Project Summary: Describe your contribution in one sentence

I am the founder and director of Football For Future. We are a non-profit climate advocacy organisation working at the heart of the beautiful game. We empower people and organisations across football - from non-league clubs to the biggest brands in the world - with the skills and tools they need to react to the climate crisis.

What are the additional countries or territories of impact?

Global (the nature of the following of the partners, clubs, players that we work with)

Challenge Focus: What topic does your project most directly relate to?

Website URL(s) or social media handles

https://footballforfuture.org/ https://www.instagram.com/ftblforfuture/ https://twitter.com/ftblforfuture

The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve?

Climate change is the defining issue of our generation and football will not be exempt. One quarter of professional men's teams in England could be flooded by 2050, the last World Cup was rearranged due to extreme temperatures, and the next African Cup Of Nations has been moved due to an expected extreme monsoon season. But football is not an innocent victim - it has a global carbon footprint the size of Spain. Football For Future (FFF) is a leading football x climate non-profit, working to build an environmentally sustainable culture in football. We do this by raising awareness of the relationship between football and climate change, and supporting the football industry to become more environmentally sustainable. We have already worked with Nike, adidas, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Chelsea, Wolves, Arsenal, and more.

The green transition we urgently need won't be possible without the engagement of football fans, players, clubs, and industry professionals. Football is a global language that transcends cultural, linguistic, and economic barriers, making it a uniquely effective tool for raising awareness and changing attitudes. FFF's approach is to create a positive and attractive narrative around climate action that appeals to football fans of all ages, genders, and backgrounds. 

Your connection and commitment: How close are you to the problem and/or the community impacted?

After a background in the environmental sciences, climate advocacy organisations, working in the climate movement, and as a football fan and player, it feels as though every aspect of work that we do at Football For Future can be traced back to discrete moments of my life.

 

It has taken 6 years of volunteering, strategising, making mistakes, learning and capitalising on opportunities to eventually have my own organisation from which myself and 4 colleagues can now earn a salary. I am grateful to be in the most exciting position of my whole entire life from an impact and satisfaction point of view.

My first ever experience of political activism was as a young boy, going on demonstrations with my dad and our fellow Brighton fans to get planning permission for our new stadium when we didn’t have a home. We now have a 30,000 capacity state-of-the-art home and are sitting comfortably in the Premier League. Playing football has also been a lifelong passion of mine, and I have had the privilege of playing around the world, and experienced how extreme temperatures can adversely affect performance and fan experience.

I have also been working at the forefront of the climate movement over the last 6 years, from GreenPeace to Extinction Rebellion. Paired with my academic background in social movements and along with some colleagues, a Theory of Change was developed for Football For Future and we never looked back.

Starting off as a group of activists, we now have a job and are working with some of the most influential individuals and organisations in the world on climate activations. And it just feels like we are getting started

Your approach: How are you enabling other people to identify as green changemakers? How are you influencing them to get involved in your initiative or care about the issue you are addressing?

FFF enables people in the football community to identify as green changemakers by providing training, education, and resources that empower individuals to tackle climate change in their personal and professional lives.

One main way in which we do this is through our training workshops, which are tailored to meet the needs of different industry professionals from club staff, to football media organisations, foundation staff, brand staff, players, foundation staff and more. Designed and delivered by climate communication experts, our workshops are unique in using the language of football to male climate relatable. Concluding with participatory 'think tank' discussions, our workshops inspire a sense of responsibility and empowerment, with each workshop achieving an increase in average scores across key outcome metrics including knowledge about climate change, attitudes towards climate action, sense of inspiration, responsibility and enjoyment.

Our approach has led to real-world impact, including a sustainability strategy developed by Wolves or the fact that Minute Media brand reporting on ‘climate’ and ‘sustainability’ increased by 300% in 6 months after training compared to the brand’s total history beforehand.

