Company number: 2959712 Charity ... - Forum for the Future · PDF file31-12-2016 ·...
Transcript of Company number: 2959712 Charity ... - Forum for the Future · PDF file31-12-2016 ·...
Company number: 2959712
Charity Number: 1040519
Forum for the Future
Report and financial statements
for the year ended 31 December 2016
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Forum for the Future is an international non-profit with a purpose to accelerate the big shift towards a
sustainable future by catalysing change in whole systems. We operate in four offices located in the UK,
US, Singapore and India. This annual report tells the story of our ongoing work with business,
government and wider civil society, all of which is designed to create a fairer future for all.
Contents
Foreword from the Chair 4
Foreword from the Chief Executive 5
Our mission 7
1. Our progress and achievements in 2016 8
1.1. Innovating solutions to systemic challenges 8
1.1.1. Feeding nine billion people affordably, healthily and sustainably 10
1.1.2. Tea 2030: A ‘hero crop’ as a template for transforming others 11
1.1.3. Cotton 2040: accelerating the shift towards sustainable cotton 12
1.1.4. Collaborating to build resilience in energy supplies in the UK and India 13
1.1.5. Transforming where and how we live 14
1.1.6. The Marine CoLABoration: Reducing plastics at source 16
1.2. Developing and delivering transformational strategies 17
1.2.1. BPC Leadership Group: Putting more sustainable beauty and personal care
products on the shelves (US) 17
1.2.2. Target: Made to Matter (US) 18
1.2.3. Unilever: Sustainable Living Plan (Global) 18
1.2.4. O2 Think Big Blueprint for 2020: Technology supporting
sustainable change 19
1.2.5. Aditya Birla Group: future-proofing individual businesses (India) 19
1.2.6. Sime Darby: Sustainable palm oil traceability ‘dash board’ (Malaysia) 19
1.2.7. Ports of Auckland: Developing a sustainability strategy (New Zealand) 19
1.3. Equipping people to drive systemic change 21
1.3.1. Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development: celebrating 20 years 21
1.3.2. School of System Change: launched in early 2017 22
1.3.3. A global Network of over 100 organisations 22
1.4. Looking ahead to 2017 - Externally 25
1.4.1. Tackling even more complex sustainability challenges 25
1.4.2. Developing deeper relationships with more pioneering organisations
and driving transformational strategies 25
1.4.3. Equipping more people to drive systemic change 26
2. Financial review and results for the year 2016 27
2.1. Summary 27
2.2. Reserves policy 27
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2.3. Risk assessment 28
3. Internal review of 2016 29
3.1. A great place to work 29
3.2. Environmental and social impacts 30
3.2.1. Environmental impact report 2016 30
3.2.2. Social impacts 31
3.3. Looking ahead to 2017 32
4. Reference and administrative details 33
4.1. Trustees and directors 33
4.2. Senior Management Team 34
4.3. Bankers, solicitors and auditors 35
4.4. Governance and charitable objectives, remuneration, activities and
public benefit and statement of compliance with statutory information 36
4.4.1. Governance and charitable objectives 36
4.4.2. Remuneration 37
4.4.3. Activities and public benefit 37
4.4.4. Statement of compliance with statutory information 39
4.5. Structure, governance and management 39
4.6. Statement of directors’ responsibilities 39
4.7. Network members and partners 41
4.7.1. Pioneers 41
4.7.2. Partners 41
4.7.3. Members 42
4.8. Grant funders, major donors, collaborators and sponsors 43
4.8.1. Grant funders and major donors 43
4.8.2. Other funders and collaborators 43
4.8.3. 20th Anniversary sponsors 44
4.8.4. Futures Centre partners and sponsors 44
4.8.5. The Long View sponsors 44
4.9. Affiliates and 2016 Forum internships 45
4.9.1. Affiliates 45
4.9.2. Forum internships in 2016 45
Independent auditors' report 46
Consolidated statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) 51
Balance sheet 52
Consolidated statement of cash flows 53
Notes to the financial statements 54
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FOREWORD FROM THE CHAIR
Inequality, global security issues and population growth, all exacerbated by climate change, continued to
pose huge challenges in 2016 – so the last thing we needed were ‘alternative facts’. But as much as some
people might like to bend the truth, the problems we face are incontestable: the world is warming,
ecosystems are under threat, and our food and energy systems are broken.
These are issues we cannot afford to ignore, and solving them won’t be easy. But we know that moving
towards a sustainable world and keeping the average rise in global temperature well below 2°C (and
ideally below 1.5°C) requires two basic ingredients: trust and innovation.
That means trust in our values: that we not only respect all people now, today, but value the generations
that will come after us. It also means trust in knowledge, in science, in the belief that we can progress and
learn. In fact, trust is the very basis of learning and exploration.
Innovation means doing things better, with less, more efficiently, and more inclusively. It is fundamental
for achieving a sustainable world. But true innovation is not just about new technologies and scientific
breakthroughs; it’s also about the values around how we measure progress. Why? Because bigger does not
automatically mean better. And just as technological innovation without values is troublesome, growth
without either is dangerous and foolish.
Those who deploy the social phenomenon of ‘alternative facts’ to further their cause are deliberately
undermining trust, and pitching us towards a world where innovation in its broadest sense is stifled to
protect the status quo – regardless of the wider consequences.
In such circumstances Forum for the Future’s work on system change and their ability to create dialogue
and inspire leadership seems more vital than ever. And while there is much to be concerned about at
present, I still look forward to the day when sustainability is embedded as the norm throughout society –
even if the journey takes a little longer than expected.
Keith Clarke
Chair, Forum for the Future
April 2017
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FOREWORD FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
At Forum for the Future we started 2016 feeling pretty optimistic. We had our 20th Anniversary to
celebrate, along with all the firsts we've achieved over the past two decades. These include being the first
NGO in the UK to enter into partnership with business to promote sustainability, the first organisation to
offer a Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development and the first international non-profit to
develop applied futures tools and techniques to create transformative change towards sustainability. We
were also one of the first non-profits to develop a strategy designed to create change at a systems level, by
focusing on approaches that tackle the root of a problem and deliver system innovation – a set of
interventions that shift an entire system. All of which were important milestones not only for Forum, but
for the whole sustainability movement.
And then 2016 happened. The unprecedented political upheaval caused by the EU-Referendum, and the
geopolitical shifts triggered by the US Presidential election, have, at times, made the sustainable future
we've been working towards since 1996 seem further away than ever. These events also brought
uncertainty to our own operating context, creating a challenging financial context for us to navigate, at a
time when we have continued to internationalise and push ahead with our ambitious system change
strategy. 2016 ended up being tough for the world, and tough for us. But given that we’ve spent the past
20 years helping individuals and organisations prepare for life in a complex world of unprecedented
challenges, we also know we have the skills and insights needed to navigate these uncertain times.
2016 saw us continue to drive forward projects that are designed to transform the systems we rely on by
addressing complex sustainability challenges. We are clear that many of these challenges are too big for
one organisation to tackle alone, which is why we regularly convene powerful collaborations of business,
government, NGOs and other stakeholders to deliver transformational change. Our flagship projects such
as Cotton 2040, Tea 2030 and The Protein Challenge 2040, which aims to ensure equal access to
sustainable protein for a growing world population, express our dedication to building and driving these
game-changing collaborations. That's also true of the Net Positive Project, which brings together a diverse
group of organisations committed to putting more into the environment, society and the global economy
than they take out.
Transforming systems also requires new ways of working and new governance models, which is why we
have been pleased to be one of the partners in EU-InnovatE, a project that explores how citizen
innovators, individuals actively shaping the world around them, could shape a sustainable European
economy.
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Many of our most ambitious projects start with conversations and experiments with our partners. 2016
saw us continue to build on our long history of working with the leaders in sustainable business, including
Unilever, M&S and Kingfisher in the UK, Target in the US, and Sime Darby and the Swire Group in
Southeast Asia. Through collaboration, we have helped these and other organisations to develop their
ability to transform entire systems, as well as their own operations. Our partnerships with The Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation and The C&A Foundation, as well as international NGOs and government
agencies, have also extended our reach, insights and capacity to transform whole systems.
Last year also saw us preparing for the launch of our School of System Change, an international learning
programme designed to create a global community of change agents who can think and act systemically. It
builds on the achievements of our UK Masters degree course, which has nurtured 250 next-generation
sustainability leaders over the past two decades. We were excited to welcome the first cohort of change
makers into the School in early 2017.
As we look into 2017, equipping and inspiring individuals and organisations to create system change
through the School and our wider Network remains a key priority. We’ll also continue to push ahead with
our projects designed to catalyse system change, including both our flagship multi-year collaborations
tackling complex challenges, as well our projects that are defining the new systems and structures that are
needed for a sustainable future. And, we’ll deepen our work with pioneering organisations to create
transformational change beyond their organisational boundaries. Our continued transition from a UK-
centric organisation to a truly international one will allow us to amplify these efforts around the world.
Internally, enabled by core grant funding from The C&A Foundation, we will be improving our systems
and processes and implementing changes to our business model, while continuing to diversify our funding
base. All these activities will make us more flexible and resilient as an organisation and enable us to create
more of the systemic change the world needs.
Finally, I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the Network members, partners, funders and trustees who
have accompanied us this far on the journey toward system change, and of course our dedicated,
hardworking, inspiring staff. Here’s to another 20 years of building a fairer, more sustainable future
together.
Dr Sally Uren
Chief Executive, Forum for the Future
April 2017
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OUR MISSION
Climate change, poverty, malnutrition and civic unrest: the world faces these complex challenges because
our fundamental systems are broken. Fixing them is a task beyond any one business, government or NGO.
We need people to work together, pooling their skills and resources on a global scale to build sustainable
systems that benefit everyone, everywhere. We need to move beyond incremental change, and focus on
fixing the root causes of unsustainability.
This is why our mission is to accelerate the big shift towards a sustainable future by catalysing change in
whole systems.
Our current goals state that by the end of 2018 we aim to have:
• delivered progress on complex sustainability challenges
• inspired and equipped people and organisations to deliver systemic change for sustainability
• contributed to demonstrable progress in shaping a sustainable future.
We would like to be known internationally for catalysing system change on specific challenges – as
experts in delivering practical system design, including futures tools and techniques. Our core activity is
delivering system change projects, learning from them and equipping others to do the same.
Our partnerships support that work – helping organisations develop the strategies to address complex
challenges and equip our partner contacts personally to drive big change.
Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen sustainability become mainstream as an issue in business, government
and civil society. We’re proud to have been part of this, particularly our role in mainstreaming corporate
sustainability. And yet, we’re only just getting started. Today we work with hundreds of organisations
through our offices in London, New York, Mumbai and Singapore, and create impact through the
businesses, governments, NGOs and trusts we partner with.
Find out more about how we’re building a sustainable world at forumforthefuture.org,
thefuturescentre.org, or via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
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1. OUR PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2016
We want to reinvent the way the world works, and we describe the change we create in three ways:
1.1 Innovating solutions to systemic challenges
Collaboration works. We help build sustainable sectors and value networks, prototype
innovations and new systems, and scale up existing activities for more positive sustainability
impact.
1.2 Developing and delivering transformational strategies
Pioneering organisations create systemic impacts beyond their own boundaries. Through our
long-term collaborations, we help businesses, NGOs, Trusts and Foundations, as well as
government agencies understand the opportunities to create system-level change, and how to
unlock them.
1.3 Equipping people to drive systemic change
System change is hard. We help people become better change agents through our projects,
partnerships, our Network, and The School of System Change.
1.1 Innovating solutions to systemic challenges
“If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go further, go together.” – African proverb
One thing we've learned over the years is that complex, interconnected challenges such as poverty, water
scarcity and climate change must be tackled systemically – which is often only possible when the 'unusual
suspects' work together to solve common problems. As a convener, and catalyst, we identify and assemble
stakeholders from right across the value chain and develop areas where they can collaborate to transform
not only their own operations, but entire systems.
Maintaining these powerful collaborations draws on our ability to translate the need for system change
across sectors, cultures and personal perspectives. For example, in 2016 we continued to broaden our
work in the food system through The Protein Challenge 2040, addressing the global challenges around
access to protein, as well as through a new project designed to address food security issues in Southeast
Asia. These projects are complemented by ongoing work on tea as a potential “hero crop”, where we want
to demonstrate how a truly sustainable supply change can work. Our Cotton 2040 project also addresses
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the main sustainability challenges of a key commodity, while on the energy front we have two system-wide
collaborative ventures, one in India and one in the UK. Also in the UK we are active in the places where
we live – investigating how to change the systems in our cities, not least how we travel around them.
Finally, we recognised the heightened public concern about the state of our oceans by launching a new
collaborative campaign on ocean plastic.
Building and managing collaborations that tackle complex problems
Forum has a long history of convening organisations to help them tackle complex problems together.
We have also worked directly with other collaborative bodies – including the Sustainable Apparel
Coalition, the Rainforest Alliance and the Forest Stewardship Council.
