What we achieved together in 2017

For many of us, Christmas is a time for reflection on the year gone, and making commitments for the year ahead. For me, the UK is still far from the place I want it to be: inequality and homelessness are soaring, house prices are out of reach for most of us, the transition to a green economy isn’t happening nearly fast enough.

But what I feel excited about is that together we’re starting to turn things around. Alongside the other great organisations and people who are out there fighting for a fairer economy, we’re moving us closer to the fairer, greener, happier society we all want to see.

For Positive Money, 2017’s been our best year yet. We’ve run panel events with the likes of Ed Balls and Lord Adair Turner. We’ve launched a youth network and supported ten new local groups. We’ve been on BBC Business Live, Sky News and in the Guardian and Mail online. And, importantly, politicians with the power to change things are starting to listen.

From inequality to homelessness to climate change, we know our broken money and banking system is a root cause of so many of the ills we see in our society – but we also know that together we can create a fairer, better system. And this year we can be proud that we’ve reached literally hundreds of thousands of people with that message.

Below there’s more information about the key things we’ve achieved together in 2017, but before you read on, I want to ask you to consider setting up a small, monthly donation to Positive Money. Because the work we’re doing together simply wouldn’t be possible without the support of people like you.

Positive Money is powered by the people who talk to friends and family about our campaign, who write to or meet with MPs, who share social media posts online, or who chip in so we can run events or campaign actions at key moments. And simply put, the more of us who chip in, the more impact we’ll be able to have together in 2018.

So Chris, please will you join the 500 other people who already donate, and set up a regular donation to Positive Money now? Once you click the button it should take you less than three minutes:

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It seems ironic that whilst we are trying to reform our money system, we have to use our money to make that happen! 😉  But regular monthly donations from individuals like you are in fact very important for Positive Money. They mean we can make plans for the future, stay nimble and react to the key opportunities for our campaign to have impact.

And if 2017’s been anything, it’s been a proof that together we can have impact. Reading the list below of our key achievements in 2017, gives me hope that together we can make even more concrete steps towards a fairer economy next year.

And imagine if all the thousands of people reading this email chipped in just a few pounds each, together we could triple our impact in 2018! The more of us who set up a monthly donation today – even just the price of a mince pie or two – the more powerful we are.

So Chris, if you can spare a few pounds to support the Positive Money campaign and invest in a fairer society in 2018, please will you chip in now?

YES I’LL CHIP IN £3 a monthYES I’LL CHIP IN £5 a monthYES I’LL CHIP IN £10 a monthI’LL CHIP IN ANOTHER AMOUNT

Thanks for listening. And now for that wonderful list of our 2017 achievements:

Packed out events with all-star panels in London and Brussels

Over 200 journalists, economists and Positive Money supporters put questions to Ed Balls, Martin Wolf and Fran Boit at the RSA.

At our biggest ever event in parliament, Lord Adair Turner, Anthony Hilton and Fran Boat asked: Is a crisis looming for central banks?

Earlier this month Positive Money helped organise the first Change Finance conference in Brussels. Over 200 people – including campaigners from Oxfam, Greenpeace and the Tax Justice Campaign, academics, economists, expert advisers, activists and students – came together to build alliances and skills.

Reaching hundreds of thousands with our appearances in the media

A “This is Money” journalist wrote a very positive article about Positive Money, after joining 35 of our supporters and staff on our annual retreat to the Lake District in September.

One of the UK’s leading columnists, Zoe Williams, wrote an article in the Guardian inspired by Positive Money. She explained how the actual magic money tree works.

Our professional poll of MPs, paid for by hundreds of Positive Money supporters, exposed how many don’t understand where money comes from. It made the front page of City AM!

Going viral with our online videos: putting Mark Carney, Theresa May and MPs right

After Theresa May told a nurse who hasn’t had a pay rise in eight years, “there is no magic money tree”, our video exposing the truth was watched by nearly 1 million people online!

After investigative work by Positive Money researchers, we exposed Mark Carney’s dangerously misleading depiction of inequality in a video watched by tens of thousands.

Growing a skilled, connected, and lovely network of leaders

In September 35 of us went on our annual retreat to the Lake District – “a weekend of supportive teamwork and inspiration”

In November 17 brilliant young people came together in York to start of the Positive Money Youth Network.

Active new local groups have launched this year in Southampton, Leeds, Oxford, Brighton, North Wales, York, Bath, East London and Derbyshire.

Getting through to politicians with power

Back in January, the powerful Treasury Select Committee opened a landmark inquiry into the impact of the Bank of England’s policies since the financial crisis. So Positive Money supporters jumped into action. 10,000 of us signed our statement which we submitted along with our evidence and a letter from some of the UK’s top economists.

Sadly the inquiry was put on hold when the election was called. But after thousands of Positive Money supporters emailed their MPs demanding the inquiry be reopened, Nicky Morgan MP, the Chair of this committee, has at least acknowledged the bad side effects of the Bank’s policies and has promised to keep them under close review.

After lobbying work from Positive Money, Chancellor Philip Hammond has committed to steps which will help better qualified and a more diverse range of people apply for the most powerful positions at the Bank of England.

Positive Money held packed-out events at both the Labour and Conservative Party conferences in the Autumn.

Positive Money Europe gets off the ground

Thanks to the generous support of hundreds of supporters, together we’ve helped set up Positive Money Europe! There’s now a team of three. They’ll run campaigns to encourage the European Central Bank and MEPs to champion policies like QE for people. Here they are in a cafe in Brussels!

Research in the pipeline for 2018

We are excited to announce what we have in the pipeline for release from our research team in 2018!

In January we are launching a paper called Escaping Growth Dependency which explains why reforming money will reduce the need to pursue economic growth at any cost to the environment. And in February we will launch a paper on why reforms to money and banking must protect cash and promote financial inclusion.

We also plan to launch a website on research of the Sovereign Money system and release a paper on how the Bank of England can do more to support the transition to a low-carbon economy. It’s going to be an exciting start to the year!

10 years since the financial crash and, thanks to our work together, our broken money and banking system is finally under scrutiny. And crucially, politicians with the power to change things are starting to listen. What we’re doing together is working.

Now I invite you to help us have even greater impact in 2018, by chipping in a few pounds each month for our campaign. Simply put, the more of us who donate regularly, the more likely we’ll be able to make concrete steps to a fairer economy in the coming year. So if you can afford to,, please set up your regular donation to Positive Money now:

YES I’LL CHIP IN £3 a monthYES I’LL CHIP IN £5 a monthYES I’LL CHIP IN £10 a monthI’LL CHIP IN ANOTHER AMOUNT

Thank you so much for supporting the Positive Money campaign.