Just 18 months into my journey starting Opportunity Green, I’m pinching myself that I already have a team of 10 brilliant people. The perfect time to take a collective dive into our mission and vision.

Opportunity Green was established on 18 October 2021 with nothing more than myself and my laptop. I’d hammered out a “strategy” during a sail & rail trip from Dublin to London but it was literally just a list of potential projects, partners and funders.

Luckily, I had some amazing champions in my life who believed in the vision. So through every twist and turn (and there were a lot), I always felt like I had a group supporting me onwards.

Fast forward to April 2023 – only 18 months after I started OG alone – and we are now a team of 10! (Though I should mention our 11th, and very important Chief Security Officer Roo, who takes her duties very seriously but sometimes prefers squirrel chasing to office work.)

Tackling the tricky questions

On 3 April we had our first full team strategy day, run by the brilliant Blue Crab Strategies. As a team, we tackled questions like, “how do we maximise our impact?” “what do we want to be known for?” “how would we describe Opportunity Green to our grandmothers?” and “where can we find funders who match our vision and ambition?”

These aren’t always the easiest questions to answer – or to get a group consensus on – so we want to say enormous thanks to our brilliant facilitators, Rebecca Dane and Priya Kumar. Not only did they guide us through some tricky scenarios, they also helped provide clarity and direction where it’s most needed.

We had such an interactive and creative day, full of obligatory post-it notes and colourful stickers. And, at the end, we came away with loads to put into practice as we head towards even bigger and brighter things.

The highs and lows of starting an NGO

I am genuinely so inspired by this group of people. We have lawyers, experts in negotiations, collation building and more. Until June of last year, Opportunity Green was just me, beavering away on my own, trying to make a difference.

Simultaneously, I have had to navigate the charity commission application process, get that all-important first payroll organised and set up a blog… oh wait, I might not have gotten around to that until now (thanks to Hannah our excellent new communications manager!).

Running an organisation of 10 brings huge challenges, but I’ve also learned so much. I’m always happy to share my experiences with others thinking of doing it as I wish I’d known someone who’d done it before at the start. Not least, getting the right resources on the operations side, while most climate funding is project based.

Making an impact where it’s most needed

We might be a young organisation with our challenges, but I truly believe we are having impact. Both in the climate policy field, but also in how progressive organisations can be run and managed.

The climate crisis is a huge challenge and not one that Opportunity Green will be able to tackle on our own, hence an important part of the day was considering which organisations we want to partner more deeply with.

Equally, there is a reason that we have a positive and optimistic name: we believe that we can have impact. We believe there is a better future if we do tackle climate change. And we believe it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom while we do it.

Setting out a strategy for trying to save the world is serious business but I’m not sure there is a more fun or enthusiastic bunch of people with whom I’d rather do it!

So here’s to Opportunity Green! I hope one day to be writing a blog on all we’ve achieved in 10 years…

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