All our collaborations start with identifying an issue that several parties have a need and incentive to
change, for example the demand for sustainability in a specific supply chain. Next, we build a
consortium of anchor partners who are committed to working together and have the influence to create
change.
Once we have our anchor partners in place, we use interviews, desk research, workshops with
stakeholders, and learning journeys or system mapping to diagnose the system together. Then we apply
our futures expertise to challenge assumptions and encourage the partners to think broadly and deeply
about what lies ahead.
The shared vision or set of principles that emerges from this process embodies the change we want to
create, and provides the people and organisations involved in the collaboration with a clear set of goals.
We then prioritise solutions where collaborative action has the most potential to create change. These
solutions are then developed into parallel workstreams of action toward the shared vision.
Throughout this process it’s crucial to keep learning from setbacks, and share lessons, encouragement
and insights to keep the momentum going – something we have learnt to do, often the hard way, as an
organisation.
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1.1.1. Feeding nine billion people affordably, healthily and sustainably
1.1.1.1. The Protein Challenge 2040: shaping the future of protein through action and
innovation
Protein is fundamental to human health, but the way we produce and consume it places a heavy strain on
natural resources. In the face of changing food consumption patterns, a rising global population, health
concerns and increasingly scarce resources, the situation will only worsen if we don’t take action – so
that’s exactly what we’re doing through our Protein Challenge 2040 project, which we launched in
2016. This project is the first global collaboration of food and feed companies, retailers and NGOs –
including WWF, Firmenich, Quorn, Target, Volac and Waitrose – to take a systems approach to the issues
around protein.
In 2016, we helped more consumers and food businesses understand the role of plant-based foods in
future diets. For example, our research paper on the rise of the ‘flexitarian’, which we co-
produced with Unilever, secured coverage in the Daily Mail, Huffington Post UK and other
publications.
Alongside this, we’ve been working hard to set up pilot projects that will increase the amount of plant-
based protein eaten globally, for example, the Chef’s Challenge – to be launched in the UK in 2017 – will
help bust the myth that protein has to come from animals. The Feed Compass will build demand for
sustainable animal feed, and the plant-based protein stamp to be launched in the US will inform
consumers which products have high quantities of plant proteins.
“The Protein Challenge 2040 reaches for the ambitious goal of connecting several value chains in one
partnership for maximum impact. We know that the greatest achievements in sustainability will only be
reached by working together.” – Birgit Schleifenbaum, Director Pioneering, Innovation & Design,
Flavors, Firmenich SA
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1.1.1.2. Addressing food security in Southeast Asia
In South and Southeast Asia, around 59% of produce never makes it to becoming a meal, and 795 million
people do not have regular, reliable access to food. That has to change if we’re to fix the broken food
system, which is why in 2016 we launched the Disrupting Food Logistics project, where we're
collaborating with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and the ADM Institute for the
Prevention of Postharvest Loss.
Together we’ve created the first global web-based map of food loss reduction innovations,
focused on disruptive interventions in cold chain, packaging and ICT. At a Disrupting Food
Logistics event in Singapore in November, we used the Food Logistics Innovations Map to help industry
leaders in food and logistics design the zero-waste food supply chains of the future.
Next year we hope to test and scale successful innovations within food supply chains in Asia Pacific
(APAC), reducing waste and ensuring that all produce helps to feed the growing global population – an
essential element of a more sustainable food system.
1.1.2. Tea 2030: A ‘hero crop’ as a template for transforming other global supply
chains
Tea is grown in some of the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change. It is threatened by
competition for land, higher costs of key resources such as energy and water, and changing consumer
habits and trade patterns – all of which impacts upon lives and landscapes.
Forum wants to help create a sustainable tea industry from crop to cup. To do that, we need the co-
operation and collaboration of everyone working across the industry, from pickers and packers to
producers and purchasers. So in 2013, with the support of Unilever, Tata Global Beverages, IDH and
other partners, we launched the Tea 2030 project to take a long-term view of the tea industry and tackle
major sustainability challenges across the tea value chain.
In 2016 the Tea 2030 CEO Group, which is formed of senior leaders from some of the
largest businesses and cross-industry platforms in the sector, including Camellia, Ethical
Tea Partnership, Finlays, IDH – the sustainable trade initiative, S&D Coffee and Tea,
Starbucks, Tata Global Beverages, Taylors of Harrogate and Unilever, produced a Tea 2030
Sustainability Roadmap together with other partners and stakeholders. This shows how
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individual and collective action can turn tea into a hero crop by 2030 – i.e. not only a great product for
years to come, but one that secures livelihoods and landscapes, and closely connects producers and
consumers.
Developing the Roadmap into a working tool for members and stakeholders will help us identify more
opportunities for collective action and any gaps in current activity. We also continue to push ahead with
our other workstreams, which aim to connect more consumers with tea, develop market mechanisms for
sustainable producer incomes, and determine Tea 2030’s role in helping to drive forward a landscape
approach within the tea industry.
“We must work with all the key stakeholders to explore all the major factors that might influence and
shape the future sustainability of the tea industry. This is why we are taking a leading role in Tea 2030,
collaborating with others to achieve meaningful and lasting change, so that we are all around for the
next 260 years.” – Ron Mathison, former Group MD of James Finlay Limited.
1.1.3. Cotton 2040: accelerating the shift towards sustainable cotton
Like the tea industry, the cotton industry faces major social, environmental and economic challenges. For
example, it takes around 20,000 litres of water just to produce one cotton t-shirt, and the unsafe use of
agricultural chemicals has severe health impacts on workers in the field and on surrounding ecosystems.
Cotton is an essential part of our lives – and provides livelihoods for over 250 million people worldwide.
Shifting this vital commodity onto a sustainable path presents huge opportunities. And yet, while a
number of initiatives have been developed to improve the situation and about 13% of total global cotton
resource is grown more sustainably, only a fifth of this is actually sourced by companies for their products.
So in 2015, in collaboration with The C&A Foundation, we launched the Cotton 2040 project to
accelerate desperately needed change within the cotton system by taking an approach that is not biased to
any particular standard. We’ve since used our futures and system-change tools to scope out an approach
for tackling the four areas that have the most significant potential to create a systemic shift: building
demand for sustainable cotton, traceability, circularity, and upskilling for resilience.
The end of 2016 saw us kick-off the first of our Cotton 2040 workstreams to drive the
uptake of sustainable cotton within the industry. It brings together stakeholders from
across the value chain, including retailers M&S and Target, industry standards Better
Cotton Initiative and Cotton Made in Africa (CMiA), organic standards (represented by
Textile Exchange), Fairtrade Foundation, and industry initiatives Cotton Connect, as well
as other key players in the sector including IDH, Solidaridad, Cotton Australia, Value
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Added in Africa and the Organic Cotton Accelerator.
“Through creating a set of scenarios, describing different possible futures for the global cotton
industry, and then applying a systems lens to these possibilities, Forum for the Future have
identified critical levers that can create lasting transformative change in the global cotton
industry. More importantly, because Forum is an independent non-profit organization, they have
been able to be a neutral and effective convener of the different stakeholders in the cotton system,
including competing certification standards. As a result, Forum has facilitated a shared vision, and
much greater collaboration, thereby accelerating the journey to mainstreaming sustainable cotton.”
– Leslie Johnston, Executive Director, C&A Foundation.
1.1.4. Collaborating to build resilience in energy supplies in the UK and India
1.1.4.1. The Living Grid: new ways of moving to future energy resilience (UK)
Two thirds of the UK's power stations are expected to close by 2030, increasing the risk of ‘brownouts’
(voltage reduction) and ‘blackouts’ (grid crash). The country’s ageing, centralised energy infrastructure is
therefore ripe for transformation. Together with Open Energi, we’ve developed a vision for a new energy
system, one that draws on biomimicry principles to deliver, store and use electricity in a more natural way
– i.e. interactive, self-balancing and adaptive, rather than linear, clumsy and centralised. We call it the
Living Grid.
In April 2016 we held the official press launch of the Living Grid, securing three radio
interviews, 25 pieces of online media coverage and a column in The Times’ business pages.
We were also extremely proud to be shortlisted for ‘Best Business NGO Partnership’ at the Responsible
Business Awards 2016.
The first phase of the project will allow corporate energy users to connect their equipment with intelligent
demand response technology, allowing them to adjust their individual electricity usage and balance peaks
and troughs in demand. This will help to make the grid more efficient, resilient and well-suited to
intermittent renewable energy – a crucial element of any next-generation energy system.
Open Energi, Aggregate Industries, Sainsbury’s, Tarmac and United Utilities, which are all co-founders of
the Living Grid, have already demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach. Together they will provide
up to 39 megawatts of flexible power by 2020, saving almost 90,000 tonnes of carbon annually in the UK.
Open Energi is also donating a portion of its revenue to an Innovation Fund to help build an energy
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system that’s fit for the future, rather than the past.
“A surprisingly exciting project that […] may represent a turning point for the way in which energy is
consumed in Britain.” – Robin Pagnamenta, Deputy Business Editor for The Times
1.1.4.2. Power Up Odisha: Energy for all in rural India
Power Up Odisha is a joint initiative set up by the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
(MNRE) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and co-ordinated by Forum for
the Future. The project’s goal is the provision of round-the-clock power for the people of Odisha, a state
which currently has the highest number of villages without electricity in India.
We’re currently looking at ways to deploy decentralised renewable energy (DRE) at scale, which could
encompass everything from solar lanterns to multi-village mini-grids. In 2016 we got together with
people from the energy sector and other related areas to explore exactly what DRE would
mean for the people, economy and environment of Odisha, and how hard it will be to
implement by 2030. We’re under no illusions: it will take time, perseverance and commitment from a
wide range of stakeholders. But with a shared vision now in place, we can work toward making it a reality.
Next year we’ll be pushing ahead with our partners on priority areas such as robust supply chains, skills
availability and access to finance, and building on existing work in the state. It’s our ambition to create
change both within policy and on the ground, which, as we’ve seen with other projects like the Community
Energy Coalition in the UK, is the only way to create real and lasting impact within the energy system.
1.1.5. Transforming where and how we live
1.1.5.1. EU-InnovatE: citizen innovators shape a green EU economy
Throughout 2016, we partnered on EU-InnovatE, an EU-funded research project investigating how
citizen-innovators could help shape a green EU economy. In particular, this work looked at ways to
encourage more sustainable lifestyles in Europe by 2050, focusing on opportunities for innovation across
four key areas – energy, living, mobility and food.
Our Future Shapers network, a diverse group of nearly 200 inspiring and entrepreneurial people from
across Europe, helped to flesh out what support citizen-innovators need to create products and services
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that will encourage sustainable lifestyles. We crowd-sourced ideas for what kind of tools they might need
to come up with great ideas that rewrite old rules, and develop them into disruptive innovations that
could change lifestyles, communities, business and the economy. Our work on EU-InnovatE will
ultimately help to inform future EU policies, and allow more citizen innovators to develop
radical new products and services.
“People aren’t looking to politicians or NGOs to solve social and ecological problems. They want to do
something themselves and see business as an effective tool for solving these problems.” – Prof. Frank-
Martin Belz, Chair of Corporate Sustainability at the Technische Universität München, who co-
ordinated the EU-InnovatE project.
1.1.5.2. Future Cities Dialogue and the Circular Peterborough Manifesto
In 2016 we also partnered with Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, as well as Sciencewise and Ipsos
Mori on the Future Cities Dialogue project, which could help to make our cities more sustainable.
Today, essential urban systems are siloed and stretched due to pressures such as population growth,
climate change and ageing infrastructure. Designing solutions in a more integrated way would create
cities that are more resilient, improving the lives of the people who live in them and putting less strain on
the environment.
As part of the Future Cities Dialogue Project, we used our futures skills to identify how six
key urban systems – waste, water, energy, food, health and transport – might develop over
the next few decades. These predictions fed into scenarios that explored how UK cities can
integrate these systems more effectively, which will encourage new thinking around the
kind of solutions that will lead to more liveable, resilient and sustainable urban
environments.
We’re helping to realise the potential of our research through Innovate UK’s Future City Demonstrators
programme, a catalyst for Peterborough’s Circular Peterborough Manifesto, which aims to embed a
circular economy approach throughout the city. In 2016 Forum continued to develop the Circular
Peterborough Manifesto with representatives from business, academia and local
government, and we’ll be working with them on four pilot projects next year – including an
initiative to tackle food waste.
By demonstrating that it’s essential to apply a systems approach to urban innovation, we hope to inspire
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other cities to follow Peterborough’s lead, improving the lives of millions of people while reducing the
burden cities place on the planet.
1.1.5.3. Smarter Travel Solutions: Mobility-as-a-service
Urban transport systems are a big part of the burden cities place on the planet: ambient air pollution
causes around 3 million premature deaths worldwide every year, according to the World Health
Organization. Making it easier for people to use public transport, as well as walk or cycle, could have a
huge impact on this deadly problem – and mobile technology is one of the keys to making that happen.
