Our organisation
The Fairness Foundation works to change the debate around fairness in order to build a fairer society.
We are a registered charity (charity number 1044174, company number 02912767) and are non-party-political. Our geographic focus is on England, although on some issues we look across the UK.
Our main funder is the Persula Foundation, but we also receive donations from members of the public, and grants from other sources. Our full list of funders is here. Our annual accounts can be found here: 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22
We do not give out grants ourselves, either to organisations or to individuals - we are a research and education charity, not a funder.
We are proud to be accredited by the Good Business Charter.
We are a UK-only organisation and are unaffiliated with similarly named organisations in Germany and the USA.
Our objectives and approach
Our vision is a Britain where everyone has the ‘fair necessities’ (see below), made possible by building a consensus about what a fair society and economy looks like.
Our mission is to work towards that consensus, by:
- Building a vision for a fairer society and showing that this has broad support across a range of issues
- Inspiring partner organisations to use fairness to reach and influence key audiences
- Persuading decision-makers and influencers of the need to achieve fairness by reducing inequality
We focus on ten issues that span the full range of areas of society and the economy: democracy, education, the environment, health, housing, justice, social security, taxation, wealth and work.
What is fairness?
To build a fairer society, we need a definition of fairness that most people can get behind, and that brings together different ideas of what constitutes fairness. The Fair Necessities sets out our vision, based on five principles that attract majority support from Britons.
Fair essentials
Everyone should have their basic needs met so that no one lives in poverty, and everyone can play a constructive role in society
Fair opportunities
Everyone should have a decent chance to succeed in life, so we should remove the key barriers to equal opportunities
Fair rewards
Everyone’s hard work should be rewarded on the basis of their contribution to our society and economy
Fair exchange
Everyone should contribute to society by paying the taxes they owe, and in return be supported by society when they need it
Fair treatment
Everyone should be treated according to need, enjoying equal respect and equal influence on decisions made in their name
How fair is the UK?
Fair essentials?
People are unable to afford the basics (food, energy, housing, childcare)
Fair opportunities?
Success in life owes more to luck (such as whether you’re born into a wealthy family) than to effort
Fair rewards?
Hard work no longer guarantees a decent standard of living, as many jobs are poorly paid or insecure
Fair exchange?
Public services are crumbling while the wealthy aren’t paying their fair share of tax
Fair treatment?
Some people play by a completely different set of rules, due in part to the influence of money on politics
What are the causes and consequences of unfairness?
Why is fairness important?
The moral argument
A wide range of philosophical traditions emphasise the intrinsic importance of fairness, whether they focus on equal opportunities, equal outcomes, equal treatment or other concepts.
The political argument
The vast majority of people are concerned about unfairness and want a fairer society; fairness is overwhelmingly popular with voters of all political complexions and across all demographic groups.
The policy argument
Fairness underpins a strong and sustainable economy, as well as a healthy society. Societies with high levels of unfair inequality are less productive, efficient and cohesive. A lack of fairness is a threat to democracy.
What are we doing to help build a fairer society?
Building and popularising a vision for a fairer society in Britain that can attract broad support
Making the political case for fairness by researching public attitudes to a range of issues
Making the policy case for fairness and highlighting the most effective interventions to achieve it
Our people
Team
Will Snell is Chief Executive of the Fairness Foundation. He is a non-profit entrepreneur with experience across a range of sectors, both in the UK and overseas. He is the founder of Tax Justice UK and previously held senior management roles at the Tax Justice Network and Global Witness, after spending several years working for the UK government and then in international development.
Jason Bunting is the Advocacy Manager at the Fairness Foundation, with extensive experience in political advocacy and public policy. He previously served as a Parliamentary Assistant in the Northern Ireland Assembly, focusing on regional economic inequalities, and as a Press and Policy Assistant at the SDLP’s central office.
Jack Jeffrey is a Senior Researcher at the Fairness Foundation. He has experience conducting and coordinating research across a range of issues, particularly constitutional reform, polarisation and social stratification, and green industrial strategy. He was previously the Research Manager at Compass, and has worked for several other prominent NGOs, think tanks and charities.
Emeka Forbes advises the Fairness Foundation on public affairs. He is an experienced senior leader with expertise across policy, campaigns, communications and research. His work focuses mainly on social cohesion and poverty. He is also Head of Cohesion at /together, Chair of the anti-poverty charity Z2K, an advisor to the Warm Welcome Campaign, and a trustee for Room to Heal.
