The most effective environmental groups, as rated by their peers

Published on the Enviromental Funders Network website on the 11th July 2017
Story by Florence Miller

Next week, Environmental Funders Network will be launching the latest research report – What the Green Groups Said: Insights from the UK Environment Sector. The report analyses responses from the chief executives of 92 environmental organisations to a survey we conducted in late 2016 and early 2017. The organisations ran the gamut from the very large to the very small, and focused on a broad array of environmental issues – everything from biodiversity conservation to climate change, sustainable agriculture to trade and finance. Together, their annual income amounted to over £1 billion.

One of the questions EFN asked respondents was, “Which non-profit UK environmental organisations (not including your own) do you think accomplish the most, given the resources at their disposal?”

EFN also asked why they thought those groups were effective. It was an open-ended question, but certain characteristics came up repeatedly. Those most frequently mentioned (followed by the number of times these characteristics were mentioned by respondents) were:

Clear focus (or has a clear vision/mandate/targets) (51)
Focused on policy work (38)
Collaborative (26)
Connects to mainstream or new audiences (21)
Effective at messaging (19)
Underpinned by quality research (18)
Mobilises people to take action (18)
High quality staff (17)
Holds government or special interests to account (16)
Engages the grassroots (14)
Performs practical work on the ground (13)

For the full list of all the organisations commended by their peers, you will have to see the report (which will be updated on this page when it’s out), but in the meantime, you can see the organisations that were mentioned three times or more by their peers below. Congratulations to them!

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