Smartphones give us an unprecedented ability to plan our use of public transport, combining bus, train,
taxi, car club, walking and cycling information in a single handheld device. However, in practice most
apps only work across one company or travel mode.
We want to change that, which is why we got together with our partners Telefonica and FirstGroup to
develop a truly game changing integrated transport project: the Smarter Travel Solution (STS). As the
flagship mobility-as-a-service project for the UK, it will provide travellers with a ‘one screen’ view of bus,
rail, car club, bicycle and taxi travel, enabling healthy travel choices and reducing environmental impacts.
Thanks to funding from Innovate UK, the STS app is now being trialled in Yorkshire with
the support of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, South Yorkshire PTE and Leeds
City Council, with a wider roll-out planned for 2017.
1.1.6. The Marine CoLABoration: Reducing plastics at source
Our oceans provide us with food, livelihoods and more, as well as absorbing carbon dioxide – but
unfortunately they’re under threat. The Marine CoLABoration, funded by The Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation, brings together nine NGOs, including Forum, to strengthen their ability to protect one of our
most vital systems – for example, by reducing plastics at source. This will help to address Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) 14, "Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources", and
potentially create impact at scale across a range of different industries.
The members of the CoLABoration continued to meet in 2016, using the values that connect people and
the ocean to explore new ideas and areas of convergence. Instead of duplicating one another’s efforts
we’re finding ways to combine them for greater impact.
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#OneLess, the CoLAB's first full-scale experiment, was launched in June 2016. This
ambitious cross-sectoral initiative aims to reduce single use plastic water bottles in
London (the UK gets through 13 billion plastic bottles each year – over 200 per person)
while promoting London’s role as a global ‘coastal city’ closely connected to the sea. On the
day of the launch – which, fittingly, was World Oceans Day – #OneLess trended no.3 on Twitter. Not bad
for a brand new campaign!
1.2 Developing and delivering transformational strategies
The UN SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement have given all governments and organisations an
unequivocal international mandate and framework for change. They also set in stone what Forum has
always believed: that organisations – and that include businesses, as well as NGOs, foundations and
government agencies – don’t only need to transform themselves, they also need to take the lead in
transforming entire systems. In fact, the global scale of some organisations’ operations makes them
especially well-placed to drive progress on issues such as sustainable nutrition, renewable energy and
sustainable supply chains. And where they lead, others follow.
Our long-term collaborations with pioneering organisations give us a unique opportunity to create
system-level change, and a few examples from 2016 are highlighted below. We worked with major
multinationals including Unilever, O2, TUI Travel, Kingfisher and M&S; with NGOs such as WWF and
Oxfam and government agencies such as Innovate UK. Highlights of our strategic collaborations with
foundations include the ocean plastics initiative with The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (see section
1.1.6 above).
1.2.1 BPC Leadership Group: Putting more sustainable beauty and personal care
products on the shelves (US)
Demand for sustainable beauty and personal care (BPC) products is growing, but a number of barriers
have constrained supply. The BPC Leadership Group, which consists of Target, Walmart and other
stakeholders from the BPC value chain, aims to address these issues by scaling up existing initiatives and
exploring other means of making sustainable products more accessible to consumers.
In 2016 the retailers agreed to work toward using common criteria for evaluating product
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sustainability – a major milestone in terms of getting more sustainable items on the
shelves. We hope the criteria, which will encourage and reward sustainability leadership while reducing
the survey burden and cost for suppliers, will be ready for use by the end of 2017.
1.2.2 Target: Made to Matter (US)
This year we also offered support for Target's ground-breaking Made to Matter program. Launched in
2014, it represented a change from one-off retailer-supplier relationships. Instead, Target worked in
collaboration with purpose-driven brands to ensure natural, organic and sustainable products were
readily accessible within its stores.
The strategy delivered real impact: in 2015 products included in the Made to Matter category experienced
30% growth – 1.5 times the normal growth rate for a product in a Target store. In 2016, brands in the
programme were encouraged to innovate around issues such as sugar, closing the loop, transparency, less
packaging and dietary restrictions.
1.2.3 Unilever: Sustainable Living Plan (Global)
Sustainable nutrition is a straightforward means of describing the overlap between sustainable food
production and consumption, bringing together thinking and action in both areas to deliver better overall
outcomes across the food system.
In 2016 we used this sustainable nutrition lens to help Unilever push forward with the food dimensions
of its Sustainable Living Plan, its blueprint for creating a sustainable business by decoupling the
company's growth from its environmental impact while increasing its positive social impact. Working
with senior figures in the Unilever management team, we helped to identify the major
trends, issues and opportunities facing their business, where they could have the most
impact within the food system, and outlined a more cohesive approach to their food
brands’ existing work on sustainable nutrition, aligning individual brand goals with the
wider business strategy of delivering food that “tastes good, does good and doesn’t cost the
Earth.”
In 2015, on the eve of the COP 21 climate change conference in Paris, Unilever announced their intention
to be carbon positive by 2030 across their manufacturing operations – a bold goal underpinned by targets
we helped to create, which include the elimination of fossil fuels from their energy mix (including coal by
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2020) and supporting the generation of more renewable energy than they consume.
Unilever has already reduced energy use by 24% since 2008, avoiding €400m of costs, and is exploring
cost-effective and scalable renewable energy sources as an important element of its Carbon Positive plan.
In November 2016, they announced a new agreement to buy over 100,000 MWh of traceable renewable
energy in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and South Africa through a scheme called I-RECs, a global
standard for documenting renewable energy consumption. This will give them the opportunity to buy
renewables in more places than they could before – for example, I-RECs are the first established
renewable energy certificates available in Africa.
1.2.4 O2 Think Big Blueprint for 2020: Technology supporting sustainable change
(UK)
For the past eight years we’ve also helped steer O2 towards the sustainability leadership role it now
occupies within the telecoms industry. This year we’ve partnered with O2 to craft the next phase
of their Think Big Blueprint, which has an ambitious goal of helping 20 million customers
to live better and more sustainably with technology by 2020 – a third of the UK population.
1.2.5 Aditya Birla Group: future-proofing individual businesses (India)
In 2016 we continued to help the Aditya Birla Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates, build the
capacity of their leadership team, exploring how long-term trends could impact the group in future. In
addition, we’ve also worked with the group’s individual businesses, such as Birla Carbon and Jaya Shree
Textiles (we also have a long-standing relationship with Novelis, a leader in rolled aluminium products
and recycling), to future-proof key business decisions and ensure sustainable development is at the heart
of their overall strategy. The group now has much greater awareness of which areas of their supply chain
are most at risk from climate change, and the steps they can take to make their organisation more
resilient.
1.2.6 Sime Darby: Sustainable palm oil traceability ‘dash board’ (Malaysia)
We also helped Sime Darby, a Malaysia-based multinational conglomerate and long-term partner, to
identify ways to lead their respective sectors towards sustainability. Sime Darby is the largest supplier of
sustainable palm oil in the world (at 98% of total palm oil production), and has developed a traceability
‘dashboard’ to assist customers in tracking palm oil products right back to their point of origin.
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“Forum for the Future has been a valued partner, working alongside Sime Darby for over four
years now, helping us to understand practical ways we can accelerate embedding sustainability
into our diverse business. We have particularly valued their futures insights, their process design
and facilitation skills, their in depth understanding of the food system, as well as local support
provided from their Singapore office – Forum has a close ear to the group picking up the
sustainability issues relevant to SE Asia. Their advice and collaborative approach has definitely
catalysed a number of the strands of our strategic plan.” – Simon Lord, Group Chief Sustainability
Officer, Sime Darby Group.
1.2.7 Ports of Auckland: Developing a sustainability strategy (New Zealand)
Ports of Auckland, New Zealand’s busiest container port, is keen to be part of developments that
support reduced emissions, the circular economy and improved air quality. So in 2016 we partnered with
them to identify pilot projects that could help them fulfil this ambition, and brought the senior leadership
team together to develop a robust sustainability strategy. This includes stringent emission reduction
targets, and plans to seek opportunities to partner with shipping lines to incentivise the use of alternative
fuels, thereby further improving air quality.
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1.3 Equipping people to drive systemic change
We are building a future that’s better for everyone, not just the few – and we do that by increasing
people’s capacity to drive change within their organisations, their communities and their lives.
The insights we've gained from our work and from 20 years of running our Masters in Leadership for
Sustainable Development, have fed into the curriculum for our new School of System Change, which we
piloted with Pioneer partners, Network members and staff in 2016.
1.3.1 Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development: celebrating 20 years
With academic support from Middlesex University, and the professional expertise and financial support
of The Leadership Trust, for 20 years we have offered young people, with leadership potential and any
kind of first degree, a place on our pioneering Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development. In
using reflective, group and experiential learning techniques we helped our ‘scholars’ access the
knowledge, skills and experience they would need to become sustainability leaders whatever career they
chose. Many of the graduates from earlier years are now in senior roles for example at the UK Green
Building Council, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and in many leading businesses across different
sectors. Many have set up their own organisations such as Futerra, Urban Orchard, Library of Things and
Brew, The Tea Pub.
In 2016 we celebrated the graduation of the final year of our Masters by holding a reunion for all our 250
alumni. More than half of them were able to join the party, which formed part of Forum’s 20th
anniversary celebrations. The occasion gave us the opportunity to thank the very many people who had
supported the course throughout – including lecturers, assessors, Middlesex University, The Leadership
Trust, our funders, and the large number of organisations from all sectors that offered learning
placements down the years, including: the Cabinet Office, the Greater London Authority, Friends of the
Earth, WWF, the Environment Agency, TUI Group, Triodos Bank, Sainsbury’s, Interface, BT, Unilever,
Good Energy, M&S and KPMG.
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1.3.2 School of System Change: launched in early 2017
We live in a world of increasingly complex, interconnected challenges, and to solve them we need to
radically grow the number of people who can think and act systemically. This is why in 2016 we began
developing an international School of System Change to empower more change-makers throughout
the world, from community activists to sustainability professionals. Launched in early 2017, the School of
System Change will allow us to remain at the cutting edge of learning and equip and inspire individuals to
drive system level change.
This flexible, international learning programme builds on two decades of experience running our Masters
in Leadership for Sustainable Development and will offer access to the skills, tools and community needed
to implement system innovation. Aimed at mid-career professionals, it will draw upon our extensive
system innovation expertise, tools, case studies and partnerships, and incorporate cutting-edge
contributions from learning providers around the world. Our goal is to increase the number and
effectiveness of system change projects globally, the number of organisations using system change
strategies, and strengthen Forum's capacity to help leading organisations transform their operating
contexts.
The Diageo Foundation (our lead sponsor), The Lankelly Chase Foundation and The C&A Foundation
have provided funding for the school. Basecamp #1, the first phase of our first course, ran part-time over
three months in early 2017. Through case studies, real-life complex sustainability challenges and in-depth
coaching and support, participants will learn how to apply systems thinking to their respective fields, and
implement radical change.
The course will also connect participants to a powerful international network of people and support, and
includes both face-to-face and online teaching from academics and systems thinking specialists – as well
as experienced system change practitioners.
1.3.3 A global Network of over 100 organisations: More than 950 pioneers,
partners and sustainability leaders on a learning journey
Over the past two decades we’ve developed a rich and unparalleled network of people from across the
world, all of whom share our appetite for bold leadership. We have close, trusted relationships with
everyone from senior business leaders to young entrepreneurs which allows us to pull together an
extraordinary range of expertise and perspectives and use it to solve the issues that really matter.
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First and foremost, we help individuals drawn from across our international network of over 100
organisations to build their system change skills. We provide them with coaching, mentoring and training,
and access to an exciting range of workshops, webinars, events and publications – all aimed at
encouraging them to think and act systemically.
Once they begin this process, they soon start leveraging their own networks of relationships and
interdependencies and set long term purpose-driven goals. In turn, they contribute their own insights and
support each other, further deepening the power of our Network.
The Pioneers Group is a specialist network for our partners. It connects 10-15 global pioneers from
different sectors, who get together every two months to learn from one another in a supportive, trust-
based environment, and jointly overcome the barriers to achieving step change in sustainability. In the
summer our Pioneers Group spent 24 hours in the beautiful Kent countryside, staying in shepherd huts
and exploring what it means to lead, intervene and innovate in a complex world. They discussed new tools
and approaches that could help them achieve more impact on their sustainability goals, and how to act
and think systemically.
In 2017 we will be supporting the group as they apply these capabilities and tools to their unique business
challenges, while also taking a cross-sector approach to complex issues such as ocean stress, the circular
economy and inequality. Each session will focus on one of these topics, mapping out what each of our
pioneers is doing to address them, and connecting them on issues where their work overlaps – all with the
aim of delivering even greater impact.
