Background information for prospective board members

Introduction

Friends of the Earth inspires solutions to environmental problems which make life better for people.

Friends of the Earth is:

the UK's most influential national environmental campaigning organisation;
the most extensive environmental network in the world, with almost one million supporters across five continents and 68 national organisations worldwide.
a unique network of campaigning local groups, working in over 200 communities throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
dependent on individuals for over 90 per cent of its income.

Organisational structure

Friends of the Earth employs approximately 150 paid staff, based mainly in our London Head Office. We also have a Supporters Services Unit in Luton and smaller regional offices in Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Nottingham.

Volunteers play a vital role in our success as an organisation and we currently have more than 40 volunteers working in our national and regional offices. Friends of the Earth is currently in the process of changing our staffing structure and many of our ways of working to enable us to better deliver on our new Strategic Plan.

The organisation is now led by an Organisational Management Team (OMT), consisting of our Executive Director and 12 other roles bringing the necessary strategic and operational expertise to help us to achieve our objectives.

The Strategic Plan will be delivered through 'activities' which are connected to our organisational aims. Each activity will be delivered by a cross-functional activity team. Members of the OMT will have both individual responsibilities to ensure the delivery of specific activities together with collective responsibilities for ensuring the delivery of the whole plan.

Each staff member is part of a 'home team', with each home team led by a team leader who can provide professional development and other line management functions.

Friends of the Earth's Strategic Plan Aims

Our Strategic Plan is broken down into the following aims:

Strategic Aims:

Work with others to develop a sustainable economics agenda so that by 2008 there is as a credible alternative, based on justice and environmental limits, to the prevailing corporate globalisation model - both in the UK and internationally.
Promote environmental justice so that it moves to the centre of official, corporate and voluntary sector discussions and decisions and public understanding about environmental issues.
Ensure that key environmental limits (for example in respect of resource consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and conservation of biodiversity) are reflected in policy and law at all levels.
Implement the findings of the 'Shaping our Future' review to ensure that the quantity and effectiveness of grassroots actions inspired by Friends of the Earth's continuously improves.
Achieve official commitment to at least two transformational and positive environmental solutions.
Consistently communicate Friends of the Earth as the organisation striving for environmental justice that works through global to local people power, across all our external communications and in so doing achieve a significant increase in awareness, understanding and active participation from our priority public audiences.

Resourcing Aims:

Establish and maintain a working culture, skills, expertise and office environment that reflects our values and improves our ability to deliver the Strategic Aims.
Grow income so that we have sufficient financial resources to meet the needs of the organisation and its ability to deliver the strategic plan.
Build the capacity of Friends of the Earth's networks so that they can campaign effectively - locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Establish and maintain a Friends of the Earth regional presence that influences regional and devolved government, co-ordinates and implements regional campaigns, and supports both Local Groups and other campaign activists.
Develop and implement effective information systems and practices so as to implement our Strategic Aims and Objectives.