Sustainability Matters, But Where Do You Find the Capacity to Make it Happen?

For many voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations, sustainability is something they want to do more about. They understand the importance of reducing their environmental impact, and often already have strong values around looking after people, communities and the places where they work. Wanting to make a difference and having the time, resources and knowledge to do it are two very different things.

When you're focused on delivering essential services, supporting communities, managing funding and keeping day-to-day operations running, finding the capacity to develop an environmental policy, measure your impacts or put together an action plan can feel like another significant challenge. The issue often isn't a lack of commitment, it’s a lack of capacity, and that’s where Investors in the Environment comes in.

Making sustainability manageable

Through Going Green Together, we're helping VCSE organisations across the North East overcome some of these barriers by providing practical support to make sustainability part of how they operate.

A key part of this support is Investors in the Environment (iiE), a nationally recognised environmental accreditation scheme that helps organisations understand their environmental impacts, identify opportunities for improvement and build sustainability into everyday decision-making.

Unlike approaches that can feel overly technical or resource-intensive, iiE provides a structured but flexible framework that works for organisations of different sizes, with different resources and at different stages of their sustainability journey.

It's not about expecting a small community organisation to operate like a large business with a dedicated sustainability team. It's about understanding where they are now, recognising what they're already doing well and identifying realistic next steps.

For some organisations, this might mean improving how they manage energy or waste. For others, it could be reviewing purchasing decisions, reducing travel impacts or engaging staff, volunteers and service users in environmental activities.

The important thing is that actions are relevant, achievable and make a meaningful difference, rather than being a tick-box exercise that doesn’t serve your organisation.

More than an accreditation

One of the real benefits of iiE is that it provides the structure and ongoing support that smaller organisations often struggle to find internally. Through Going Green Together, Genee works directly with participating organisations, helping them understand the requirements, develop their environmental management approach and make progress towards iiE Bronze accreditation.

This includes looking at existing activities, identifying key environmental impacts, developing an environmental policy and action plan, and putting simple processes in place to monitor progress.

For organisations already taking positive environmental action, iiE helps bring those activities together into a more coordinated approach. For those just getting started, it provides a clear and manageable starting point.

Importantly, organisations aren't expected to work through the process alone. In Genee, they have someone to talk things through with, ask questions and help identify proportionate solutions, which can make a significant difference, particularly when sustainability is just one of many responsibilities competing for limited time.

Building confidence and capacity for the longer term

While achieving iiE Bronze accreditation is an important milestone, the wider benefit is what organisations gain through the process.

By developing their own environmental policy, action plan and monitoring arrangements, organisations begin to build the knowledge, confidence and processes needed to manage sustainability over the longer term.

This can also support wider organisational priorities. Understanding energy and resource use can highlight opportunities to reduce costs, while having a clear environmental approach can help demonstrate good governance and respond to increasing expectations from funders, partners and other stakeholders.

The framework of iiE is built around continual improvement, therefore organisations don't need to have everything in place from the outset. They can start with manageable actions, learn from their experience and build on their progress year after year.

Learning from each other

Through the Going Green Together programme, there is the fantastic opportunity to be a part of a cohort of likeminded organisations, facing similar challenges. Being part of the network means having access to shared experiences, practical examples and opportunities to learn from organisations that are further along their sustainability journeys.

For smaller charities and community groups, knowing that others are working through the same challenges can be reassuring. It also provides inspiration and ideas that can be adapted to their own circumstances.

The project has now been running for over 3 years, and we're seeing the value of combining access to the wider iiE network with local, practical support, helping organisations make progress while continuing to focus on the important work they do in their communities.

Taking the next step

Sustainability shouldn't be something that only organisations with dedicated staff, large budgets or specialist expertise can achieve. With the right support, even small organisations with limited capacity can make meaningful improvements to their environmental performance.

That's what Going Green Together and iiE are helping to achieve: making sustainability more accessible, providing a clear route forward and helping organisations build the confidence and capacity to keep improving.

Investors in the Environment are hosting their annual conference in Newcastle this year - it's free to attend and includes speeches, workshops and panel discussions. You can register your place here: welcome.iie.uk.com/iie-2026

If you're a VCSE organisation in the North East and would like to find out more about the support available through Going Green Together and Investors in the Environment, get in touch with the Going Green Together team to explore how you can get involved.