We Are 3!

Wow - I can’t believe Social Innovation for All turns 3 today! 

As I pondered what to write I looked back through previous blogs and was struck by how often I referenced being outside my comfort zone. Many things that seemed scary three years ago are now firmly within my comfort zone - from facilitating hundreds of teenagers to book-keeping. 

Birthdays are an opportunity for both self-indulgence and reflection, so I’m going to reflect on 3 things to celebrate and 3 things I have learnt. 

3 Celebrations

1. The young people we work with As YGBC is also turning 3 we have a growing number of alumni teams and it has been amazing to welcome them back on stage at our celebration events to hear about how their projects have developed and all that they have learnt. Three years on Team EverGreen still run their micro business selling cards made out of recycled seed paper. And we have also recruited our first Youth Ambassador from our alumni - a quite incredible young man who is a blind and hearing impaired climate activist.

Bo Cox - blind and hearing impaired climate activist and YGBC Youth Ambassador

Team EverGreen

The Fashion Frogs

2. Growing by over 150% YGBC is our biggest programme that we co-lead with GenEarth. In our first two pilot years we worked with around 3000 students each year; last year we started to scale the model, working with over 7,500 young people - building their knowledge about climate change, along with their transferable skills and bringing opportunity to students across England. We couldn’t do it without our amazing array of partners, with a special shout out to the Green Britain Foundation - they believed and invested in YGBC as a pilot concept and continue to be YGBC’s cornerstone funder.

   

   Students, teachers, partners and guests gathered at the YGBC 2025 National Celebration Event

   
   

3. Building a team To grow our impact we have built our team. SI4A now has two (absolutely amazing!) employees and a non-executive board. And the YGBC team has grown through our brilliant social franchise partners in the North West and North-East along with our growing network of facilitators.

Some of the wider Young Green Briton Challenge team at City Hall for the YGBC 2025 National Event

3 learnings

1. Nothing is scary after 250 Year 9s! We deliver workshops to whole  year groups of students aged 11-16. Year 9 is an age of contrasts and can be a tough audience. But get it right and they can develop the most amazing ideas and have the autonomy to run with them. Working with them has built my confidence - if I can think on my feet enough to adapt workshop delivery for a large group of unknown year 9s, I feel confident in front of almost any audience. 

   
   

   

   A truly delightful group of Year 9s that we worked with this year as part of YGBC

2. Volunteers are amazing, but a good volunteer programme requires time and expertise My YGBC co-founder, Laura Dempsey (founder of GenEarth) leads our volunteer programme and I have learnt so much from working with her. Volunteers are the ‘secret spice’ in YGBC bringing such diverse and deep experience to the programme. But until you are up close to a volunteer programme with 60+ people you don’t fully appreciate how big a job it is to recruit, train, deploy and support that large a group of (usually very busy) people who are scattered around the country. Hats off to Laura and Maddy and thank you for the education in building a volunteer programme. 

   
   

3. Keep on top of the admin……or you will drown. It’s boring and doesn’t feel like it adds huge value, but needs to be a weekly habit; otherwise it quickly spirals out of control. I use a free tracking app to know how I’m spending my time and keep on top of the numbers with #FinanceFridays (along with some help from Quickbooks, a few spreadsheets and an amazing accountant who does our end of year accounts).

And if I’m now operating more within my comfort zone, I guess it’s time to find something that’s outside my comfort zone….ideas on a post-it note please!