European Network Expansion Research Report

European Network Report 2018

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Contents 1. INTRODUCTION..................................................4 2. CONTEXT.............................................................5 3. METHODOLOGY..................................................6 4. STAKEHOLDERS : EMERGING THEMES.................9

INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS...........................10

NEW ECONOMY ORGANISATIONS...............11

INTERNATIONAL CHARITIES.........................12

5. COUNTRIES AND GROUPS................................13 SWITZERLAND..............................................14 NORWAY.......................................................16 DENMARK.....................................................18

ITALY.............................................................19

THE NETHERLANDS.......................................21

6. RECOMMENDATIONS........................................23 7. FIRST PRINCIPLES..............................................27 8. APPENDICES.....................................................28

COST COMPARISON.....................................30

FUNDRAISING..............................................31 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS................................32

3

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

1. Introduction The following report presents the findings of interviews that Rethinking Economics carried out with trustees, external stakeholders and local Rethinking groups, and secondary research conducted throughout June – August 2018. This research sought to answer the question:

To do this, Rethinking spoke to as many groups within these five countries as possible, and conducted secondary research into the practical and logistical implications of hiring a coordinator within one of these five countries. The details of this research are outlined in the methodology section.

Where should Rethinking Economics hire a coordinator in Europe, and what should the details of this expansion be?

In the process of undertaking this research, Rethinking also sought to answer questions about the future of the charity’s governance structure, how a new European staff team would fit within this picture, and what the relationship should be between this staff team and other organisations within the new economy movement. This subject is addressed in the first principles section towards the beginning of the report.

The charity began by shortlisting five European countries: Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. They were chosen because they are all home to strong Rethinking Economics networks. Other countries, including Germany, France and Austria, are already home to networks such as the Netzwerk Plural Ökonomik and Peps Economie. With this in mind, Rethinking Economics selected five countries for further research where hiring a network coordinator would not replicate the work of pre-existing organisations.

This report draws out emerging themes and insights and layts out a set of recommendations. The appendices provide a more detailed commentary on the questions that we asked in each of the interviews, information on fundraising, and data about the costs of hiring a coordinator within each country.

From there, the aim was to identify contextual characteristics within each of these countries that would affect the charity’s decision to hire a member of staff in that country. In addition to answering these practical questions, Rethinking aimed to gauge the extent to which local groups and national networks desired and needed a coordinator, and to gather opinions from groups about the nature of the coordinator’s final job description.

4

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

2. Context Rethinking Economics has always been international in its scope. The charity now includes 51 groups spread across 24 different countries. To safeguard its future, Rethinking must remain relevant and accessible to the grassroots groups within these countries. It must be able to draw on context-specific knowledge to campaign effectively and build international capacity. Creating a governance structure that represents this international scope will require decentralising some of the charity’s managerial and organisational authority away from the Manchester office and towards in-country staff teams that are responsible for localised fundraising, movement building and campaigning.

Hiring a coordinator within a country outside of the UK is the first step towards building this strong, futureproofed, international structure.

Following the success of the charity’s bid with the KR Foundation, Rethinking received a grant that will be used in part to fund a staff member in a European country for a period of two years. The charity decided to contract a researcher who would investigate the feasibility of hiring a network coordinator within one of five countries and conduct the primary and secondary research that forms the basis of this report, which is intended to serve as a scoping excercise for the coordinator proposal. In the long term, Rethinking intends for this European staff member to grow into an independent staff team that would finance its operations through funding sources separate from Manchester HQ.

5

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

3. Methodology Rethinking Economics carried out 26 interviews with different stakeholders, trustees, local Rethinking groups and national networks to explore in detail the possibility of hiring a European network coordinator, what this role should encompass, how it should fit within the charity’s broader governance structure, how a European staff team could intersect with other organisations in the broader new economy movement, and which of the five countries would be the most logical fit for the charity’s aims.

We interviewed the following groups of people: Rethinking Economics Groups and Networks: 11 interviews with Rethinking Economics groups across Norway, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark.

External Stakeholders: 6 interviews with Julien Hallack of PEPS Economie, Gustav Theile of ISIPE, Jay Pocklington of YSI, Paul Delaney of Positive Money, Louise Russell-Prywata of Transparency International and Daniel Obst of the Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik.

Staff: 3 interviews with Maeve Cohen, Rowan Mataram and Ross Cathcart.

The objective was to find out what local activist groups, staff members, trustees and external stakeholders think the purpose and remit of the coordinator position should be, with the intention of using this information to inform recommendations set out in the latter half of this report.

Trustees: 6 interviews with Yuan Yang, Aoife O’Leary, J.Christopher Proctor, Marco Schneebalg, Rafe Martyn and Joe Earle; Joe is not technically a Rethinking trustee, but was a cofounder of the movement and has similar experience of Rethinking to that of long-standing trustees.

6

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Local Rethinking Groups and National Networks

External stakeholders

Internal stakeholders

Who?

Rethinking groups in Italy, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands, including the national networks within those countries where applicable.

Representatives of the Young Scholars Initiative, the Netzwerk, ISIPE, Peps Economie, Positive Money and Transparency International.

Rethinking Economics staff and trustees.

Why we spoke to them

Understand organisational challenges within each country.

Understand both country context and how Rethinking networks function in each country.

Understand the dynamics of each group. Understand the areas where support is needed, and where groups have been successful.

Understand political dynamics of Rethinking’s European expansion.

Understand how different organisations within the new economy movement operate.

Understand the needs and priorities of organisations that overlap with Rethinking, and how they could work together.

Understand how other charities and similar organisations have internationalised their work, and the challenges and benefits of doing so.

Understand the needs of Manchester HQ in relation to hiring another staff member. Understand membership of Rethinking’s international network in detail. Understand the logistical considerations at play, including budget and timeline. Understand the longer-term aims and objectives of hiring a coordinator.

What the sessions involved

Structured qualitative interviews lasting roughly one hour using a standardised set of questions to gauge each group’s impact, activity, connectivity and views on European expansion.

Semi-structured interviews ranging from 20 - 60 minutes to gather opinions and reflections.

Unstructured conversations and feedback sessions with staff during June, 2018.

Structured interviews with trustees throughout June and July 2018.

7

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

The aim was to capture specifics rather than generalities, and to make sure that we understood potential problems and challenges in as much detail as possible before setting out recommendations.

