It’s Material is a social enterprise advancing new directions in the economy and the built environment. We strengthen connections between people, places, and the processes that shape them.
We provide:
COMMUNICATION
Thoughtful and clear communication and research, so that messages reach the places they need to. From storytelling, to research reports to short board memos.
CONNECTION
Expert facilitation that expands the space for people to work well together: from one-off-retreats, to longer-term collaboratives and coalitions.
STRATEGY
Collaborative strategy that results in social and environmental change, incorporating long-term goals and short-term wins along the way.
It’s Material was founded by Annabel Short. Annabel has two decades’ experience advancing human and workers’ rights, climate action and economic transformation, at the local and international levels.
It’s Material’s projects are in close partnership with others, bringing in complementary expertise and capacity from an extensive network.
Get in touch: annabel @ its-material.com
Why “It’s Material”?
Because when it comes to what is really material in our lives, there is often more that connects than divides us.
Because there is a lot to learn from the constituent parts of a product or process.
Because it’s important to connect bottom-line materiality for business with what’s material to the future of people and the planet.
And because everyone has unique material that they bring to the table.
I explore more of these ideas in the “It’s Material” newsletter: sign up here.
WORK EXAMPLES
BUILT ENVIRONMENT TRANSFORMATION
I created and led the Dignity by Design program on human rights and the built environment with IHRB, Raul Wallenberg Institute, Rafto Foundation and Melbourne School of Design, from 2019-2023.
At the core of this program is the “Dignity by Design” foundational report and framework, which helps integrate human rights and the SDGs in built environment policy, planning and projects.
The program conducted a research and visioning process on climate action and human rights in eight cities globally, and provides curricula for professional teaching.
I’m a board member of Home.Earth, which is bringing a fresh approach to real estate in Denmark and beyond, and a member of the Design for Freedom Working Group focused on working conditions in building materials supply chains.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND BUSINESS
I helped grow the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre into a thriving global non-profit with a presence in over ten countries, having joined as its second employee back in 2003 and set up the New York office in 2007. This meant I was immersed in global efforts to bring a human rights approach to business from their earliest stages. I have a track record of pushing new frontiers of business responsibility for human rights and the environment.
CITIES AND LOCAL-LEVEL ACTION
At the local level, I led coalitions, strategy and research at the intersection of climate, jobs and community with ALIGN (Alliance for a Greater New York). I have created community media initiatives including “30th Ave – A Year in the Life of a Street“, and “I Live Here“, which gathered the words for “I live here” in multiple languages spoken in the borough of Queens, in video and written form.
I’m currently leading the Youth Media Forward initiative with the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, working with young journalists aged 15-17 in four of the host cities for the 2026 North America World Cup (Guadalajara, New York/New Jersey, Los Angeles, and Toronto).
WORKERS RIGHTS AND A JUST TRANSITION
For Building and Woodworkers’ International, I researched and wrote “100 union actions on climate justice“. The report gathers examples of transformation by BWI affiliates across sectors and regions, through a combination of interviews and a survey.
I have guided multiple projects on workers’ rights – including the development of the investor-facing KnowTheChain benchmark on forced labor in supply chains, and facilitation for a group of US-based workers’ rights organizations.
I established the global research, narrative and advocacy project “Building for Today and the Future” on a just transition in the built environment: 2022-24.
PHILANTHROPIC STRATEGY AND COLLABORATION
Together with Amita Nagaraja I coordinated the FORGE funder collaborative (Funders Organized for Rights in the Global Economy) through its formative phase. Other work with philanthropy has included strategic guidance in areas that include global corporate accountability, and purposeful business in the United States.
COMMUNICATIONS AND NARRATIVE
Clear and creative communications are a through-thread in everything I do. Examples of my writing and story-telling projects are here.