Welcome to Professionals with Purpose

If you are wondering how you can have a more positive impact while you run a business or earn a living, you’re in the right place. Read on for examples of businesses, charities, government organisations, individuals and entrepreneurs who have done it or are achieving it - and often doing so at pace.

And discover opportunities, tools and resources to help you in your aims. We’ve got six below.

Remember last week’s announcement re the American Express and Common Purpose Global Leadership Academy to Nonprofit Sector? They have extended the application deadline for UK and EU applicants till 11 June. Applications from Africa are however closed now, “due to time needed for visa processing”.

Howard Lake
Editor
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6 resources for emerging leaders

If you’re wondering how to expand your for-purpose work, to step up to the next level, or to find sources of support, try these.

Resource Alliance to offer bursaries for its Emerging Leader programme

The Resource Alliance has created a bursary fund “to promote equitable access” to the International Fundraising Congress, its October event in Holland.

The Emerging Leader programme will “support the personal and professional development of Emerging Leaders across the world, giving them the opportunity to build a network of support, learn from their peers, and further their vital work”.

At present Resource Alliance is inviting donations to the bursary fund from people who know the value of IFC and of the organisation and who have already benefited from it.

The bursaries will be provided at cost: the Resource Alliance will not make any profit on donations to the fund, it said.

Details of how to apply to the fund are not yet available.

Foresight and change

Calling all current and want-to-be changemakers who want to use foresight to transform their communities and change the world.

Launched in 2018 by the School of International Futures (SOIF), the Next Generation Foresight Practitioners (NGFP) is a network of almost 600 people from all over the world who are using futures and foresight to create positive impact and systemic transformation globally.

Applications for the next NGFP Fellowship have just closed, but add the organisation to your list for exploring. Their breadth of coverage of for-purpose issues is extensive.

As well as geographic fellowships covering all regions, we also are inviting thematic applications in the following areas: Just Transitions, Peacebuilding, Futures.Methods from around the world & indigenous futures, intergenerational fairness, Democracy and Governance, Emerging technology and existential risk, and Nuclear Security.

Find out more about NGFP and their Fellowships.

UPFRONT offers free training to build women’s confidence

Every woman at over 144 charities is being offered a free place on a six-week course to build women’s confidence. The gift, with a £4.8 million value, comes from UPFRONT, founded and led by Lauren Currie, formerly Chairperson of Pregnant Then Screwed.

The places are on their seventh BOND six-week course. (A bond is the collective noun for a group of women). The course begins this week.

UPFRONT’s bold aim is "changing confidence for 1 million women".

Explore UPFRONT to see how their next Bond might be for you.

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Women Energize Women

On 15 June 2023 the second international "Women Energize Women" Conference will take place in Munich as part of smarter E Europe, “Europe's largest platform for the energy industry”.

The one-day event will bring together experts and innovators from the fields of politics, industry, and research to discuss urgent issues of the energy transition and develop solutions from a gender-sensitive perspective.

Women are “still significantly underrepresented in the energy sector”, according to the event organisers.

Raising one hundred million for charity

If you’re ambitious in your fundraising this new e-book title is sure to grab your attention. Even better, it is based on actually achieving that sum - not for an individual charity, but over five years for various charity clients. And author Adrian O’Flynn accepts that not every charity needs to or can raise 100 million pounds, dollars, euros etc: for some one million is an ambitious aim.

It is for “ambitious fundraisers who want to do amazing, difficult work that has a huge impact on causes they care about”.

The free download is not tactical fundraising advice: it’s designed to help the ambitious fundraiser think differently and effectively about their role in achieving the charity’s mission.

The first section explains the argument for changing how to structure fundraising budgets.

The second section explains the problems ambitious fundraisers currently face in the charity sector.

And the third section provides the solutions before fleshing out the big-picture argument as it should be presented to senior people in your charity.

You can download it via LinkedIn, but the author asks that you do one tiny thing before you do. Share it with another fundraiser.

How to embrace social responsibility

If you’re not ready to jump to working for a social purpose organisation like a charity or social enterprise there are plenty of opportunities to make a difference at your current employer. Not least volunteering, or organising an employee volunteer programme.

Join guests from Capgemini for a free webinar during Volunteers’ Week, on Tuesday 6 June at 1pm BST, to learn more about employee volunteer programmes and how they can benefit you or your organisation. Volunteers from AbilityNet will also share how volunteering has helped boost their mental health.

Quote of the week

Too many social purpose organisations are damaged by founders or leaders that overcommit themselves, for the best possible reasons, but which lead to burnout. So this advice rings true. True, if not easy.

Hootsuite’s Uplift week

Social media management platform Hootsuite has announced a new virtual event called Uplift – A Week for Social Good. It is designed “to help educate and empower nonprofits on how to use social media to inspire change, generate awareness, and drive more donations through social media”.

Between June 12 – 16 it features speakers from organisations such as Plan International Canada, LinkedIn, Razom for Ukraine, and Canva. The event is free to attend.

People moves

Lesley Anderson has been appointed as permanent head of the Scottish Procurement Alliance (SPA). The not-for-profit has £1.1 billion of contracts under management and is also delivering a benefits scheme worth millions of pounds for local communities.

Lesley, who has 27 years in the public and private procurement sector and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, said: “Our role in supporting the delivery of projects for public sector organisations is crucial in the growth of communities.

“The projects procured through our solutions offer access to facilities and provides opportunities for children and adults of all ages to thrive within their improved surroundings.”

She added: “SPA supports councils, housing associations, blue light services, the NHS, further and higher education providers and many other public bodies to build, maintain and refurbish vital social housing and public buildings.

“Across the supply chain that means hundreds of Scottish SMEs get the chance to bid for and win lucrative work that creates jobs and employment across the country.

“But the most rewarding part is that, as a proud not for profit organisation, we also put our surpluses back into the communities where we operate, through our innovative Community Benefit Fund, which enriches and improves thousands of lives.”

SPA is Scotland’s largest free-to-join procurement organisations. Its 120 partners cover a diverse range of public sector entities from small cooperatives, regional and national registered social landlords (RSLs), as well as local authorities.

SPA was founded in 2016 as the Scottish business unit of the LHC Procurement Group (LHC), which has been supporting public sector organisations across the UK with technical procurement expertise for over 50 years.

That gives it insight at a local, regional and national level into the challenges and priorities for the public sector and it applies this knowledge to develop solutions that meet the evolving needs of its partners.

If you have a story to tell about how you’ve grown a business’ income and social impact at pace, do get in touch with us.

If you’d like to advertise on or sponsor future editions of Professionals With Purpose do contact Connor Seaton.