The Start of Something New: Seeking Do it Now Now’s Futures Board

Do it Now Now is excited to announce the creation of its new Futures Board, launching in January 2021, a new fellowship for 10 leaders from Black-led social impact organisations across the UK. As part of the launch, Do it Now Now is looking for applications from Black people leading organisations that are committed to the development of Black communities in the UK and are in their first 18 months of operations, to be part of the 2021 Futures Board. 

The Futures Board will be a group of early-stage leaders within the Black Third Sector building social impact innovations and in the early stages of their work and development. 

Our founder, Bayo Adelaja has experienced the struggle to get access to people that have “been there and done that” and believes having someone that is further along their entrepreneurial journey and is ready to have really open conversations about what they did, how they did it and where they failed is invaluable to new founders. This was the inspiration for creating the Futures Board, to offer a system of support to founders who may not have access to the key tools or people to help take their organisation to the next level.

Bayo and the Futures Board will meet as a group on a monthly basis to share updates on the work each member is doing, discuss future plans and opportunities for collaboration. Bayo will present the developments taking place at Do it Now Now, our thinking on core issues within the Black community and what we are doing to address them. Members of the Futures Board will have access to Do it Now Now’s internal documents such as our 2021-2023 strategy, or financial statements, our grant applications and other sensitive information that will help them understand the context of our work in clear detail. 

Futures Board members will also have the opportunity to ask questions, ask for help as a member of our team will always be on hand for a call on issues that may be plaguing their organisation’s development. Where sensible, we will include them as partners in our funding bids and support them to gain their own grant funding independent of Do it Now Now as well. We want to fast-track the development of organisations that we can signpost our beneficiaries to. 

Do it Now Now was created with the belief that there are many incredibly talented Black people across the UK and in Africa, who given the proper tools, resources, expertise and support system, would build innovations that could change the course of our civilisations. As an organisation that seeks to engage Black people in creating those innovative solutions and as an organisation that has greatly benefited from the support of others, we believe the creation of the Futures Board will make a significant difference in the lives and trajectories of those who take part. 

In the same way, as we work with our Non-Executive Directors and Trustee Board, these individuals will get the unvarnished truth about our work, the struggles we are facing as an organisation, the triumphs and the faults we have found as leaders of an organisation that doesn’t fit the third sector standard - we are unashamedly Black-led and Black focused.

We have always believed that it is impossible for anyone organisation to support every Black person across the world effectively. As an entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership organisation, there are many support mechanisms we cannot implement. So we are determined to ensure that as many Black-led, Black-focused organisations as possible can build effective, high impact interventions that will support Black people that we could not reach in ways we cannot support them.

If you would like to be part of the 2021 Futures Board, please send a 300-500 word summary of your entrepreneurial journey titled “This Is How I Got Here” to [email protected]. Use the email subject heading “This Is How I Got Here - Your Name” and send it our way before 5 pm on November 30th 2020. The essay should focus on your lived experience and the intervention you are developing/have developed. You can see Bayo’s version of the essay here - This is How I Got Here. 

Do it Now Now is an advocate of equal opportunities and as such we strongly encourage applications from people from Black women, Black LGBTQ+, Black non-binary and Black differently-abled people. 

If you would like to offer your support to the fellows we select in any way, please email [email protected] with details of your offer. ​