Thats great to get a lot out in a post. 

It's certainly hard out there. So hard that me and my friend started our own CIC.

Obviously we started by seeing a niche and a USP.

One of our 3 pillars is conservation jobs and it is hard finding funding whilst sticking to our values as we are compeiting in a world which uses guilt to lever money... 

I would gladly write an open letter as certainly suffer from Eco Anxiety and burnout.

Chat soon

Mile C

Welcome to Wildhub!

I think its excellent that we have a platform like WildHub so we can conduct these recorded conversations and share them. Thank you @Brian Heppenstall & @Marrian Tendai Rwizi It was great to hear about your roles in Europe and Africa. Thanks to @Thirza Loffeld for all your hard work! 

I loved the way you gave responsibility to the students and that ownership of a project really helps! 

I think most people on here will feel the same and I certainly feel that as I volunteered for many years before getting paid roles that this should not be the way. It's getting people to take the natural world more seriously by demanding better paid roles. 

That's one of the reasons we started 9Trees and our 3 pillars are Wildlife & Environment / Countryside Jobs / Wellbeing & Mental health.

It is hard running a grassroots Non profit and we have all been volunteers and had the help of experts Pro-Bono. We have been paying from the ground up, paying for the materials to plant woodland, conservation Tree planters (who plant with an 80% survival rate, and we pay to replant for the first 3 years any losses).

People who join us usually take about 6 months to really get to know their role, by then we either start paying them as a contractor, like our Office manager (volunteered for 6 months), our Blog Co-ordinator and Web Developer (volunteered for 8 months) and we also now pay for a Landowner and contractor manager (volunteers 20% ongoing) We pay at a discounted rate for PR and now have started to pay minimum wage to management. We are also paying for Social media on an ad hock basis.

As time goes on we aim to be paying the living wage in the UK so its in all of our interests to make 9Trees work, whilst creating biodiverse woodlands across the UK. 

We have space for more people to come on board and people either stay with us or they get jobs as they have gained experience. We have had help from all across the world, from Corporate fundraisers, Grant writers. We cannot say volunteers will get a role, however everyone knows for every hour put in we are creating the jobs of the future! if not for you for your colleagues.

There is probably loads I am not communicating effectively but it's built into our official documents as a CIC; Community Interest Company. We give back.

Mike C