Berwickshire Marine Reserve
Development of a three year strategy, laying out the direction of travel and the priorities for the organisation
“Accelerate provided clear advice and guidance
and an effective sounding board to help us shape
our future direction and plans.”
- Berwickshire Marine Reserve
The challenge
The Berwickshire Marine Reserve (BMR) is a Scottish charity which manages a voluntary marine reserve covering 8km of coastline which is world-renowned for its biodiversity. Their main objectives are to lead nature recovery, restore the biodiversity of the shoreline and coastal waters and engage and educate local communities in conservation. They also monitor changes in biodiversity and sea conditions, especially the impact of climate change and economic activity.
The organisation needed to update its strategy to bring climate change to the forefront of its activities and align itself more closely with national policies and priorities. BMR felt it needed to be more ambitious in its approach and aim to increase its membership as well as recruit additional trustees.
How we helped
Through Accelerate, we facilitated several strategy workshops with staff and trustees.
Desktop research was conducted on both the national and local policy environment and an exploration done on possible income streams to decrease reliance on external funding. A brief was also produced for BMR to use in recruiting trustees, extending connections across the wider community and attracting trustees with a broader skill set. Lastly, recommendations were offered to improve engagement with BMR’s membership.
The result
Three year strategy created
Attracted new trustees with varied skillsets
Expanded membership and increased engagement
The completed three year strategy mapped out the direction of travel and priorities for the organisation in the immediate future.
BMR have been successful in recruiting new trustees and are in the process of expanding their membership with increased engagement.
Feeling inspired?
If you are part of a community group who is not yet trading
and would like free support to become more sustainable
and enterprising, check out our Accelerate programme.