We are also the only organisation delivering climate and sustainability education workshops to club academies, having delivered to >100 academy players from Premier League clubs in the last 6 months. Not only are our workshops the only ones in the market for academy players, but they demonstrate the relationship between football and climate change to make the issue relatable in a novel way, before focusing on the power of player voice, inspiring the next generation of professional footballers

Community involvement: How is your approach involving community participation, especially the historically marginalized groups?

Working-class & BAME voices have been historically excluded from climate conversations. But as they make up a significant portion of the UK football community, it presents a unique chance to engage them by reframing the climate dialogue to be more relatable.

One way that we reach fans is through their clubs. For example, when developing Wolves’ sustainability strategy we surveyed >1000 clubs fans to gain participation in steering strategy design and identity.

Despite championing other issues - from racial justice to gender equity - football players have been entirely vacant in the climate conversation. FFF is changing this through our champion community, where we support players through education and with delivery of ‘climate action projects’. For example, we have worked with one player to deliver climate education workshops to his club's staff, & another to deliver sustainability workshops to young girls from deprived communities in Highbury and Islington.

Moreover, FFF recognizes the history of marginalisation of women in football & is working with several high-profile women's players & the fan-led review into women’s football to embed sustainability from the get-go and champion these players as climate advocates. As the women's game continues to grow and gain cultural and commercial significance, it presents the perfect opportunity for positive climate intervention.

Your Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions already out there? How is your approach original and innovative? We are particularly interested in solutions that use regenerative approaches.

FFF is unique as an organisation because we are climate & sustainability that are by the football community, for the football community. We understand the cultural and operational intimacies of football, which allows us to create innovative solutions that are relevant & impactful whilst being an attractive and trustworthy prospective partner to a wide range of industry stakeholders.

We take a holistic approach to sustainability, providing player champion support, club consultancy, education for young people, and staff training. We are always at the forefront of every conversation in the sector, thanks to our engagement with industry professionals through our 'think tank' activities.

One of our unique offerings is sustainability consultancy where we audit and advise organisation from brands to clubs on how they can reduce their environmental impact. We have worked with sportswear manufacturers to help them to understand and identify how they can minimise raw material use, repurpose waste-materials and reduce the travel emissions of their products.

We use regenerative approaches in our club consultancy, emphasising the importance of restoring ecosystems that are at risk of climate change or football infrastructure development. We always incorporate principles of circular economy into our club-wide strategies and support them in adopting regenerative practices. For example, we supported Wolves to scrap single-use plastic pint cups at the stadium

Founding Story: Share a story about the "Aha!" moment that led the founder(s) to get started or the story of how you saw the potential for this to succeed.

Sleeping in tents and standing on the streets holding banners in the pouring rain and putting myself at risk of arrest to peacefully protest for the climate I thought to myself: “no wonder my climate conscious friends are not here with me”.

We need to create the biggest movement the world has ever seen, to tackle the greatest threat that humanity will ever face. In order to do this, we radically need to make climate advocacy more accessible and attractive than it has ever been.

I was studying a masters in Power, Participation and Social change, with a focus on movement building. Football & activism were colliding. BLM was sweeping through the game in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, and Marcus Rashford secured 2 government u-turns to secure millions of free school meals for deprived children.

The power of football had never felt so potent, and the climate movement had never reached such heights… and yet there was no ambitious climate advocacy in football that was attractive to fans. This had to change.

I established coordinated 'XR Football' for a year, receiving great interest and media attention, but I knew to work with the biggest names in the game I had to go independent. Football For Future was born. In our first year we had a Premier League clubs, agents and media organisations reaching out to US. This is when we knew we were onto something.

Impact: How has your project made a difference so far? How is it contributing to a zero-carbon world- where every person thrives, and nobody gets left behind?

FFF have been successful in reducing the environmental impact of various football clubs, but we are most excited about our efforts to get climate conversation into new cultural spaces.

For example, collaborating with Nike, we were able to introduce the term "climate crisis" on @NikeFootball social channels for the first time, reaching an audience of 45 million followers, framed through the world’s most popular brand.

