Money Movers - What next?

Just over a year ago we launched our new Money Movers resource hub with generous support from Triodos Bank. This makes the materials that support people to host a group publicly and freely accessible on the Friends of the Earth website. Since then, a lot has changed. Banks that once promised to align with climate goals have backtracked on their commitments. Our friends at Make My Money Matter closed their doors due to a lack of funding (although their brilliant resources are still available). Meanwhile, the ongoing cost of living crisis is resulting in a growing divide in financial behaviour. Wealthier people putting more aside, while people with tighter budgets are putting less and less into pension or rainy-day funds and may well feel that they can't afford to raise questions about ethics with finance providers.  

At the same time there is a growing awareness of how everyday spending might be supporting oppressive regimes and harmful practices. The conversation about boycotting and divesting from businesses profiting from the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory is not new but is much more mainstream now. And tech and streaming giants, like Spotify, are starting to feel the heat of consumer protests too. Our Planet over Profit campaign has found a big new audience with young people, who understand the importance of holding companies accountable for the damage they cause.  

In this context, very different from the one we launched in in 2018, we’ve started to explore a simple question: how do we help our tools reach more communities, and how do we support people who want to champion locally the power of coming together to take action with your finances?

Over the past month we’ve been speaking with past hosts and others who’ve been part of the programme. We ran two small webinars to test early ideas, hear what kind of support people might need, and understand what would make it easier for volunteers to introduce Money Movers into their own communities.

Why explore an ambassador model?

Money Movers has always worked because it is relational. People feel more confident taking action when the invitation comes from someone they trust. And the warmth of feeling that people still hold towards the programme, because of the connections it enabled, was one of my big (and most heartwarming) takeaways from the webinars. Our earlier review also found that personal posts, stories and community-led events often reach people more effectively than institutional communications. And we have also seen the impact when individuals step forward: for example, Olivia Sibony, a former Money Movers host, was invited to speak at a Friends of the Earth group event in her local area earlier this year.

Olivia’s experience has inspired us to explore a small, experimental “ambassador” pilot programme as the next chapter in the Money Mover’s story. The idea is simple. Support a handful of people who are already enthusiastic about Money Movers, learn what they need, and understand what helps them share the programme confidently in their own networks. We used our webinars to gather feedback on this proposal.  

What we heard in the co-design sessions

Several clear themes emerged. Participants were generous in sharing what would help them and equally, what might get in the way.

1. Clarity unlocks action

People were interested in taking part but wanted a clearer sense of the 'ask'. Is this a one-off talk or an expectation to accompany a three-session journey? How long does the programme run? Once an ambassador always an ambassador – or can it be more short term?

2. Telling your story is not the barrier — but finding people to talk to is

A strong message came through: the hardest part is not running a session but finding people to run it for. It’s not surprising that our hosts are confident facilitators – especially the ones who showed up to co-design the next steps – but they were hesitant about the work involved in reaching out to groups directly and setting up opportunities (especially with no real accountability for them). It may be that the support they most need is not bespoke content, but matchmaking.

3. New spaces bring new audiences

Our participants were really creative in their suggestions for where Money Movers could run. They suggested workplaces, co-working hubs, universities, arts centres, local political groups, community cafes, mutual aid groups, and parenting networks. There are real opportunities here – as long as ambassadors don’t have to do too much of the legwork. And they also noted that in many of these spaces, a conversation about financial literacy and managing in tough times is the essential groundwork for any sort of conversation about ethics.  

4. Money moved or people reached: what is our aim?

There is, and has always been, a tension between measuring “money moved” and measuring “people reached”. Participants reminded us that if we were to optimise for the financial metric, we risk drifting towards already affluent audiences. If we optimise for reach, we compromise on financial impact and will also need to review our messaging. This is an important design choice for any next phase.

5. Volunteers need scaffolding, not more materials

Our group of past hosts were clear that they do not need a heavier toolkit. Instead they need simple support structures:

• a webpage they can point to for legitimacy
• a clear “key things to land” cheat-sheet
• template invitations
• a place to swap experiences (even a WhatsApp group would help)
• guidance on what to do when tricky questions come up.
• This framing came through repeatedly: make it feel easy, supported, and doable.  

6. Joy and creativity matter

Participants lit up when talking about using games, storytelling, humour, poetry, and visual prompts. They want Money Movers to feel welcoming, playful and culturally adaptable. Could they make zines rather than give talks? Creative approaches aren’t just nice to have — they are how we lower the emotional barrier to talking about money.

What this means for our next stage

Our next move is to take away this insight and craft it into a proposal for a pilot ambassador programme. We will continue to prioritise co-design, working with a small cohort of ambassadors to:

• test what kinds of connections they need
• co-design the minimum viable set of support resources
• explore ways of helping them reach new audiences
• learn how to balance inclusion, reach, and impact

This stage is deliberately experimental - we’re looking for learning above all. We’ll also be looking out for how the ‘each one teach one’ model works in this context and whether there are implications for our wider work with communities.  

The hub is open to everyone

Meanwhile, the hub is open to everyone - you don’t need to become an ambassador to run a Money Movers group.

The hub is open, free and ready for use. All the resources are available now, including video recordings of our friends at Huddlecraft running trainings for a previous cohort.  

The ambassador pilot is about widening reach and strengthening peer-to-peer support — not creating permission structures.

Anyone wanting to run a Money Movers session in their workplace, community group, or living room, can start today.

How to take part in the next steps

If you've been involved in Money Movers before — whether as a host, participant, or supporter — and are curious about the ambassador experiment, we would love to hear from you.

Please contact us 

• to express interest in joining the pilot cohort
• to run a session but need help finding a group
• to share a story or example we can learn from
• or simply to stay in the loop as this next phase develops.

And to take action straight away, visit the Money Movers hub, download the resources and explore how to use them in your own community.

The Money Movers resource hub and its ongoing development are proudly sponsored by Triodos Bank UK Ltd. All the hub content is developed independently by Friends of the Earth in collaboration with Huddlecraft.