As a nonprofit organization, you work every day to make a social impact. At the same time, the context in which you work is constantly changing.
Funders, grant makers and regulators are making increased demands for transparency and accountability. Donors and volunteers want to know where their contributions are going. And employees expect the organization they work for to live up to its values internally as well. At the same time, budgets are under pressure from declining grants, rising costs and increasing competition for funding.
Sustainability is not an isolated issue within an organization. It means structurally taking into account the impact on the environment (E), people (S) and good governance (G) in strategic, operational and financial choices. By embedding these ESG themes in your business operations, you link your social mission to concrete goals and measurable results.
At Cooperate Green, we help nonprofit organizations translate sustainability into a concrete strategy, measurable goals and transparent accountability – in a way that fits your organization, scale and ambition.
Sustainability is future-proofing, not only for your own organization, but also for your environment. After all, ESG is about structurally considering risks, opportunities and long-term impact in your decision-making. By consciously integrating these themes into your strategy and policy, you strengthen the continuity of your organization. You become less dependent on ad hoc decisions and better prepared for changes in financing, policy and society.
It helps you stay on course, substantively and financially.
Pressure from laws and regulations is increasing. For charities, the Dutch Accounting Standards Board’s guideline RJ650 provides important guidance for transparent reporting. Other sectors are also faced with frameworks such as the CSRD and guides that tie in with ESG principles.
In addition, there is growing pressure from funders and clients: in the health care sector, health care offices and health insurers are increasingly making sustainability part of their purchasing policies, and transparency is increasingly being made a condition in other sectors as well.
Social responsibility is no longer a casual choice for nonprofit organizations. Pressure today comes from three directions and goes to the heart of your organization.
Perhaps you recognize questions like: where do we start? Which themes are really relevant to us? What should we measure? Without a clear structure, a sustainable strategy often remains fragmented. An integrated approach helps to create focus and ownership.
Donors, funders, partners, regulators and the broader public expect transparency. Organizations with a social mission are – rightly – also judged by their own way of working. Clear reporting and concrete objectives strengthen trust and legitimacy.
Pressure from laws and regulations is increasing. For charities, the Dutch Accounting Standards Board’s guideline RJ650 provides important guidance for transparent reporting. Other sectors are also faced with frameworks such as the CSRD and guides that tie in with ESG principles.
In addition, there is growing pressure from funders and clients: in the health care sector, health care offices and health insurers are increasingly making sustainability part of their purchasing policies, and transparency is increasingly being made a condition in other sectors as well.
Perhaps you recognize questions like: where do we start? Which themes are really relevant to us? What should we measure? Without a clear structure, a sustainable strategy often remains fragmented. An integrated approach helps to create focus and ownership.
We help you structure the ESG landscape and set the right priorities for your sustainability strategy. No abstract models, but an approach that fits your organization, scale and ambition.
Our strength lies in the combination of sustainability knowledge, financial expertise and experience in the non-profit sector. This allows us to connect sustainability to your planning & control cycle, budget and annual report. KPIs on sustainability themes thus become useful as management information.
Every organization is at a different point. That’s why we work in a modular and phased manner.
For fundraising institutions, transparency is essential. The RJ650 of the Council for Annual Reporting offers guidance on sustainability information in the annual report. We support stakeholder analysis, providing insight into the impact (of our own organization and in the chain) and embedding CSR (corporate social responsibility)/ESG policy.
The healthcare sector has a significant environmental impact and faces major sustainability challenges. More and more stakeholders in the healthcare sector are signing the Green Deal Sustainable Care (Green Deal Duurzame Zorg, GGDZ) and thus committing themselves to ambitious goals. A central approach is important to integrate sustainability into daily operations, strategy and policy. In addition, instruments such as the Environmental Thermometer for Care make sustainability concrete and verifiable. More and more financiers will impose requirements in the area of sustainability, and healthcare buyers will also start enforcing them. We support healthcare institutions in integrating sustainability within strategy, policy, objectives and reporting.
Municipalities play an important role in the sustainability transition, including through procurement and tendering and Socially Responsible Purchasing (SRI). In addition, municipalities are increasingly having climate targets imposed on them by the national government. We help in structuring sustainability goals, monitoring and accountability to council and residents. We do this in line with the Handreiking Duurzaamheidsrapportage en verantwoording Decentralrale overheden (Guide to Sustainability Reporting and Accountability for Local Authorities).
For housing associations, sustainability is a core task. Legislation, national performance agreements and social expectations demand structural improvements in energy performance, insulation and CO₂ reduction. We provide support in translating these tasks into measurable objectives and clear reporting.
In education, the focus on sustainability in both operations and curriculum is growing. At the same time, an integrated and structural approach is often lacking. We help educational institutions combine separate initiatives into a coherent strategy with clear goals and measurable results. We link up with the initiative in the education sector to achieve sustainability reporting, Samen Verantwoorden (Accounting Together) and the Handreiking Vrijwilige Duurzaamheidsrapportage (Handbook of Voluntary Sustainability Reporting) released by them.
We tailor the way we work together to your needs and capacity.
Whether you are at the beginning or have already taken steps: we adapt to you.