Our starting point was that there are five factors that would help assess the feasibility of hiring a coordinator in one of the five countries. These were:

Desire among groups within a particular country for a paid member of staff

Current and potential impact of Rethinking Economics network within particular country

The extent to which local groups and/or national network need a paid member of staff

Fundraising opportunities within particular countries

Financial and logistical considerations to take into account when evaluating particular countries

In each session we facilitated a conversation around these five themes.

Each of the three interviewee groups (local Rethinking groups and national networks, external stakeholders, and internal stakeholders) were asked different questions tailored to their knowledge of and relationship to the charity.

The longest and most structured interview sessions were those held with Rethinking groups and national networks within each of the five countries. These interviews followed a set of questions that can be viewed in detail on page 31.

In addition to these primary qualitative interviews, Rethinking undertook secondary research into the logistical and financial implications of hiring a coordinator within each of the five countries, outlining the costs of living, legal implications and fundraising opportunities within each country. This research informs both the first principles document on page 26 in the country profiles on page 13 of this report, and appears in greater detail in the appendices.

It was important to explore each of these five domains to build a picture for evaluating where Rethinking should hire a coordinator and to understand in detail what local groups think about this proposal. It was also important to speak to trustees about the longer-term objectives of the charity’s European expansion; these conversations informed the first principles document outlined on page 26 of this report.

8

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

4. Stakeholders: Emerging themes In this section, we outline the common themes that emerged during our interviews with internal stakeholders (Rethinking staff and trustees) and external stakeholders (organisations within the new economy movement and charities with international staff teams).

Internal stakeholders The charity is able to fund a staff member in a European country for a period of two years, after which the coordinator will have to fundraise to support their role. Trustees and staff members therefore leaned towards hiring a coordinator in a country where Rethinking already has a wellestablished presence, in order to ensure the coordinator could “hit the ground running”.

Trustees and staff members also agreed it would be important to hire a new member of staff in a country with an established Rethinking network to ensure the project serves as a strong, replicable pilot for other staff teams.

Staff and trustees agreed that hiring a coordinator who was based close to or had existing links with a university would be an important factor in the proposal’s success. Long-standing trustees emphasised that being able to see feedback from your work is an important aspect of building a community that will give an organiser support and help them develop their skills.

Staff and trustees also agreed that language and geography would be pivotal in deciding where the coordinator should be based. Ensuring the coordinator could speak English, and that they were placed somewhere with good geographic links to the rest of Europe, would be important factors in deciding their location.

While trustees and staff members emphasised that fundraising would play an important role in securing the longterm viability of a European coordinator and/or staff team, they also expressed that it would be a shame if the role was entirely focused on fundraising within the first two years. Other activities mentioned included assisting local groups to build capacity, organising country-wide events including conferences and lectures, securing press coverage for group activities and coordinating campaigns for curriculum reform.

Trustees agreed that Rethinking Economics should keep organisations with a similar remit, such as YSI and Peps Economie, in the loop of the decision-making process, and ensure they had opportunities to give opinions and feedback.

Trustees and staff agreed that groups should be included in an open, democratic process when deciding where the coordinator should be based, drawing on their contextual expertise of particular countries and experience with Rethinking networks to inform a final job description.

9

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Trustees emphasised the importance of national or intermediate networks having buy-in from local groups based at universities to ensure that Rethinking Economics retains its core focus on changing university curriculum.

Trustees were wary that the professionalisation of Rethinking Economics as a charity could diminish grassroots student engagement. Building a staff team in a different country could help grow localised student engagement beyond the UK - where Rethinking has always had a stronger presence - and “global proof” the charity for the future.

External stakeholders Rethinking spoke to external stakeholders that fall into two categories.

First, we spoke with representatives of organisations with a similar remit to Rethinking; the Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik, Peps Economie, the Young Scholars Initiative, and the International Student Initiative for Pluralism in Economics.

The Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik is a German organisation that was formally founded in 2007 to campaign for economics curriculum reform. Its remit is similar to Rethinking Economics, and the two organisations are already collaborating on the Exploring Economics video series. The Netzwerk is active in German-speaking countries. We spoke with Daniel Obst, who has been involved with the network since 2015.

Peps Economie grew out of the same petition for “Post-Autism Economics” in the early 2000s as the German movement that eventually became the Netzwerk. The group is based in France and campaigns for curriculum reform in addition to collaborating on research initiatives more akin to a student think

tank. We spoke with Julien Hallack from Peps Economie.

The International Student Initiative for Pluralism in Economics (ISIPE) was founded in 2013 as an umbrella movement encompassing the Netzwerk, Peps Economie, Rethinking Economics and other groups engaged with economics curriculum reform. It convened consensus-based meetings for groups involved in the new economy movement, but is no longer active. We spoke with Gustav Theile, who was formally involved with ISIPE. The Young Scholars Initiative is an offshoot of the Institute for New Economic Thinking in the United States.

YSI provides an outlet for graduate economics students interested in pluralist and heterodox curricula through a series of working groups. It also collaborates on events, including the Festival dell’Economia in Trento, Italy, and the Festival for New Economic Thinking in Edinburgh, both of which were organised in conjunction with Rethinking groups. We spoke with Jay Pocklington, manager of the YSI programme.

The second group of external stakeholders we spoke with were representatives of charities that have grown international staff teams. These were Positive Money, a charity and campaigning organisation focused on monetary reform that is in the process of establishing a staff team in Belgium, and Transparency International, an anticorruption NGO with an international structure encompassing multiple regional chapters and a secretariat. We spoke with Paul Delaney, Director of Operations at Positive Money, and Louise Russell-Prywata, Head of Development at Transparency International.

10

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

New economy organisations: emerging themes The Netzwerk in Germany doesn’t intend to internationalise its operations due to the German language barrier. However, it intends for some of its activities to available for an international audience, including Exploring Economics videos; these projects provide opportunities for collaboration between the Netzwerk and Rethinking Economics that are already being acted upon.

The Netzwerk has a legal insurance package affording the organisation ten hours of legal advice per month. This has been useful when deciding on the legal status of the organisation and hiring staff members.

A spokesperson for ISIPE said that due to a lack of funding and volunteer turnover, the ISIPE network is no longer active. They added that members of ISIPE felt Rethinking should have worked more closely with other new economy movements in Europe sych as the Netzwerk when deciding to submit the KR bid.

While the YSI spokesperson said the organisation would be keen to find ways to collaborate with Rethinking, they stressed that the Edinburgh festival wasn’t research-focused enough to serve YSI’s interests, and said the organisation would be wary of collaborating on another venture similar to this.

