Money A+E

This week marks Charity Finance Week 2024, where we explore how charities are adapting to a new political and economic landscape. As a social enterprise, we believe financial education is key to empowering communities, especially during times of change. Join us in celebrating the amazing work charities are doing and the innovative financial strategies helping them thrive in this new era! Together, we can continue to create positive change. 💬 Charities we'd like to know what have been your biggest challenges in 2024, and how have you tackled them? Comment below — we’d love to hear your stories and insights!

Social enterprises are invaluable, but do you know why? They create solutions for social challenges that may have been overlooked, they provide crucial support and serve as a safety net for many. Social enterprises relentlessly reinvesting profits into their mission and not only offer solutions but also provide jobs and services to underserved communities.  Prioritizing purpose over profit, they put community interests at the heart of their work. They drive innovation and are known for operating with outstanding working conditions, setting a new standard in the business community. Social Enterprise UK , a membership body for social enterprises, advocates for the sector and fosters collaboration with public institutions. Their work is incredible, and that’s why we are proud to be finalists in two categories for the UK Social Enterprise Awards 2024: Education, Training and Jobs, and Social Enterprise Building Diversity, Inclusion, Equity & Justice. We are dedicated to transforming lives through money advice and education and advancing financial inclusion on a systemic level. Our work will create lasting, generational impact. We couldn’t do it without our team, partners, and supporters. Being recognized motivates us and shines a light on the societal issues we tackle. As Arundhati Roy said: "There's really no such thing as the 'voiceless.' There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard." Awards like this make it harder to ignore underserved communities. Thank you, Social Enterprise UK for the important work you do. 

In our latest guest blog, the excellent Maria Booker at Fair By Design writes about how the No Interest Loan Scheme is helping to reduce the #PovertyPremium. https://bit.ly/3ZLF9Ge The poverty premium is the extra costs people on low incomes and in poverty pay for essential products and services. It shows up across essentials like energy, credit and insurance and costs the UK economy £2.8bn a year. The No Interest Loan Scheme is helping people avoid paying this premium and providing a fairer alternative to people who really need it. #FinancialInclusion #AffordableCredit 

This year has been a whirlwind for Money A+E. We’ve expanded, and experienced both wins and losses. Through it all, we’ve remained committed to providing our community with quality money advice and education. The right support can be transformative, and transformation requires a collective effort—thanks to our team, partners, and supporters. We want to take this moment to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to Money A+E’s work. Without you, we wouldn’t have achieved the impact we’ve made so far. Between 2023-2024, we reached 3,378 staff at Guy's and St Thomas' Trust, with 98% of users finding our service useful or very useful. We’ve also supported 433 clients in managing £1.8 million of debt and helped secure £428,485 in financial gains. Additionally, our education team has delivered workshops to over 3,500 participants since 2022, with 77% feeling more in control of their money management and 58% reporting improved well-being. While much of this work happens behind the scenes, being recognized is both motivating and encouraging. We’re proud to announce that we’ve been shortlisted for PwC UK's Building Trust Award for Impact in Social Enterprise 2024. We extend a huge thank you to PwC UK for their continued support, from major donations to staff training. PwC’s commitment to supporting communities is evident in their efforts to uplift organizations like ours, working on the ground to tackle social issues and empower communities. We’d also like to thank the School of Social Entrepreneurs for collaborating on this initiative and continuously supporting social enterprises. There’s a saying: "Many hands make light work." While the work we do is far from light, without the support we’ve received over the years, it would have been much heavier.

An amazing night was had at the East London Community Heroes Awards. Thank you to Rotary Stratford and Rotary International for hosting such a fantastic event and to all the community organisations that continue to support and uplift Newham. Congratulations to all the winners and those shortlisted! We want to express our deep appreciation to Rotary Stratford for recognizing the incredible work of all the organisations working on the ground in the community. We are extremely proud to have been shortlisted for our outstanding initiative in business community partnerships and for winning the Outstanding Initiative in Social Enterprise award. #eastlondoncommunityherosawards

Continue the great work, we're making such a difference!

Thanks for the ongoing partnership! We're proud to be part of such an important initiative supporting Londoners! 💚

We are excited to get the ball rolling! Raising awareness about structural discrimination in the financial sector is just the beginning. We will share our calls to action with you soon.

Highlighting the importance of access to financial education within diverse ethnic communities and why we must continue to talk about The Ethnicity Premium! Thank you for sharing!

Some of the banks are being told they're not paying enough interest on #savings. Of not passing on the base rate increase to their customers. What if there was another issue at play here? An issue of who is accessing those savings rates. Right now savings rates are higher than they have been for many years. The best fixed term savers are offering up to 6.1%. So it’s a really important opportunity to build wealth and become financially resilient. But people from Diverse Ethnic Communities generally have much lower levels of savings than their white British peers. For every £1 of wealth held by white British households, Pakistani households hold around 50p - and black African and Bangladeshi households, approximately 10p.* The reasons behind that #inequality are complex, but at Money A+E we don’t think it is acceptable or inevitable. And we’re taking action. We're delivering accessible, culturally competent financial education, because it is a powerful tool in closing the savings gap. Our Education Team have been spreading the word about the higher savings rates and why it’s important to take advantage. They've been sharing savings strategies in our workshops, and the power of getting started. Even 1p per day is a powerful habit, that can grow into 10p per day, £1 per day – and that’s even before interest is added on top. Frederick, our Head of Education, puts it like this: ‘Financial literacy develops certain habits, it makes you aware. Many of the people that we see don’t know about certain products that could help them. Being able to make those things visible for them is very important. With the right support, we see people save £100s, £1,000s.’ ------------------------ At Money A+E we target our support to Diverse Ethnic Communities, disadvantaged groups and young people. Our workshops have reached 1,000s of people with life-changing financial education. We deliver to adults in the community and young people in schools. Contact us to learn more about our service or partnerships. #ethnicitypremium #financialresilience #financialinclusion #equality #inclusion #diversityandinclusion #finance *Source: Runnymede Trust, ‘The Colour of Money’