About US
Since 2005 Leapfrog has been helping communities to become more sustainable – socially and environmentally. This is our story…
History
Pure Leapfrog is the result of a merger between two charities dedicated to the support of community energy.
PURE the Clean Planet Trust began life as a charity created to raise the bar in carbon offsetting. Our expertise in carbon finance led to the development of the British Airways Carbon Fund in 2011 and shortly thereafter the creation of the Community Energy Fund in 2012, which was launched at the Cabinet Office. This was the UK’s first dedicated finance facility supporting the development of community energy projects drawing on a £1.5m credit facility from Big Society Capital.
In parallel, Carbon Leapfrog was launched by a network of professional service firms as a broker and project manager of professional support to community energy projects. Our in-house and brokered professional expertise has gone on to support many precedent setting, sector firsts and innovative projects worldwide.
PURE and Carbon Leapfrog worked alongside and supported each other for a number of years and in 2012 we decided that by working together and combining our expertise and resources we would be able to have a greater impact. As a merged entity, Pure Leapfrog has been able to scale up both its impact and reach.
Structure
Pure Leapfrog is a charity (#1112249) with a wholly owned trading subsidiary, Leapfrog Finance, which in turn owns Bridge Finance. Leapfrog Finance was launched in September 2015 with a dedicated board and executive team. Oversight from the charity ensures the values and objectives of the charity are met whilst providing the freedom to grow the finance platform and ring fence risks and liabilities.
The entities within the Leapfrog group are all aligned with our overarching strategy.
Vision and Purpose
Our Vision
A just, sustainable, socially-inclusive energy system
Our Purpose
To enable positive social, environmental and financial impact for communities, in particular those in deprivation by enabling their participation in and benefit from, an energy system in transition to lower carbon intensity.
Our Strategy
Our Operating Pillars
Facilitating the energy transition for communities – Designing/redesigning the models through which communities can benefit from a low carbon energy system.
Providing Finance and Funding – Providing finance and funding that enables communities to benefit from a low carbon energy system.
Embedding Impact – Building capacity internally, with investors and in communities for impact to be at the heart of community-based low carbon energy systems.
Our Strategic Foundations
Not-for-Profit
Charity and social enterprise driven by social and environmental outcomes. We reinvest any profits we make in our social and environmental purpose.
Partnering and Engagement
Working with others with whom we can create impact and communicate real positive outcomes but maintaining a level of independence.
Organisational Strength
We have the right people, the sufficient appropriate resources, processes and systems to deliver our goals and help others to deliver theirs.
Open Source
We have an open-source philosophy, sharing our knowledge with others and drawing on the expertise and knowledge of others to deliver our goals.
Our Behaviours
Sustainability – Being sustainable and inspiring others to do so.
Collaboration – Working in a collaborative manner that builds and sustains partnerships across community life by working with all relevant groups in the energy eco-system (community organisations, charities, social enterprises, government, public sector agencies and business).
Solution-focussed – Identifying and breaking down the barriers to community benefit from renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Adaptability – Staying abreast of evolving trends in energy, communities, technologies, business models and impact frameworks so that we can seize new opportunities for local community benefit from renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Our Impact
For us, impact is:
Not just about who we are
Nor is it about what we’ve done
It is about what’s changed as a result
How we do it matters
The experience should change our lives & our environment
as well as the lives & environment of others.
We therefore focus on impact in two ways:
- Our own impact, which we frame around the following Sustainable Development Goals and metrics (shown overleaf)
- The impact we are able to deliver through our investments and initiatives.
Leapfrog is proud to be a Living Wage Employer