YSI also emphasized the importance of distinguishing between Rethinking’s core purpose and its secondary projects.

Their spokesperson suggested that YSI and Rethinking should keep their core competencies in mind when thinking about ways to collaborate; Rethinking is better at engaging the public and building momentum while YSI is more research-focused.

YSI also mentioned the possibility of collaborating more explicitly on research, with Rethinking drawing on content from YSI’s directory of affiliated academic researchers and packaging and communicating this to broader audiences.

YSI emphasized the importance of finding ways to retain Rethinkers after graduation. Their spokesperson suggested that Rethinking and YSI could work more closely together to feed through potential members into their respective organisations, with YSI capturing graduated Rethinkers and directing undergraduate students towards Rethinking Economics.

11

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

International charities: emerging themes Drawing on their own experience hiring a staff member overseas, Positive Money emphasised the importance of moving forward with the European coordinator project while simultaneously taking account of difficult questions about the charity’s future governance structure and potential relationship between Rethinking Economics HQ and incountry groups.

Positive Money recommended that Rethinking Economics hire a freelance contractor rather than member of staff to begin with. They stressed the risks associated with establishing a registered legal entity (company or foundation) without first testing out how this would work in practice, given the costs of contracting legal advice and payroll services. Positive Money also advised Rethinking to contract legal advice when deciding on the legal status of the entity in Europe.

Positive Money encouraged Rethinking Economics to create a document outlining the objectives of European expansion and desired governance structure that trustees, organisers and staff members can refer back to during the process, serving as a touchstone for the project.

Positive Money said that despite it being easier and cheaper to create a subsidiary or branch rather than an autonomous legal entity, they had opted for establishing the latter, because this will allow Positive Money Belgium to retain access to EU-specific funding opportunities and will prevent the organisational structure from becoming overly top-down.

Positive Money urged Rethinking to trademark its brand so it can be removed if a local group diverges from the charity’s purpose. The charity also advised Rethinking to consider a decentralised chapter/ secretariat structure, as found in other charities that have grown their work internationally.

Transparency International told Rethinking Economics that they opted for a structure whereby a central secretariat was responsible for setting the brand and international agenda, and had the power to affiliate or de-affiliate local chapters. This structure allows TI to draw on local in-country expertise to inform regional campaigning activities while retaining control over the core purpose and branding of the charity.

Each regional TI chapter completes a reaffiliation form every three years. Each chapter has one vote to elect the global board, and participates in the annual members meeting.

TI chapters are expected to be financially self sufficient. However, the TI secretariat receives international funding that it also redirects to regional chapters for specific projects.

The big challenge that TI faces is responsiveness. Coordinating multiple chapters and launching crossregional projects can be a slow process due to the charity’s decentralised structure.

12

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

5. Countries and groups In this section, we outline findings from the interviews conducted with groups across Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway.

The full list of interview questions are available on page 31 of the appendix. The aim of these interviews was threefold.

First, we wanted to gather groups’ views about what could be gained from hiring a European coordinator, and what this person’s role should look like. Second, we intended to capture specific insights into the characteristics, activities and impact of Rethinking networks within each country.

Third, we aimed to understand potential challenges that could arise within each country when hiring a network coordinator. While every effort was made to speak to each of the local groups within each country, this wasn’t always possible due to the research being conducted during the summer vacation period.

For each of the five countries listed in this section, we present a summary of the characteristics and activities of the Rethinking network within each country. This is followed by an evaluation of groups’ desire and need for a paid coordinator. Finally, we lay out potential challenges, including logistical considerations such as the geography of each country and the positioning of universities. For Italy and Denmark we do not include a section on potential challenges and logistical considerations because it became clear during this research that neither of the Rethinking networks within these countries desired an Italian or Danish coordinator. On page 29 of the appendix we present data on the costs of hiring somebody within each country, including average rent and salary costs within the cities where a coordinator would likely be based.

We separated these objectives into five separate categories, listed earlier on page 8 of this report: desire, impact, need, fundraising, and financial and logistical considerations.

13

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Switzerland Summary of Rethinking network Switzerland’s Rethinking network began in September 2017 when Lugano and Geneva simultaneously but separately established Rethinking groups. Although relatively young, RE Switzerland has had a significant impact in a short space of time. There are eleven core organisers between the two groups, with organising work falling primarily to Leonardo Conte in Lugano and Zeno Bernhard in Geneva.

Since September 2017, Lugano has organised a debate with 50 attendees, reached an agreement with the head of department to establish a new course in the Critical History of Economic Thought, and has received national press coverage. The University of Lugano grants the group a stipend, but it has also been looking for other funding opportunities.

Geneva has run eight events since the beginning of the academic year, ranging from lectures, panels and seminars to discussion groups and a film screening.

They organised a lecture with André Orléan, a well-known economist who visited from Paris, which attracted 60 attendees. They’ve also met with representatives of the Economics department, which has been less receptive to pluralist reform than the economics department in Lugano.

Both groups are keen to form a national network, and to include a group in Zurich that is campaigning for economic pluralism but has not yet affiliated to Rethinking. Both intend to conduct a national curriculum review next year in conjunction with Zurich.

Views on coordinator Both Geneva and Switzerland expressed their desire for a paid coordinator role, and saw this propsal as a potential means to boost RE Switzerland’s presence internationally and help maximise the impact of its existing network. As Leonardo put it;

“Switzerland is lacking an international presence - the coordinator would help us establish a bigger community, and would be the right tool […] to present us to potential funders and and partners”

The network needs help in cementing its institutional presence, Leonardo added.

“Having an... administrator… would be really helpful [...] the thing we don’t have is someone to represent us when dealing with institutions, [writing] funding applications, dealing with press, that kind of stuff”.

14

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Zeno from Geneva also agreed that having a coordinator would be beneficial and would help ensure the network’s success beyond the immediate future; “I think if it would be possible to have a well-organised person at the national level, it could really help our local groups to be more sustainable in the way they organise [...] we’re quite strong in the short term, and there are many things we could do, but this person could probably make it more of a long term thing.”

Challenges and logistical considerations Switzerland is a very expensive place to live, with costs of rent and salaries higher than Norway or the Netherlands (see page 29). However, costs vary between regions and cantons, with Zurich and Geneva the most expensive, Galen and Lausanne cheaper, and Ticino the cheapest.

