Situation
Helping those that stand for environmental justice get a leg up #itstime
‘Environmental justice (EJ) is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.’¹ United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Environmental Justice definition.
No one is immune to the imminent threat of climate change but each day it becomes clearer that already vulnerable parts of our communities will become disproportionately impacted. In the United States (US) the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) looked at the racial disparities amongst communities impacted by environmental pollution and found that African Americans are exposed to 38% more polluted air than caucasian Americans.²
During these unprecedented times, nonprofits play a key role in supporting those at risk within our communities, however many nonprofits themselves are struggling to build capacity to keep up with the growing demand caused by increasing climatic events and a COVID-19 pandemic environment. As the world faces a growing gap between those with access to opportunity and those without, PwC US is committed to helping address racism and inequity in society and have enabled their people, through their pro bono programme Skills for Society, by giving each PwC US employee 40 hours to support organisations that are focused on advancing social justice.
In an effort to address this, PwC US in collaboration with Taproot Foundation, a non profit who PwC US have worked with since 2018, applied the skills, tools and system approaches they would normally use for clients to support 13 environment focused nonprofits in their first National Environmental ScopeAthon. To date, the Taproot Foundation and PwC US have delivered over a dozen ScopeAthons and helped over 120 nonprofits understand the challenges they face today and help them develop a road map forward.
Experience
Stripping back the layers to identify the challenge and find a pathway forward #bethesolution
The National Environment ScopeAthon took place on 15 July, 2021 where over 70 PwC US staff helped address 13 environment-focused nonprofit’s most pressing challenges. Nonprofits applied to determine eligibility and, if selected, were then supported by the Taproot Foundation to produce a summary of their challenge statement to be addressed in the ScopeAthon .
The team of PwC US volunteers came together from a number of PwC offices across the United States and spanned a diverse range of skills and experience. For the ScopeAthon event, the volunteers were divided into smaller teams of up to six people. Their objective was to diagnose the root cause of the challenge and help build a roadmap that was manageable for the nonprofit to move forward with. The aim was not to fix the problem, although if they did it was a bonus.
Due to the ongoing restrictions of the global pandemic, the ScopeAthon was delivered virtually, which helped to support wider participation across the United States as well as gave PwC US volunteers the opportunity to work alongside colleagues that they may not normally encounter in their day-to-day roles.
Impact
Clear objective + diversity of thinking = rapid fire results #togetherwesolve
The beauty of this concept is in its simplicity. In one day, over three hours, 70 PwC professionals and 13 nonprofits were able to come together, bringing diverse minds to create insights and bold solutions to help address the nonprofits' most pressing problems.
One of the organisations sought help from PwC US to address the need for a more diversified and sustainable funding plan. During the ScopeAthon, the nonprofit had a major mindset shift when their PwC US team helped them to identify the root cause behind their fundraising strategy challenges – going forward they will focus on determining strong key messaging and finding opportunities to convey who they are and their impact in order to drive support.
‘In the first hour of our Scopeathon, we discussed the challenge that we had originally put forward. But after the first break, we pivoted to looking at our not-yet-published website. Everything changed from that point onward; the PwC team was able to provide us with incredibly valuable insight and feedback on how we were presenting our organization to the world, and made very good points about ways we might be more effective. We took all of this feedback and used it as we moved forward. Thank you.’
Another nonprofit participant sought help to develop a systematic approach to sharing more knowledge with their members. During the ScopeAthon, the PwC US team facilitated an ideation session that led to a plan to create a Center of Excellence for their members. The nonprofit shared that they are excited about this innovative approach and that they left the ScopeAthon event feeling clear about the path forward for their organisation.
All 13 non-profits were able to leave the session with a manageable plan to execute. Due to this success, 80% of the nonprofits are looking to further engage with PwC US, on a pro bono basis, to explore other strategic priorities.
¹U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2021. Learn About Environmental Justice.
²National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), 2017. L. Fleslshman, M.Franklin. Fumes Across the Fence-Line
‘Supporting environmental nonprofits through the national PwC ScopeAthon was important to me because it allowed me to align my passion for sustainability with my consulting background. This opportunity enabled our PwC professionals to sharpen their analytical skills and challenged everyone to solve important problems and build trust with each nonprofit.’
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