Help us Crowdfund for a new Business and Democracy Commission
A new commission designed to get to the heart of why the ties are currently so strained and how business should respond.
Businesses can no longer ignore their frayed relationship with democracy. We all know there is a breakdown in how the worlds of business and politics interact and that our democracy needs to be renewed if it isn’t to be undermined by populism.
Jericho is establishing a Business and Democracy Commission, to get to the heart of what’s gone wrong and how business might be able to help put things right. For the first time ever - we are looking to Crowdsource support from the Jericho community to make this important project happen.
Can you help us understand the problem and come up with solutions, or at least a better direction of travel, for how companies can help create a better democracy? Can you support us to do the research, conduct the interviews, write and publicise the reports?
We thought it would be good to democratise at least some of the funding of this project and everyone who gives will be listed - if they want to be - in the final report.
The Commission seeks to ask difficult questions, break new ground, find a new consensus and set out practical steps for a more democratic common good.So far the Commission is under-resourced. The Jericho team are doing it at cost and giving much of our time for free because we believe the issue needs tackling properly. To try and get it on a slightly firmer footing we thought we would ask you to help. The Commission is pushing the boundaries, and we need people at or near the boundary edge to help us get the issues into the mainstream.We’ve already made a lot of headway.
Sir Ian Cheshire will chair the commission and we have a fabulous set of commissioners to work with including Baroness Denise Kingsmill, Labour Peer and Member of the Board of Directors of Inditex; Mete Coban, CEO, My Life My Say; Margaret Heffernan, Author & Entrepreneur; Vera Heitmann, Global Public Affairs Leader, Ingka Group, IKEA; Robin Hodess, Strategy Lead, The B Team; Ruth Yeoman, Fellow, Kellogg College, University of Oxford; Anthony Zacharzewski, President, The Democratic Society; Alastair McCapra, Chief Executive, CIPR; and Matthew Painter, Managing Director, Ipsos Corporate Reputation.
The challenges at the heart of the Commission’s enquiry will include:
What is the correct role of a business in a healthy democratic society?
What are the dangers/benefits of a business going beyond obeying laws and regulations and engaging in active political topics?
What does stakeholder as opposed to shareholder capitalism mean when it comes to democratic engagement?
Please get in touch if you have any questions or want to help in any way. We very much hope you'll support this new, exciting and cutting-edge initiative.
Team Jericho
March 2023