As Leonardo pointed out, there are also many funding opportunities for NGOs and charities in Switzerland: “Switzerland has great funding opportunities; the organisations here are already really interested in finance and economics. It’s a very rich country and the centre of many international organisations and non profits”.

Secondary research into funding opportunities confirmed that Switzerland is home to many foundations and organisations that fund projects with an environmentally or socially progressive remit.

As Leonardo noted, Rethinking Economics is still very young in Switzerland. Neither Rethinking Lugano or Geneva have yet applied for funding, and the network may not yet have the institutional presence that large funders would look for;

“Many people and organisations [are] interested in what we do, but they don’t really know Rethinking Economics; that’s what’s preventing them from funding us.”

Another challenge that became clear through interviews with Leonardo and Zeno was the country’s varied topography. Lugano is on the Italian border in the South East, isolated by the Alps in the centre of the country.

Geneva is based at the country’s eastern tip; travel from Geneva to Lugano by train takes four to six hours. With this in mind, it would make most geographic sense to place a coordinator in Zurich, under three hours from both Lugano and Geneva, or Bern, within three hours of both cities. However, neither city is home to a Rethinking network.

Finally, Switzerland’s Rethinking network is, at the time of writing, not yet a year old. While Lugano and Geneva have had been undoubtedly successful over a short space of time, the age of the network raises the question of whether it would be the right place to base a coordinator, given the views outlined on page 9 that a coordinator would be best placed in a country with an institutionally well-established network, in order that they could have the greatest impact possible within the two year funding period.

15

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Norway Summary of Rethinking network Rethinking Norway began in Autumn 2016 with the launch of Rethinking Economics Norge headed by organiser Ebba Boye. Since organising its first conference in early 2017, the network has grown to four groups; Rethinking Norge (the national network), Blindern (University of Oslo), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and Oslo Metropolitan university. It counts 21 core organisers across the four groups.

Local groups organise regular lectures, seminars and panel discussions.

Rethinking Norge’s Rethinking Finance event in the spring of 2017 was very successful, attracting an estimated 200 attendees. The network also wants to organise a Nordic conference in conjunction with groups in Denmark and Sweden. Its first funding bid for this conference was unsuccessful, but the network is currently applying for alternative grants. While Rethinking Norge has not yet conducted a national curriculum review, the network says it intends to undertake one in the coming year, possibly in conjunction with Rethinking Denmark.

The national network has a strong institutional structure. It is registered as an employer in Norway, having employed Ebba Boye for a period prior to the Rethinking Finance conference.

It has an elected board of trustees who oversee the network’s operations and meets with group members once a semester, helping to ensure institutional consistency despite volunteer turnover.

The national network makes a concerted effort to engage groups at the local level, visiting groups each semester to help with recruitment and capacity building.

It has paid particular attention to startup Rethinking groups in Bergen and Trondheim, which have found it more difficult to recruit members.

There are multiple funding opportunities in Norway including cross-Scandinavian grants such as the Interreg grant programme funded by the European Union. But unlike Switzerland, Norway does not have the same culture of private philanthropy; most funding comes from the state level. However, as Ebba put it,

“This is about to change - there’s less state money and more dependence on rich individuals. So I think we also have to [...] try to tap into that pool and talk to these people.”

The network has already successfully secured funding, raising close to £30,000 to cover the costs of the Rethinking Finance conference.

When asked whether the group has plans to apply for similar funding grants in the future, Ebba conceded that volunteer work was sometimes too demanding to make space for writing funding applications. She added that the network was keen to hire a secretary who could work specifically on funding applications and related projects.

16

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Views on coordinator Members of NMBU, Oslo Metropolitan and Rethinking Norge all agreed that Rethinking Norway would benefit from a paid coordinator position, but they held varied opinions on the form that this should take. Ebba Boye expressed her preference for an administrator who could help boost the network’s fundraising and organisational capacity, while keeping leadership positions unpaid and open to volunteers.

“We definitely hope to have a paid position of a secretary in Norway […] I’m not sure if having a paid leadership position […] whether that would also be another way to use the money that would be very helpful. The other way is to have volunteer leadership and a paid secretary who gets a lot of stuff done”.

Ebba said that she currently takes on much of the administration work for the network, and is worried about what will happen when she steps down;

“I’m doing a lot of volunteer [administration] work right now; that can go on forever, and as the organisation is right now, it’s dependent on someone taking that time. So as soon as I’m not doing that, I’m worried about how it will survive without someone doing practical things”

Samuel Berntzen of Oslo Metropolitan University said the Rethinking network in Norway was: “Very centralised. We have Rethinking Norway setting the standard and giving us topics [...] having someone with knowledge of different topics that could be relevant to MBA students, for example, would be

helpful”.

He added that while he wasn’t sure what form the coordinator position should take, it would be helpful to hire a coordinator who could help with administrative tasks such as sourcing branding materials.

Benedikt Goodman of NMBU agreed that hiring a person who could help with administration would be beneficial to the network, and said it would be helpful to have a coordinator who could provide training to local groups in how to fundraise. He added that volunteer turnover means knowledge can get lost after people leave; with this in mind, it would be helpful to have a coordinator who could “institutionalise knowledge to ensure cohesion”.

Potential challenges and logistical considerations Norway has similar costs of living to Denmark and the Netherlands. It is more expensive than Italy, but cheaper than Switzerland. Nonetheless, salaries in Norway are more expensive than the UK - somethign that Rethinking would have to take into account when deciding on a job description (see page 29). Norway is also further north than the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy or Denmark, and thus further from the centre of Europe.

However, the positioning of Rethinking groups could make Norway a good base for a potential coordinator. There are three Rethinking groups within Oslo itself, which fulfills the trustee’s criteria that the coordinator be based close to existing groups within universities. In addition, the opportunities for crossNordic collaboration due to the similar languages, geographic proximity and existing lines of communication between Norway, Denmark and Sweden could help boost the network’s European presence.

17

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Denmark Summary of Rethinking network Rethinking Denmark encompasses three groups: Kritiske Polliter (KP), Det Samfundsøekonomiske Selskab (DSS), founded in 2013, and a nascent national network, Rethinking Economics Denmark. DSS has seven core organisers and Kritiske Polliter has ten. Rethinking Economics Denmark ostensibly has ten affiliated organisers, though some of these people are also members of Kritiske Polliter.

Kritiske Polliter is funded by the Labour Union in Copenhagen. The group has been active over the past academic year running multiple events including lectures, panels, seminars and a conference, meeting with academic representatives and campaigning for curriculum reform. It also ran a localised curriculum review, yet to be formally published.

