About Charles Lane

This is how Charles is a Changemaker:
In 1999 Charles Lane returned to Australia after spending 30 years overseas working at many levels in community development, social research, aid and philanthropy. During 10 years in Africa, Charles first worked as a volunteer agricultural extension officer (VSO) between 1975-77, and later as Oxfam Field Director for Tanzania 1980-85. In the UK Charles held the position of Senior Research Associate at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and was a Director of Pilotlight UK. He consulted to numerous national and international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral agencies on issues of community development, conservation, pastoral land and cultural rights. He advised Band Aid and Comic Relief UK on their grant making in Africa, undertook field research for the BBC documentary Why are People so Damn Poor, and wrote and narrated the film The Price of Conservation for the BBC. In Australia, Charles was Chief Executive Officer of The Myer Foundation between 1999-2004. In that role he was a Member of Management Advisory Board of CSIRO’s The Nature and Value of Australia’s Ecosystem Services Project, and board member of the Governing Council of the Asia Pacific Philanthropic Consortium (APPC). He was also a founding director of Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships (IEP) in Cape York. From 2004 to 2007 Charles was Executive Director of the Division of Community Strengthening and Volunteering within the Department for Victorian Communities, which included responsibility for the Volunteering & Community Enterprise Strategy, Community Strengthening activities, the operation of Local Teams, conduct of the Community Support Fund (CSF), and the Go For Your Life campaign. In that capacity he was also a founding board member of Melbourne Cares. He is currently a Member of the Advisory Board of Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Philanthropic and Nonprofit Studies, has recently joined Cricket Australia's National CricKids Playing in Harmony Steering Committee, and is a board member of the Andyinc Foundation. He is also Chairman of Nokila Holdings Pty Ltd, a cattle breeding operation in north central Victoria. Charles has published over 25 papers in scientific journals, authored two and contributed text to ten other books. He has recently joined The Adidem Group to develop a social venture harnessing the power of sport for social change.