Our US Network is made up of over 15 pioneering organisations, including well-known brands such as
Target, PepsiCo, The Hershey Company and Walt Disney. Throughout 2016 we brought our futures
insights to bear on their operations, equipping them with the skills to succeed in uncertain times and
create lasting change. For example, our US Futures Salon events on ‘the future of work’ and ‘the future of
fashion’ provided our Network members with the chance to hear from thought leaders on these emerging
trends, as well as network with business leaders and entrepreneurs to discover possible opportunities for
collaboration and innovation.
At our annual Chief Sustainability Officer Dinner in New York, US Network members were able to engage
in conversation about the emerging trends that are shaping the US business landscape, and how these
trends might affect their operations. Along with our salons, webinars and other Network events, this
helped to deepen our Network members’ understanding of what the US business response to major trends
should be, and how to harness them to create a more sustainable future.
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“Forum for the Future has been extremely helpful to opening up our minds a little bit more, to bring our
business model in sync with society ... Having an independent organisation that keeps us honest, keeps
us sharp, that brings in new thinking all the time helps us drive our plans higher. We have had
tremendous help from Forum not only with its intellectual power, but bringing about the right coalitions
to achieve our targets earlier and faster.” – Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer, Unilever
‘Reigniting’ passion and purpose
Our Reignite event, held in Dartmoor National Park in September 2016, invited sustainability leaders
into the woods for an immersive enquiry in nature. Attendees slept under the stars, cooked around a
fire and shared stories and inspiration with Jonathon Porritt, Kate Rawles and Andrew Raingold.
Together the group explored the growing need to draw on both intellectual and emotional intelligence
to tackle the multitude of challenges leaders face. Through structured discussions, workshops and
personal reflection time, attendees also strengthened their connection with nature, and refreshed their
ability to drive global change by 'reigniting' their sense of passion and purpose.
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1.4 Looking ahead to 2017 - Externally
1.4.1 Tackling even more complex sustainability challenges
We’re excited about the potential of initiatives such as The Protein Challenge 2040, Cotton 2040, Tea
2030, the Living Grid and Power Up Odisha to really shift systems; and we are also keen to explore how
these initiatives can become mutually reinforcing, and add up to much bigger impacts in 2017. For
example, our work on a new market mechanism to increase and stabilise smallholder producer income in
the tea industry may have valuable lessons for our cotton and apparel work.
The Protein Challenge 2040 project has now identified six areas where there’s real potential for collective
action to drive positive change. One of these areas is scaling up sustainable aquaculture, which could
deliver big wins for human nutrition, livelihoods and natural ecosystems. In 2016 we co-launched a six-
month programme of research and design of a challenge prize, supported by the Global Innovation Fund,
and working in partnership with Nesta and the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture, to drive
innovation and scale up sustainable aquaculture in India and Bangladesh. The prizes will be announced in
summer 2017, so do keep an eye out for those.
Our work on EU-InnovatE in 2016 has also filtered into our appointment as the lead organisation in the
Future of Civil Society Inquiry – a two-year project coordinated by The Baring Foundation that aims
to catalyse a more vigorous and sustainable civil society in England, using the SDGs as a reference, which
we’ll be closely involved in throughout 2017.
1.4.2 Developing deeper relationships with more pioneering organisations and driving
transformational strategies
2017 will see us continue to ensure we work only with the most ambitious organisations who want to
create truly systemic change. We will champion the importance of radical decarbonisation (see box
overleaf), as well as Net Positive – an approach where businesses seek to move beyond less harm and
create positive impacts in the areas where they can make the biggest difference.
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Championing the importance of radical decarbonisation
Following the 2015 Paris climate agreement, this year we've had some really positive engagements with
our partners on the role business can and must play to make this bold ambition to keep global
temperature rises below 1.5°C a reality – not just in terms of their own operations, but across entire
systems. For example, we helped Unilever’s global manufacturing facilities to decarbonise, moving
away from coal and oil and – eventually – gas, to 100 per cent renewables.
We want to see more of our partners become vocal advocates for societal action on climate change. In
2016 our work with Aviva to develop a framework for analysing climate risk amongst the companies
they invest in helped us to co-create a tool to help other companies better understand how the risks of
climate change, such as more extreme weather and damage to critical public infrastructure, extend well
beyond their own sphere of operations. It’s already proved a useful starting point for discussions on
issues that will undoubtedly reshape operating contexts in the years ahead, and we look forward to
encouraging more of our partners to step up and speak out in 2017.
1.4.3 Equipping more people to drive systemic change
The School of System Change began its first Basecamp intensive programme in 2017, piloting and
iterating modules with an exciting range of content deliverers and learners (see section 1.3.2). 2017 will
see us build on the success of the first Basecamp, through both developing a programme to run in the US,
as well as scaling up the School more broadly through active partnerships with the emerging international
system change community.
The Futures Centre, our dynamic and interactive online futures platform, will continue to highlight
windows of opportunity for system change, and inform new experiments and innovations across Forum
and our Network, as well as the forward development of existing projects. We will also use the Futures
Centre to convene what we call ‘Explorers’ - a facilitated conversation with our network and other
interested parties, both on- and offline, on specific emerging solutions for sustainable development. The
first Explorer in 2017 will focus on alternative energy systems, building on what we’ve learnt through our
Living Grid project. We’ll also continue to compile the trends we believe are most important for key
decision makers in business, government, foundations and broader civil society to understand, and
critically, to view as opportunities to create a sustainable future today.
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2. FINANCIAL REVIEW AND RESULTS FOR THE YEAR 2016
2.1 Summary
The changes in the external economic environment have brought uncertainty to our own operating
conditions and created a challenging financial context for us to navigate, evidenced in our financial results
for 2016.
Whilst total income at £5,193k was above the 2015 restated figure of £4,950k, this was broadly as a result
of the inclusion of our US operations for eight months, as described in note 8 to the accounts. Similarly,
total expenditure has also increased to £5,238k from £4,836k. This resulted in an overall net deficit of
£44k versus a surplus of £114k in the 2015 financial year, made up of a restricted surplus of £389k, offset
by an unrestricted loss of £433k.
The unrestricted loss of £433k (2015: surplus £93k) has three distinct drivers. There is an underlying loss
on operations of £199k, a restatement of membership income of £134k to reflect a change in accounting
policy on deferring income (note 1(e) to the accounts) and a one-off write off on consolidation from the US
balance sheet of £100k (note 8). We are working to address the underlying loss on operations through a
more robust business planning process as well as a critical evaluation of our business model. Whilst we
expect some benefit of this review to be delivered in 2017, the full impact is planned for the 2018 financial
year.
This net deficit in unrestricted income of £433k has resulted in unrestricted general reserves of £604k for
the group (2015: £1,037k). Net restricted reserves have increased to £548k (2015:£159k).
2.2 Reserves policy
The trustees have set a policy to hold sufficient unrestricted reserves to cover working capital
requirements, short term reductions in income and unexpected expenditure. This target has been set at
20% of unrestricted income to provide sufficient resilience. However in December 2016, reserves were
below this level at 15%.
As previously stated and described more fully in section 3.3 below, 2017 will be a year of transition in
order to deliver a revised operating model, supported by better systems. We have secured core support
from The C&A Foundation in order to fund these changes. The trustees are confident that despite being
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below the reserves policy target, sufficient working capital is available whilst the revised business model is
being implemented. The trustees have therefore agreed that Forum will plan to build reserves back to the
target level over the next three financial years.
The trustees are confident that despite being below the reserves policy target, sufficient working capital is
available to secure the going concern basis whilst the revised business model is being implemented. The
transition to the revised business model is planned to ensure that reserves are increased back to target
levels in the medium term, albeit 2017 is going to be a challenge.
2.3 Risk assessment
The risk assessment policy, which is reviewed and approved annually by the board along with the risk
register, continued to give the trustees assurance that key risks are adequately managed. The policy
requires that key risks are identified and ranked each year and that each identified risk is assigned to a
named risk owner who constructs a risk mitigation strategy and monitors the progress of that strategy.
The AAC takes the lead on reviewing the risk register. Twice each year the Committee reviews the risks
being monitored and receives reports on the implementation of the risk mitigation strategy. The Senior
Management Team (SMT) review the overall register each month to determine if anything needs to be
added or removed, and usually undertakes a detailed review of two items on the register. A new,
streamlined approach to managing risk was introduced at the beginning of 2016. In addition, we have a
risk register for all of our significant projects, which are actively monitored by project directors and
project managers.
Our two principal risks are low levels of cash and the impact of the external environment on our pipeline
of paid work. We are actively managing both these risks. Firstly, we are reviewing our business model to
ensure that each project and stream of activity contributes to our surplus so that we remain financially
viable. Secondly, we are using our rolling cash flow forecast to ensure we remain a going concern while
new systems are put in place. And, thirdly, we are implementing a fundraising strategy which is designed
to broaden our sources of funding, including increasing the amounts raised from Trusts and Foundations.
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3. INTERNAL REVIEW OF 2016
3.1 A great place to work
Staff are generally very satisfied with the work at Forum, the freedom they have to plan their work and the
scope they have for using their initiative. However, in 2016 our staff survey response rate was lower than
the two previous years at 79%, and staff satisfaction decreased from 71% to 68%. Perhaps unsurprisingly,
the uncertainty the EU-Referendum introduced to our UK operations, the US Presidential election and
the difficult financial organisational climate all impacted on morale internationally; it was a difficult year
for everyone.
It is particularly important for staff to look out for one another during tough times and we are keen to
foster a culture where staff are encouraged to set up informal groups, for example on personal resilience.
We aim to improve the way we structure global projects and project teams in 2017, and explore better
ways of delivering effective knowledge management across our international offices (around 60% of staff
are currently satisfied with knowledge management and skills development).
Our staff survey results did show that staff increasingly feel that their work is aligned with our strategy
(78% in 2016 compared with 61% in 2015). We also finalised our performance and reward policy in 2016,
and there is now greater understanding of how performance is evaluated. Staff have received training on
our scanning function too, and are now regularly tracking our 20-30 areas of high change potential via a
management dashboard.
Another ongoing driver of staff satisfaction is Health and Wellbeing, which we focused on embedding
within the organisation in 2016. For example, we:
● Celebrated mental health awareness week with daily updates for all staff on our intranet
● Celebrated World Mental Health day in all offices with a ‘tea and talk’
● Provided training on how to maintain good mental health in the workplace
● Provided a free health check in our London office
In addition to our focus on health and wellbeing, we continued to have almost weekly Brown Bag Lunch
sessions in 2016, and also held a capacity building day for staff. We plan to repeat this in 2017, and focus
on the learning element of our culture, with staff targets to measure how successfully we engage with this
process.
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3.2 Environmental and social impacts
As a charity that exists to promote sustainable development, we are very keen to make sure that we ‘walk
the talk’ when it comes to our environmental and social impacts.
Forum’s impacts follow from its:
● Core activities of work with partners and others on system change
● Operations (i.e. staff, buildings, travel and supply chain).
Our operations generate negative impacts (e.g. carbon emissions) but also positive ones, including
enhancing our staff wellbeing and allowing Forum to enable change on a global scale.
3.2.1 Environmental impact report 2016
Forum’s Environmental Management System (EMS), certified to ISO14001, has now been in place for 15
years. Our EMS is deeply embedded into the culture of our organisation with all staff playing an active
and enthusiastic role in the management of our waste, travel, suppliers, utilities, communications and
events.
We continue to receive positive feedback from external audits by BSI, Zero Emissions Network and others
on our efforts at managing our positive and negative environmental impacts.
Our most material environmental impact from our operations is our carbon emissions, which have
decreased 5% to 349 tonnes compared to 2015 (367 tonnes of CO2), and is 8 tonnes less than 2014. The
largest contributor to our carbon emissions is aviation, producing 312 tonnes out of a total of 348 tonnes.
These emissions should be seen in the context of our growing international work and the fact that 45% of
our 2016 revenue came from outside the UK.
Although our emissions are relatively small, as a leading sustainable development organisation, we know
we need to face this challenge head on. We have worked hard to reduce our emissions this year, and
attribute the emissions reduction in part to the reduced need to fly from the UK to other markets, as our
US, APAC and India offices become more self-sufficient. SMT sabbaticals and a reduced staff headcount
in the UK have also played a part.
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All of our carbon emissions are offset through Climate Care, which ensures that an equivalent amount of
carbon is saved or sequestered through a range of credible, socially-beneficial projects.
We seek to minimise our emissions by ensuring that we only fly when absolutely necessary, using other
forms of communication, such as video-conferencing, wherever possible; and by increasing the benefit of
flying by arranging multiple meetings when we do have to fly.
We, like society as a whole, are wrestling with the positive impacts we create at the expense of an
increasing footprint. We remain convinced that we can, over time, deliver far bigger ‘wins’ for
sustainability as a whole – including carbon reduction – by having our expert staff working
internationally, helping organisations in Asia and the US achieve their own transformative shifts, than if
we eschewed flying and stayed at home.
3.2.2 Social impacts
While the most direct social impact from our operations is on our staff, our partnerships, knowledge
development, events and project work reaches far across the globe and deep into communities.