DSS was founded by Mads Falkenfleth, who is currently in the process of launching Rethinking Economics Denmark. DSS is not as active as it once was in campaigning for pluralist economics. Niels Kristian Berg, the current head of DSS, explained this was due to a lack of appetite among current students; those involved in the group have broad interests, are less interested in challenging neoclassical models, and the group’s focus has shifted towards financial economics.

The nascent Rethinking Economics Denmark is run by Mads Falkenfleth, who is very enthusiastic about the network’s prospects. Drawing on KP’s localised curriculum review, Mads says the group intends to launch a Denmarkwide curriculum review in conjunction with Rethinking Economics Norge in the coming year, and is also keen to work with Rethinking Economics Norway and Sweden on a cross-Nordic conference in the future.

However, as it stands, Rethinking Economics Denmark has not yet launched as a network. Organising work falls predominantly to Mads, who has found it difficult to move the initiative forward given the competing time pressures of his Masters’ dissertation.

Views on coordinator When contacted by Rethinking Economics for this report, organisers from Kritiske Polliter and Rethinking Economics Denmark redirected our inquiries to Mads Falkenfleth. Mads said he had spoken with Rethinking Norway and Sweden, and that together the groups had agreed on a consensus: “We agreed that the best solution for us [would be] having a person in Norway who could focus on establishing a secretariat in Norway, and then that person would also be able to make sure the conference we’re talking about would materialise”

18

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

He added that a coordinator based in Norway could be of assistance to groups in Denmark and Sweden; “Having a secretariat in Norway [would mean] there is potential also for them to help us in Sweden and Denmark [...] the language barrier here is not an issue at all. If they write a funding application in Norway it would be easy for me to translate it into Danish”.

However, it became clear during this research that the Rethinking Economics network in Denmark is split between Kritiske Polliter and the new national network in Copenhagen, and DSS in Aarhus. As Niels Kristian Berg, of DSS, put it; “We’re quite separated; I know there’s a Rethinking Norway network that collaborates and writes reports, but that’s not the case in Denmark. The Copenhagen group is the one that is most engaged with Rethinking, but in Aarhus, not much is going on.”

This helps explain Niel’s contention that there would not be sufficient interest among members of DSS for a coordinator; “I’m not sure people would be interested [...] I think it’s a great idea and I’d highly encourage a European network to evolve, but I’m not sure we have the [human] resources to put a huge effort into that” Given the views that, first, there isn’t sufficient interest among students for a coordinator, and second, that a coordinator placed in Norway who could also provide some assistance to Denmark would be preferable to a Danish coordinator, it seems evident that Danish groups do not have sufficient desire for a coordinator to warrant hiring a staff member within this country.

Italy Summary of Rethinking Network Italy’s Rethinking network began in 2013 and is now spread across six groups in Bologna, Siena, Sapienza, Florence, Padoa and Turin. In the past, the network also included a group in Genoa and the joint community group Rethinking Italia. These are no longer active, but Rethinking Italia is in the process of being relaunched.

Between Florence, Sapienza, Siena and Turin, there are sixteen organisers (Bologna did not complete a reaffiliation form and were not available for interviews; Padoa is a new group that is not yet officially affiliated to Rethinking).

Italian groups elected Michela Ciccotosto and Oleksandra Sokolenko from Turin as national network representatives to communicate discussions that took place between different Rethinking Italia groups in June for the purpose of this research.

Italian groups are predominantly focused on local-level activity; in the last academic year, the groups have run panels, seminars and debates.

But there is also interest in organising national events, as demonstrated by RE Turin’s recent decision to organise a pre-conference in conjunction with YSI earlier this year during the Italian Association for the History of Political Economy’s 15th annual conference in June.

19

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Bologna and Florence are particularly active among the Italian groups.

Rethinking Bologna has obtained office space and secured funding from YSI for a conference it held in May 2017.

Florence’s group are organising a conference on alternative indicators of wellbeing. Padoa’s group is young (it started in spring 2018) but has already organised three local events and met with the director of one of the Masters’ programmes. Eight of Turin’s ten organisers have left the group, leaving two organisers at the helm. They have found it difficult to involve students in the organisation, and have found it difficult to secure any funding from organisations based in Italy.

Views on a coordinator

Further efforts were made by Rethinking staff to communicate that any paid coordinator would not simply replicate volunteer work but take on new activities, but their position remained the same. Instead, what the groups decided would be most helpful is funding; “Instead of a coordinator based in Italy, we’re asking for some monetary assistance - in case you still have funding from the KR grant at the end of the project”.

Because conditions stipulate that regranting the grant money from the KR grant is prohibited, it is not possible to redirect grant funding to groups. With this in mind, we have included a list of potential funders on page 30 that may be of assistance to Italian groups in meeting their funding objectives.

On June 29 the groups convened a meeting at the pre-YSI conference held in Genoa. They agreed to a symbolic relaunch of Rethinking Italia, creating a new association called “Rethinking Economics Italia” and opening a bank account. Michela and Oleksandra will also be monitoring a newly created email address that replaces the network’s old email address, in order to maintain contact with groups outside of Italy.

However, the groups decided that they did not want a paid coordinator. In the words of Michela and Oleksandra: “After a long discussion, RE Italia decided that because of cultural and social reasons we are not ready for a paid [...] staff member. It would be difficult to deal with a figure that is paid for what many members are doing on a voluntary basis”

20

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

The Netherlands Summary of Rethinking Network Rethinking Economics Netherlands (NL) has an impressive output and professional institutional presence. It was launched in 2015, and has since seen three generations of Rethinkers on its organisational board. The national network is formed of twelve organisers and is headed by Sam de Mujink. Elisa Terragno Bogliaccini will be taking over from Sam in the coming academic year.

The group’s curriculum review was a particularly notable piece of work. This 123-page book, published both online and in print, included a foreword from the Chairman of the Economic and Development Review Committee of the OECD and data from each of the economics courses at universities in the Netherlands.

In addition to pursuing curriculum reform, the group has run regular events throughout the academic year including a conference with an estimated 250 attendees and a festival in April. It has a stable institutional structure, with an elected board and handover process in place to ensure consistency between different committees.

Rethinking Economics NL does not currently have any presence at the local group level. Sam explained that although he visited three universities in the Netherlands to help establish local groups, students either were not interested or registered interest but

did not follow through with action.

