2024 Shortlist | Students Organising for Sustainability
Students Organising for Sustainability
Shortlist – Board Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
About the Charity
Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) is an educational charity that was created by students and staff at the National Union of Students (NUS) in support of the youth climate strikes. The charity seeks to break the cycle of well-educated people making bad decisions for the planet by repurposing the education system around the climate emergency and ecological crisis.
SOS-UK works in primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions across the UK. It delivers a variety of youth-led engagement programmes (aimed at educators, parents and politicians) alongside systems change campaigns influencing education policy.
Charity number: 1184011 | www.SOS-UK.org
Education | England – North West | 26-100 paid staff
What the Board Achieved
Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS-UK) is a pioneering force in the realm of youth-led environmental activism and governance. With a dynamic and diverse board at its helm, SOS-UK not only embodies the values of equity, diversity and inclusion, but actively integrates those values into its governance structure and strategic initiatives.
At the heart of SOS-UK’s governance lies a board that mirrors the communities the organisation serves. The charity embodies a genuine approach to youth leadership with the average age among its 10 trustees at just 34 – 70% of trustees are under the age of 30 and the youngest among them is just 18 years old, reflecting the organisation’s commitment to prioritising youth voices at the very heart of its sustainability advocacy programmes. Four trustees identify as people of color, while nine identify as female and two as having a disability.
This diversity isn’t incidental; it’s central to SOS-UK’s mission and strategy. Emerging in 2019 and born out of a student movement, SOS-UK ensured from the beginning that the National Union for Students had the right to elect three representatives to the board of trustees, ensuring that the voices of young people are at the centre of the board’s decision-making processes.This inclusive approach challenges traditional power dynamics within the environmental movement, prioritising the ambition and innovation of the same people the charity aims to reach and support.
SOS-UK’s commitment to wider diversity is evident in its deliberate recruitment strategies. Recognising the under-representation of people of colour in environmental governance, SOS-UK implemented a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates meeting specific criteria. This proactive approach, combined with targeted recruitment drives, recently resulted in a shortlist comprising 35% candidates identifying as people of colour, from which three were ultimately appointed as trustees.
Moreover, five of the seven youth trustees have direct links to SOS-UK’s work, bringing first-hand knowledge and experience to their leadership roles. This ensures that board decisions are informed by the realities faced by student staff and volunteers within the organisation, fostering a deeper understanding of grassroots needs and priorities. For example, 18-year-old trustee Scarlett co-founded the charity’s Teach the Future campaign and 23-year-old trustee Ludovico led the charity’s Invest for Change campaign; both using their past experience as SOS-UK volunteers to inform their work on the board.
SOS-UK prioritises inclusivity by ensuring that all voices, especially minority voices, are heard and valued. The use of induction processes that equip young trustees with the necessary skills and understanding of charity governance and regular online meetings prior to board sessions help the charity to improve trustees’ confidence and ensure their ability to participate fully in board discussions, Student trustees are paired with experienced trustees who can answer questions, provide encouragement, and mentor them through their roles as trustees. Led by Chair Hazel Norman, board meetings utilise breakout groups, facilitated conversations, and regular recaps to help trustees focus on their responsibilities and encourage participation from all board members.
In 2021, the board of SOS-UK implemented a guaranteed interview scheme for people of colour to recruit for staff roles and created new student staff roles; the organisation grew from 16 staff in 2019 to more than 60 in 2024 (including 22 student staff members, the youngest of which is 16). Students from underserved backgrounds now fill the majority of student staff positions and are supported and mentored by experienced team members to help them succeed. This dedication has led to a significant increase in racial diversity within the staff team, reflecting SOS-UK’s unwavering commitment to creating a more inclusive and equitable environmental movement.
Equity, diversity, and inclusion aren’t just ideals at SOS-UK; they’re guiding principles that inform every aspect of its work. The diverse trustee board serves as the driving force behind SOS-UK’s ambitious initiatives, from hosting the Mock COP to spearheading the Teach the Future campaign. Leading by example, trustees not only drive external impact but also catalyse internal change within the organisation. After hosting the Mock COP in 2020, SOS-UK was invited to COP26 as the official youth partner in the first Education Ministers’ Summit.The Teach the Future campaign caught the attention of the Department of Education and the Labour Party is now backing the SOS-UK Climate Education Bill. SOS-UK went on to run the Race for Nature campaign, placing 130 young people (72% of which were from underprivileged backgrounds) in 32 charities that support nature conservation or focus on the environment; more than half of them are still working within the organisations to which they were matched. Race for Nature led to SOS-UK developing and running The RACE Report, a transparency campaign on racial diversity that is supported by over 140 environmental charities and funders across the UK. Trustees led these initiatives, supporting staff and student volunteers throughout the process, working together to set and achieve the charity’s goals.
Why the Board Was Shortlisted
Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS-UK) is a pioneering force in the realm of youth-led environmental activism and governance. With a dynamic and diverse board at its helm, SOS-UK not only embodies the values of equity, diversity and inclusion, but actively integrates those values into its governance structure and strategic initiatives. Judges were impressed by how the charity’s entry demonstrated the courage of its convictions, creating a board comprised of people from the marginalised groups most impacted by the climate crisis – including young people, people who identify as being from the global majority, disabled people and women. This is particularly important, given the lack of diversity in the environmental sector. The submission clearly evidenced how the charity and its board had pushed positive action and maintained its commitment to youth-led action despite its rapid and sizeable growth.
The judging panel recognised the charity’s commitment to doing things differently, which was exemplified by the weighted factors on its board that prioritised the recruitment of young people, people of colour, women, and people from underserved communities generally. There was strong evidence of board-led initiatives such as guaranteed interviews for people who had experienced racism, or initiatives aimed at driving change in the wider sector, such as The Race Report, which drew attention to the racial diversity (or lack thereof) of trustee boards and staff teams at charities and grant-making organisations working on environmental issues across the UK.
Altogether, the panel applauded the SOS-UK board for seeking to learn from history, understanding the strength of intersectional diversity and collaboration, and remaining true to its purpose. The board’s strategy is ambitious, and the charity is becoming a trailblazer within the environmental sector.
