Evans grew up in Kew, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and was educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School where, aged 12 years, he participated in World Vision's 40-hour famine out of a concern for poverty in developing countries.

[citation needed] The following year, Evans subsequently won a World Vision-sponsored contest to visit development programs in the Philippines and was moved by his encounters in the slums of Manila.

I couldn't understand why we as Australians are so determined, even to the point of complaining, to get the latest mobile phone ... then comparing this to walking through the market of India and seeing a man with no legs, simply a piece of rubber tied to his waist to stop the skin on his pelvis from scraping away ... all he asks for is the equivalent of 20 cents.A further trip to the rural valley communities of the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, where he volunteered as a youth ambassador with World Vision, saw him return to Melbourne in 2003 moved to bring about social change.

In 2003 Evans, together with Nicolas Mackay established The Oaktree Foundation, an Australian-based non-government organisation that provides aid and development to countries in need across the Asia Pacific and African regions.

Oaktree is run by young people aged 16 to 26, overseen by an advisory board, and has since grown into an effective vehicle for youth advocacy in Australia providing for education in developing countries.