this for me.
Alyssa: Were there any key turning points when you were setting up TriMob or major challenges you've overcome?
Nat: A lot. In 2020 I set up TriMob, there was this Instagram page, we had a club and it was ticking along, but we weren't necessarily doing anything specific. I had a good job, quite cushy job, earning a really good wage in government, but I wasn't really fulfilled. I was like, if I don't go all in on TriMob now, I never will.
Nat: I went all in, quit my job at the end of 2022, went full-time on TriMob but on no wage. I sold my house so I could be sustainable and work for free for two years. I was naive. I thought I'd set up this First Nations organisation, I've got great connections, we're gonna do really good things, people will buy into this. A lot of people love the idea, but until you've got runs on the board, people like it but they don't necessarily invest in it.
Nat: The first eighteen months was, yeah, we were living off breadcrumbs. A lot of the programs I was funding at times. To make any money, because no one was interested in supporting us, people had their own organisational gaps - they wanted reconciliation action plans or cultural awareness. I'd say, as opposed to paying for a consultant, how about you just invest into us and I'll do that for free.
Nat: It wasn't really till our first programme finished, which was our first Iron Mob group. Six athletes, three women, three men, crossed that finish line on May 5th in 2024. Because up until that point, it was just talk. When Bobby Ma, who was our final finisher, crossed that line, I was like, we've done it. That brought media attention. It was the first time anything like this had been done.
Nat: We were really fortunate at the end of last year to be successful in getting a grant from Lululemon. $50,000 US, which was like 77,000 Australian at the time. That allowed us for the first time to officially employ someone. That was huge. No one wants to be the first to invest because there's obviously a risk. Getting that grant from a huge org like Lululemon gives you legitimacy.
Nat: Our governance really got stronger. We brought on Professor Ray Lovett onto our board. We did our first ever strategy day. And our partnership with Sydney Marathon was a huge catalyst for us and a huge shift where we got a lot more visibility.
Alyssa: It sounds like the Lululemon grant was a gateway. Was that a difficult grant to write?
Nat: It wasn't too bad actually compared to others. You see some grants where it's $5,000 and they ask so many questions. We had applied for a fair few grants and just always been unsuccessful. You start to lose a bit of confidence and hope.
Nat: The challenge is, even with questions around what is your mission - we choose not to use the word mission because of its connotation to Aboriginal missions and reserves. We'll talk about our purpose, or in our context, our dreaming. We refer back to our culture. But for non-Indigenous grant writers, once we start using that language, they kind of go, you're not really answering what we want. So it's been this challenge of understanding what language we can use.
Nat: Their grant was actually quite a good process. The hard thing is when you're a one man show trying to run programs, sell merch, do admin and apply for grants. Mark Benny, who now sits on our fundraising partnerships committee, noticed the grant and did the first draft. Then I did the second part at 11 o'clock at night when it was due at 12.
Nat: The thing I really struggle with is I'm really good with the ideas, but I'm not great operationally. Costing something is like, sometimes you just don't know until you know. I just took a swing and fortunately this time it landed.
Nat: The other challenge is you're obviously trying to identify a problem and saying here's the solution. In the First Nation space, people cling to deficit discourse - Aboriginal people die younger, cardiovascular disease, they want all the problems. We're not denying these things don't exist, but once you start talking to that narrative a lot, you become the narrative.
Nat: What we're trying to do is shift the discourse. Look how strong our community is in culture and language. But that doesn't necessarily engage the financial person. I've learned some certain family traumas, the funder wants to hear that. So it's a challenge to learn that maybe there's some things we have to do to get in the door, but then we've got to try to educate and change that discourse. You can't do that until you're in the door.
Alyssa: What's a creative way you've adapted when money was tight?
Nat: I identified gaps for certain organisations. Triathlon Australia had no reconciliation action plan, really no participation of First Nations people. I said, we will work with you to do your reconciliation action plan, do cultural awareness, but we're also an indigenous triathlon club. Sydney Marathon was the same. Acuity wanted cultural awareness training - I charged them 24K and invested that money into our organisation. It's a win-win.
Nat: We were really lucky getting some good apparel partners. Budgie Smuggler was our first ever partner. Wind Republic make our running apparel. Fractal give us hats at a reduced rate. So we were able to sell merch. At our last financial year, about 18% of our funding came through selling merch.
Nat: The big one that's really helped us is fundraising. Using platforms like Grassroots. We had to get to a point where we were DGR endorsed - deductible gift recipients. That took another 18 months after becoming a charity. But since September last year, we've raised over 100K just through fundraising.
