Developing a Fair Economy

Local economies that have the assets, understanding, tools and capacities to respond to changes in economic circumstances are important for strong communities.

Economic, social and environmental disruption in the UK and beyond is evidence that the way capitalism and financial systems operate is creating social disharmony and increasing inequality. Our Developing a Fair Economy grants programme focuses on how we can make a difference to the lives of the most vulnerable as this is where the flaws in the system are most obvious, not just in terms of poverty, but also inequality.

Systems change

We support disruptive innovation that will change the way the economy is organised.  We’re keen to explore and inform how change at a regulatory, policy and other systemic level might contribute to an economy that balances risks and rewards more fairly and uses resources sustainably.

We know that systems change will need strong analysis from a range of perspectives.  So, we want to support work that can influence decision-making by different groups in the economy, with the aim of stimulating new realistic ideas and practical examples that can be scaled up.

 Local economies

For most people, their experience of economic forces and their understanding of how they are affected by those forces is at a local level, whether that is a region, city or community. Our work on this theme aims to support the development of fair and healthy local economies, building on thinking and approaches that help local areas to create economic well-being and retain value in the community. This could be relating to community assets, building local capacity to manage economic change, and other local resources.

Within both systems change and local economies there are two areas of focus that particularly interest us, although we remain open to a broad range of approaches beyond these.

In this section...