What Teach the Future does

Teach the Future is a UK youth-led nonprofit campaign organisation founded in 2020 and hosted by the charity SOS-UK (Students Organising for Sustainability UK). It campaigns for mandatory, integrated, and solutions-centred climate and nature education across all four UK nations (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), targeting reform of the UK education system in response to climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. The campaign is operated by 40+ unpaid youth volunteers aged 14-26, supported by an Adult Advisory Board drawn from academia (UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education, University of Worcester) and the energy and environmental sectors.

The organisation's core products are advocacy programmes rather than commercial offerings: a Climate Education Campaign with a public petition; a Climate Education Report Card system that grades parliamentary candidates across five climate education pillars; the Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review, a youth-authored parallel to the UK government's official curriculum review; research publications including "Curriculum for a Changing Climate"; and the Fund the Future programme campaigning for capital investment in sustainable school buildings. The underlying platform is a standard digital campaign stack — a website (teachthefuture.uk) integrated with ActionNetwork for petitions, email sign-up, and volunteer coordination — with no proprietary AI or data science components disclosed.

Teach the Future does not sell products or services and has no pricing model. Funding derives entirely from individual donations (covering essentials such as website hosting and volunteer travel) and a small number of grants, the largest disclosed being a £100,000 award from the Fund the Future programme in May 2024. Primary go-to-market is grassroots community organising — volunteer onboarding via monthly welcome calls and weekly Tuesday calls, petition drives, write-to-candidate campaigns, parliamentary receptions, and earned media coverage (Guardian, BBC, Reuters, TES). The campaign is supported by a 150+ organisation coalition including 350.org, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, NUS, and major youth infrastructure bodies.

Name

Teach the Future

Legal name

Teach the Future

Website

https://teachthefuture.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Teach the Future is a UK youth-led nonprofit campaign (hosted by SOS-UK) advocating mandatory, integrated climate and nature education across English, Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish schools through petitions, parliamentary engagement, candidate report cards, and curriculum research.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Climate Education Advocacy

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (61), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Instructional Delivery & Pedagogy (School-Led) (EDAJAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

K–12 Instructional Design & Curriculum Development Services (EDAGAKAA)

Keywords

• Climate education advocacy
• Youth-led campaigning
• Education policy reform
• Environmental advocacy
• Curriculum reform

Headquarters

HQ city

Macclesfield

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Relies on individual donations from supporters to cover essential costs including website hosting and travel for volunteers to participate in on-the-ground activities.
2. Grants: Received £100,000 grant as one of five UK organisations selected to boost green measures and reduce carbon emissions in schools through the Fund the Future programme.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Teach the Future is a youth-led campaign advocating for comprehensive, mandatory, solutions-centred climate and nature education across the UK education system. Its core offerings include a public petition to the UK government, a Climate Education Report Card grading system for parliamentary candidates, a youth Volunteer Program with working groups, and a Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review with the Curriculum for a Changing Climate policy document.

Product overview

Teach the Future is a youth-led campaign organization (not a technology product company) focused on reforming UK education around climate emergency and ecological crisis. The organization operates a suite of advocacy programs including a Climate Education Campaign as its core initiative, supported by a Volunteer Program with working groups and monthly welcome calls, a Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review research initiative, and various campaign tools such as Climate Education Report Cards for grading political candidates, email templates for contacting representatives, and a school photo reporting tool. Key publications include Curriculum for a Changing Climate and research reports. The Fund the Future initiative addresses sustainable school buildings, while the Scottish Elections Campaign engages candidates on climate education. All offerings are advocacy and engagement programs rather than commercial software products or platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Climate Education Campaign A youth-led advocacy campaign pushing for systemic reform of the UK education system so that climate and nature education is mandatory, integrated across subjects, and solutions-centred, addressing the 79% of secondary teachers who say they are not teaching the ecological crisis meaningfully.
• Climate Education Petition A public petition campaign asking the UK government to enact broad climate education reform, signed by supporters via the teachthefuture.uk website and handed in at Downing Street.
• Climate Education Report Cards A novel accountability system that scores parliamentary candidates on their climate education commitments across five key policy areas during election cycles (General Election 2024 and Scottish Elections), with grades published publicly.
• Volunteer Program An ongoing volunteer programme recruiting students aged 14-26 into working groups (graphics, Westminster, inbox) with no prior experience or minimum time commitment required, supported by monthly welcome calls and weekly general calls.
• Welcome Calls Monthly onboarding sessions (second Monday, 6:30pm-7pm) where prospective volunteers meet current volunteers and learn how they can get involved in the campaign with no experience required.
• Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review A youth-led parallel review of the UK government's Curriculum and Assessment Review, gathering evidence and producing reports to ensure young people's voices inform national education reform.
• Curriculum for a Changing Climate A tracked-changes policy document proposing how climate education can be integrated across every subject in the UK national curriculum, used as a core advocacy asset.
• Fund the Future A campaign advocating for investment in sustainable school buildings, school decarbonisation, retrofitting, and net-zero aligned rebuilding, co-organised with Let's Go Zero 2030 and supported by a £100,000 grant.
• Scottish Elections Campaign A campaign engaging Scottish parliamentary election candidates on climate education through pre-filled template letters to candidates and a Report Card grading system.
• Research Reports Independent research publications covering surveys of teachers and students on the state of climate education in UK schools, used to support advocacy and policy asks.

