About the CFDG
Summary
Sustainability in Practice shows charities how and why they should address their environmental and social sustainability, through reducing their adverse impacts and developing transparent sustainability reporting. The guidance has been written for charity finance professionals, who will have a key role to play in bringing sustainability into charities thanks to their senior position and their role in performance monitoring, reporting and efficiency. Embedding sustainability as a strategic concern in charities will, however, require the active engagement of a charity’s entire senior management team, the trustee board and in time the whole organisation.
The Introduction reviews the reasons for charities to start looking at this issue, which has until now been the preserve of keen, green individuals and ‘green’ charities. We believe these reasons are compelling and that the early and strategic embedding of sustainability within charities will enhance their ability to deliver their mission.
The first chapter, Reviewing your Sustainability, gives some background on what we mean by sustainability, followed by an explanation of charities’ main impacts. Of course, many charities work to strengthen and support the sustainability of the natural world and its communities, but this should only be an added impetus for us all to have regard to our negative impacts. Having introduced the major impact areas, we give a quick guide to assessing your impacts (larger charities can use the guidance for a more in-depth sustainability audit in Appendix C), and finally we look at the preparation necessary for introducing a coherent management approach.
The next chapter, Acting on Sustainability, discusses the importance of a carefully considered management approach and reviews those currently available. A successful management approach allows a charity to reduce its negative impacts and enhance its positive performance in a steady and coherent fashion, whilst laying the foundation for transparent measuring and reporting. For many charities this may simply be a plan for assessing different impact areas, with clear management and targets set over a reasonable period of time. Larger charities, or those with more significant impacts, may want to implement an accredited Environmental Management System, which will guide them through the gradual assessment and reduction of their impacts. Alongside environmental considerations, we have given some guidance on how charities can integrate good social sustainability practices.
The third and final chapter, Reporting on Sustainability, shows how reporting can demonstrate real commitment and allow charities to reap the benefits of greater accountability and a reputation for responsible action. Here, as elsewhere, we have given the most up-to-date guidance and examples of current best practice. We look at the benefits of such reporting and the practical questions surrounding it, including data collection, presentation and where to publish the information.
This guidance recognises that there can be no one-size-fits-all approach for such a diverse sector. We have therefore pointed the way rather than dictating a single approach, and signposted existing help in the form of guidance, standards, reports and examples of best practice. Our case studies endeavour to show how much is already being done, and how positive the impact of sustainability work has been on each organisation that has taken it up. We are particularly keen to show how such a range of charities and other organisations have taken up sustainability in their organisations and made it relevant and important to their work.
If you are a CFDG member you can access the report online here.
Otherwise, hard copies of the full report are available for £15 (there is one free copy for every CFDG member who joined prior to the publication date) - please contact Elisha O'Dera.