For Forum to be successful in creating change and developing its staff, we need to be a learning
organisation. However, we know we still have more work to do in creating this shift, and are hopeful that
the planned work on some of our information and knowledge management processes in 2017 will help us
continue to move forward.
We also have comprehensive policies on staff welfare, including flexible working and Inspiration Space. In
2016 our staff voiced interest in developing a more formal health and well-being plan, which we delivered,
and we are pleased that staff have also taken the initiative and set up their own informal groups exploring
personal resilience together.
Across the globe our social influence, although more indirect, stems from our extensive project work
surrounding sustainable business practices, system innovation and transformational change. Many
examples have been cited within this report: our work with Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan and its
implications for sustainable agriculture practices has positive impacts on the lives of local farmers as well
as the environment; similarly, our collaboration with Target & Walmart on Beauty and Personal Care will
lead to significant benefits to human health.
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Our Network allows us to inspire individuals to make change and equip corporate leaders with the tools
they need to deliver more social value. Through these channels, we develop partnerships, share
information, create knowledge and establish frameworks for action. Alongside our School of System
Change, these partnership, events and research outputs facilitate momentum across vast supply chains
and reach across numerous business sectors. Thus, we catalyse social impact through the personal and
organisational relationships we nurture.
3.3 Looking ahead to 2017
Internally, enabled by core grant funding from The C&A Foundation, 2017 will be a year of transformation
for Forum. We will be improving our internal systems and processes, implementing changes to our
business model, changing the way we are internally organised, pushing even harder on our external
communications, as well as continuing to diversify our funding base.
Funding for projects that aim to transform systems is much harder to access than our traditional one-on-
one advisory work, because despite the significant social, financial and environmental impact of these
projects, that impact is dispersed across the system as opposed to benefiting a single organisation. And
the situation is further complicated by the long-term, pre-market nature of much of the work we do.
The sophistication and ambition of our work, which is often experimental, requires new forms of
investment that will support us as we enhance our global operations and transition to a business model
that will take our system innovation approach to the next level. In short, we need to unlock funding that is
prepared to take a little more risk, and sees the value in long-term engagements with businesses and
stakeholders.
This is why we are redoubling our efforts to unlock funding from Trusts and Foundations, as well as
establishing a Catalyst Fund, an funding stream supported by individual donors, designed to help us
accelerate the development of ambitious project ideas.
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4. REFERENCE AND ADMINSTRATIVE DETAILS
Company number 2959712
Charity number 1040519
Registered office and operational address
Overseas House
19-23 Ironmonger Row
London
EC1V 3QN
United Kingdom
www.forumforthefuture.org
Incorporated in England and Wales, and registered in England
4.1 Trustees and directors
The trustees, who act as directors for the purposes of company law, present their report and audited
financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2016, which have been prepared in accordance with
the Statement of Recommended Practice: Reporting and Accounting by Charities, and the Companies Act
2006.
Trustees who served during 2016 and up to the date of this report were as follows. Find out more at
www.forumforthefuture.org/our-board-trustees.
Keith Clarke (Chair of Trustees)
Volker Beckers
Kelvyn Derrick
Sean Fox – retired July 2016
Andy Hobsbawm – retired July 2016
Kate Levick
Sara Parkin (Founder Director)
Jonathon Porritt (Founder Director)
Lucy Siegle
Fiona Thompson
Anita Tiessen
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The trustee sub-committees are:
Audit and Assurance Committee (AAC)
Sean Fox (chair) – retired July 2016
Fiona Thompson (chair) – from July 2016
Sara Parkin
Kate Levick
Kelvyn Derrick – joined October 2016
Independent Audit Committee Member
Sharon Martin
Remuneration Committee
Anita Tiessen (chair)
Sean Fox – retired July 2016
Lucy Siegle – joined May 2016
Company Secretary
Peter Atfield
4.2 Senior Management Team
Sally Uren, Chief Executive
Stephanie Draper, Deputy Chief Executive
Peter Atfield, Interim Director, Human Resources
David Bent, Director, Sustainable Business – left 11 November 2016
Giles Bristow, Director, Programmes
Helen Clarkson, Director, US – left as US Director 31 May 2016
Helen Clarkson, Interim Chief Operating Officer – joined 17 October 2016
James Goodman, Director, Futures
Esther Maughan McLachlan, Director, Communications and Networks – left 23 December 2016
Anila Hussain, Interim Director, Finance and Operations – left 30 September 2016
Sandra Seru, Director, US – joined 13 June 2016
35
4.3 Bankers, solicitors and auditors
Bankers HSBC Commercial Banking
City of London Commercial Centre
60 Queen Victoria Street
London
EC4N 4TR
Solicitors Bates Wells and Braithwaite
10 Queen Street Place
London EC4R 1BE
Auditors Sayer Vincent LLP
Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors
Invicta House
108-114 Golden Lane
London
EC1Y 0TL
36
4.4 Governance and charitable objectives, remuneration, activities and
public benefit and statement of compliance with statutory information
4.4.1 Governance and charitable objectives
Forum for the Future in the UK is a registered educational and sustainable development charity, and a
company limited by guarantee and not having share capital. Its governing documents are the
Memorandum and Articles of Association. Its charitable objects are:
● To advance the education of the public in economic and social studies as they relate to
individuals, communities, society at large and the planet as a whole, with special reference to
their interrelationship with ecology, the natural world, health, technology, agriculture,
sustainable development, philosophy and psychology
● To promote sustainable development for the benefit of the public by:
● The preservation, conservation and protection of the environment and the prudent use of
natural resources
● The relief of poverty and the improvement of the conditions of life in socially and
economically disadvantaged communities
● The promotion of sustainable means of achieving economic growth and regeneration.
The governing body of Forum is the Board of Trustees, which meets four times a year. The trustees are
responsible for ensuring that Forum abides by its charitable aims, works within the law and delivers its
mission effectively. They oversee the policies and objectives of Forum and ensure that the work of the
organisation is properly monitored and evaluated.
Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity, with two exceptions:
Jonathon Porritt is paid for his services as an employee of Forum, with the consent of the Charity
Commission, and Sara Parkin, who was paid for her services as an employee of Forum, with the consent of
the Charity Commission up until 31 July 2016, when she resigned as an employee. The remaining trustees
are unpaid volunteers. The trustees serve for a three-year term, after which they must be re-elected. Any
expenses reclaimed from the charity by the trustees are set out in Note 4 to the accounts.
The Chair of Trustees, Keith Clarke, leads the board. An Honorary Treasurer, elected from the trustees,
leads the AAC, which meets four times a year to ensure the adequacy of Forum’s internal controls and
financial management, and considers and evaluates the work of the external auditors. The AAC
membership includes the Honorary Treasurer, Sean Fox in position until July 2016 and Fiona Thompson
who took the position from July 2016, three other trustees and an independent adviser.
37
New trustees are appointed by the board following open advertisement and approaches to other
individuals. The Board maintains a list of required skills and competencies, and seeks to ensure that
recruitment fills any skill gaps left by retiring trustees. New trustees receive a comprehensive induction,
which introduces Forum and a review of the duties of trustees as defined by the Charity Commission.
Forum for the Future India Private Limited is a company limited by shares. Our Singapore office is
operated out of Forum for the Future Asia Pacific Limited, a company limited by guarantee. As such,
consolidated group accounts have been prepared for 2016 along with UK company accounts. In legal
terms, our US office operated as a project of The Tides Foundation until the end of April 2016, which in
practice functioned as an integral part of Forum. Forum for the Future US became an independent
501(c)(3) with effect from 1 May 2016, and accordingly is consolidated in the Group accounts from that
date. In addition, Forum for the Future US is using TriNet as a Professional Employer Organisation (PEO)
to manage employee contracts, benefits and payroll from that date.
4.4.2 Remuneration
The trustees agreed revisions to a performance-related pay system for all staff in the organisation in 2016
based on individual targets' which align with the organisation’s key performance indicators to support
driving Forum’s strategy forward. This is integrated into the appraisal process to ensure pay rises
accurately reflect contribution to Forum’s strategic goals.
The Remuneration Committee is responsible for assessing the performance of the Chief Executive and
Founder Directors. This committee is also responsible, along with the Chief Executive, for assessing the
performance of the SMT.
4.4.3 Activities and public benefit
As a charity, Forum for the Future is required to demonstrate public benefit from its activities. This
section sets out how it fulfils that duty.
The trustees have referred to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when
reviewing the aims and objectives of Forum and planning its future activities. The trustees confirm that
they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to the public
benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission in determining how planned activities will
contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.
38
Forum aims to benefit the public by providing information about the path to a sustainable future. We
achieve this aim by enabling organisations in the private and public sectors to put sustainability at the
heart of their strategies and develop products and services that are environmentally sound, economically
viable and socially just. Our pre-competitive multi-stakeholder projects (where competitors can come
together within the rules of Competition Law to discuss strategic responses to often complex and difficult
issues, as well as developing common methodologies and approaches – see Collaboration Guidebook)
have a direct public benefit, by actively addressing specific complex challenges, with a number of our
research projects articulating the new systems and governance for sustainable systems also directly
benefiting the public.
We make the results of our work available to the wider public through events, publications, our website
and our digital Futures Centre platform, where we build communities and discussions to accelerate our
work. Here, we share ‘sensemaking’ analysis and signals of change sourced through our projects,
resources that we recommend, and thoroughly researched and referenced futures trends. We also strive
for coverage of our projects in mainstream media across the globe as another way of sharing our work.
In 2016, our Pioneer Partners helped us to deliver public benefit by contributing financially to two of our
flagship programmes: the Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development and its evolution into the
School of System Change, and our Futures Centre platform. In 2015 and 2016, the Futures Centre also
supported the production of our annual compendium, The Long View.
The fees paid by our partners and sponsors enable us to make our recommendations, futures scenarios,
Futures Centre content and other publications available on our website and Futures Centre platform at no
charge.
Forum partners also provided work placement opportunities for our Masters’ scholars, and their financial
contributions enabled us to offer the Masters programme at an affordable cost. In 2016 we offered one
scholarship for our course and the Leadership Trust supported Forum with a bursary enabling 11 course
participants to take part in leadership training at their headquarters in Herefordshire. The graduates of
this programme most often go on to work in the private and public sectors, helping other organisations
deliver the benefits of sustainable development to society.
Our internship programme is one of the ways Forum for the Future delivers on our responsibility for
helping to develop the next generation of sustainability experts. During their time at Forum, interns have
access to a wealth of resources, learning opportunities and events and are able to build an invaluable
network of contacts. We actively monitor our approach to internships, and we consistently get positive
feedback from those who do intern with us. At the end of internships, many interns move on to paid
39
employment or self-employment or choose to do further education courses. A number of our interns have
subsequently taken up paid roles at Forum.
4.4.4 Statement of compliance with statutory information
Reference and administrative information set out in section 4 forms part of this report. The financial
statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Memorandum and Articles of Association
and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable
to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.
4.5 Structure, governance and management
The statutory accounts reflect the figures for the Forum Group, which includes operations in the UK, Asia
Pacific, India and the US. The US was included in the group accounts for the first time in 2016.
4.6 Statement of directors’ responsibilities
The trustees (who are also Directors of Forum for the Future for the purposes of Company Law) are
responsible for preparing the trustees report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable
law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting
Practice).
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year that give a true
and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and
application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP
Make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent
State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material
departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that
the charitable company will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy
at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial
statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of
the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud
and other irregularities.
In so far as the trustees are aware:
There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware
40
The trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any
relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information
included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the
preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in
the event of it winding up. The total number of such guarantees as at 31 December 2016 was two. The
trustees are members of the charity, but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no
beneficial interest in the charity, with the exception of Jonathon Porritt who is paid for his services as an
employee of Forum with the consent of the Charity Commission. Sara Parkin was also paid for her
services up until her employment ended on 31 July 2016.
Auditor
Our auditor – Sayer Vincent LLP – has expressed its willingness to continue in office.
