Having recently completed our support for the 1,000th charity working on poverty in the UK, today, Earth Day, we announce plans for a new programme of capacity building for environmental organisations, starting with a survey of their support needs.
There is currently no skills-based capacity building programme in the UK on climate change or sustainability. And yet the number of environmental organisations in the UK is growing at around 3% per annum — with 6,204 voluntary organisations, according to NCVO, and one in five social enterprises that focus on climate and environmental sustainability, according to Social Enterprise UK.
As the first step in the design of a new programme, Pilotlight, with the encouragement of environmental funders, is asking environmental charities and social enterprises to complete a short, open survey to assess the overall needs for support in the sector.
Among the issues covered will be the: quality of governance and leadership; capacity of the team, including staff and volunteer skills; ability to plan, including handling data and reporting on impact; and diversity, equity and inclusion.
The survey, which is launched on Earth Day, runs for six weeks, closing on Friday 2 June 2023.
Ed Mayo, Chief Executive of Pilotlight and acclaimed former CEO of environmental charity the New Economics Foundation, comments that:
“We are looking to create a capacity building programme to support environmental action, recruiting business employees to lend their time, expertise and passion to charities, so they can turn their ambitions into tangible action on climate and sustainability.”
Pilotlight has an outstanding track record of positive impact for charities and social enterprises. Organisations that have been supported increase on average the number of beneficiaries they serve by 30% and grow their income by 44% after completing its longstanding Pilotlight 360 programme.
Ed Mayo continues, explaining that “after twenty-five years of work supporting anti-poverty organisations, Pilotlight has a deep knowledge of their organisational needs and work collaboratively, including with business, to help. What no-one knows in a systematic way is what the organisational support needs of environmental charities and social enterprises are, which is why we are calling for help and input from those working in the field through this survey.”
Those completing the survey are eligible to be entered into a draw to win a Social Stories Gift Hamper, with products drawn from social enterprises in the UK.
Take our survey now: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/environmentalorgsurvey