Students Organising for Sustainability UK

Over the last two years, SOS UK has taken sustained and practical action to embed our long-term EDI commitments through:

• Participating in The RACE Report annually to ensure transparency around our own organisational diversity.
• Developing and adopting a five-year EDI Action Plan, approved by our Board in 2024, with clear goals on recruitment practices, internal support networks and accountability.
• Updating internal policies and processes, including our recruitment processes to include a guaranteed interview scheme for underrepresented candidates, and improvements to staff development pathways.
• Embedding race and climate justice across all of our programmes, ensuring all staff are supported to integrate EDI into project design, delivery and decision-making.
• Providing staff learning and discussion spaces, including organisation-wide sessions on decolonisation and anti-racism.

These actions reflect our commitment to systemic, long-term organisational change.

• SOS UK plays a sector-leading role in advancing racial equity and climate justice across the UK environmental movement by running The RACE Report, the UK’s only data transparency initiative for racial equity in climate, sustainability and environmental NGOs/funder.
• We developed the PACE Index, to build a community of European organisations who are ready to commit to actionable steps to move forward with their EDI.
• We delivered the annual RACE Summit which was bigger than ever before, bringing together hundreds of people in different roles within the sector to share learning, build confidence and take action to make organisational change. In having over 20 global majority individuals lead sessions, speak on panels and shape the agenda, we provided a space for their work and experience to be amplified.
• We have been providing learning, mentoring and support through webinars, bespoke workshops, consultancy and partnerships. Our learning exchange webinars have been particularly successful this year to deep dive into a particular topic with a range of people from different organisations – facilitating collective action and good practice sharing.

Through these examples, we help build trust, accountability and shared learning across organisations of all sizes.

• Launch of The RACE Report Membership, offering organisations year-round support, regional peer-learning spaces, and more resources.
• Growing the reach and impact of The RACE Report, with increased uptake of the Staff Perceptions Survey.
• Improved digital and community engagement, including new resources, case studies and sector guidance.

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• People & Culture Subcommittee of the Board oversees all internal EDI progress, receiving regular updates on staffing diversity, recruitment, policies and training.
• EDI Action Plan Working Group meets regularly to track and make updates on the five-year plan and ensure actions are implemented.
• External accountability through funder reporting, including Esmée Fairbairn, where we report annually on progress, learning and challenges from The RACE Report.
• Contribution to The RACE Report each year, using the same transparency and reporting mechanisms we ask of the sector.
• Progress is also shared with staff, senior leadership and trustees through internal channels.