Interested in PBE?

If you are an economist or economics firm interested in volunteering or a charity interested in participating in our programme, please read the guidance below about how we select, match and deliver projects.

Project Selection

Any UK-based charity or organisation with charitable aims can register a project proposal on the PBE website.

In deciding whether or not to take the proposal to the next stage we will consider:

Does the proposal require input from an economist? It may be that other specialist input is more appropriate.

Is the project scope/timetable feasible using volunteers? Projects where multidisciplinary input is required to a very tight timescale, or which required sustained input over a long period may be better served by a consultancy firm or academic input.

Is the charity based outside of London? We aim to ensure a broad geographical spread within the UK.

The answers to these questions may be obvious from the proposal or may be explored in an initial meeting/phone call with the charity.

We may approach individual charities from time to time to ensure we have a balanced portfolio of projects

• across sectors and locations
• between organisations with good and poor data availability

Project Matching and Delivery

Step 1 – PBE decides whether or not to proceed to more detailed scoping, based on the criteria above, usually after an initial meeting or phone call with representatives of the charity and the production of clear Terms of Reference.

Step 2 – PBE allocates an experienced economist to spend up to one day in total meeting representatives of the charity, assessing the data available and deciding whether a piece of analysis is feasible or other input, e.g advice on data collection, is more appropriate. At this point the Terms of Reference may be revised to reflect the outcome of the scoping.

Step 3 – PBE discusses the revised Terms of Reference with potential economist volunteers (who may or may not have been involved in the scoping discussion) and the PBE trustees agree the charity/economist match.

Step 4 – The economist volunteer/team meet with the charity to clarify timelines and agree suitability.
At this point either party can agree that the match is not suitable – back to Step 3.

Step 5 – The economist volunteer/team draw up a detailed project plan, agreed with the charity and PBE, which is attached to an agreement signed by all parties.

Step 6 – Work begins, with the expectation that the output will be published, and the charity and the economist volunteer/team keep PBE informed of all progress by copying us into all correspondence. After six months there is an automatic review meeting between all three parties. If the project is off track, remedial action will be agreed which, in extreme cases, may include the early termination of the project.

Step 7 – A draft report containing analysis is sent for peer review by a senior economist, identified by PBE; a report containing advice to the charity on, for example, data collection, will not normally be peer reviewed.

Step 8 – The peer reviewer’s comments are incorporated into the final report to share with the charity.

Step 9 – PBE meets with the charity to agree publication options. This will include one or more of the following for a piece of analysis: placing the report on the PBE website, a formal launch with associated press release, a roundtable meeting including other charities in the sector. The precise form in which any output is published will be by mutual agreement and may simply be a summary of the process followed.

Step 10 – Immediately following publication, there will be a follow up meeting between PBE, the charity and the economist volunteer/team to discuss and agree impact, lessons learnt and feedback to the economist volunteer/team’s line manager.

Step 11 – After an agreed timeframe, PBE will contact the charity for an assessment of the lasting impact of the project

From time to time, PBE may produce a synthesis of a number of projects in a particular sector, outlining lessons learnt and issues for the sector arising from the projects.

Please take a few minutes to register with us using the links below.

If you prefer to contact us, please send an email to info@probonoeconomics.com