Quantifiable outcome

• 79% of secondary teachers report not teaching ecological crisis meaningfully
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• SOS UK (Students Organising for Sustainability)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSOS UK is the host charity for Teach the Future. They provide administrative support, process donations, and assist with campaign operations. The campaign is a project of SOS UK.
• Adult Advisory BoardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory board of education and sustainability experts including academics from UCL, University of Worcester, and professionals from energy and environmental sectors who provide guidance to the youth-led campaign.
• The Duke of Edinburgh's AwardflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review to ensure youth voices are central in shaping education policy.
• NUS (National Union of Students)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review panel, chaired by NUS President Amira Campbell.
• NYA (National Youth Agency)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review representing voices of young people.
• The Scouts AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review.
• UK YouthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review.
• Young CitizenscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review.
• I have a voicecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review.
• Let's Go Zero 2030flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organisers of £1.4bn school rebuilding campaign. Jointly organised parliamentary reception and climate education advocacy.
• Fens for KidsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner advocating for Fenlands education in UK curriculum. Created guest blog content on sustainable education.
• Labour Party (UK)coreOthersLabour MP Nadia Whittome sponsored Climate Education Bill. Keir Starmer, Ed Miliband, and Bridget Phillipson voiced public support. National Policy Forum adopted the Climate Education Bill.
• 350.orgminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupporting organisation listed as part of the 150+ network backing the campaign.
• Friends of the EarthminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupporting organisation listed as part of the campaign's network.
• GreenpeaceminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupporting organisation listed as part of the campaign's network.
• UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability EducationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLed by Adult Advisory Board member Nicola Walshe as Executive Director. Internationally renowned research team supporting climate education policy development.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Carbon Literacy Project: UK-based charity delivering certified climate and carbon literacy training to schools, universities, businesses and communities. Directly comparable in targeting the same climate-education training gap that Teach the Future highlights (70% of teachers untrained).
• Let's Go Zero 2030: Campaign coalition of UK schools committed to becoming zero carbon by 2030. A formal partner of Teach the Future (co-organised the £1.4bn school rebuilding campaign) and operates in the same climate-education-and-school-buildings advocacy lane.
• Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK): Host charity for Teach the Future and a directly comparable student-led sustainability and climate education organisation working across UK universities and colleges. Operates the same intersection of youth advocacy, sustainability education and policy engagement.
• Eco-Schools (Foundation for Environmental Education): International environmental education programme operating in the UK, working with schools on sustainability curriculum and student-led action. Addresses the same teacher-and-curriculum gap and uses a similar school-engagement model.
• UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN): Youth-led UK climate activism network focused on climate education, school strikes and policy advocacy. Closest direct peer in mission and demographic (students aged 14-26 driving systemic climate reform).
• Fridays for Future UK: UK chapter of the global school strike movement driven by young people demanding stronger climate action, including climate education. Overlaps strongly with Teach the Future's youth-led advocacy GTM and supporter base.

Broad incumbents

• Friends of the Earth: Large UK environmental NGO listed as a Teach the Future supporting organisation. Operates a much broader environmental policy portfolio but overlaps directly on climate education and school decarbonisation advocacy.
• Teach For All: Global network of partner organisations working on educational equity and curriculum reform, including environmental literacy. Provides a structural analogue for how a campaign-driven model could scale into a durable educational movement.

Emerging players

• National Union of Students (NUS): UK-wide student representative body that has partnered with Teach the Future on the Shadow Curriculum and Assessment Review. Focuses on broader education policy but with a meaningful climate-education and youth-advocacy overlap.
• Better Planet Education: UK charity providing free climate and sustainability education resources to schools. Listed as a supporting organisation of Teach the Future and operates a similar teacher-and-curriculum support model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/_teachthefuture
• Xx.com/_TeachtheFuture
• Facebookfacebook.com/TeachTheFutureCampaign
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/teach-the-future-campaign

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Teach the Future