Section head

About Us
- ON & RfO Media Centre
- ON Leadership Board
- RfO Leadership Board
- Membership ON & RfO
- Members
- Impact Opportunity Now
- Impact Race for Opportunity
- FAQ on BITC Diversity Campaigns
- Diversity and Influence

FAQ on the Diversity Programmes from Business in the Community

What is Business in the Community
What types of organisations are members of Opportunity Now and Race for Opportunity
How do I join the campaigns
Why should I join the BITC Diversity campaigns?
What are the benefits of becoming a Champion
Where do I get my username and password for the Website?
What are the benchmarking surveys
Why should I Benchmark?
What are the Awards ceremonies?
Why should I enter for an Award?
How do I become a member of the Leadership Boards?
How do I provide information on my organisation for the Web pages?
What can I sponsor at Opportunity Now or Race for Opportunity
Can I host an event?

What is Business in the Community

As a national charity, Business in the Community stands for responsible business. We are a business-led charity with a growing membership of 850 companies, from large multinational household names to small local businesses and public sector organisations. We advise, support and challenge our members to create a sustainable future for people and the planet and to improve business performance.
Opportunity Now and Race for Opportunity are the diversity campaigns from Business in the Community.

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What types of organisations are members of Opportunity Now and Race for Opportunity

We have a wealth of experience in working with many organisations in the private, public and education sectors. We work with large global corporate companies down to SME’s and take pride in our experience in working with many industry sectors.

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How do I join the campaigns

Please use our online joining form and we will contact you within 48 hrs for further discussion and and introduce you to your dedicated account manager.
If you have any questions please send a message to the
Membership Team

Also follow this link to read the benefits of membership
Overview of Membership

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Why should I join the BITC Diversity campaigns?

Please visit:

The Business Case for Membership

and the Benefits of Membership

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What are the benefits of becoming a Champion

Work with a Gender Specialist
As a Champion you will be able to have up to 5 days per year with a specialist member of the Business in the Community Diversity team, to assist, challenge and inspire your organisation on the gender diversity journey.
Profile your work and commitment.
As part of your membership you will receive a dedicated page on this website profiling your champion status. This will give you the opportunity to highlight your successes through a well respected third party and provide links back to your own website.
Also as a champion, five subsidiaries or sites can have access to the member’s only section of the web-site in addition to the parent organisation.
Inspiring and informative events
Opportunity Now and Race for Opportunity Now organise a huge range of events to inspire and inform. Events include roundtable discussion forums, best practice networking and full scale conferences on the most important and relevant issues. Events occur across the UK, and have a particular emphasis on identifying and sharing best practice. .
Exclusive corporate champion events
These small and confidential roundtables on cutting edge topics will allow for open and frank discussion between leading organisations.
Benchmark your progress
Included in membership is the UK’s most extensive survey on gender and race equality and diversity in the workplace. This allows employers to chart clearly their progress on mainstreaming diversity and to compare their progress with other employers.

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Where do I get my username and password for the Website?

Please register on the home page, if your organisation is a member of Opportunity Now the company domain name will be registered internally and you just need to choose a password. A welcome email will be sent through to you and then you are all set to go !

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What are the benchmarking surveys

The benchmarking surveys is a chance for employers to take stock of their progress on the journey towards gender equality and diversity. It provides them with a tool to measure their own development over a set period and also gives them a snapshot of where they stand, relative to their peers.
All information supplied and results are treated as confidential.
The benchmarking survey enables us to collect real-life data so that we can provide a comprehensive review of the progress on gender equality and diversity in the workplace made by UK organisations.

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Why should I Benchmark?
- To find out where your organisation is making progress on gender and race diversity
- To identify gaps or areas where further action is needed
- To compare your progress with other organisations in the same sector and more generally
- To build a case for adequate resources in the coming year
- To build an action based plan and prioritise your activities for the coming year more effectively
- To share best practice and learn from other employers.
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What are the Awards ceremonies?

Both Opportunity Now and Race for Opportunity hold annual awards programme that have been running for many years and they recognise the exceptional progress made by organisations working towards gender and race equality, diversity and inclusion. You are asked to anonymously submit your written entry which will be assessed by a panel of expert judges. If you are shortlisted you will be asked to present your initiative to the judging panel. The winners will be announced at the annual awards dinners.

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Why should I enter for an Award?

Many organisations have benefited greatly from winning an award in the past. These organisations claim that it has helped to gain recognition for their work on gender and race diversity and inclusion. The awards are also an excellent opportunity to raise an organisation’s profile and engage senior leaders.
Please note: The Opportunity Now Awards and the Race for Opportunity Awards are open to all UK employers.

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How do I become a member of the Leadership Boards?

Becoming a member of the Leadership Boards is by invitation only and is reserved for organisations that demonstrate the highest level of commitment to promoting a diverse workforce.

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How do I provide information on my organisation for the Web pages?

Whether you are a Core member or Champion for either Opportunity Now or Race for Opportunity and you wish to provide information on your organisation for our website, please contact:
Debbie Sharp Website Manager.

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What can I sponsor at Opportunity Now or Race for Opportunity

There are many opportunities throughout the year to sponsor an event, piece of research or particular project. If you would like more information about our current sponsorship opportunities please contact Helen Wells Campaign Director, Opportunity Now or Sandra Kerr Campaign Director for Race for Opportunity.

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Can I host an event?

We welcome volunteers to host all our events, if you would like to get involved please contact Louise Hall

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