This lack of local groups may also be explained in part by the country’s small size, which allows interested members to travel to Amsterdam and participate in the national network with relative ease.

However, Rethinking NL has plans in place to build a stronger local network.

As Elisa explained, the national group intends to create a network of ambassadors in each Dutch university.

Ambassadors will be given the autonomy to initiate their own projects while receiving resources and guidance from the national network. Elisa has also taken efforts to connect with Rethinking groups in Belgium and with the Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik group in Maastricht.

The network has successfully secured funding for previous projects from the Goldschmeding foundation, Cardano Foundation and Triodos Bank, demonstrating their initiative and ability in finding and applying for grants. As Sam explained, banks and financial organisations are willing to fund Rethinking Economics NL “if we are able to convince them we are professional”.

The group’s professional website and branding, evidence of impressive previous output and institutional stability are all indicators that it has the capacity to leverage further funding from organisations in the future.

21

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Views on coordinator Both Sam and Elisa expressed their desire for a coordinator. Sam explained that despite the group’s consistent intellectual output and busy events schedule, administration work can prove challenging; “I really try to prevent putting an administrative burden on anyone […] one of the main challenges [we had last year] was that people don’t have enough time”.

Because the group is registered as an official foundation, it has a paperwork burden that can be consuming, including finance documents and meeting minutes. But Sam added that despite this administrative work, it would be best for the coordinator to focus on leadership, helping to realize the group’s strategic potential for influencing Dutch professors and government; “It would be good [for the coordinator] to focus on the leadership; creating projects, coordinating, networking, and lobbying [...] we’re in a very unique position. A lot of professors, when I ask them ‘would you be interested in helping to create a new masters’ programme’ - they’re always very positive [...] I’m also really working on making contact with Dutch politicians and getting them to create initiatives to change Dutch high school education in economics”.

Elisa said she had not felt there was much unity between different groups in Europe. She added that the coordinator could help improve the relationships between Rethinking Netherlands and other European groups, and could also be helpful at a broader European level because:

“If this person is knowledgeable enough, they can share tips on how to strengthen the movement and network and maybe even give financial support”.

This echoes the proposal’s objective of shifting managerial and organisational authority away from Manchester and bolstering Rethinking Economics’ European presence and legitimacy.

Challenges and logistical considerations One potentially insurmountable challenge to hiring a coordinator in the Netherlands is the lack of local groups. While the national network has continued to sustain an impressive research output, organise regular events and campaign for curriculum reform, the absence of local groups raises a question about the level of impact a coordinator could potentially have on a singular national network that is already functioning at a very high capacity.

Local, student-led activity is what distinguishes Rethinking Economics as a campaigning organisation rather than a think tank or lobbying body. In order for Rethinking Economics to maintain its core purpose as a movement built on grassroots student activity, it is important that any potential staff team reflects this identity and purpose.

Rethinking NL has plans in place to engage local groups, including the aforementioned ambassador’s programme. A Netherlands coordinator could help this process of engagement.

However, there is a risk that a paid member of staff will face the same difficulties that Sam experienced when trying to impose this objective from above; as Sam’s experience demonstrated, create grassroots engagement and buy-in from university students as an outsider can be challenging.

22

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

6. Recommendations Following on from the previous section where we outlined the characteristics and activities of the five Rethinking networks, their views on the coordinator proposal, and potential logistical challenges, we will now lay out recommendations for the coordinator proposal.

Because Italy and Denmark ruled themselves out of the proposal (Italian groups did not want a paid coordinator position, and Danish groups came to a consensus that it would be best if a coordinator were to be based in Norway with links to Denmark), we will not include these groups in the analysis in this section.

On the next page we present a synthesized table of findings that draw on the previous section of this report.

Then we lay out the recommendations for where Rethinking should hire a coordinator. The specifics of these recommendations are expanded upon in the First Principles document in the next section, which is intended as a standalone document that will act as a touchstone for the coordinator proposal, tying together the findings from interviews with internal and external stakeholders and from interviews with Rethinking groups.

23

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Country Switzerland

Opportunities Enthusiasm and engagement: Switzerland’s network has achieved a lot in a short space of time, has a number of committed, enthusiastic organisers, and has generated a following among student bodies at universities in Lugano, Geneva and Zurich.

Fundraising opportunities: Switzerland has a strong culture of private philanthropy that Rethinking Switzerland may be able to tap into.

Risks Cost: Switzerland is the most expensive of the five countries, and salaries exceed the budget set by Rethinking for this project.

Geography: Lugano and Geneva are geographically distant. Zurich, the midway point for both cities, has no Rethinking network.

Age: the network is under one year old.

Trustees and staff members both agreed it would be preferable to place a coordinator in a country with a network that was already institutionally established, to enable the coordinator to maximise their impact within the two year funding period.

Norway

Institutionally established: RE Norge has an elected board and is registered as an employer.

Connection with local groups: RE Norge leverages the same institutionally established structure as RE Netherlands, but is more engaged with grassroots groups, of which there are three.

Fundraising experience: RE Norge has already secured a large funding grant to support its Rethinking Finance conference.

Geography and language: Despite Norway being more remote than other European countries, its existing links with RE Denmark and Sweden, similar language and desire to collaborate on cross-Nordic projects present opportunities that a coordinator could take advantage of.

Remote: Norway is geographically further away from the centre of Europe than other countries listed.

Cost: living costs are higher than Italy and slightly higher than the Netherlands, but still just within budget for the project.

The Netherlands

Institutionally established: RE Netherlands has seen three generations of Rethinkers.

It has an elected board, is registered as a foundation, and has strong handover policy in place.

Significant output: Of the countries evaluated, the Netherlands’ Rethinking network has the most sustained output of work, including its curriculum review, large conference, festival and multiple events throughout the year.

Fundraising experience: RE Netherlands has already raised funds from charitable organisations to support its curriculum review and events.

Absence of local groups: grassroots activity is central to Rethinking’s core purpose, and the Netherlands has no localised grassroots groups. Creating these groups in a top-down manner as a centralised institution has been a challenge for the national network.

24

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Our analysis in the previous chapter and the table above brings us to the conclusion that of the five countries selected by Rethinking Economics, Norway would be the preferable country in which to hire a coordinator. Neither Rethinking groups in Italy nor Denmark wished for a coordinator to be based within their respective country. The choice therefore fell to the Netherlands, Switzerland or Norway.

