The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales
The Charity Commission held a seminar on 18 October 2007, following on from our chair, Dame Suzi Leather’s article in the October edition of Charity Finance magazine which examined the Commission's role in encouraging environmental best practice in the sector. This proved a great catalyst for the lively discussions held during the event. A range of speakers from across the sector told the 30 or so attendees about innovative work they have been doing - both in terms of 'in-house' administrative measures and activities which further charitable purposes. We have also produced a set of Questions and Answers aimed at charities that are thinking of getting involved in environmental work.
This page is designed to signpost charities to organisations that will assist them to address environmental responsibility issues in their own organisation and practice. It is divided into four sections:
A number of organisations provide advice and support for the third sector in a variety of ways, some with relation to day to day operations, some with regard to development of land and buildings:
Every action counts
Website: www.everyactioncounts.org.uk
Every Actions Counts provides advice and support to voluntary and community organisations which are looking to reduce their impact on the environment, tackle climate change and improve their local area.
By providing free access to information, action planning tools, publications and trained Community Champions they will enable a group to take simple and effective actions to:
Federation of Community Development Learning
Website: www.fcdl.org.uk
Sustainable development taster sessions packs 1 - 10
As part of the Every Action Counts programme, FCDL has been getting the government's sustainable development message out to people through community groups. Following a detailed survey, they ran a series of workshops and have produced sample training material which can be used with community group members, activists, people working in the community and community development workers.
Carbon Trust
Website: www.carbontrust.co.uk
Works with larger organisations to reduce their carbon footprints.
Energy Savings trust
Website: www.energysavingtrust.org.uk
Community Action for Energy (CAfE) is a programme from the Energy savings Trust that is designed to promote and facilitate local community based energy projects.
CAfE is a network of people who share a common interest in community energy projects and ideas. Membership of the network is free and by joining you can keep up to date with news on community-based energy initiatives, as well as hearing about funding opportunities, training sessions and other news from the network.
Action for Sustainable Living
Website: http://www.afsl.org.uk/
(AfSL) is a charity that helps people to live more sustainably, focusing on simple changes that will make the world a better place to live in. They're currently active in Manchester, Trafford and Liverpool, and are open to working in other parts of the UK.
Groundwork UK
Website: http://www.groundwork.org.uk
Community Spaces is a £50 million open grants programme that is managed by Groundwork UK as an Award Partner to the Big Lottery Fund. The programme helps community groups create or improve green and open spaces so that the quality of life in neighbourhoods across England is enhanced.
GreenSpace
Website: http://www.green-space.org.uk
Aims of the Green Space Community Network
Their aim is to create an environment in which relevant information is accessible and readily available. This will enable community groups to quickly answer problems with constructive solutions based on the experience of others.
Objectives of the Community Network
The Charities Facilities Management Group
Website: http://www.upkeep.org.uk/cfmg/resources/sustainability.htm
The Charities FM Group looks at how charities can work to incorporate the principles of sustainable development in their day-to-day activities. Their members are very interested in all aspects of sustainability, from energy conservation to ethical purchasing. They have found that many property managers in the voluntary sector want to work in a "greener" way, but sometimes don’t have the internal support or the tools to do so.
They agreed to draft a model policy for charities to adopt. They are aiming to produce a policy that sets out a commitment to the principles of sustainable development.
They hope that charities will adopt this policy at board-level, so that they can see voluntary sector organisations start making a public commitment to address the issue of sustainability in the way they manage their facilities.
Some charities will want to investigate who their suppliers are or may want to research more environmentally friendly purchases or travel options.
Forum for the Future - Buying a Better World & the Sustainable Procurement Toolkit
Website: www.forumforthefuture.org.uk
This publication is aimed at larger organisations than most charities but charities may end up in the supply chains of public bodies using the toolkit.
Ethical Consumer
Website: www.ethicalconsumer.org
This social enterprise offers a range of independent research services for organisations, businesses and individuals.
Company Screening and Shareholder Analysis
When you need to know all about the ethical record of a company, Ethical Consumer's screening service can help you to ensure that partners, supplier, sponsors and potential investments will not pose a reputational risk, or clash with your organisation's own ethics.
When you want to know something specific about a subject - from analysis of environmental policies within the power generation industry to the practicalities of alternative fuels.