Another Nike collaboration involved delivering climate education workshops to young people at the foundations of their London-club partners with Chelsea and England striker, Mason Mount. We produced the project video which launched on all club platforms, receiving over 1 million views. These initiatives are vital in engaging the younger generation and inspiring them to take action towards a zero-carbon future. 

We launched Wolves' sustainability strategy with a "green match day," where players and managers wore green armbands. The initiative was well-received and even got a positive mention about climate change on the UK's most popular football show, “Match of the Day”. https://www.instagram.com/p/CoW17DKocYk/ 

Our project has made significant progress in normalizing and popularizing the climate change narrative, creating a more receptive audience and driving the change necessary to achieve a zero-carbon world, with football fans at the heart of it.

What’s Next: What are your ideas for taking your project to the next level?

We have a well-defined strategy and Theory of Change that is grounded in movement building academia - this guides our daily operations. Our ultimate goal is to establish ourselves as the go-to place for everything ‘sustainability & climate’ in football, and forge long-term delivery partnerships with the biggest clubs, leagues, and players in the world. Our belief is that football has the potential to become a powerful force in driving a worldwide sustainable transition to keep global average temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

To achieve our goals, we recently restructured our organisation, defining four key departments. We aim to grow our Climate Champions and Education & Training departments into world-leading services that engage with the most powerful stakeholders in the game. We recognize that the Premier League is the world's most consumed domestic sports league, and the World Cup is the most engaged-with event in human history.

After delivering a variety of successful case studies and developing rigorous impact frameworks, we are confident and excited to take our organisation to the next level. We plan to recruit the necessary talent to join us on this journey and enable us to achieve our vision of being the global leader in promoting sustainability and climate awareness in football.

 

Your team: What is the current composition of your team (types of roles, qualifications, full-time vs. part-time, board members, etc.), and how do you plan to evolve the team’s composition as the project grows?

FFF has a core team of four members who are paid a core salary of four days per week, including two co-directors who have been working full-time for the past two years. The team includes Elliot, who has experience in environmental sciences, social movements, and climate communications, and Barney, who has experience in journalism, communications, and events management. Rory, a football agent, manages all player relationships, and Chloe, a former teacher, is the Education and Training manager. The board consists of Matt Brookland, an ESG expert and charity risk advisor, Matt Barrett, a partnership and business operations expert, and Rebecca Lees, a sustainability and ESG expert, experienced trustee, and footballer.

Operational Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure operational sustainability.

FFF have ensured a diverse array of funding mechanisms.

1. We sell our services. We have developed industry-leading products and services, including climate education workshops for young people and training for football industry professionals.
2. We also provide support for players and work with a variety of organisations who pay us to work with their football clients (banks, football player member associations).
3. We also accept donations off of players, and recently accepted our largest player donation yet. We are also developing a fundraising strategy and management mechanism to scale-up player donations.
4. Grants: we have received one grant and hope that the Charity Commission will accept our application which will make us eligible for more grants.
5. Corporate partnerships. We are currently working with a consultant who is supporting with our corporate fundraising strategy as there are many corporates (with sustainability focus and otherwise) who are looking for visibility and association in English football.

 

We are also on the verge of securing several 'transformational' partnerships, one with a sportswear brand, and two with separate leagues. If any of these come through it will be significant for us, and any funding and support from AshokaxHSBC would only increase FFF's capacity and skillset to be able to deliver these to the best and most impactful standard.

VIDEO: Please share the link to a 1-minute YouTube video that answers the following “I identify as a Green Changemaker because...”. Ensure that your video does not exceed 60 seconds

https://youtu.be/VIqq_RTPfnQ

Impact Model: While reviewing applications, we identified a need to better understand the impact models for the innovations that applied. How would you describe the activities you engage in and what outcomes and long-term impact do they lead to?

