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Member Starter Kit By the Climate Venture Collective

Hi, welcome to the Climate Venture Collective (CVC). We’re a community of people who establish impactful projects to solve the climate crisis.

Our mission is to start highly impactful, incredibly scalable projects and businesses that tackle the crisis and many of its surrounding problems.

We’ve set out to build a framework to make starting new projects as easy as possible. We aren’t a profit centric community, but we do believe that sustainable businesses have a pivotal role to play in solving the crisis.

The fundamental thing that makes us different is that we are first and foremost a community. If we all share contacts, learnings, energy and ideas, then not only will the climate crisis be easier to solve, but each of our projects will be better equipped to deal with it’s own challenges.

If you have something to ask, say or suggest then do it. We will welcome your comments with open arms.

Our culture

If everyone who joins the CVC upholds these principles then we can do great things, achieve our mission and create a stable platform from which hundreds of projects can be successfully launched.

Mission focused

We are all here to try and help. To try and tackle the climate crisis in a meaningful way. This is our utmost reason for being here and we should let that unite us, even if things are hard, remember we are all here to do good. Well done for being here, congratulate yourself and your fellow community members.

Truly collaborative

Every opinion matters and should be heard, but we don’t make decisions by consensus. The best ideas must still win out. When in groups always let voices be heard and use the techniques we learn in workshops to do this. This will help identify the best ideas and help achieve our mission.

Cherish feedback

Feedback is always welcome and should be cherished. It helps us develop as a community, as projects and as people. Please always assume feedback is coming from a good place, that that person wants to help you be better.

Likewise, always give feedback in a constructive way, treat it as a gift you are giving and hope that the community will give one back to you. A virtuous cycle of learning.

Professionalism

We are a group of people from all walks of life and are here to get stuff done. To have the greatest impact, we must be taken seriously. Still have fun, but act appropriately for the situation. Be punctual, prepared and respect boundaries. This is not an insiders club and we want all to feel welcome and respected.

Work life balance

Yes we are here to work and get stuff done, but, equally, it is healthy to laugh! So, if it starts feeling like work then take some time. Make sure you don’t fry your brain. Do things in moderation. You know your own body and mind so make sure you care for it as this will keep the whole community happy and healthy.

Respect and kindness

Treat others with kindness and if you do need to take some time off just tell your project lead or, if you feel comfortable, the whole team. Let them know if you’re having a tough time or, if you are simply busy that week and can’t commit to as much as usual. We all get it and there should be no judgement. We are all human, and we are all here for the mission, so we help in any way we can.

Initiative and no turf

Projects do not need to be driven by the project lead. You are a team and you should be able to shape and influence the direction. Use your initiative and this will benefit everyone. Equally if people have roles and those roles spill over into each other accept the extra help. This is about collaboration so be open to change, as that is what working on fast moving innovative projects is like.

This is how you can get involved

Involvement can range from the limited to the heavily involved, all we ask is that you do as much as you feel you can. If you have a new idea for what the community could/should do then please tell us! We’re all about new ways of working.

Member - As a member you can take part in workshops, you can offer your skills to a range of projects and you can generally be involved in discussions!

Project team member - New projects get created at workshops, or when someone new brings an idea to the table. You can join as many projects as you like! Just don’t overstretch yourself. Someone in the team will likely attend each weekly meeting and contribute to a range of tasks in the project.

Project Lead - If you are part of a workshop that comes up with an idea then you can volunteer to be the lead for that project, or if you bring a new project to the collective then you can be the project lead for that project. Your role will be described later on but this project is your baby so you’ll help lead the charge as it grows.

Operations team - The CVC currently has hundreds of members and several projects on the go. Our community is always growing, which means our team needs are always changing. Let us know if you fancy getting involved with the operations side of things, e.g. our newsletter, events, research, facilitation, onboarding new members and interviewing experts for our workshops.

Slack. The channels? What are they?

We use slack as our community place. It’s just a big chat room with different channels for different topics. Below you can see the type of channels we have and their purposes. For channels specific to projects see the next section. If you want to join a channel you can’t see then you need to hit the plus to the right of where it says ‘Channels’ on slack and there you can see all the channels.

Make sure to bookmark the CVC Slack channel so you can find your way back to us. We would also recommend downloading Slack onto your desktop: PC / MAC

#general - The channel where non specific comments and requests can go.

#inspiration - Got some exciting news, or just read something cool? Share it here!

#introductions - If you are new to the channel then please introduce yourself here!

#cvc-interview-team - We are interviewing experts to build up a knowledge library! This team is always looking for people to get involved.

#workshops - The channel where all workshops are announced and where any workshops can be requested.

Our projects

If you are new, please join a call or a channel and ask how you can help. The project lead will give you a breakdown of where the project is and then can identify where best to put your skills to use!

  • Go Invest Green - #investgreen - An easy to follow walkthrough to help you stitch to a greener pension.
  • AI for ESG - #ai-for-esg - A tool to clean ESG data, specifically about a company’s environmental performance.
  • Thank you for cycling - #thank-you-for-cycling - A startup helping new cyclists feel confident and comfortable making cycling their default/primary mode of transport.
  • The People’s Plan - #peoples-plan - A campaign to start the national conversation about a green recovery post-covid.

Our workshops

We aim to run a monthly workshop with mini weekly workshops in between. These workshops are on hold whilst we build up a library of interviews with experts. The results from which will be used to ideate with.

The workshops follow this rough structure:

  • Examine a challenge
  • Find inspiration for solutions
  • Generate some ideas
  • Refine and select your best idea
  • Rank all ideas on an Impact/Effort Scale
  • Launch that idea into a project

Checklist for getting involved:

  • Book into an upcoming workshop - check out the #workshops channel
  • Find a project you're interested in - simply follow their progress or become a volunteer
  • Share your own project ideas - use the #general or #inspiration channels, or contact Josh Graham, CVC Founder. There will be a project guide coming soon!
  • Sign up to the CVC newsletter for fortnightly updates, workshops, projects

Thanks for joining the Climate Venture Collective, it's great to have you in our community!

Thanks to icon8.com for our images.