FRIENDS PROVIDENT CHARITABLE FOUNDATION 

Index of Foundation Diversity

Oxford has a wealth inequality problem, with roots entwined in colonialism, institutional racism and classism. This obstructs progress towards a fair and sustainable economy for the City. Recent ....more

Oxford has a wealth inequality problem, with roots entwined in colonialism, institutional racism and classism. This obstructs progress towards a fair and sustainable economy for the City. Recent commitments from the University, OUH, and City and County Councils suggest forward progress. This combination of wealth and political willingness should offer great opportunities for leveraging wealth and assets into community ownership. Owned by Oxford (ObO will co-create a just and regenerative economy through community wealth building that is "grassroots up" - led by those with lived experience of the structural inequalities, racism and inequity identified; Support the training and resourcing of new and emerging economic actors from Black, minoritised and economically marginalised communities and businesses that are locally rooted, trading for the benefit of and accountable to the local community; increase community ownership and control of assets, addressing historic roots of inequality.

Towards continuing the Foundation Practice Rating

Friends Provident Foundation is an independent charity that makes grants and uses its endowment towards a fair and sustainable economic system that serves society. They aim to connect, fund, invest ....more

Friends Provident Foundation is an independent charity that makes grants and uses its endowment towards a fair and sustainable economic system that serves society. They aim to connect, fund, invest and share learning to shape an economy that works for all. This grant is a contribution towards the research costs of the Foundation Practice Rating (FPR), which rates UK foundations on their accountability, representation and transparency on an annual basis.

Index of Foundation Diversity, Transparency and Accountability

Index of Foundation Diversity, Transparency and Accountability

Towards unrestricted core costs To create an index of independent trusts and foundations in the UK in relation to good governance and transparency.

Friends Provident Foundation is an independent grant making charity. This grant supports a review of publicly available data on foundation governance and practice for the top 100 UK foundations to ....more

Friends Provident Foundation is an independent grant making charity. This grant supports a review of publicly available data on foundation governance and practice for the top 100 UK foundations to compile an annual index. The research will be conducted by Giving Evidence and it is planned to be published by Civil Society Media and repeated for at least 3 years. This work aims to address the lack of diversity, accountability and transparency in trusts and foundations head on, by trying to create greater accountability in the sector with the development of an annual published index on governance and reporting practices.

To research and publish an annual Index of Foundation Diversity.

To create an index to measure Foundations' performance on diversity, equity and transparency.

This project aims to fill a major gap in economic understanding, by developing new teaching resources on economic policy-making institutions, on the basis of an original appraisal of the state of ....more

This project aims to fill a major gap in economic understanding, by developing new teaching resources on economic policy-making institutions, on the basis of an original appraisal of the state of knowledge in this regard within the economics profession. The project will make a unique contribution to the development of economics teaching, and more generally our understanding of power, politics and institutional processes in the production and reproduction of economic structures. The project also facilitates a new collaboration between researchers and lecturers in higher education, the Rethinking Economics campaign organisation, and wider policy-making communities.

This project will extend the capabilities of the Open Source system dynamics program Minksy (https://sourceforge.net/projects/minsky/), by adding the ability to model the input-output nature of a ....more

This project will extend the capabilities of the Open Source system dynamics program Minksy (https://sourceforge.net/projects/minsky/), by adding the ability to model the input-output nature of a monetary production economy, and linking modelling of economics and ecology in a manner consistent with the Laws of Thermodynamics. A user manual and training program will make the system dynamics approach to modelling more accessible to economists, who in general still persist with outdated equilibrium modeling methods, ignore debt, banks and money in their macroeconomic modeling, and are barely cogniscant of the Laws of Thermodynamics.

A new public understanding of how the economy works and how it could be made to work better is an essential foundation for addressing the challenges of climate change, economic instability, ....more

A new public understanding of how the economy works and how it could be made to work better is an essential foundation for addressing the challenges of climate change, economic instability, inequality and the future of work. After the celebrated publication in August 2017 of the freely accessible online e-book, The Economy, the CORE project now has the opportunity to scale up our community of learners, researcher, and teachers to establish a new paradigm in economics education. Across a cross-section of diverse student bodies, CORE is improving future citizens' economic literacy giving them a voice to promote a fairer and more sustainable economy. We are now ideally placed to expand CORE's impact including beyond universities.

BFG's New Economy meeting - March 27-29 in Cleveland, Ohio: Rewriting the Rules: Designing an Economy for the 21st Century The Biodiversity Funders Group (BFG) will host a New Economy funders ....more

BFG's New Economy meeting - March 27-29 in Cleveland, Ohio: Rewriting the Rules: Designing an Economy for the 21st Century The Biodiversity Funders Group (BFG) will host a New Economy funders meeting to explore how to rewrite the rules in designing an economy for the 21st Century, and philanthropy's role in building the social, institutional, and political infrastructure needed to ensure that this transition results in real and positive change. Please join us from Wednesday March 27 through the morning of Friday, March 29 in Cleveland, Ohio, a model city for community wealth building and new economic thinking. The meeting will include panel sessions, field trips to explore on the ground innovative initiatives taking places in Cleveland, as well as allowing for unstructured time to connect.