Approved by the Board of Trustees on 26th April 2017 and signed on their behalf by:
Fiona Thompson
(Director and trustee)
41
4.7 Network Members and Partners
4.7.1 Pioneers (organisations who are sustainability leaders in their sector, who
access all Network and partner benefits, and also support our Futures Centre,
our Masters course and the School of System Change)
Kingfisher
M&S plc
O2 plc
Sky
The Crown Estate
Unilever plc
4.7.2 Partners (organisations that both join our Network but also access a tailor-made
work programme designed to accelerate their progress towards sustainability)
3M John Lewis Partnership
Aditya Birla Group Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust
Aggregate Industries Kyocera Document Solutions
Ahold Delhaize L'Oreal Paris
Air New Zealand Novelis
AkzoNobel N.V PepsiCo Inc
Associated British Foods Ports of Auckland
Aviva Investors Pret A Manger Ltd
Ball Corporation Pukka Herbs
C&A Reckitt Benkiser
Cafédirect Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd
Capgemini Ltd SC Johnson
Cathay Pacific SIG Combibloc
Certis Europe Sime Darby
China Navigation Company Swire Pacific Offshore
ColArt Target
Colep Taylors of Harrogate
Delhaize America The Co-operative Group
Diageo The Hershey Company
DuPont The Jordans & Ryvita Company Ltd
EDF Energy TUI Group
Finlays Value Retail
Firmenich Volac
FirstGroup plc Walgreens Boots Alliance
FrieslandCampina Willmott Dixon Ltd
42
4.7.3 Members (organisations that join our Network and participate in events,
webinars and collaborate with peers to create change)
American Express Heineken UK
Asian Venture Philanthropy Network Horizons
Aster Group HSH Group
Barry Callebaut IGD
Bio-bean Innovate UK
BioRegional Jaguar Land Rover Ltd
Birmingham City University Johnson & Johnson
Blue and Green Tomorrow KeepCup
Bowman Kellogg Company
British Aerosol Manufacturers Association Legero
BT plc Neal's Yard remedies
Burberry Nestle Research
BuroHappold Engineering Nice and Serious Ltd
Carillion plc Open Energi
City of London Penguin Random House
Climate Coalition The Phone Co-op
ClimateCare Provenance
The Coca-Cola Company Quorn (Marlow Foods)
Coca-Cola Enterprises Rainforest Alliance
Compassion in World Farming Sedex
Cook Food Severn Trent
Direct Line Insurance Group ShareAction
DriveNow UK Skanska UK plc
Eat Me Chutneys Swire Oilfield Services
Ella's Kitchen Tarmac
Fairtrade Foundation Tata Global Beverages
FoodTrade Tesco plc
General Mills Thompsons Ltd
GlaxoSmithKline Twin
Goodyear Tires University College London
GrowUp Value Added in Africa
GSH Group VF Corporation
Heathrow Airport Walt Disney Company
43
4.8 Grant funders, major donors, collaborators and sponsors
4.8.1 Grant Funders and major donors
Economic Development Board (EDB) Singapore The European Commission
Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Friends Provident Foundation
Future Energy Abu Dhabi The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative The Kimberly Clark Foundation
IMACE The Lankelly Chase Foundation
Innovate UK The Richard Sandbrook Trust
Nesta The Shell Foundation
The Barings Foundation The Waterloo Foundation
The C&A Foundation University of Illinois
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Worsley Trust
The Department for International Development WWF
The Diageo Foundation Zoological Society of London
4.8.2 Other funders and collaborators
7th Generation Method
BaxterStorey Middlesex University
Buhler AG Nestec SA
Calysta Inc Orange plc
Camellia Procter & Gamble
Clorox/Burt's Bees S&D Coffee & Tea
Colgate-Palmolive Samworth Bros
CVS Seeding the Future
Dow Chemical Co Sephora
Eastman Chemical Company Starbucks Coffee Company
Evonik Nutrition Telefonica SA
Henkel TerraVia
Huawei The Leadership Trust
Impossible Foods Waitrose
44
4.8.3 20th Anniversary sponsors
Kingfisher
M&S
PepsiCo Inc
Unilever UKCR
Wilmott Dixon
4.8.4 Futures Centre partners and sponsors
Amec Foster Wheeler Novelis
Arjowiggins Graphic Marine Stewardship Council
Ashden The Joseph Rowntree Foundation
EDB Singapore
4.8.5 The Long View sponsors
C&A AG
Colep
Diageo
Firmenich
Interface
The C&A Foundation
Unilever plc
45
4.9 Affiliates and Forum internships
4.9.1 Affiliates
David Aeron-Thomas Pallavi Ahuja
David Bent Prasanta Biswal
Zahra Davidson Zarir DeVitre
Dr Jeff Hardy Hugh Knowles
Saksham Nijhawan Lorna Pelly
Lara Sinha
4.9.2 Forum internships in 2016
Charlie Debenham Marianne Fekene
Sheryl Foo Omar Gawad
Helen Hughes Kawsar Hussain
Nikki Kapp Michelle Lai
Sarah Lloyd Ming Wei Low
Matthew McGuire Sultan Miah
Courtnee O'Neill Natalia Paine
Adam Sadiq Cornelia Silaghi
Emily Stewart Toby Strudwick
Agnieszka Szyszka Anne-Louise Vernes
Ella Walker Callum Watts
Madeleine Wild Kirsten Zeller
Thanks also to all the tutors and speakers who have donated their time to the Forum Masters Programme
and the School of System Change.
46
Independent auditor’s report
to the members of Forum for the Future
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Forum for the Future (the ‘parent charitable company’) and
its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 December 2016 which comprise the consolidated
statement of financial activities, the group and parent charitable company balance sheets, the
consolidated statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements, including a summary of
significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their
preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting
Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United
Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
Give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the parent charitable company’s affairs as at
31 December 2016 and of the group’s incoming resources and application of resources, including its
income and expenditure, for the year then ended
Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting
Practice
Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and the
Charities Act 2011
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and
applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s
responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the
group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial
statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical
responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have
obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
47
Conclusions relating to going concern
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us
to report to you where:
The trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial
statements is not appropriate; or
The trustees have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties that
may cast significant doubt about the group’s or the parent charitable company’s ability to continue to
adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when
the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Other information
The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information
included in the directors’ report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our
opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent
otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other
information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the
financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially
misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are
required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material
misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there
is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
The information given in the directors’ report for the financial year for which the financial statements
are prepared is consistent with the financial statements
The directors’ report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements
48
Matters on which we are required to report by exception
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent charitable company and its
environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the
directors’ report.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act
2006 and Charities Act 2011 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
Adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent charitable company, or returns
adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
The parent charitable company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records
and returns; or
Certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
The directors were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small
companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the trustees’
annual report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.
Responsibilities of trustees
As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report,
the trustees (who are also the directors of the parent charitable company for the purposes of company
law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a
true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the
preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or
error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and the parent
charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to
going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to
liquidate the group or the parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic
alternative but to do so.
Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
This report is made solely to the charitable company's members as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3
of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and regulations made
under section 154 of that Act. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable
company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other
purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other
than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this
49
report, or for the opinions we have formed.
We have been appointed auditor under the Companies Act 2006 and section 151 of the Charites Act 2011
and report in accordance with those Acts.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are
free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that
includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an
audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.
Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the
aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the
basis of these financial statements.
As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs (UK), we exercise professional judgment and maintain
professional scepticism throughout the audit. We also:
Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to
fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit
evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting
a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may
involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal
control.
Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures
that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the
effectiveness of the group’s internal control
Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting
estimates and related disclosures made by the trustees
Conclude on the appropriateness of the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting and,
based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or
conditions that may cast significant doubt on the group’s or the parent charitable company’s ability to
continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw
attention in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such
disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence
obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the
group or the parent charitable company to cease to continue as a going concern.
Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the
disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in
a manner that achieves fair presentation
Obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the financial information of the entities or
business activities within the group to express an opinion on the consolidated financial statements.
50
We are responsible for the direction, supervision and performance of the group audit. We remain
solely responsible for our audit opinion.
We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope
and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal
control that we identify during our audit.
Jonathan Orchard (Senior statutory auditor)
25 August 2017
for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor
Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TL
Sayer Vincent LLP is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006
Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities
(incorporating an Income and Expenditure Account)
2016 2015
Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
Restated
Note £ £ £ £
Income from:
Donations 143,310 - 143,310 109,298
3
Delivery 3,902,810 1,107,199 5,010,009 4,724,844
Communications 39,959 - 39,959 88,462
Other - - - 27,671
Total income 4,086,079 1,107,199 5,193,278 4,950,275
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 7,385 - 7,385 13,162
Delivery 4,237,841 718,595 4,956,436 4,580,022
Communications 273,936 - 273,936 242,920
Total expenditure 4 4,519,162 718,595 5,237,757 4,836,104
Net (deficit)/surplus for the year 5 (433,083) 388,604 (44,479) 114,171
Reconciliation of funds:
902,719 159,525 1,062,244 916,882
Prior year adjustments 26 134,318 - 134,318 165,509
Total funds brought forward - restated 1,037,037 159,525 1,196,562 1,082,391
Total funds carried forward 603,954 548,129 1,152,083 1,196,562
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses
other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 20 to the financial statements.
Charitable activities
Charitable activities
Total funds brought forward as
previously stated
51
Balance sheet
Company number: 2959712
2016 2015 2016 2015
Restated Restated
Note £ £ £ £
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets 10 162,770 187,633 144,321 178,523
Investments 11 - - 1,096 1,096
162,770 187,633 145,417 179,619
Debtors 14 1,204,461 1,834,044 1,591,110 1,890,542
Short term deposits - - - -
Cash at bank and in hand 740,127 343,591 444,768 251,831
1,944,588 2,177,635 2,035,878 2,142,373
Liabilities
Creditors: amounts due within one year 15 934,634 1,123,295 858,852 1,015,272
Net current assets 1,009,954 1,054,340 1,177,026 1,127,101
Creditors: amounts due after one year 17 20,641 45,411 20,641 45,411
Total net assets 19 1,152,083 1,196,562 1,301,802 1,261,309
The funds of the charity 20
Unrestricted income funds
Designated funds - 12,602 - 12,602
General funds 603,954 1,024,436 777,984 1,089,183
Restricted income funds
In surplus 548,129 159,524 523,818 159,524
Total charity funds 1,152,083 1,196,562 1,301,802 1,261,309
Honorary Treasurer
Forum for the Future
As at 31 December 2016
Approved by the directors on 26 April 2017 and signed on their behalf by
Fiona Thompson
The group The charity
52
Consolidated statement of cash flows
Note 2016 2015
£ £
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash provided by operating activities 21 469,325 76,874
Cash flows from investing activitiesProceeds from the sale of fixed assets - 27,672
Purchase of fixed assets (48,020) (174,869)
Net cash used in investing activities (48,020) (147,197)
Cash flows from financing activities
Cash receipts from new finance leases - 74,309
Cash payments to repay finance leases (24,769) (4,128)
Net cash (used in)/provided by financing activities (24,769) 70,181
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year 396,536 (142)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 343,591 343,733
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 740,127 343,591
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
53
Notes to the financial statements
1. Accounting policies
a)
b) Basis of accounting
c)
d)
e)
Income - prior year adjustment
f)
On receipt, donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift
to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent
economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of
receipt.
Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the
item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit
from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance
with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees’ annual report for more
information about their contribution.
Donations of gifts, services and facilities
Public benefit entity
The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.
For the reasons set out in the Reserves Policy, the Trustees are satisfied that the charitable company is able to continue
as a going concern.
The Trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a
significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next
reporting period.
Income
Statutory information
Forum for the Future is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in England & Wales. The
registered office address is Overseas House, 19-23 Ironmonger Row, London, EC1V 3QN.
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
These financial statements consolidate the results of the charitable company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries Forum
for the Future Asia Pacific Limited, Forum for the Future India Private Limited and eight months of Forum for the Future
US Inc, on a line by line basis. Transactions and balances between the charitable company and its subsidiaries have been
eliminated from the consolidated financial statements. Balances between the companies are disclosed in the notes of
the charitable company's balance sheet. Separate statements of financial activities, or income and expenditure accounts,
for the subsidiaries are not presented because they have taken advantage of the exemptions afforded by section 408 of
the Companies Act 2006.
Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant
accounting policy or note.
Going concern
Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income
have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.
Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity
has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the
income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.
Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are
met. Membership fees and non work programe related Partnership income is recognised in full on receipt and work
programme related partnership income is deferred over the period in which services are provided. This is a change in
accounting policy and the impact of this change is disclosed in detail in note 26.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of
Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting
Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP FRS 102),
the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (August 2014) and the
Companies Act 2006.
54
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
1. Accounting policies (continued)
g)
h)
i)
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
j)
k)
l)
m) Tangible fixed assets
Improvements to leasehold properties 20% on cost
Furniture and fittings 20% on cost
Computer and office equipment 20% on cost of software and 33.33% on cost of hardware
Operating leases
Allocation of support costs
Interest receivable
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes.
Foreign exchangeSales invoices raised in foreign currencies are entered into the accounts at the day rate or in accordance with an
exchange rate set in the contract, if applicable. The same treatment is applied to costs. Bank account balances are
revalued regularly throughout the year and at year end.
Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes. The designated funds are
set aside at the discretion of the trustees and relate to the charity’s policy on sustainability. The Sustainability Fund is to
cover additional expenditure to avoid or offset the negative environmental impact of the charity’s operations.
Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is
probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is
classified under the following activity headings:
Costs of raising funds relate to the costs incurred by the charitable company in inducing third parties to make
voluntary contributions to it, as well as the cost of any activities with a fundraising purpose
Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of delivering services and educational activities undertaken
to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs
Other expenditure represents those items not falling into any other heading
Infrastructure and support costs are apportioned across the Forum cost centres in line with the ratio of staff costs of the
cost centre in question to total staff costs, excluding the staff costs of those support cost centres that are included in
the allocation. The type of costs that are allocated in this way include all office costs (rent, rates, asset hire, utilities,
stationery, telephone, insurance, depreciation etc) and support cost centres (ie finance, IT, HR and office services).
Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.
Depreciation is provided using the straight-line method at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset
over its estimated useful life.
Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.
Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity;
this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost.
No item of equipment is capitalised where the purchase price is less than £500. A full year of depreciation is taken in
the year of acquisition. All fixed assets more than six years old are treated as having been disposed of in the financial
statements.
Where fixed assets have been revalued, any excess between the revalued amount and the historic cost of the asset will
be shown as a revaluation reserve in the balance sheet.
Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria
is charged to the fund.
55
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
1. Accounting policies (continued)
n)
o)
p)
q)
r) Pensions
2. Detailed comparatives for 2015 (restated) for the statement of financial activities
2015
Unrestricted Restricted Total
£ £ £
Income from:
Donations 109,298 - 109,298
Delivery 4,311,397 413,447 4,724,844
Communications 88,462 - 88,462
Other 27,671 - 27,671
Total income 4,536,828 413,447 4,950,275
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 13,162 - 13,162
Delivery 4,197,673 382,349 4,580,022
Communications 242,920 - 242,920
Total expenditure 4,453,755 382,349 4,836,104
83,073 31,098 114,171
Transfers between funds 9,864 (9,864) -
Net movement in funds 92,937 21,234 114,171
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward - restated 944,100 138,291 1,082,391
Total funds carried forward 1,037,037 159,525 1,196,562
Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will
probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or
estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any
trade discounts due.
Net income for the year
Debtors
Investments in subsidiaries are at cost.
Investments in subsidiaries
The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic
financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value
with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest
method.
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due. Prepayments are valued at the net amount
prepaid.
Cash at bank and in hand
Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three
months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
Creditors and provisions
Charitable activities
The charity operates a group personal pension plan which is a direct contribution scheme. Contributions are charged to
the SOFA in the periods to which they relate. The charity has no liability under the scheme other than for the payment of
those contributions.
Charitable activities
56
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
3. Income from charitable activities
2016 2015
(a) Funders Unrestricted Total Total
Restated
£ £ £ £
Delivery
EU grant - - - 85,898
Central governments 138,268 196,573 334,841 337,29518,677 - 18,677 20,170
Corporate 3,375,155 152,301 3,527,456 3,454,131Higher education 74,352 7,705 82,057 32,476
103,762 76,320 180,082 419,607
Trusts and foundations 185,962 674,300 860,262 279,342Publishing - - - 458Individuals 6,634 - 6,634 -
Other funders - - - 126,658Total delivery income 3,902,810 1,107,199 5,010,009 4,756,035
Communications
Not-for-profit organisations 39,959 - 39,959 88,462
Total 3,942,769 1,107,199 5,049,968 4,844,497
2016 2015
(b) Delivery teams Unrestricted Total Total
£ £ £ £
Food 937,229 - 937,229 764,607
Energy 391,100 - 391,100 482,609
Network 430,864 - 430,864 363,403
734,716 - 734,716 1,141,230
Systems Innovation 160,230 - 160,230 474,488
Asia Pacific 493,700 47,549 541,249 909,109
India 110,652 129,100 239,752 55,011
US 424,185 76,661 500,846 -
Masters 33,122 - 33,122 189,250
Sustainable Shipping 28,302 - 28,302 28,830
Learning programme 8,710 85,000 93,710 -
Jonathon Porritt books - - - 20
Other projects 150,000 768,889 918,889 347,478
3,902,810 1,107,199 5,010,009 4,756,035
Communications 39,959 - 39,959 88,462
3,942,769 1,107,199 5,049,968 4,844,497
Restricted
Sustainable Business
Not-for-profit organisations
Local and regional governments
Restricted
57
Notes to the financial statements
4. Analysis of expenditureCost of raising
funds Delivery Communications
Governance
Costs Support Costs 2016 Total 2015
£ £ £ £ £ £ £
Staff costs:
- 2,914,030 182,666 - 588,565 3,685,261 3,221,446
- other 128 38,358 25,415 - 16,628 80,529 99,441
Publishing 1,965 51,804 4,264 73 532 58,638 72,610
Travel and subsistence 657 127,429 6,841 1,268 27,765 163,960 181,545
Scholars - 23,593 - - - 23,593 46,254
Consultancy 502 358,729 27,893 15,825 402,949 545,518
Events 3,415 73,204 6 - 89 76,714 60,349
Depreciation - - - - 72,883 72,883 43,847
Office costs - 68,410 4,806 876 326,667 400,759 368,570
Other costs 718 4,468 22,045 19,700 125,540 172,471 196,524
7,385 3,660,025 273,936 21,917 1,174,494 5,137,757 4,836,104
Governance costs - 21,917 - (21,917) - - -
Support costs - 1,174,494 - - (1,174,494) - -
Contribution to US operations (note 8) - 100,000 - - - 100,000 -
Total expenditure 2016 7,385 4,956,436 273,936 - - 5,237,757 4,836,104
Total expenditure 2015 13,162 4,580,022 242,920 - - 4,836,104 4,842,564
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
- emoluments and social security costs
58
Notes to the financial statements
5. Net (deficit)/surplus for the year 2016 2015
£ £
This is stated after charging/ (crediting):
Depreciation 72,883 43,847
Profit on disposal of fixed assets - (27,672)
Operating lease rentals:
l property 167,331 85,830
l other 14,319 12,901
Forum for the Future Group auditors' remuneration (excluding VAT):
l audit 15,000 13,800
Forum for the Future Asia Pacific Limited auditors' remuneration:
l audit 3,500 5,000
l other services 1,574 1,000
Forum for the Future India Private Limited auditors' remuneration:
l audit 929 810
l other services 197 1,850
Forum for the Future US Inc auditors' remuneration:
l audit 6,923 -Foreign exchange gains or losses (54,515) 18,821
6.
2016 2015
£ £
Staff costs were as follows:
Salaries and wages 3,049,245 2,702,310
Redundancy and termination costs* 17,851 33,110
Social security costs 286,970 270,816
Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes 331,194 296,640
3,685,260 3,302,876
2016 2015
No. No.
£60,000 - £69,999 4 4
£80,000 - £89,999 1 1
£90,000 - £99,999 1 2£100,000 - £110,000 1 -
2016 2015 2016 2015
£ £ £ £
Volker Beckers - - 1,449 1,323
Sara Parkin 15,605 25,000 - -
Jonathon Porritt 103,506 98,305 - 75
119,111 123,305 1,449 1,398
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel
*The above amount of £17,851 relates to two redundancy payments. All liabilities have been fully paid in
the year.
The total employee benefits including employer national insurance and pension for key management
personnel was £861,669 (2015: £795,200).
The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employers national insurance
and employer pension costs) during the year between:
Jonathon Porritt and Sara Parkin are paid for their services as employees of Forum for the Future with the
consent of the Charity Commission.
The total employee benefits including employers national insurance and pension contributions of the
senior management team were £728,702 (2015: £657,874).
Salary and pensionExpenses and travel costs for
trustee meetings
59
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
7
2016 2015
No. No.
Raising funds 1 1
Delivery 60 59
Communications 7 5
Support 13 9
Governance 2 2
83 76
8. Related party transactions
9. Taxation
The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable
purposes. None of the charity's trading subsidiaries have a liability for income tax for 2016 (2015 - £nil).
Forum for the Future has taken the exemptions conferred by paragraph 33 1A of FRS 102 in respect of
disclosing transactions with group entities on the basis that the subsidiaries are wholly controlled and
group accounts are prepared.
Sally Uren was an Advisor to the C&A Foundation Investment Committee and stepped down before the Core
support grant was agreed and received. Forum received £420,000 from C&A Foundation in 2016 as
transition funding (2015: nil) and £69,584 for a project to accelerate action for sustainable cotton (2015:
£100,000).
The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year (2016
including Forum for the Future US Inc) was as follows:
The Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) was spun off from Forum UK in 2013. Stephanie Draper is the
Deputy CEO of Forum and the Chair of SSI. Forum charge SSI an annual management charge of £28,302 for
the use of office space and overheads. In 2016 SSI bought services from Forum UK of £7,489 (2015:
£57,288) and from Forum APAC of nil (2015: £41,380) and has a year end debtor balance with the group of
nil (2015: £34,242).
Jonathon Porritt is a non-executive director of Willmott Dixon Ltd, from whom income of £25,513 was
received during the year (2015: £27,750) and there is a debtor balance of £nil at year end (2015: £750).
He is also a personal advisor to Unilever from whom income of £202,146 was received in 2016 (2015:
£335,724) and there is a debtor balance of £33,516 at year end (2015: £18,000). Jonathon is also
Chairman of O2/Telefonica UK Sustainability Panel. Income of £209,264 was received in 2016 (2015:
£280,608) and there is a debtor balance of £16,724 at year end (2015: £158,221).
In July 2015, Forum for the Future US Inc. was incorporated as an independent entity and acquired 501(c)(3)
status as an independent non-profit organisation on 30 September 2015. The company remained dormant
till 1 May 2016. The Tides Foundation was the fiscal sponsor for the Group’s US activities until 30 April
2016. On 1 May 2016 there was a $185,558 (£127,008) asset transfer from The Tides Foundation to Forum
for the Future US Inc., that has been recorded in the accounts of the Group as a donation.
At 31 December 2015, Forum for the Future Group was owed £194,669 from the US Tides operation, and it
was envisaged that this balance would be offset over time against future surpluses from the US, and the
eventual planned asset transfer from The Tides Foundation (that occurred on 1 May 2016) would match the
outstanding amount. However, only £127,008 was transferred resulting in £67,661 shortfall. In July 16, the
Trustees of Forum of the Future approved a transfer of £94,669 to Forum for the Future US Inc., against the
donation of £127,008 from the Tides Foundation. The trustees agreed to recognise £100,000 as a
contribution to the US operations, as a result of which Forum US Inc. made a modest surplus in its first
period operating as an independent entity. The trustees consider that the contribution of £100,000 has
been applied for charitable purposes, reflecting the recharge of Forum for the Future UK staff and overhead
costs to Forum for the Future US Inc when operating as Tides.
Staff numbers
60
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
10. Tangible fixed assets
Furniture and
fittings
Computer
and office
equipment Total£ £ £ £
Cost
At the start of the year 63,213 19,179 297,411 379,803
Additions in year - - 48,020 48,020
At the end of the year 63,213 19,179 345,431 427,823
Depreciation
At the start of the year 58,313 17,708 116,149 192,170
Charge for the year 4,900 733 67,250 72,883
At the end of the year 63,213 18,441 183,399 265,053
Net book valueAt the end of the year - 738 162,032 162,770
At the start of the year 4,900 1,471 181,262 187,633
Furniture and
fittings
Computer
and office
equipment Total£ £ £ £
Cost
At the start of the year 63,213 19,179 286,023 368,415
Additions in year - - 33,499 33,499
At the end of the year 63,213 19,179 319,522 401,914
Depreciation
At the start of the year 58,313 17,708 113,871 189,892
Charge for the year 4,900 733 62,068 67,701
At the end of the year 63,213 18,441 175,939 257,593
Net book valueAt the end of the year - 738 143,583 144,321
At the start of the year 4,900 1,471 172,152 178,523
All of the group and charity assets are used for charitable purposes.
11. Investments
Improvements
to Leasehold
Property
Forum for the Future Asia Pacific Limited was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee on 19
November 2013. The charitable company is the sole member though holds no investment. Forum For The
Future Asia Pacific acquired charitable status in Singapore on 26 January 2016.
Group investments relate to two £1 shares in GF Limited set up as a trading company by the charity but
which has never traded and remains dormant.
The charity Improvements
to Leasehold
Property
The group
Forum for the Future India Private Limited was incorporated as a subsidiary company limited by shares on
25 March 2014. The allocated shares were subscribed to in 2015 at a cost of £1,094.
61
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
12 Subsidiary undertakings
Forum for the Future Asia Pacific Ltd
2016 2015
£ £
Turnover 474,555 601,732
Cost of sales 495,715 423,884
Gross (loss)/profit (21,160) 177,848
Administrative expenses 119,721 103,470
(Loss)/profit for financial year (140,881) 74,378
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and funds was:
Assets 534,448 450,332
Liabilities (708,554) (483,557)
Deficit (174,106) (33,225)
Forum for the Future India Private Limited
2016 2015
£ £
Turnover 99,907 33,096
Cost of sales 59,246 69,917
Gross profit/(loss) 40,661 (36,821)
Administrative expenses 22,815 2,877
Profit/(loss) for financial year 17,846 (39,698)
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and funds was:
Assets 174,724 76,702
Liabilities (187,306) (107,130)
Share Capital (1,094) (1,094)
Deficit (13,676) (31,522)
The charitable company is the sole member of Forum for the Future Asia Pacific Limited, a company limited
by guarantee, registered in Singapore. All activities have been consolidated on a line by line basis in the
statement of financial activities. The company accounts for Forum for the Future Asia Pacific Limited are
audited separately by Moore Stephens LLP. The figures are then consolidated into the Group accounts.