Corporate Critic online database
24 Hour access from your home or office, to the ethical and environmental records of 30,000 companies worldwide. Useful for charities who need to vet a large number of potential sponsors, donors and suppliers.
Department for Transport travel plan
Website: www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/travelplans
A travel plan is a package of measures produced by employers to encourage staff to use alternatives to single-occupancy car-use. Such a plan for example, could include: car sharing schemes; a commitment to improve cycling facilities; a dedicated bus service or restricted car parking allocations. It might also promote flexible-working practices such as remote access and video conferencing.
Travel plans can offer real benefits not only to the organisation and its employees, but also the community that surrounds it. It may help to relieve local parking or congestion problems or improve public transport connections across the area. It may also relieve stress on employees through reducing delays or providing the opportunity to cut their travel commitments by working from home on occasion.
Transport Direct - Britain's free online journey planner
Website: www.transportdirect.info
Transport Direct is a world first. Their website provides national coverage for information about all types of transport.
Their aim is to provide you with all the information you need to find the best travel option to suit your particular circumstances. They aspire to provide the best quality information for all types of transport, so that users can make better travel decisions.
Their strapline is "Connecting People to Places", because they want to make it easier for you to find both the place you want to go to and the best means of getting there.
Transport Direct now provides details of the CO2 your journey will produce. Go to the Journey Planner and enter your journey details as normal. When you get your journey options click on the "Check CO2" button.
seat61.com
Website: www.seat61.com
The site offers straightforward, demystifying advice on travel by train and ship. You can’t book, but it does provide links and contacts with agents and rail companies. It offers clear, current information on train services and ticket costs across the world from Siberia to Senegal (not a connecting service!)
There are to date no charity specific projects with regard to environmental reporting although CFDG is planning to launch one in the future. ‘Accounting for Sustainability’ and the ‘ACCA awards’ would both welcome more charities to participate in their work.
Accounting for Sustainability
Website: http://www.accountingforsustainability.org.uk/output/Page1.asp
The Prince of Wales launched a project in 2006 to encourage sustainable practice and reporting in business and other organisations.
His Royal Highness launched the Accounting for Sustainability project in front of an audience of 200 business leaders, representatives from the voluntary sector, faith leaders and politicians.
The Prince wants organisations to better assess the damage they cause to the planet and to take such factors into account in their decision-making process. It also aims to encourage clearer and more consistent reporting of such information.
ACCA awards for sustainability reporting
Website: http://www.accaglobal.com/publicinterest
ACCA has promoted greater transparency in the reporting of organisations' social and environmental impacts for over fifteen years. ACCA is involved in reporting awards in more than 20 countries in Europe, Africa, North America/Canada and the Asia Pacific region.
ACCA Awards around the world reward companies for excellence in environmental, social and sustainability reporting. The aim of the Awards is to identify and reward innovative attempts to communicate corporate performance, although they do not comment on performance itself. Their aim is to reward transparency.
At the core of the judging criteria are completeness, credibility and communication. Award winners demonstrate that, by emphasising these key elements, companies can target significant improvements in the quality of information disclosed during the reporting process. Ultimately, ACCA Awards help underline the business case for sustainable practices and development.
The following charities include information about their operational environmental impact or sustainability in their annual trustees report. Those disclosures take a variety of forms since there is at present no requirement to make such a report and therefore no suggested or required format. Some of them also publish their policy document or details of their carbon footprint on their website.
Oxfam
Website: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/downloads
Eden Project
Website: http://www.edenproject.com/documents/EdenAnnual_Review_0607.pdf
National Trust
Website: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-annual_report_07.pdf
Christian Aid
Website: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/Images/
Traidcraft Exchange
Website: http://www.traidcraft.co.uk
A number of charities include an ethical dimension in their investment policy. The following organisations provide assistance in setting up and managing ethical investment.
EIRIS
Website: http://www.eiris.org
EIRIS has helped a range of charities and religious bodies invest ethically or screen potential donors and suppliers for years.
The Charities Aid Foundation
Website: www.cafonline.org
CAF has joined with F&C Asset Management – one of the UK’s leading forces in ethical investment management – to offer a free charity guide to ethical investing. This takes you through the whole process of ethical investment – from stock selection to risk and reward.