The new Strategic Plan released this month by the Taronga Conservation Society Australia was developed in partnership with Nous Group using our proven collaborative approach to helping organisations map out their future strategy.

Taronga’s 2021-2025 Strategic Plan, released on World Wildlife Day (3 March) by Taronga and the NSW Minister for Energy and Environment Matt Kean, offers a plan for Taronga to take on challenges including saving wildlife and tackling climate change. Taronga is responsible for two of Australia’s most loved attractions, Taronga Zoo Sydney and Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo.

Nous’ work with Taronga was led by Simon Guttmann, a Principal in our Sydney office.

“We were pleased to work with Taronga to achieve an ambitious strategic refresh that builds a path forward,” Simon said. “Drawing on Nous’ suite of planning tools and techniques for successful strategy development, we helped Taronga set a strategy that will help it realise its vision of securing a shared future for wildlife and people.”

The strategy reaffirmed Taronga’s vision and set a new purpose and six strategic focus areas that each have specific outcomes and measures to monitor progress. In substantial enhancements, the new strategy specifically calls out Taronga’s Commitment to Country and Environmental Leadership. A further innovation in the strategy was to reference the 11 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals the strategy supports.

To develop the strategy, Nous interviewed Taronga executives and board members as well as the leaders of other zoo-based conservation organisations around the world. We also spoke to experts in topics including guest engagement, sustainability and early childhood education. Further activities to inform the review included a scenario planning workshop and staff focus groups.

After we developed a Propositions Paper to stimulate thinking about Taronga’s future, we held workshops with the Executive to draft, test and refine the plan, including the vision, purpose, priorities, outcomes, measures of success and year one actions.

The 2021-2025 Strategic Plan has prompted Taronga to commit its skills and expertise to save the platypus, the koala, and more than 200 threatened species across NSW.

“We pledge to act as the first and the last line of defence, to inspire change and to maintain insurance populations for critically endangered species that are vanishing from the wild,” Taronga said. “We pledge to use our expertise in wildlife health and rescue, conservation science and education to ensure the iconic Platypus and so many other species do not become a statistic. We will not let our icons vanish.”

Cameron Kerr, CEO of Taronga, said the Nous team was extremely professional and understood the complexity of Taronga’s business and stakeholder needs. “The methodical and highly considered approach was integral to synthesising our ideas into an approachable future forward plan,” he said.

The support for Taronga builds on Nous’ work with government, private and not-for-profit organisations across Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada to develop their strategic plans.