Switzerland is prohibitively expensive, and while there are many not-for-profit funding opportunities, the network has no experience of applying for funding yet, and nor is it sufficiently developed to guarantee that a coordinator could take advantage of such funding opportunities within the short term.

The Netherlands’ well established national network is devoid of localised grassroots groups. It therefore diverges from trustees’ stated desires that Rethinking Economics maintain its identity as a grassroots movement built on localised student activity.

While RE Netherlands has plans in place to build more localised groups, the network’s past experience indicates that it can be difficult to create grassroots activity in a top-down manner from a centralised institution. A coordinator may therefore find it difficult to start Rethinking groups as an outsider to universities where there is not already a pre-existing student body interested in and engaged with the Rethinking movement.

Both the Netherlands and Norway have institutional structures in place to ensure continuity despite student turnover. The Netherlands is registered as a foundation and Norway is registered as an employer, and both have an elected board in place. They are also both experienced in applying for and securing funds and delivering nationallevel events and campaigns.

However, the opportunities for hiring a coordinator would, we believe, be more concrete in Norway than in the Netherlands. This is because a coordinator would be able to plug into a pre-existing network of local groups, in addition to working in conjunction with networks in Denmark and Sweden.

While the Netherlands’ output of work is doubtlessly impressive, there is a question as to the level of impact a coordinator could have on a singular, centralised national network that is already operating at a high capacity.

It is therefore our opinion that Rethinking Economics should hire a coordinator based in Norway whose remit will also extend in part to working with Rethinking groups in Denmark and Sweden. For the purpose of this report we refer to this position as a “Scandinavian coordinator”. However, the details of this position, as well as the extent to which the person would liaise with groups beyond Norway, will depend on gathering further information and hearing the viewpoints of Rethinking members in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

25

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Of the five countries earmarked by Rethinking Economics in this report, Norway is the second most expensive for both salary and living costs. Rethinking Economics can spend up to £24,000 p/a on the staff members’ salary, leaving sufficient funds to cover other expenses such as office rent. However, the average entry-level salary for an NGO worker in Norway exceeds this budget, totalling an estimated £37,000 p/a.

This poses a financial challenge to the charity’s hiring process in Norway. In response, we discussed the following options: Hiring a member of staff with responsibility for Norway who would be based in Denmark due to the country’s close proximity and lower costs of living.

Hiring a member of staff on a parttime contract for three days per week rather than four, adjusting the salary to £24,000 to reflect this change.

Hiring a member of staff but not providing office space.

Rethinking Economics met with rethinkers from Denmark and Norway in Oslo during late August 2018. After gathering their views on the proposal, we reached a consensus that it would be preferable to hire a member of staff based in Oslo, on a 3-day week contract, with office space. This was due to the following reasons:

Participants felt that hiring a member of staff without providing them with office space would hinder their productivity and impact negatively upon their mental health due to potential isolation.

Participants emphasized that it would be important for the coordinator to be based in Oslo. Despite Oslo’s high living costs, it is the central hub for the Rethinking network in Norway, and would enable the staff member to plug into existing university groups.

Participants agreed that candidates would likely be recent graduates due to the salary that Rethinking is able to offer. They suggested that the member of staff should therefore receive training from Rethinking Economics’ Manchester office prior to commencing their role in Oslo.

During our time in Oslo we reviewed a job description for the position in conjunction with rethinkers from Norway and Denmark. We also gathered information about potential workspaces, the recruitment process in Norway, and the future governance structure for Rethinking Economics across Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Hannah Dewhirst will be reviewing this information to inform the next steps of the hiring process later this autumn.

In the next section we present a document of first principles intended to stand alone as a guide to our recommendations which Rethinking groups, staff and trustees can refer back to throughout the process of hiring a coordinator. These first principles draw on the interviews with internal and external stakeholders and the recommendations laid out in this section.

26

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

7. First Principles Objectives and criteria for hiring an RE Scandinavia coordinator

How? Hiring a Rethinking Scandinavia coordinator who will be based in Norway, is the first step towards creating a strong, future-proofed structure, decentralising organisational and managerial control away from Rethinking Manchester, and will serve as a replicable model for establishing staff teams in other countries. For an initial period of two years, the coordinator will be focused on, but not limited to, securing funding to support a future staff team, building capacity in Norway, overseeing cross-Scandinavian events and communication, and acting as a contact point and anchor for groups in Denmark and Sweden. The coordinator will be hired on a freelance contract to begin with and Rethinking will trademark/copyright the RE brand for their use. This will avoid the risk of Rethinking incurring legal and logistical costs without first testing out the coordinator proposition, following in the footsteps of similar organisations that have established international staff teams. After this two-year period, Rethinking will contract legal advice to convert the freelance contractor into an employee of an independent legal entity.

Below are the short and long term objectives of hiring a Rethinking Economics Scandinavian Coordinator:

Governance Short term: Rethinking Economics HQ will maintain full supervision over Rethinking Economics Scandinavian coordinator, including: Control and oversight over strategy and finances Control and oversight over coordinator’s work remit Maintain current line management structure - Scandinavian coordinator is appointed by and accountable to Rethinking Economics HQ Appoint members of Rethinking HQ (currently thinking 1 staff member and 1 trustee) to a new Rethinking Economics Scandinavian Board to ensure cohesion and oversight

27

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Long term:

Finance

e will establish multiple RE chapters W capable of drawing on country-specific expertise with either national or regional remits by:

We want to create a structure whereby:

Shifting RE management nucleus away from Rethinking HQ and towards in-country teams We will also ensure Rethinking Economics HQ / secretariat, based in UK, retains control of longer-term goals, charity purpose, branding, governance and values by: Copyrighting brand to enable HQ to withdraw Rethinking Economics name from any local groups if needs be, and to ensure RE HQ retains control over group affiliation Rethinking HQ to host annual chapter gatherings to discuss strategy and set priorities across groups Rethinking HQ to provide guidance on areas such as campaigning and fundraising, and act as a contact point for international chapters Rethinking HQ to retain control over central communications strategy and press coordination, providing comment and spokespeople where necessary.

Country and/or regional networks are responsible for funding their own staff teams Those country and/or regional networks have bank accounts and credit cards in their home currency and are responsible for managing their own budgets Rethinking Economics is futureproofed when applying for funding outside of the UK after Brexit

Human resources Short term: Hire a coordinator on a freelance basis (first two years) rather than a permanent member of staff to enable Rethinking to test out the coordinator proposal before converting it into an entity with legal status.

