A UK sustainability charity, founded in 1996, that works with big companies and other organisations to change whole systems such as food, energy and fashion.
Forum for the Future is a sustainability charity that works with businesses, governments and community groups to help change whole systems, such as how food is grown and sold or how clothes are made and reused. It calls itself an international sustainability non-profit and says it works to catalyse change in key global systems, particularly energy, food and business. Its programmes have included Cotton 2040, Tea 2030 and Net Positive, a coalition of businesses working out what the next stage of corporate sustainability looks like. It also founded the School of System Change, a learning provider for professionals who want to lead this kind of change.
Forum for the Future was founded in 1996 by Paul Ekins, Sara Parkin and Jonathon Porritt; another source describes Mr Porritt and Ms Parkin as co-founding it in 1994 and launching in earnest in 1996. Its stated aim is to accelerate change toward a "just and regenerative future". It ran a Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development from 1996 to 2016 with partner universities. Mr Porritt stepped down as founder director after 27 years, and Sally Uren OBE, who joined after about a decade as an air quality consultant, led the organisation as chief executive for many years. Wikipedia now names Hannah Pathak as chief executive and Ms Uren as executive director and chief acceleration officer.
Forum for the Future is a UK organisation, with offices in the United Kingdom, the United States, India and Singapore. The pages we read did not give the UK office address, though the edie report on Mr Porritt's departure referred to events in central London. Its partnerships involve more than 100 organisations across business and the public sector, with partners reported in 2021 including Aviva, Bupa, Marks and Spencer, Reckitt, SC Johnson, Unilever and others. Recent reports include work on microfibres, future food and circular fashion.
Wikipedia reports about 66 staff. We did not find a culture statement on the pages we read. The thread that comes through its own descriptions is systems thinking and futures thinking: looking at how big problems connect, and working with many organisations at once instead of fixing one issue at a time. It describes itself as having used this approach for decades with governments and companies, so staff tend to work closely with outside partners and learning communities.
Roles in a charity like this include programme leads and project managers who run partnerships, researchers and futures specialists who write reports, facilitators and trainers, and communications, events, finance and operations colleagues. People who enjoy asking big questions, whether from a science, business, geography, politics or humanities background, can find a place. The organisation's own website lists current vacancies.
Website: www.forumforthefuture.org
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
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