Translocations are used to enhance plant numbers in small and declining populations, reintroduce plants to sites where the species previously occurred or to establish populations in new safe sites. In each case the goal is to establish self-sustaining populations with adequate genetic variation to adapt and evolve as necessary. While the amount of genetic diversity in founding plants will be important, factors that influence the maintenance of genetic diversity, such as the mating systems, will also play a major role in population persistence and resilience. This talk will describe the outcomes of recent studies of genetic diversity and mating systems of four threatened plant species in Western Australia with translocated populations. These studies demonstrated that the strategy for establishing the new populations (single source population or admixture of multiple source populations) played a significant role in determining the levels of genetic diversity found, with admixture supporting an increase in genetic diversity relative to populations founded from a single large healthy source population. However, for two species levels of genetic diversity captured in the founding plants were unlikely to be maintained in subsequent generations due to patterns of pollination that resulted in high levels of inbreeding. The results from these studies are being used to inform future management of these translocated populations and guide seed sourcing strategies for establishing new populations.