After this two year period Rethinking will contract legal advice to decide what form of legal entity it should establish, in addition to contracting payroll services within that country.

This will enable the charity to draw on experience from the two-year period to inform the future objectives of the coordinator position and contract legal expertise accordingly.

Rethinking Economics will hire office space for the coordinator through a friendly company.

28

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Long term:

We also want the Rethinking Economics Scandinavian coordinator to:

Move away from contractor status to provide more security for workers and ensure Rethinking continues to attract skilled people in the future.

While being based in Norway, act as a point of contact and support for groups in Sweden and Denmark

Activities

Improve communication between RE Norway, Sweden and Denmark

The final job description and percentage breakdown of the coordinator’s remit across Norway, Denmark and Sweden will be decided in collaboration with students from Rethinking groups in the three countries. However, we would like the Scandinavian coordinator to be able to undertake activities such as the following:

Be a resource for local groups across Scandinavia who are pushing their economic departments for curriculum reform

Applying for grants, including joint grants Fundraising, identifying and networking with potential partner organisations including but not limited to academic institutions, companies and funding bodies.

Travel across Scandinavian region to support local groups and help establish new groups Assist with campaign and event organisation Assist with organisation of conferences and talks Secure media coverage for campaigns and encourage groups to write op-eds

29

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

8. Appendices In this section, we lay out secondary research that informed the recommendations and first principles in this report, including the comparative costs of hiring a coordinator within each country, fundraising opportunities and the survey questions that we asked each Rethinking group.

The estimated costs of a coordinator salary were based on data from Numbeo, adjusted to reflect the fact that Rethinking is a not-for-profit organisation.

Aside from Italy, average salaries across the five countries tended to be higher than UK wages. This is something that Rethinking Economics will have to keep in mind when making a job offer for the coordinator position.

The charity will also have to take into account the costs of recruiting a member of staff abroad. Because we only used a small percentage of the funds that were earmarked for European travel as part of this report, the remaining funds will go towards sending a Rethinking staff member to Norway to oversee the recruitment process.

30

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Fundraising opportunities

During the course of this research, it became clear that gudiance on fundraising was something that Rethinking groups, particularly those in Italy, would find helpful.

Italy agreed that they did not want a network coordinator based in their country. However, they said that groups would benefit from additional funding, and asked whether it would be possible to direct a proportion of the KR grant towards Italian groups. It is beyond the scope of the terms and conditions of the KR bid to re-grant money to other Rethinking groups. With this in mind, we are including some ideas for funding opportunities here.

Typical sources for funding include public sector organisations and local and national governments, universities, charitable foundations, trade unions and companies in the private sector.

Rethinking Italia reported that universities were not in the habit of providing funds, and public-sector funding opportunities were few and far between.

A comprehensive guide to fundraising strategies is beyond the scope of this report, but would be something that Rethinking groups could benefit from.

One common fundraising strategy is to look for organisations with a similar remit to Rethinking Economics, such as charities working in the social change or environmental sphere, and to research where they secured funding.

Below are a few examples of private sector companies based in Italy known to have funded not for profit organisations working on topics relating to social change and environmentalism: Auchan Retail Italia Banca Etica Franco Cosimo Panini Editore Fugar Produzione I Provenzali Officinae Verdi Poste Italiane Terna Torri Solare Trienergia UniCredit

31

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Interview questions Below are the questions that we answered through interviews and secondary research.

Activity How many events have you run over the past academic year?

What were these events? E.g. conference, speaker series?

What was your most successful event? Roughly how many people attended?

What was your least successful event? Why do you think this wasn’t as successful?

What obstacles have prevented you from running more events? Was this due to a lack of resources?

What campaigns have you organised over the past academic year?

What was the most successful campaign activity?

What obstacles have prevented you from undertaking more campaign activities? Was this due to a lack of resources?

How many organisers have you recruited this year?

How many times have you met with the economics department over last year?

If you haven’t met with members of department, why not?

If you have met with economics department, what has been the outcome of these meetings?

Have you run freshers fair activities?

Organisational structure What are your key sources of income?

Have you applied for external funding?

If so, what was the amount raised?

How many people are in your organising committee?

How often do you have meetings?

How do you elect new committee members?

Are you worried about having enough new committee members for the next academic year?

What are your plans for committee handover?

How is the organisation structured to ensure consistency and longevity (e.g. board of trustees?)

Is the organisation registered as a charity or a company?

Impact Have you conducted a curriculum review?

If not, why not?

Do you have plans to conduct one in the near future?

If you have conducted one, what are you currently doing to institute curriculum reform?

Have you received media coverage for your activities and/or campaigns?

If so, what form did this take?

32

RETHINKING ECONOMICS EUROPEAN NETWORK REPORT

Connectivity between national and local groups How often are you in touch with local groups?

Have local groups contacted you to affiliate with Rethinking Economics?

Have you contacted potential local groups to affiliate with Rethinking Economics?

Do you have plans to involve local groups with overarching campaigns for example the 10 years on from the financial crash campaign?

Do you have a process in place or a committee member responsible for building relationships with universities?

Do you have a process in place or a committee member responsible for building relationships with local groups?

How often are you in touch with national network?

How included do you feel in the decision making and overarching goals of the national network?

Have you been in contact with other local groups?

If so, what has been the outcome?

Past and future trajectory How long has it taken to establish the network or group?

What are the challenges that you face in stabilising membership and growing the network/ group further?

What have you wanted to do that you haven’t been able to achieve?

Why haven’t you been able to achieve this?

What goals would you like to achieve over the next two years?

How are you planning to put these goals into practice?

Views on ENC role In your opinion, what would help improve the functioning and impact of the RE network in your country?

If your country were to receive extra support, what do you think this should look like?

In your opinion do you think that the R.E. network in your country would benefit from an ENC? If RE was to hire an ENC in your country, what do you think their role should encompass?

What challenges do you think an ENC might face in stabilising and growing the RE network in your country?

Fundraising Have you applied for funding from external sources?

If so, what was the outcome?

Are you aware of any fundraising opportunities that exist in your country for organisations with similar aims to RE? Logistics Are you aware of organisations with a similar mission to R.E. that exist in your country?

Are you aware of how the hiring process for workers functions in your country?

Can you tell me average travel expenses?

Can you tell me average rent?

Can you tell me average salary in NFP sector?

33

Hettie O’Brien hettie.obrien@rethinkeconomics.org Hannah Dewhirst hannah.dewhirst@rethinkeconomics.org