More detail in our Theory of Change:

1. 2 activities: education & training (e&t); and sustainability support (ss) (environmental ‘bootprint’ measurement and strategy development/delivery)
2. E&t for young people; fans; media; professional players; football industry staff. We deliver ss for football clubs, leagues, governing bodies 
3. E&t short term (st) outcomes include increased: climate change understanding; positive attitudes towards sustainability; climate action. Fans lobby clubs; champions advocate; media report; and football industry staff implement sustainable initiatives at work.
4. Ss st outcomes include more football industry stakeholders: environmental bootprints published; clear + public commitments; framework sign ups (e.g. UNSCAF); dedicated sustainability roles; and public comms. 
5. We measure success of e&t through: climate change understanding + interrelationship with football; acknowledgement of individual & football’s wider responsibility; fan group training (> lobby clubs); professional players publicly commenting on climate change (> deliver campaigns); + media training (> climate reporting)
6. We measure success of ss through no. football industry orgs we support who: sign up UNSCAF; publish bootprint/strategy; engage fans designing initiatives; make long-term financial commitments. We also measure no. of non-league clubs we support
7. E&t long term (lt) outcomes include: higher expectations of climate action from football industry; environmentally sustainable behaviours normalised; and individuals from global football community driving climate action at home and in work
8. SS lt outcomes include: football industry has net-zero/net-positive impact; sustainability is executive-level priority; and football industry pioneers sustainable operations

Read more in our Theory of Change

Audience: Who are you most directly impacting through your work? Who is the target beneficiary? Please specify if the population you are reaching is underserved due to any of the following characteristics?

If you chose the "Other" option, please specify

 

How are you activating green changemakers?

If you chose the "Other" option, please specify

 

Organization Type: Which organization type best describes how your work or initiative has been organized or registered?

Nonprofit/NGO

Tell us briefly about how you have and/ or would like to engage partners or other changemakers to enhance your approach:

From broadcasters to burger vans - everyone in football has a unique position of power and responsibility to tackle the climate crisis. We have worked with a variety of media, cultural and commercial partners - from the MetOffice, to Glastonbury music festival - to drive different types of mutual impact and opportunity access.

One exciting example of this is a recent development with the Premier League with which we are planning to launch a partnership to deliver climate education workshops to the academy players at all Premier League clubs from next season onwards. This partnership is exciting for 2 reasons:

1. It will publicly demonstrate the Premier League advocating for climate.
2. It enables FFF to engage with players of the future, making critical interventions before they go on to represent their clubs and countries.

Workshop outcomes:
● Participants have improved understanding of climate change.

● Participants have improved understanding of the interrelationship between football

and climate change.

● Participants have more positive attitudes towards climate action.

● Participants have a greater sense of responsibility to tackle climate change.

● Participants have improved understanding of sustainable actions they can take.

● Participants have a greater sense that the football industry has a responsibility to

tackle climate change.

*please do not share this information.

Annual budget: Hint: What is the cost for your current operations every year (or most recent year)? This is expenditure for your project or organization. The reference currency is the U.S. dollar.

$100k - $250k

Winning Impact Potential: How would winning the Green Changemakers Challenge impact and leverage your work?

Winning the Green Changemakers Challenge would have a transformative impact on myself and FFF. As a small organisation that is growing fast, the prize money alone would allow us to invest in key roles and infrastructure to strategically scale our work from an impact and financial perspective. It often feels that FFF is over capacity/running at a deficit, and so this money would be wisely spent towards a competitive salary of an experienced and expert operations manager, in addition to an expert grant writer who would be able to ensure future revenue for the organisation.

I would love for this application to reach the final stage of this competition so that I have a chance to pitch my organisation to a panel, and receive feedback and insights from HSBC and Ashoka representatives, answering questions and critically engaging with how I can most effectively run FFF moving forwards.

Finally, to be a winner of the AshokaxHSBC changemakers award would be fulfilling in the sense that I would have a unique opportunity of credibility for my own journey of professional development, and get to share this with fellow changemakers in the mentorship and learning programme. I would particularly value personal mentorship regarding the activation of commercial partnerships. 

Skills Matching: If you win, you may have the opportunity to be matched with HSBC employees for skill-based mentorship. If matched, which of the following skills would you be most interested in receiving?

Project Management