Nat: We've never received a government dollar, which I love and also annoys me. The good thing is people can't say you just get funded by the taxpayer. But I also get frustrated that so much First Nations government spending goes to non-Indigenous orgs.
Nat: I was fortunate the org didn't have to pay me for two years. The average charity lasts four years. For First Nations orgs, it's two years. If they'd had to pay someone from the start, we would have just crashed and burned.
Alyssa: I love your fee for service angle. That's such a genius idea.
Nat: The other thing that's difficult in the charity space is in business, you've got to spend money to get investment. Businesses will take out loans. The challenge in charity is you never want to run into the red. We never did. But when do you bring on the next person? What's the risk? Do we have enough money to cover a year? But if we don't do that, we just stay doing the same.
Nat: I've been getting mentored by Tim Detman. He asked, what do you think the biggest risk to TriMob is? I said financial security, getting more money. He said, can I tell you what I think? He said, you. If you fall off a cliff, the organisation falls off a cliff. If your reputation becomes tarnished, the organisation's reputation will be tarnished.
Nat: I'd never thought of me as the biggest risk. I was always like, I'm the biggest asset. He's been explaining, if you don't bring someone else on board, even if you don't have the finances, you run the risk of destroying yourself and then your organisation's dead anyway. One person can't manage everything.
Alyssa: If you were offered a million dollars in untethered funds tomorrow, what would you do?
Nat: The first thing would be employ a very good operational person, because that's the gap. But I don't think we would do a million things at once, because that would be organisational death.
Nat: Next 12 to 18 months: operational person, probably two program officers to deliver directly to community - school programs to 20 communities. Build up the grassroots wave of interest. Then trial a team in a particular region. Long-term we want TriMob teams all across the country.
Nat: For us to do ongoing health improvement, you need people based there delivering programs or training up community people. Into 2027, we would focus on where's the best location for a team. Where's the biggest impact gonna happen. Then start recruiting people to start a team in 2027.
Nat: The other thing I've learned is just because you get money doesn't mean you have to spend it immediately. Orgs that do well put money into term deposits. Use that to cover program delivery. So it would be strategically planning out what 2027 looks like while delivering for the first 12 months.
Alyssa: You say you're not much of an operations person, but that was such a considered answer!
Nat: It's all good in theory. My biggest weakness is let's do everything. This year has been a very big learning curve. For our next 12 months, it's just be like, this is what we're going to do and no more. Even if you got a million dollars, let's be considered and concise with our approach.
Alyssa: What gives you hope about the future of impact-driven work for not-for-profits?
Nat: There's a lot of good people in the world that want to make a difference. There's a lot of people that are very passionate about the First Nations space. I'm excited about our organisation - we've had really big growth in the last six to nine months. We're at that tipping point where really good things are gonna happen.
Nat: The other thing we've been talking about as a board is how do we grow our people within the space. Four of our board members will go through the AICD training. How do we bring the next wave through - leadership opportunities for people from our community or who've gone through our programs.
Nat: People becoming more aware of the importance of First Nations led orgs and handing over the keys back to community. The community has the answers, they just need investment - not just financial, but investment in training, skill set, confidence.
Alyssa: Quick rapid fire round. One word to describe fundraising or grant writing?
Nat: Confusing.
Alyssa: What's the most underrated skill in not-for-profit work?
Nat: Communication and knowing people.
Alyssa: Who is your not-for-profit hero?
Nat: Wominda down on the South Coast - they do amazing work particularly from a cultural standpoint, but also economically being self-sufficient with their cafe and veggie gardens. Shane Phillips from Tribal Warrior in Redfern - the way he's led within his community, you always feel seen and heard. And Marnie Joan Winch, who set up Aboriginal Health College called Marmottage in WA. If I could do a quarter of what she's achieved, I'll have done a good job.
Nat: I want to say what you guys are doing with GrantDrafter is a massive game changer. The use of AI tools, particularly when you're time poor - having tools where you can upload documents and it will respond to questions in grants that you can then review, that takes hours out. It allows you to look at the way you craft responses. Small charities are competing against huge organisations who have their own grant writing arms. It's a game changer.
Alyssa: Thank you so much. I feel like you've covered such great ground today. This podcast is powered by GrantDrafter, helping organizations like TriMob to draft their next grant in five minutes or less. For those listening, we hope you're feeling inspired to get out there and maximize your impact.