How CICs are set up and operate is EXACTLY what Muhammad Yunus calls ‘social business’!

CIC legislation was introduced in 2006.

CICs are regulated by an office that is part of Companies House – under the Department for Business, Innovation and Skill – BIS.

The CIC Association was launched in September 2009. By August 2011, 1391 people had registered.

The 3,000th CIC was registered in August 2009.

Please note CIC Invest! for funding!

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By John Willman, Business Editor

Published: December 23 2008 23:32 | Last updated: December 23 2008 23:32

The Treasury is looking at a scheme to persuade Britain’s wealthy to donate an extra £5bn a year to help relieve world poverty, at no cost to the exchequer.

Although the richest 20 per cent give most to good causes in absolute terms, they donate on average 0.8 per cent of their income to charity, compared with the 3 per cent donated by the poorest fifth.

The scheme was devised by Nobel Prize-winning economist Sir James Mirrlees and drawn up with Renu Mehta, founder of the Fortune Forum networking organisation for the super-rich.

Dubbed the MM (Mehta/Mirrlees) proposal, the scheme advocates a 50 per cent tax relief on donations towards the UN’s millennium development goals, which would effectively match pound for pound what wealthy donors give.

The cost of the tax relief would be met from the government’s overseas aid budget, effectively doubling the amount diverted to encourage donations and helping the UK meet its goal of contributing 0.7 per cent of national income to development.

Sir James, who is chairing a review of the UK tax system for the Institute for Fiscal Studies, believes the current incentives for charitable giving, with a maximum of 40 per cent tax relief through gift aid, are poorly understood.

A 50 per cent tax relief would prove much more attractive, as it did with a scheme to raise money for universities in Hong Kong where the Nobel laureate is now based. If adopted in all G8 nations, it could raise more than $78bn, he believes.

Ms Mehta said her aim was to raise the level of charitable giving in the UK, currently 0.9 per cent of gross domestic product, to US levels of 1.9 per cent.

Donors would be able to specify to which development sector their money was allocated – clean water or disease prevention, for example. Money raised would be kept separate from the government’s aid programme to reassure donors it was spent efficiently and not wasted on excessive administration.

The scheme is under consideration by the Treasury at a time when the financial crisis is expected to lead to a sharp drop in charitable legacies on which many good causes rely.

“The MM proposal sets out to boost voluntary donations for these issues whilst simultaneously freeing general government revenues to concentrate on addressing issues of high domestic priority,” Sir James said.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

We welcome suggestions on how to spread the word further, especially how to encourage real change in the university courses and in the corporate practices.

The Time is Right for Creative Capitalism
Published: August 20, 2008
Author: Nancy Koehn

Executive Summary:

Bill Gates has it right. Business is the most powerful force for change in the world right now and gives the idea of creative capitalism real power, writes Harvard Business School professor Nancy F. Koehn. Key concepts include:

* No other set of institutions has the resources or the breadth and on-the-ground depth of business to deal with the world’s toughest problems.

* Five powerful forces are converging in this moment to support creative capitalism.

* All sizes and types of business—from start-up to multinational—have something to contribute.

Bill Gates has it right. Business is the most powerful force for change in the world right now and gives the idea of creative capitalism real power, writes Harvard Business School professor Nancy F. Koehn.

Editor’s Note: In a much admired and debated speech given at the World Economic Forum in Davos last January, Bill Gates said that many of the world’s biggest problems cannot be fixed by philanthropy, but instead require free-market capitalism—”creative capitalism”—to solve.

According to Gates, creative capitalism is “an approach where governments, businesses, and nonprofits work together to stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or gain recognition, doing work that eases the world’s inequities.”

Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn recently contributed an essay on creative capitalism to the blog Creative Capitalism: A Conversation, run by Michael Kinsley and Conor Clarke. We reprint her comments here with permission from the site. Readers should feel free to write their own comments on the Creative Capitalism site.

Readers are welcomed to respond to Koehn’s essay on the Creative Capitalism site/blog.