Community Energy South and 10:10 have been working with Network Rail and partners to evaluate the innovation potential for connecting solar to the rail network in the South East. We have undertaken ....more

Community Energy South and 10:10 have been working with Network Rail and partners to evaluate the innovation potential for connecting solar to the rail network in the South East. We have undertaken feasibility studies with 6 pilot sites which helped to frame technical and commercial approaches. We are now embarking on delivering these frameworks and structuring the necessary organisations, systems, processes & know-how required to install renewables on rail infrastructure from 2020. This would revolutionise rail transport for the UK and significantly decarbonise the network. Importantly, we have started to address a social impact approach to this work with Network Rail to accrue community benefits to all future renewables.

A contribution to the Economics Focus day 2019 designed to education, entertain and inspire students and wider audiences.

Take the visibility, impact and influence of the Fair Tax Mark to the next level via two new major programmes. 1)Develop and launch a Fair Tax Fortnight in the summer of 2018. This will not only ....more

Take the visibility, impact and influence of the Fair Tax Mark to the next level via two new major programmes. 1)Develop and launch a Fair Tax Fortnight in the summer of 2018. This will not only celebrate those business that pay the right amount of tax and communicate this clearly, but serve to highlight the public goods that these taxes pay for and pressing policy change needs. 2)Develop and launch a scheme whereby flagship towns and cities can be certified as Fair Tax Towns, and champion tax justice at a local level: via their procurement and business development activity. Together, the programmes will deploy business, NGO and local Government voices to shift the debate from tax as a burden to tax as a virtue and vital societal investment

The project will monitor trends in Financial inclusion from 2018-2022. We focus on three key components that people need in order to achieve Financial inclusion as follows: A secure income which ....more

The project will monitor trends in Financial inclusion from 2018-2022. We focus on three key components that people need in order to achieve Financial inclusion as follows: A secure income which meets a minimum standard; Access to appropriate and well-regulated Financial services, particularly transactional bank accounts, savings accounts, affordable credit, pensions and insurance products; and, Access to free, appropriate advice and education, particularly for those with debt problems

The Friends Provident Foundation is behind Far Nearer, the first UK-wide map of local economies. This project documents initiatives across housing, energy, food supply, money and more at this ....more

The Friends Provident Foundation is behind Far Nearer, the first UK-wide map of local economies. This project documents initiatives across housing, energy, food supply, money and more at this critical juncture in history, when Britons are seeking alternatives. The next step is to turn Far Nearer from a public record of an emerging movement, into a network for collaboration, consolidation and conversation. The site has been redesigned to turn viewers into participants, calling them to action and showing them how to create resilience in their own communities. This is an opportunity to build on exciting early foundations and create a non-denominational network that facilitates change. There has never been a more important time.

A fellowship to encourage journalists to engage in our objective to build more resilient economies by producing accessible output on key Foundation themes.

There is a growing debate about the feasibility/desirability of a Universal Basic Income (UBI). But the options seems to be either a low level scheme that does too little to change people's lives or ....more

There is a growing debate about the feasibility/desirability of a Universal Basic Income (UBI). But the options seems to be either a low level scheme that does too little to change people's lives or too expensive to win over political support. Compass therefore wants to build on its UBI modelling expertise to examine options that could start from a modest level entry UBI and then be built up in key stages to a full or near full scheme over ten years. Thus it would build support for the policy amongst key groups such as the elderly and parents while allowing time for resources for a more generous UBI to be identified - solving the issue of desirability/feasibility for this key transformative economic idea.

At their 2017 Away Day Trustees were asked to bring forward 'pitches' - their ideas of areas where the Foundation could have more impact, develop new activities etc. These were discussed on the day ....more

At their 2017 Away Day Trustees were asked to bring forward 'pitches' - their ideas of areas where the Foundation could have more impact, develop new activities etc. These were discussed on the day and a number identified as having potential for further development. This designated funding has been put in place to allow staff to further explore or develop these ideas.

The project explores the way the UK could harness its public sector wealth for public benefit by creating a Social Wealth Fund. Such a fund could generate billions of pounds in revenue to pay for ....more

The project explores the way the UK could harness its public sector wealth for public benefit by creating a Social Wealth Fund. Such a fund could generate billions of pounds in revenue to pay for public investment, education, the NHS, and social care. The project challenges the orthodoxy that paying down the public debt through privatisation is sound economics, and charts a third way between privatisation and nationalisation. It looks at the extensive experience of other countries in creating such funds, and makes an estimate of the potential size and composition of a UK wealth fund. The aim is to convince policy makers that this is a practical proposal that can play a key role in tackling the growing disparities of wealth in the UK.

A fellowship to encourage journalists to engage in our objective to build more resilient economies by producing accessible output on key Foundation themes.

CORE's free online introductory economics resource seeks to inform and empower learners (either as students or citizens) to debate and address the systemic challenges of financial instability, ....more

CORE's free online introductory economics resource seeks to inform and empower learners (either as students or citizens) to debate and address the systemic challenges of financial instability, economic disparity and environmental sustainability.