Want To Get Involved? Ways You Can Help Your Local Climate Organization
When it comes to tackling the climate crisis, every bit of action helps. This might look like individual actions you choose to make, such as swapping out disposable single-use products with reusable ones or installing solar panels on your roof. You might also attend a protest, join a clean-up event, or learn about the impact of climate change in your community.
But if you’re looking to take action in a more sustained way, consider taking on a role at your local climate community-based organization (CBO).
These organizations operate based on a number of different roles/functions, creating various opportunities to leverage your unique skills to contribute to an important cause. CBOs can also offer opportunities to explore something different and learn new skills that you don’t use in your “day job.” Or perhaps you’re just looking to meet like-minded people in your community.
Whatever the reason, there are many avenues to get involved with your local CBO, and many opportunities to find a role that suits your needs best.
Should I take on a paid or volunteer role?
First, it’s important to consider how much time and energy you are able to contribute. Most CBOs have options for both paid and volunteer roles that allow for different levels of commitment and intensity. Volunteers can serve as ‘functional’ volunteers — volunteers that fulfill roles that are needed for day-to-day operations, such as managing social media, bookkeeping, or helping out with IT — and ‘ad-hoc basis’ volunteers — volunteers that contribute periodically for one-off or infrequent events.
The next step is to understand the types of roles that exist at a CBO. Generally, these roles can be classified into seven categories or teams — executive leadership, community engagement, marketing and communications (marcom), projects/programming, development (i.e., fundraising), internal operations, and finance. Newer organizations may have smaller teams that require one individual to take on multiple roles, but as an organization grows, it’ll be able to bring on more people who can specialize in their respective roles.
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1. Executive Leadership
At the top of any organization is its executive leadership: This often consists of the executive director (or CEO), the board of directors, and sometimes a board of advisors.
The executive director is primarily responsible for setting the direction of the organization and guiding team members to accomplish its stated goals. The executive director works closely with the board of directors, which functions as an oversight team that holds the executive director accountable to attaining the organization’s goals and offers support and guidance in doing so. The board of directors can be considered a governance layer that is legally obliged to ensure the fiscal health of the organization, but is not necessarily involved in its day-to-day operations. It often works with the executive director on longer-term initiatives, especially those that set a vision for the organization or represent key decisions.
An organization may also have a board of advisors that provides specialized expertise and guidance to the executive director, board of directors, and other team members. They don’t have the same legal obligation to the organization’s fiscal health as the board of directors, however. Members of the board of advisors often represent diverse professional backgrounds such as law, human resources, or marketing, and constitute a valuable source of input for an organization.
2. Community Engagement
As a climate CBO’s primary role is to encourage its community to take sustainability-related action, community engagement related roles constitute many roles within a CBO. The community engagement team is focused on cultivating relationships with the local community: They are the ones hosting or being present at community events, running campaigns, partnering with other stakeholders like the city council, local schools, the local business community, houses of worship, and more.
Roles within this team can include:
an event coordinator
volunteer coordinator
a set group of people attending and staffing tables at community events, and
coaches, who are individuals with subject matter expertise that can answer questions about specific sustainability-related topics. A good organization will look to build a coaching team fairly early on, in order to establish itself as the one-stop shop in the community that is knowledgeable about all climate and sustainability-related matters.
3. Marketing & Communications
Having a strong marketing & communications (marcom) team is critical to an organization’s success. The marcom team has three main responsibilities:
managing an organization’s digital presence and communications, such as updating the website, posting on social media, or writing a newsletter
handling all print marketing materials, including designing and printing flyers, mailers, yard signs, banners, etc.
conducting all PR-related responsibilities, building relationships with the local press or local media outlets
As the community engagement team is hard at work planning and implementing events, campaigns, or other programs out in the community, the marcom team is responsible for making sure the community knows about these initiatives, as well as regularly sharing educational information, announcing exciting news pertaining to the organization (i.e., grant awards or major accomplishments), and overall contributing to the organization’s brand.
Roles within the marcom team can include graphic designers, someone who monitors and posts on social media, webmasters, copywriters, and press relations.
4. Projects & Programming
A strong climate CBO will also have a team of people that is solely responsible for the implementation of specific projects and programs in its community. This team will typically include people with subject matter expertise (SME) on specific projects or programs that the organization is working on and who can engage the relevant stakeholders: For instance, if an organization wins a grant to implement a program that helps local restaurants transition to using compostable takeout containers, it’ll want to have someone on the projects/programming team who has experience working with restaurants or in food hospitality.
Most of the roles on this team will be projects managers or similar.
5. Development
A climate CBO will also want to have a development team, which is the analog of the sales team in for-profit organizations. This is the team that generates the money coming into the organization, whether through grants, fundraising, or another revenue stream. This can be done by one person wearing multiple hats, or there may be separate staff members specializing in different revenue sources.
6. Internal Operations
A climate CBO will also have an internal operations team, which is responsible for maintaining and supporting any internal systems an organization might use. For instance, the internal operations team might manage and organize the Google Drive or another document-storing system, the organization’s website platforms, the donor portal, any customer relationship management software the organization might use, and more. They are especially responsible for ensuring the organization’s documentation remains secure.
7. Finance
Finally, an organization will need to have a team that deals specifically with the organization’s finances. The team’s three primary responsibilities include bookkeeping, running payroll, doing taxes, and HR functions. The team lead or someone else on the team should ideally be a certified public accountant.
There are many ways someone can get involved with their local climate CBO. Whether you’re looking to pursue nonprofit work as a full-time career, exploring a career path shift to find something more mission-driven, or simply looking to meet other passionate people in your community, working for a local climate CBO may well be one of the best ways you can leverage your skills and expertise to give back to your community.
Reach out to your local CBO to explore options for getting involved.
If a climate-oriented, community based organization does not exist in your community, connect with us on how we can help to get one started and read our post, From Passion to Action: Starting a Local Climate Organization.