Unlocking our future

Today marks the launch of our new Strategic Plan for 2024–2030. Having recently secured our building for the next 999 years, there couldn’t be a better time to look to the future.

We’ve been thinking about how we can build on our existing work to achieve more. This includes: using our building in London as a hub for nature enthusiasts across the UK and internationally; opening up our Collections for research and engagement; and ensuring that our organisation is sustainable and secure for future generations.

We hope that reading the Strategic Plan will inspire you to join in and support our work, either by becoming a member or, if you are already a member, becoming more deeply involved in our mission.

The process to develop the strategy involved staff, Trustees and volunteers. We held a day-long workshop to discuss where we are now and where we hope to be in five years’ time. From there, we developed goals and through several iterations of feedback, refined our strategic priorities – activities which we think will be needed to achieve those goals.

We are hugely grateful to Patrick and Ian from the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants for their pro bono support.

Our activities for the next five years will fall under four pillars:

• Membership: We are a membership organisation. Our members are advocates for nature around the globe. We will grow, diversify, and support our membership to expand their capacity to work in support of our mission.
• Research: We are an international resource and hub for the study of the natural world. We will leverage our collections and other assets to promote and enable research and action for nature.
• Society: We will motivate people to take positive action, because protecting the natural world requires the involvement of the whole of society.
• Operations: We recognise that to deliver our strategy, we need to be resilient and sustainable. We will ensure that we have the right tools, resources, and staff to achieve our mission.

The strategy is ambitious – we can’t do everything all at once.

In the short term, we will be undertaking a membership review. Membership is core to achieving our new strategy, and the purpose of the review is to understand how our members can contribute. We would also like to grow our membership, but in a way that is sustainable and impactful. 

Another priority will be Burlington House. After securing our home, we want to look after it and open it up to inspire more people about the natural world through our beautiful collections, events, exhibitions and education activities for young people.

In the natural world, nothing exists in isolation. We are all a part of an interdependent, endlessly connected ecosystem. The Linnean Society too cannot thrive alone.

Join us to help deliver our strategy. Become a member, visit our exhibitions and attend our events, or contribute to our publications.

If you are able to, you can also support us by leaving a donation or gift in your Will, enabling our work to continue for the benefit of future generations. Our team would be delighted to hear from you. Thank you.

Our new strategy paints an exciting picture of a future focused on our mission to cultivate a global community working for a world where nature is understood, valued and protected. We are looking forward to working with our communities to achieve this.