What’s the background? In April 2019 Caplor Horizons started incubating The Commitment as part of our strategy to focus on making a significant difference to the environmental crisis. Since its establishment it has grown positively in many ways. This includes having over 12,000 people in the UK pledge that they will put climate change and biodiversity at the heart of their decision making when they vote at local or national levels. Caplor Horizons usually works with organisations that are established rather than incubating them. However, during these past few years, it also helped incubate another environmental initiative called The Great Collaboration, though this was on a much smaller scale.
What was our commitment to The Commitment? We envisaged at the outset contributing to the early stages and then becoming a partner to it once The Commitment ‘left home’ to become independent or part of another organisation. The Commitment remained at home longer than we initially anticipated because we were still adding value and the implications for our core business were manageable; moreover, it has been win-win in many respects with a great deal of valuable learning.
Why are we now in a time of transition? Following discussion at our June Board meeting, a decision was made to transition to minimising activities of The Commitment and moving it outside Caplor Horizons. The rationale for this decision was: (a) a sense that this would enable Caplor Horizons to fully focus on its core business; (b) a need for The Commitment to secure funding to renew its way forward. We’re very fortunate that our day-to-day work at Caplor Horizons continues to go from strength to strength with new enquiries and existing clients and partners continuing with us. Notwithstanding that we’ve increased our team size, we need to keep our focus on continuing to design and deliver everything to the best standards possible (watch this space as we will be releasing our annual impact report soon to give insights on the difference we have been making). In relation to The Commitment, we have contributed significantly towards a movement for change and this calls for continued and robust reappraisal of the best way forward in circumstances of reduced funding. This reappraisal will happen in coming months.
What will happen next? William (Eccles) and Peter (Moore) will lead on this. And, until the transition is complete, Lorna, Rosie, Ian, and the trustees of Caplor Horizons, will continue with respective management and governance level responsibilities. At the June Board meeting, William stepped down as a Co-Director and he is now concentrating on being Director of The Commitment (an ‘Advisor’ role whilst The Commitment remains within Caplor Horizons). Peter is contributing as part of his role as Governance Advisor to Caplor Horizons.
What are the consequences? One of the most significant changes is that in order to minimise activities we no longer have any full-time staff members working on The Commitment. We are immensely grateful to the excellent staff team that has been contributing until recently and we are sad to lose them as colleagues. Furthermore, we are highly appreciative of all the outstanding supporters and volunteers that have been – or continue to be – involved.
What will happen longer term? The Commitment is expected to leave home by March 2024. By then it is hoped that further resources will be secured and The Commitment can continue building an ever greater impact on the political attention paid to climate change and biodiversity. We remain committed to being a partner to The Commitment long term, post the transition process.
We are very thankful to everyone who has been supporting The Commitment in one way or another and we hope that you will continue to do so.
Best wishes,
William, Peter, Lorna, Rosie, Ian