Financing impact start-ups: two solutions, two challenges

Way back at the dawn of the Internet age, a shiny new thing transformed start-up finance. Until then, entrepreneurs relied on friends, neighbours and family for loans, ideas, market research, help with a variety of tasks and first customers. Now you can do all these things by talking directly to 4.6 billion people who are […]

Covid-19 and the Voluntary Sector

Businesses and the self-employed have received significant financial support from the UK Government during the Covid-19 crisis, and the debts of NHS hospital trusts have been wiped out.  Many voluntary organisations and community groups are under pressure too, facing reduced income at just the time when demand for their services has risen hugely. Should voluntary […]

Joyeux Noel: In The Midst of War

It’s a piece of history that bubbles up from time to time: The Christmas Eve Truce of World War I.  In December of 1914, German soldiers faced Allied troops in the early stages of the brutal trench warfare that characterized much of that global conflict.  According to a BBC documentary, there were many “live and […]

Surviving Sustainability – Working In CSR Without Burning Out

This month marks my 20th year of working in sustainability. Two decades of climate change, poverty, women’s rights, biodiversity, innovation, growing livelihoods and changing lifestyles I’m so privileged to have found this career early. But over the years I’ve also had friends and colleagues burn themselves out or just become bitter about the pace of change. […]