The charitable company owns 99.99% of the issued ordinary share capital of Forum for the Future India
Private Limited, a company limited by shares and registered in India.
62
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
12 Subsidiary undertakings continued
Forum for the Future US Inc
2016
£
Turnover 631,322
Cost of sales 396,568
Gross profit 234,754
Administrative expenses 221,052
Profit on ordinary activities 13,702
Foreign exchange gains 24,362
Profit for financial period 38,064
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and funds was:
Assets 571,570
Liabilities (533,506)
Funds 38,064
13. Parent charity
2016 2015
£ £
Gross income 4,112,074 4,603,518Results for the year 40,493 110,683
The parent charity's gross income and the results for the year are disclosed as follows:
Results from May - Dec 2016. See note 8.
During the year to 31 December 2015, the US operations, whilst operating as a Tides project (and therefore
not consolidated), had turnover of £893,087 ($1,318,498) and a profit of £20,288 ($29,952) for the year.
The turnover of the US operation for the year to 31 December 2016 (eight months of which have been
consolidated as above) was £887,025 ($1,093,888) and an annual surplus of £13,710 ($16,908).
63
Notes to the financial statements
14. Debtors
2016 2015 2016 2015£ £ £ £
Trade debtors 657,833 1,229,980 671,245 961,120
Other debtors 97,787 302,471 577,291 711,010
Prepayments 123,918 99,183 122,244 86,028
Accrued income 324,923 202,410 220,330 132,384
1,204,461 1,834,044 1,591,110 1,890,542
15. Creditors: amounts due within one year
2016 2015 2016 2015
Restated Restated£ £ £ £
Amounts due under finance leases 24,770 24,769 24,770 24,769
Trade creditors 211,419 207,733 406,229 192,295
Other creditors 83,815 296,900 52,901 258,718
Accruals 45,097 81,988 28,095 64,713
Deferred income 569,533 511,905 346,857 474,777
934,634 1,123,295 858,852 1,015,272
16. Deferred income
2016 2015 2016 2015
Restated Restated£ £ £ £
Balance at the beginning of the year 511,905 683,008 474,777 683,008
Amount released to income in the year (511,905) (683,008) (474,777) (683,008)
Amount deferred in the year 569,533 511,905 346,857 474,777
Balance at the end of the year 569,533 511,905 346,857 474,777
17. Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
2016 2015 2016 2015£ £ £ £
Amounts due under finance leases 20,641 45,411 20,641 45,411
18. Pension scheme
The group The charity
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
The group The charity
Deferred income comprises programme income received from funders in advance and partnership income
received in advance.
The group The charity
Forum for the Future UK operates a contract based, individual money purchase arrangement with Aviva.
As at 31 December 2016 there was nothing owing for the December contributions. There were 58
members of staff enrolled on the pension scheme at the end of December 2016. Pension arrangements in
APAC for Singaporeans are obligatory statutory payments to the Central Provident Fund. In the US the
pension is arranged with TransAmerica.
The group The charity
64
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
19a Current year analysis of group net assets between fundsRestricted
funds
General
funds Total funds
£ £ £ £
Tangible fixed assets - - 162,770 162,770
Net current assets 548,129 - 441,184 989,313
Net assets at the end of the year 548,129 - 603,954 1,152,083
19b Prior year analysis of group net assets between funds - restatedRestricted General Total funds
£ £ £ £
Tangible fixed assets - - 187,633 187,633
Net current assets 159,525 12,602 836,802 1,008,929
Net assets at the end of the year 159,525 12,602 1,024,435 1,196,562
20a Current year movements in funds
At the start
of the year Transfers
At the end
of the year
£ £ £ £ £
Restricted funds:
Delivery:
C&A Foundation - 355,558 (108,058) - 247,500
139,025 - (94,144) - 44,881
- 125,000 (4,330) - 120,670
5,500 59,620 (48,699) - 16,421
- 129,100 (129,100) - -
- 111,535 (100,731) - 10,804
- 24,847 (4,847) - 20,000
EDB Grant - 39,844 (39,844) - -
15,000 30,000 (26,958) - 18,042
Shell Foundation - 10,000 (10,000) - -
Innovate UK - 21,681 (21,681) - -
Nesta - 9,700 (9,700) - -
WWF -UK - 6,000 (6,000) - -
School of System Change - 85,000 (41,000) - 44,000
US funders - 76,661 (52,350) - 24,311
Other - 22,653 (21,153) - 1,500
Total restricted funds 159,525 1,107,199 (718,595) - 548,129
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:Sustainability Fund 12,602 - - (12,602) -
Total designated funds 12,602 - - (12,602) -
General funds 1,024,435 4,086,079 (4,519,162) 12,602 603,954
1,037,037 4,086,079 (4,519,162) - 603,954
1,196,562 5,193,278 (5,237,757) - 1,152,083
Designated
funds
Income and
gains
Expenditure
and losses
Designated
EU-Innovate
Baring Foundation
DFID
Total funds
Waterloo Foundation
Calouste Gulbenkian
Total unrestricted funds
Tea Campaign
Joseph Rowntree Charitable
Trust
65
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
20a Current year movements in funds continued
Purposes of restricted funds
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
(ix)
(x)
(xi)
(xii)
(xiii)
(xiv)
(xv) US Funders include $30K from the American Express Foundation to support the School of System Change
and $60K from Target. The Target funds were split $40K for the Protein Challenge 2016, the first global
coalition exploring how we feed nine billion people enough protein in a way which is affordable, healthy
and good for the environment and $20K for Cotton 2040. This work aims to create significant systemic
change for sustainability in the cotton industry through collaborative working focusing in phase 3 on
Building Demand and Cotton Traceability.
World Wildlife Fund: WWF-UK have funded £3K to each of the collaborative projects Protein Challenge
2040 and Fats and Oils.
DfID: Forum has secured a £219K grant for India's Decentralised Energy Future project to undertake the
scoping phase and programme co-ordination for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in India.
The Tea 2030 campaign is working to identify and accelerate collaborative solutions for the systemic
challenges facing the future of the tea industry and has a number of funders.
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust: This grant is for £60K over two years to be invested in developing
and maintaining the Futures Centre platform.
Innovate UK Technology Strategy Board have awarded a grant of £72K to work on the Integrated transport
local authority solutions project - The Smarter Travel Package.
The grant from Nesta is to support them in designing a Challenge Prize in Aquaculture for Global
Development which would address market failures in aquaculture in India and Bangladesh.
The Waterloo Foundation: This grant is a contribution towards the costs of developing a rural energy
master plan for a pilot community in Wales.
Economic Development Board Singapore: This grant is to establish a Futures Centre of Excellence in
Singapore and is for a maximum amount of SGD 300K to be claimed against salary costs. This grant runs
from Feb 2014 to Jan 2017.
Shell Foundation: The purpose of this grant is to build a "Practitioners' Hub" to accelerate social
innovation and catalyse the growth of inclusive markets to deliver impact at scale. The total value of the
grant was £150K payble on the completion of project milestones.
The School of System Change: C&A Foundation, Lankelly Chase and Diageo have all funded our work to
develop the School of System Change.
Calouste Gulbenkian has awarded funds for three projects. (i) for a senior member of staff to participate
in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation's Marine CoLABoration initiative (ii) The One Less project where
Forum’s role is to facilitate stakeholder research and create a systems-based strategy for making London
plastic bottle free. It is worth £43k to Forum over a year (iii) The LAB Learning Coach programme to
support the coordination and development of hte Marine CoLABoration over two years.
The Baring Foundation grant to run the Secretariat to the Independent Inquiry into the Future of Civil
Society totals £500K over 19 months. £250K of this will be paid over to partners working on the project.
C&A Foundation Core support grant: This is for a total value of £420K (£270K Restricted and £150K
Unrestricted) over 13 months to strengthen Forum for the Future. There are two cotton grants, one
running from June 2015 to December 2016 for £130,644 paid on completion of agreed deliverables. The
second runs from November 2016 to December 2018 for Euros 131,049 The purpose of the grants is to
align diverse initiatives in the global cotton industry and accelerate action for sustainable cotton.
EU-InnovatE: This three-year project which ended in December 2016 was funded by the European
Commission to investigate the active roles of consumers in shaping sustainable lifestyles and the
transition to a green economy in Europe. At the end of the project we had underspent on the funds
received by Euros 52,598 which we are expecting to return.
The restricted funds are monies donated to Forum for the Future as grants which require specific
reporting.
66
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
20a Current year movements in funds continued
(xvi)
Purposes of designated funds
20b Prior year movements in funds
At the start
of the year
Income and
gains
Expenditure
and losses Transfers
At the end of
the year
£ £ £ £ £
Restricted funds:
Delivery:Masters Programme 21,114 - - (21,114) -
C&A Foundation (Cotton) - 100,000 (100,000) - -
EU Innovate 116,125 85,898 (62,999) - 139,024
6,802 500 (7,302) - -
5,500 7,000 (7,000) - 5,500
CG Marine - plastic bottles - 4,080 (4,080) - -
Rockefeller Scanning (7,009) - - 7,009 -
Rockefeller Urban Challenge (4,241) - - 4,241 -
Shell Foundation - 40,000 (40,000) - -
Esmee Fairbairn - 80,000 (80,000) - -
EDB Grant - 65,969 (65,969) - -
- 20,000 (5,000) - 15,000
WWF Protein Challenge - 10,000 (10,000) - -
Total restricted funds 138,291 413,447 (382,350) (9,864) 159,524
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:Sustainability Fund 12,202 - - 400 12,602
Total designated funds 12,202 - - 400 12,602
General funds 931,899 4,536,828 (4,453,755) 9,464 1,024,436
Total unrestricted funds 944,100 4,536,828 (4,453,755) 9,864 1,037,038
Total funds 1,082,391 4,950,275 (4,836,104) - 1,196,562
Transfers of restricted funds in prior year
(i)
(ii)
Other grants include $10K from the University of Illinois to support the Disrupting Food Logistics Project,
funds from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to implement the project "Russian Future Leaders for
Sustainable Development" and £9K from Regen SW to build local economic resilience through democratic
local energy models in the UK.
Calouste Gulbenkian - North
Sea Futures
Calouste Gulbenkian - CoLaB
Joseph Rowntree Charitable
Trust
The sustainability fund was to cover additional expenditure to avoid or offset the negative environmental
impact of the Forum for the Future's operations. This has been achieved and so the fund has been
released back to unrestricted reserves.
Masters Programme: The transfer was to move the reserves from restricted to unrestricted as there were
no external restrictions on how these funds could be spent.
Rockefeller Scanning Project, Urban project: The transfer was to write off the negative brought forward
balances as they would not be recovered.
67
Notes to the financial statements
Forum for the Future
For the year ended 31 December 2016
21. Reconciliation of net (deficit)/income to net cash flow from operating activities
2016 2015
Restated
£ £
Net (deficit)/income for the year (44,479) 114,171
Depreciation charges 72,883 43,848
Interest receivable - -
Profit on the disposal of fixed assets - (27,672)
Decrease/(increase) in debtors 629,583 (436,846)
(Decrease)/increase in creditors (188,662) 383,373
Net cash provided by operating activities 469,325 76,874
22. Operating lease commitments
2016 2015 2016 2015
£ £ £ £
Less than one year 3,842 1,899 - -
One to five years 488,331 620,166 51,825 65,645
492,173 622,065 51,825 65,645
This is the same for both the charity and the group.
23. Capital commitments
24. Contingent assets or liabilities
25. Legal status of the charity
Property Equipment
At the balance sheet date, the group had not committed to any capital expenditure (2015: £nil).
The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in
the event of winding up is limited to £1.
None
The group's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows for
each of the following periods:
68
26.
Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
Reserves position
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Funds previously reported 902,719 159,525 1,062,244 778,591 138,291 916,882
Adjustment for deferred income 134,318 - 134,318 165,509 - 165,509
Funds restated on transition 1,037,037 159,525 1,196,562 944,100 138,291 1,082,391
Unrestricted Restricted Total
£'000 £'000 £'000
Net income as previously reported 124,128 21,234 145,362
Adjustment for deferred income (31,191) (31,191)
Net income as restated 92,937 21,234 114,171
Forum for the Future
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2016
During the year, the trustees reviewed the contractual basis for the delivery of services against the period over which
income is to be recognised. They concluded that there was no tangible basis for deferring membership fees and non-
work programe related partnership income which was previously spread over the period of membership, since there is
no measurable ongoing commitment to provide services at cost to the organisation and income is non-refundable.
Impact of prior year adjustment
31 December 2015 31 Dec 2014
Impact on income and expenditure
31 December 2015
69