About The Lasting Difference® Symbol
Update: we are retiring the Symbol in summer 2024 and are not taking new applications. Existing symbol holders can continue using it though.
- The Lasting Difference Symbol helps you to demonstrate to funders, partners, staff and communities that your organisation is committed to developing good practice.
Symbol holders join a community of practice, with facilitated peer support and an annual networking event to share ideas and generate new learning about sustainability. Along with our subscribers, you will also be our first port of call when we have new opportunities and resources to share.
“It’s important to feel part of such a warm and welcoming group of talented leaders, to take part in the practice sharing events and to share the learning from the incredibly useful resources produced by your amazing team.” (Lasting Difference Symbol holder)
“Being a symbol holder is hugely beneficial both as an individual and an organisation. It is a declaration of our commitment to create a lasting difference.” (Lasting Difference Symbol holder)
Examples include organisations whose strategies contain organisational sustainability goals; boards forming sub-committees on the topic; senior managers creating lateral leadership opportunities, teams developing criteria for prioritising funding applications and projects creating exit strategies for their work.
The Symbol Holders
All sorts of non-profit organisations (charities, social enterprises or public sector organisations) have used The Lasting Difference symbol. Find out more about our existing symbol holders below.
“I hope you are aware of the profound, lasting and transformative impact you have on the individuals and organisations you provide your support to. Of all of the ‘memberships’ we could be part of, being a symbol holder has been the most influential, challenging (in a positive way) and long standing toolkit we have ever engaged with.”
Befriending Networks
“I hope that by becoming a symbol holder and maintaining our close links and using the new resources we can inform our thinking and practice over the next two years to continue our journey and ensure that we don’t grow too quickly or become unsustainable by poor planning, leadership or decisions.”
Camphill School Aberdeen
“It will provide us with the tools to understand change and adapt to it without compromising future capacity.”
Carers Link
“Making the commitment to doing something is the first step in making the space and time to then follow through.”
Dyslexia Scotland
“We found the resources and ways of working dyslexia-friendly, accessible and inclusive. I would encourage other organisations to use the practical and inspiring resources and ideas in this toolkit – and to join a new community of practice, to support the ongoing challenges of sustainability in the third sector.”
Future Pathways
Health in Mind
“Integrating sustainability into our plans ensures that as an organisation we can be there for people where, how and when they need us. It helps us understand when to say yes and when to say no – to focus on our purpose, strengths and raise our profile whilst keeping people and communities at the heart of all we do.”
Lucy Faithfull Foundation Scotland
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation Scotland helped us to develop the ‘Beyond Survival’ resource to enable survivor support organisations become more sustainable. They took the learning from this back to their organisation and conducted a sustainability self-assessment to identify their main challenges. They now have an action plan in place and are starting to conduct self-assessments for each of their projects. They are embedding sustainability thinking into their work and it is now a standing item during staff development meetings.
“Integrating sustainability into our forward planning will allow us to have clear exit strategies for each project. It has also encouraged us to identify potential challenges which may threaten our long-term future and encourage us to have action plans which identify clear lines of responsibility. It allows us to identify and consider any threats to sustainability in good time so that a potential problem does not become a crisis.”
Merida Associates
Sacro
“We believe that this approach makes us braver – saying no is a brave thing to do – we will all be focused on our core and work towards a stronger organisation. We will also get even better at the things we do best.”
SIAA
“As a small organisation, the way we keep organisational sustainability as a central consideration has been to have regular discussions internally and with the board around member involvement and impact measurement and shape our work plan around member feedback.”
Shelter Scotland
“It keeps us focused on our organisational purpose and ensures that is our north star. The most important element has been to challenge ourselves to only deliver what meets our purpose. This means saying no and it also means stopping things we currently do or reshaping them to ensure they are future-focused.”
Victim Support Scotland
“The toolkit has opened our eyes to the ways that we can ensure our sustainability and future as an organisation, which ultimately will help victims and witnesses across Scotland.”
Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire
“We have refocussed our strategic objectives, strengthened our Board, reviewed organisational structure, in the process of recruiting and exploring funding to support the achievement of our strategic objectives, and starting the process of systematising our evaluation and learning approach.”
Interested? Click on the link to download an application form
The Lasting Difference Symbol Application Form
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