Precious Sithole, CEO of Social Practice ENT, took part in ACEVO's panel event alongside Dr Ben Kelly, head of clinical research at Nuffield Health and Craig Bennett, CEO of Friends of the Earth – the subject under discussion being whether charities’ methods match up with their missions.
There is an important link between people and planet that needs to be considered when making decisions, as without one, you cannot have the other. ‘People’ refers to any person involved with your organisation and ‘Planet’ encompassed how your organisation’s decisions is contributing to environmental issues such as climate change. The impacts on both should not be solely the role of those in leadership positions but should be ingrained into all aspects of a business, top to bottom. The idea discussed in the meeting is that there should be representatives in all departments who act as the champion for social and environmental justice to change internal policies.
There is no time like the present to start. Unfortunately, the environmental impact of consumers is only getting worse, and much of the effects are now irreversible. There is no better time than now to start enacting change and being a responsible organisation.
There are numerous guides available to aid charities in making their first steps. There are codes and standards set out which can act as goals to reaching social responsible targets, for example Charity Governance Code, Charity Digital Code of Practice and Civil Society Futures report.