The Conservation Collective is a global network of local environment foundations rooted in its communities that are working to protect the environment, restore nature and safeguard against climate change.
When The Conservation Collective first came to Pilotlight, the charity was in the middle of a period of fast growth and expansion. While a rather favourable position to be in 2021, especially in the context of the overall health of the charity sector post-pandemic, the organisation was grappling with a wealth of opportunities coming its way. The CEO and co-founder Jade Brudenell explained: “We were looking to explore how to consolidate and build a sustainable growth plan, whilst holding on to every good idea.”
Jade and the other co-founder Ben Goldsmith were matched with five Barclays Pilotlighters, who were tasked to find solutions to strengthen the foundation and set it up for growth via the Pilotlight Direction programme.
Jade described the beginning of the programme as steadily accelerating, as it can feel during the exploratory phase in the first few weeks. As the Pilotlighters were working independently to bring Jade and Ben ideas, reducing the pressure on their capacity and availability the pace picked up.
Jade said: “I was really impressed with the commitment of the Pilotlighters, it was great to have people with such a wide range of different backgrounds and experiences helping us. Brilliant!”
At the end of the programme, the Pilotlighters presented Jade and Ben with a variety of considerations and recommendations for different growth models. This included a risk framework, financial growth model tool and suggestions for standardised governance documents.
After completing the programme, the charity is working away on implementing the KPI recommendations, feeding them into the organisational growth strategy.
Jade noted: “The programme helped us make the case for expanding the core team to meet demands, and present to the Board plans that have set realistic expectations. I have been using the testimonials from our Pilotlighters quite a bit.”