Pro Bono Economics matches volunteer economists with charities wishing to address questions around measurement, results and impact.
Through this PBE hopes to achieve two objectives:
– Improved effectiveness of the charity sector
– A valued contribution by economists both to the sector and to their professional development
There is growing pressure on charities to measure performance and results to quantify their wider impact on society. By helping charities to address these issues, economists can put their technical skills to use in the front line.
If you are an economist or charity interested in signing up with us please use the link on the right of the page to register.
Beat works across the UK providing information, support, and self-help groups to help people beat eating disorders.
Beat wanted to support their campaign work with information on costs of eating disorders in England, and approached PBE for help. We introduced the charity to John Henderson, a volunteer economist from the Department of Health, whose report has shed light on this issue.
The report can be found by clicking here
More information about the charity can be found on the Beat website.
The Social Research Unit is a charity that looks to improve the health and development of children, particularly in Europe and North America, focussing on identifying possible obstacles to good health and development, and testing the value of children’s services.
The Social Research Unit is working to translate for use in the UK an economic model created by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy that looks at costs and economic returns of interventions related to child well-being.
The charity approached Pro Bono Economics for advice and support in undertaking this translation. We introduced them to a team of economist volunteers from the National Audit Office who are providing advice to the Social Research Unit in undertaking this work.
There will be several publications, each of which looks at a different area of children’s services. The first two of these, looking at education and youth justice have been published by SRU and can be found here.
Toynbee Hall is based in Tower Hamlets, one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK, and aims to eradicate poverty in the local area and beyond. Their Safe Exit project looks to reduce the scale of street-based prostitution and improve the lives of those involved.
Hoping to understand how to demonstrate the benefits of this programme, Toynbee Hall approached us for assistance.
We are grateful to Chris Peacock from the Bank of England who gave his time and expertise to this project.
A summary of the project can be found by clicking here
More information about the charity can be found on the Toynbee Hall website
Tuesday 7th February 2012 saw the second of PBE’s lectures, kindly supported by PwC and hosted
at their new More London Riderside offices.
Sir Howard Davies delivered the lecture, titled ‘Why do people give their money away and how can we stop them acting so irrationally?’
Sir Howard’s lecture examined behaviours in philanthropy, the related challenges for fundraisers, and the role that economists can play, both in understanding these behaviours and in helping charities.
