Our mission statement
We envision a world where all voices are heard. We believe in education, gender equality, equal opportunity and access to reliable information.
Writing a mission statement is always daunting, especially when we commit to listening, adapting, and constantly improving the way we do things. Even if we do change things around, we will always commit to these values:
Availability – We aim to support our partners as much as possible. Awarding grants, helping measure a project’s impact and providing access to a network. We are committed to providing tools that can help connect, facilitate or implement an idea.
Autonomy – We trust our partners and seek to empower them to take effective action.
Sharing and learning – We believe in constantly learning from our work and our partners’ work. We are committed to forming networks and sharing knowledge with the wider sector.
Local – We believe communities hold the solutions to the problems they are facing. Isla focuses on UK-based support.
Need-based – Isla wants to provide support where the need is greatest. We value the time that people spend on researching, developing and implementing an idea. We value the time it takes to develop an infrastructure. We focus on the possible, not the perfect.
Inclusive – The communities, the underfunded, the innovators, the risk takers, the storytellers. We serve them by being dynamic and by trusting that they know best.
Choice – We believe in choice and freedom.
Our priorities
Commitment to speed – streamlining all processes. We have simple, straightforward and easy applications.
Communication – creating opportunities for community organisations to meet.
Collaborative delivery and decision-making.
Flexible funding.
A dynamic network of mentors.
Readiness to meet unexpected challenges.
We will prioritise projects that:
- Work in partnership with other organisations
- Involve the community in the design and delivery of the project
- Have clear evidence supporting the need of the project