Every charity and mission-driven organisation faces challenges. These generally fall under three categories of challenge:
Operational – how to do what you do better.
Strategic – how to increase your impact overall.
Systemic – how to change the wider system beyond your organisation.
Charities are without doubt experts in their fields. But the challenges they face can persist because they find it hard to solve them alone. This is often because of a lack of internal expertise, technology, money or time.
That’s why we’ve created the Impact Challenge. It’s a new purpose-driven initiative devised to help charities and other mission-led organisations overcome their challenges with outside support. The challenge connects organisations that need help with people who can help them deliver.
Our first challenge addressed
We’re working on our first challenge with the charity Trees for Cities. It has planted more than two million trees, improving urban environments, biodiversity and community wellbeing. But, as summers become hotter and drier, newly planted trees can struggle to survive.
To help Trees for Cities address this issue, we’re connecting the charity to experts from our Impact Unlimited community. Those experts are sharing ideas on how tech can mobilise communities and do smart monitoring. We’re excited to see what emerges.
Could your organisation be next?
We’re looking for more mission-driven organisations to join our next round of Impact Challenges. We are calling for three organisations to share their challenge live with our expert community this autumn.
We’ll unpack their challenges at the inaugural Impact Unlimited Summit, happening in London on 30 September. The summit brings together 200 leaders, innovators, investors and changemakers from across business and non-profits for a day of focus on inspiration, answers and connection.
Our aim in exploring impact challenges live is to generate ideas and create connections that can help organisations move forward and grow their impact. There is no cost to the beneficiary organisations.
At the summit, three non-profits will present a specific challenge they face to the expert community in the summit audience. These challenges will be explored live through facilitated sessions designed to generate practical solutions, fresh perspectives and new connections.
Experts in our community could help with ideas, technology, partnerships, networks, communications support or funding opportunities. The goal is to help organisations leave the summit event with new relationships and ideas for next steps.
Challenge champions turn ideas into action
Supporting the live challenges at the summit will be a group of pre-selected ‘challenge champions’ who will help turn ideas into action.
These are experienced people who are:
Innovators – bringing technology including AI and data-driven approaches
Connectors – opening doors to partnerships, networks and influential contacts
Builders – contributing operational know-how and experience of delivering change
Investors – identifying routes to funding, pilots, growth and scale
Community mobilisers – engaging people, volunteers and grassroots actions
Communicators – building awareness, momentum and public engagement.
The role of the champions is to contribute ideas, identify opportunities, make introductions and help participating organisations move from identifying challenges to planned progress.
Can you be an impact challenge champion? Fill in the short form with your details.
By bringing together people with different backgrounds and expertise, we aim to create an environment where solutions can emerge faster – and where organisations access support they may not otherwise be able to reach.
Sharing your challenge story
For each participating organisation, we’ll capture and share the story behind the challenge through written and video content. We explore the organisation’s mission, the challenge it faces and the responses put forward by experts and members of the wider community.
By sharing challenges publicly, we can add ideas and practical support from people who may not have encountered the organisation before, or the challenges it faces.
That means every challenge becomes an opportunity to build awareness, create connections and unlock new possibilities.
Want to submit your challenge?
If your organisation has a challenge that could benefit from fresh thinking and expert input, we’d love to hear from you. Fill in our short form to explain your challenge.
Want to join us at the Impact Unlimited Summit at Rich Mix on 30 September? Day passes are on sale for the event now – with early-bird discounts available until Friday 31 July.
Photo by Jonathan Perugia/Gaia Visual.
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