Alice Humphreys is a strategic communications specialist providing advice on narrative, messaging, stakeholder engagement and media strategy. She currently works as Senior Campaigns Manager at the /together Coalition, leading national campaigns on community connection and cohesion.
Advisory board
Membership of this group does not automatically imply broader endorsement of the views or activities of the Fairness Foundation, or vice versa.
Will Hutton is a political economist, author and columnist. He is President of the Academy of Social Sciences, co-chair of The Purposeful Company, an associate of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, and writes a fortnightly column for the Observer.
Bobby Duffy is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute at King's College London. He has worked across most public policy areas in his career of nearly 30 years in policy research and evaluation, including being seconded to the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit.
Alison Garnham has been the chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) since September 2010. Prior to that she was the CEO of Daycare Trust, since June 2006.
Sunder Katwala is the Director of British Future. He has previously worked as a journalist. He was general secretary of the Fabian Society think tank from 2003 to 2011, and was previously a leader writer and internet editor at the Observer, a research director of the Foreign Policy Centre and commissioning editor for politics and economics at the publisher Macmillan.
Adrian Pabst is Deputy Director for Public Policy at the National Institution of Economic and Social Research and Professor of Politics at the University of Kent. His main research interests are in political thought, political economy and contemporary European and international politics.
Daniel Chandler has worked as a policy advisor in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit and Deputy Prime Minister's Office, and as a researcher at the Resolution Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He is the author of ‘Free and Equal: What Would a Fair Society Look Like?’, which makes the case for a new progressive liberalism grounded in the ideas of the philosopher John Rawls.
Sonia Sodha is chief leader writer at the Observer and a Guardian/Observer columnist. She also makes documentaries on economic and social issues for Radio 4 and appears regularly on the BBC, Sky News and Channel 4 as a political commentator. Her critically-acclaimed journalism focuses on challenging established wisdoms to help readers and listeners understand that a different world is possible.
Delilah Rothenberg is a Co-Founder and the Executive Director of the Predistribution Initiative (PDI), a US nonprofit that works with institutional investors and their stakeholders to allocate, price, and structure capital in ways that share more wealth and influence with workers and communities.
Trustees
Frances Crook was Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform for 30 years until October 2021. Prior to taking up her role at the Howard League, she worked as a teacher, a campaigner for Amnesty International and in non-executive roles at both Greenwich University and NHS Barnet.
Pete Gladwell is Group Social Impact and Investment Director at Legal & General (L&G). After an erstwhile life as a Youth Worker, Pete joined Legal & General in 2007, launching a new generation of property funds focussed on liability matching and Defined Contributions pension schemes, and L&G’s joint venture with PGGM, which total over £5bn.
Emma Revie is the Chief Executive of the Trussell Trust, a charity that works to end the need for food banks in the UK. It supports a network of over 1,200 food banks to provide emergency food and compassionate, practical support to people in crisis, while campaigning for long-term change to the structural issues that lock people into poverty.
Julian Richer is a highly respected retail entrepreneur and philanthropist. The founder of Richer Sounds, the UK’s largest hi-fi retailer, Julian opened his first shop aged 19, in 1978. Julian has funded and founded several non-profit organisations, including Acts 435, ASB Help, TaxWatch, the Good Business Charter and Zero Hours Justice. He has also written several well-regarded books, most recently The Ethical Capitalist.
Our partners
Expert contributors
We work in partnership with a group of expert contributors, who we collaborate with on specific projects on an individual, ad hoc basis.
Membership of this group does not automatically imply broader endorsement of the views or activities of the Fairness Foundation, or vice versa.
Coalitions and networks
We are proud to be members of the following coalitions and networks:
People and organisations consulted
We consulted with a wide range of people and organisations during the scoping and design phase of setting up the Fairness Foundation (in addition to the people listed above on our board and editorial board, and in our expert contributors network).
During the scoping phase we found strong and wide-ranging support for the creation of an organisation focusing on changing the terms of the debate around fairness. Many thanks to the people and organisations below who generously gave their time and expertise to help us. We are keen to hear from other organisations with whom we have not yet had the opportunity to discuss our plans and opportunities for collaboration.
The inclusion of people on this list does not necessarily mean that they or their organisation endorse our strategy, views or activities.