Summer is here and we bet you are outside taking full advantage of the delightful weather. Despite being outside and probably not near a computer (maybe you’re reading this on your cellphone actually), we thought you might be interested in hearing what the London Environmental Network has been up to. Skylar is aiming to have a quarterly update on LEN’s ongoing work that everyone can enjoy and use to stay in touch with LEN!
If you want to be even MORE in the loop, sign up for our monthly newsletter here. We love to share member information, grant opportunities, cool projects and lots of other environmental things!
Funding reports (OTF and City of London Mid-Year)
Skylar has been working on the City of London Mid-Year grant report (due end of July) and the Final Report for our 3 year OTF grant (due in October). Our OTF funds are coming to a close (our primary source of funding from 2014-2017) and we will be switching to City of London Community Funds funding as our primary source of funding until the end of 2019. We are eternally grateful to these two awesome granting organizations for giving LEN the ability to grow the environmental sector of London.
Steering Committee
LEN recently recruited 10 new Steering Committee members. We have individuals with a wide range of experience and talent. You can read more about the Steering Committee members here.
Meeting with all our member organizations
Since Skylar started at the end of March 2017, she has met with 12 out of the 40 member organizations and has plans to meet with another 8 over the summer. Skylar is trying to meet with all member organizations to see how they are doing, what LEN can do to help and learn more about their programs and organization. The members just completed a membership renewal process and we gathered some great data about the environmental sector as a whole in London (including amount of volunteers, staff, social media followers and estimated budget of the sector).
Recruiting new members
You will likely see 4 new member organizations join over the summer of 2017. Stay tuned for details about who they are! If you are an environmental organization operating in London, consider joining the London Environmental Network to enjoy all the benefits.
Green Drinks
We re-launched Green Drinks in June 2017 at the London Brewing co-op. You can read an article from LondonFuse about the event here as well as check out photos from the event on our Facebook page here.
Our next event is scheduled for Thursday August 10th at the London Brewing Co-op from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm. The topic for August Green Drinks is Food Waste, and we have Paul Van Der Werf from 2cg speaking about food waste in London and his research.
LEN Member Workshops (Grant Writing, Volunteer Recruitment, Social Financing, Youth Engagement, Program Evaluation)
Skylar is busy organizing LEN member workshops for the rest of 2017. July features an environmental grant writing workshop led by Julie Ryan and Matthew Juszczynski. LEN member workshops are exclusive to LEN members and are a great way for LEN members to learn new skills and meet other individuals working in the environmental sector. (Only LEN members are able to attend these workshops.)
Conference Planning
A conference is in the works for November 2017 about Resilient Cities. This is being organized by the same team as the Urban Agriculture Conference in November 2016. Stay tuned for more details, it’s going to be a fun event!
Office Things
Skylar, Kaitlyn and now Ksenia (see staff/volunteer info here) are busy keeping the organization running with day-to-day operations including, emails, phone calls, social media posts, monthly newsletters, meetings, budgets, funding, governance things and other ongoing projects.
We’ve helped out a few organizations with their events, graphic design work and connecting organizations to new volunteers or individuals. If you can think of a way to help the environmental sector but are struggling to find a way in, get in touch! Email [email protected] to get started.
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