A few weeks ago we held our second birthday event. This event (a webinar) is a key part of our calendar and an event which we split into three parts – two of these three parts are based around Looking Back and Looking Forward. In this blog, I am going to look back and reflect on our second year of operating:

Our Face-to-Face Events

These events are the highlights of the year – they bring so much joy through the power of connecting with others. This year, we initially planned to have four events in different locations to last year: West London, Bristol, Wolverhampton and Leeds. Unfortunately, due to a high number of last minute drop outs we had to cancel our Bristol event, but I’m sure we will return to the South West in the near future. One thing that remained consistent across all of our events was how phenomenal the speakers were and as a result how impactful the events were on all who attended. As we update our website, you’ll be able to see more testimonials, photographs and videos from our events.

Our Webinars

Our virtual content this year was very different to our first year and how we run our face-to-face content. This year, we chose to have a consistent format across all four of our webinars where we had a panel discussion facilitated by one of our collaborative organisations and based around the four of our five core themes: Development, Diversity, Journeys and Wellbeing. The panelists across our webinars were fantastic and you can catch up on all of our webinars through our YouTube channel.

Our Other Content

Throughout the year, our volunteers have worked hard to ensure we’ve had consistent digital content across our social media platforms, our website and blog, as well as the creation of new opportunities such as through programmes.

We have really enjoyed the strengthening of our current partnerships and the formation of new collaborations – this is going to be a key part of our offer in 2025/26 and is something we are looking forward to.

A real highlight has been the trial cohort of our Nourished Leaders Programme hosted in conjunction with Kimberley Evans on Nourish the Workplace. Hopefully this will be the first of many cohorts and programmes.

Our Awards and Achievements

It has been lovely to see that so many people and organisations have recognised the work we have done and continue to do. We never set out to win awards when setting up this organisation, just a group of people coming together to help others. It has been lovely to have been in attendance at the Leadership Awards 2024 by the Institute of Leadership and the West Midlands Leadership Awards 2025 also.

What we really value is the feedback we get from those within our community. Not just the statistics from our surveys but the face-to-face comments, the complimentary emails and the positive social media posts. Thank you for taking the time to share them with us.

I cannot lie, this year has been a hard one for Step Up – as we navigate our identity, goals and work – it is hard to run a not-for-profit organisation, especially when it is a ‘side hustle’ and especially when led by volunteers. I would like to thank everyone for their involvement and I’m sure you’ll join me in looking forward to our next blog where we explore what is next.