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How we work

PILCROW is small by design and works through partnership. This page explains how the organisation is governed, who does the work, and the standards that apply to everything we run.

Governance

PILCROW is governed by a board of six people, elected by the membership and responsible for strategy, financial oversight and organisational risk, including safeguarding. The board meets regularly and takes decisions collectively.

We deliberately do not publish individual profiles of board members, staff or volunteers. Many of the people involved in our work are young, and some contribute to projects touching on discrimination, migration or mental health. Keeping the team page aggregate rather than personal is a safeguarding and data-protection decision, not an oversight.

Capacity

  • A board of 6 people with strategic and fiduciary responsibility.
  • 2 paid staff covering project coordination, reporting and communications.
  • Approximately 20 active volunteers who deliver and support activities.
  • Approximately 12 external collaborators, trainers, facilitators, researchers and technical specialists engaged per project.

External expertise

We do not pretend to hold every competence in-house. For each project we contract or partner with specialists, non-formal education trainers, accessibility advisers, researchers, developers and evaluators, and we say so openly in our applications. This keeps a small organisation credible on complex topics without overstating its own capacity.

Volunteering

Volunteers are central to delivery, not decoration. They co-design activities, facilitate sessions, support participants and represent PILCROW in partner meetings. Volunteers receive induction, a named contact, a briefing on our safeguarding expectations and recognition of the competences they develop.

Youth participation in our own governance

We hold ourselves to the standard we ask of partners. Young people take part in shaping activity design, selecting participants and reviewing what worked. Where a project creates a youth advisory structure, that structure has a defined say in decisions rather than an advisory voice recorded after the fact.

Safeguarding

Every activity involving children or young people runs under our safeguarding expectations: registration and consent, named responsible adults, no unsupervised one-to-one contact, clear conduct standards and a defined route for raising concerns. Concerns can be raised with the organisation at office@pilcrow.es.

Read our safeguarding commitment

Accessibility and inclusion

We ask participants about access and support needs before every activity and budget for them rather than treating them as exceptions. Materials are produced in plain language, and we work in more than one language wherever the group needs it.

European cooperation

We are members of the I-STEP Network, CONNECT International, the QUEST Network and the NatureFriends Network. These memberships give a Valencia-based organisation of our size access to partners, practice and policy channels across Europe.