We are a non-profit that has only been funded to date by philanthropic donations from other non-profits (e.g. trusts and foundations).

We do not take corporate money, we take no money that is from lobbyists or is used to try to pre-define what work we do and to date we have not asked for any contributions from insiders.

Our insiders define the focus of the work. If we went to the group with our own agenda and asked them to endorse it, the model would be broken.

We do have a set of values and criteria that we bring to the work in exchange for our support. This anchors around a commitment to transformational change not just incremental and that our groups focus on both social and environmental issues and do not elect to ignore either of these.

We insist on the anonymity of our insiders. Even if an insider wanted to publicly declare they were part of the group, we would ask them not to. This is one of many steps we take to protect the work and the identities of others in the group.

If anyone wants to speak out on the issues covered in our releases in a personal capacity they are welcome to but we ask them not to associate with the work.

This is because there will inevitably be others in the group whose jobs and careers would be jeopardised if they were found to be involved in this work.

Our groups are made up of people invested in staying in their industries and helping them thrive in a more positive form rather than trying to ‘take them down’.

We offer access to coaching and legal advice to all insiders and we support them in a process to make a difference in their industry.

We anchor our groups in an ‘inner circle’ of people who hold, or have until recently held, senior roles in major companies within an industry. What this looks like for each industry will be different but we prioritise looking for people who are 20+ years into a career and currently working at the biggest firms in an industry.

We also take a lot of input from those in an ‘outer circle’ who may have expertise on an industry but not fit the description above. They may be academics, journalists, people in overlapping industries or other stakeholders. Those in this group do not input on what is authored by the group but they do get to offer ideas/angles/feedback for the group to consider.

We know that change has often come from those in more junior roles in companies and those in the earlier parts of their careers and we will look to support and work with initiatives focused on those communities.

This particular initiative is focused on those in senior roles who have long-standing experience in an industry and can talk with authority on how and why decisions are made and the underpinning culture at an executive and board level that informs this.

Our interest is largely in impacting upon executive culture and practice so we feel anchoring in the insight of executives makes sense.

No we do not, we are not looking for any commercially sensitive information on companies or evidence of individual incidents of illegality.

Instead, our focus is on behaviours and cultures that permeate an industry – we do not call out individual companies or facilitate individual acts of whistleblowing.

If you are looking to whistleblow then we suggest you start by contact PROTECT or Climate Whistleblowers.

If you want any further signposting feel free to reach out to us but we will not be able to accept any information or documents – it’s not because it isn’t important, it’s just we are focused on a specific approach that is different to whistleblowing.

We onboard people slowly so that they know what they are getting into.

Generally this would look like:

an initial conversation with one of our team or recruitment partners
a chance to review guidance that PROTECT have created for insiders as well as FAQs
a second conversation to clarify anything about the work
an initial interview on the areas you feel are important and your motivations to be involved

Following this, people would be integrated into the ‘group’ but not actually exposed to any other members. Most people never know who else is in the group and no one other than our team know that they are in the group.

Sometimes people will progress to taking part in small group meetings with peers if they elect to but this is not the default.

Groups are made up of peers based on an industry and geography, covering a range of corporate functions. They:

map the material ways in which industry impacts the world
identify the culture, structures and incentives that make this a norm across industry
identify which stakeholders can change the current dynamic and through what messaging they need to be activated
author content and direct activations

If a journalist is interested in writing about our work we will see if anyone in the group wishes to speak to them based on strict confidentiality agreements which we support. Most group members prefer not to and will never speak to journalists or anyone else about the work.

This varies completely based on the desired outcome for the group.

Sometimes we spend 6 months building insight and take it to a particular stakeholder in a meeting and that is the extent of an ‘activation’, sometimes we will position things for public engagement through the press, sometimes we will release memos targeting specific audiences, sometimes we will work privately with other actors in the ecosystem to produce information that they need in order to do their work.

Inside Track Frequently Asked Questions