Reflections

My four-year old daughter is a big crafter. I would say, without any mum-bias at all, that she is a creative visionary. She spots that seemingly separate objects – leaves, an old bill, a straw, a screw, paints and pom-poms – can be brought together into works of artistic masterpiece. Over time, and trial and […]

Systems are complex, but systemic change strategies needn’t be. Early childhood inequality, like so many social issues, is shaped by a multitude of interlinked and evolving forces. The temptation for those aiming to drive positive systemic change is to meet this very real complexity with complex strategies for action. Strategies that try to capture all

Ethos Foundation operates using a spend down endowment – a pot of capital donated by the foundation’s founder Grant in 2021 to tackle UK child poverty. This endowment has a mandate to be completely spent by 2036.  In 2025, Ethos Foundation was eleven years out from its endowment spend-down deadline, and we spent time forming our final (and only)

In 2023, Ethos Foundation commissioned New Philanthropy Capital to research and report on what an effective system of child poverty prevention looks like in the UK. The NPC team used an evidence review and workshops with policy experts, researchers, organisation leaders, charity professionals and funders from a range of relevant fields to understand the factors shaping children’s experiences of child poverty and ways that

Over four million children in the UK live in poverty. I want to help tackle this unacceptable inequality.  My background is in family business, and my late uncle Sandy, who was chairman of the business, instilled in our values the importance of the communities where we worked. Our communities were vital, not just in terms of business, but for society as whole. Our civil duty supporting community is where this all started.  Another key moment came when my father Charles passed away. In