About Faculty in this Article:

HBS Faculty Member Nancy F. Koehn

Nancy F. Koehn is the James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

But poverty begins at home: in the UK I have not only met many victims of banks and other institutions but also of lawyers! When people, especially farmers, commit suicide because of overindebtedness, bankruptcies or other financial pressures we ought to look at what can be done here, at our doorstep.

The Oxford Research Group has published Beyond Terror to illustrate how climate change is a much more real danger than potential acts from terrorists.

The Forum for Stable Currencies has published a Public Credit Petition to raise awareness among the general public, journalists and politicians about the questionable scarcity of money when ‘green money’ is badly needed.

Will you click and sign?

Philanthropy manifesto designed to promote giving

By Sarah Finley, Third Sector Online, 15 July 2008

Community Foundation Network plans to draw up ‘philanthropy manifesto’, which it hopes will influence the main political parties.

Baroness Usha Prashar, the new president of the Community Foundation Network, yesterday announced the establishment of a working party to draw up the manifesto.

Matthew Bowcock, philanthropist and chair of CFN, will chair the group, which will comprise half a dozen influential people, including donors, grant-makers and academics.

The group will consider how the Government can encourage voluntary sector organisations and philanthropists to promote giving locally. It will then put its ideas out to consultation before drawing up a manifesto.

Prashar said: We need to empower local people to fund and deliver change at a local level, to help release the full power and potential of voluntary activity. Governments take too few risks when it comes to philanthropy and need to be less controlling.

A spokesman for CFN said: We hope we have enough influence for the manifesto to be seen by the right people. We want the manifesto to shape the policy thinking of all the main political parties.

Perhaps this is one more avenue for bringing the social business definitions as in this blog at About into this framework.

Mentally ill ‘go without food’

from the BBC

Almost three-quarters of people with mental health problems run out of money at the end of each week, a study says.

The charity Mind said its poll of 1,800 people showed half had gone without food because of money worries.

And virtually all those questioned – 91% – said debt had made their health problems worse.

Mind called on banks and other creditors not to hound those with mental health problems and to find ways to help them.

People with mental health problems are three times more likely to be in debt than the general population.

Two-thirds of those surveyed by Mind had felt unable to tell creditors about any mental health problems.

But of the remainder who did, 83% had been harassed about debt repayments despite the organisation knowing of their issues.

Mind says the issue is particularly pertinent as all kinds of households face rising fuel and food prices.

‘Astronomical interest rates’

Half of people in the survey had been contacted by bailiffs, some of whom issued threats saying they could “break in and take my stuff ” or “get me sent to prison”.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said: “People living with mental health problems are particularly vulnerable to being trapped in a cycle of debt and poverty.

“With many unable to work due to ill health, Mind has found that people are becoming dependent on credit to pay for everyday essentials.

“Those on lower incomes are also more likely to only be able to get credit from lenders who charge astronomical interest rates.

“This is a worrying trend as people are left facing a debt mountain that they have no means to repay.”

The charity is launching a section on its website to help people with financial problems.

‘More sympathetic’

Mr Farmer called on banks and other creditors to help people with mental health problems who are struggling.

“Changes in practice – such as waiving fees when a customer has been too unwell to manage their finances and introducing mental health awareness training for bank staff – will make all the difference.

“Creditors have a duty to help not hound their customers, especially when they are coping with serious health problems.”

But a spokeswoman for the British Bankers’ Association said help was available.

“Banks will have staff who are specifically able to help with mental health issues, and we try to help people before they get into really difficult situations.

“However, bank staff are not health practitioners and cannot diagnose mental health problems or assess the likely impact these problems may cause their customers.”

She added: “Customers who no longer have the ability to look after their own affairs have their banking needs looked after for them, but less serious health issues can be a silent problem – unless the customer wishes to let their bank know.

“Then the bank can flag accounts and will be able to factor this into any debt help required.”

Susan Kramer, Liberal Democrat families spokeswoman, said: “Mental health problems can make the challenge of handling money and debt far harder.