IKEA Foundation Ambassador programme frequently asked questions for managers

How is the programme funded?

You should connect with your local business navigator in case you have any questions about how to book the costs for the ambassador programme.

• For ambassadors from Ingka Group countries costs related to travel are covered by a global budget as an approved overspend. The project code for the programme is PJFOUNDATION. Hours are charged locally.
• For ambassadors from Ingka Group global functions the costs should be absorbed through your line budget.
• For ambassadors from outside Ingka Group you should connect with your local business navigator or sustainability responsible for more information on how to book the costs for the ambassador programme.

We estimate costs to be around €3000 per participant, though this varies from country to country depending on the cost of flights, etc.

How many hours should I expect participants to spend in the programme?

The programme itself is one full week, but there are additional requirements beyond that. In the lead up to the programme there will be some briefing calls that they will need to attend and afterwards we have asked all participants to commit to at least 52 hours in the year following their trip.

This is the minimum requirement to give participants an opportunity to share what they’ve learned, but we highly encourage you to work with your participant to make a plan when they come back and see how they can be most impactful in reaching the most number of people in your community.

What should I expect from the ambassador in my organisation?

This year we are launching a mandatory agreement for all Ingka Group ambassadors to sign together with their line manager and either the CEO of their country organisation or the Group Management member of their global function. This contract will outline expectations of the ambassador, the manager and the senior leader of the organisation when it comes to the ambassador programme.

You can expect to see this contract in the coming weeks. For non-Ingka Group ambassadors we still encourage you to adopt this contract, or something similar. We will share this contract with your sustainability leader – please reach out to them for more information.

When should ambassadors begin booking travel?

All ambassadors will be invited to join a team on Microsoft Teams and we’ll use this to keep them informed of next steps. We have 6 hubs to work with this year and we’ll start with the hubs coming first and work our way back to ensure that everyone is able to secure their travel arrangements on time.

Can ambassadors go earlier / stay later?

This is a local decision. Often we have seen ambassadors decide to take some vacation and extend the length of their trip in coordination with their manager and local unit. We leave this to you to decide together with the ambassador. We do remind all ambassadors that if they are combining personal and business travel they should ensure they have appropriate insurance for the duration of their trip.

How is travel risk determined?

We work with Ingka Group Risk to review trips that occur outside of typical IKEA countries to ensure that we are taking safety and security into consideration. The safety of ambassadors is our highest concern. In the event that there is a change in the level of risk we will take the necessary action to either mitigate the risk or if needed, postpone or cancel the trip.

Are the dates for the programme flexible?

No. A great deal of work goes into finding dates for each ambassador hub that work for the partners we are visiting, the geographic area we’ll be in, the participants and the countries. We asked candidates in advance to indicate their availability and we have done our best to fit each person in based on this information. If ambassadors are not able to attend the hub they have been offered, they can email ambassadorhubs@ikeafoundation.org and we will see if it is possible to make a move, but they may need to withdraw from this year and reapply in the future.

How do you decide who is selected?

Many factors go into the decision of how to fill the limited number of spots, and there is no one set of “qualifications” for an ambassador. We appreciate the passion, experience and drive that each individual brings to the programme. We work hard to ensure a diverse group of participants from all across the IKEA world.

How do you decide how many people can join from each country or organisation?

We take many factors into account when deciding how to spread out the applicants across the open spots. Size of the country or organisation, proximity to the location we’re hosting the hub, appetite by the country or organisation are some of the things we consider. We try our best to get a good spread of people across each organisation to try to reach as many people as possible.

Another member of my team wasn’t selected, can they get feedback on their application?

We’re sorry they weren’t selected to join us this year. Many factors go into these very tough decisions on how to fill the limited number of slots. Just because they weren’t selected this year doesn’t mean they wouldn’t make a terrific ambassador, so we hope they’ll apply again!

Unfortunately because of the large number of applications and the many people working with us to help review the applications we aren’t able to share feedback on each individual application.

In general what we can say is that we’re looking for good representation of engaged people from each organisation who clearly demonstrate a passion and interest in the work the IKEA Foundation does and in sharing that with the many people. Hearing their passion, ideas and practical solutions on how to increase our reach are always appreciated.

Who should I ask if I have more questions?

You should reach out to your country sustainability manager or sustainability matrix responsible, or email ambassadorhubs@ikeafoundation.org.