Led by our charity partner, Friends of the Earth, we’re proud to sponsor the Money Movers resource hub.

Money Movers is a powerful movement of people supporting each other to take climate action with their personal finances with the hope that even more people can gain confidence to use their money as a force for good.

We spoke to Money Movers lead, Mary Stevens, on what she has learned from heading up this pioneering programme.

What inspired you to create Money Movers?

At Friends of the Earth our goal is to create a greener, fairer future. We do this through campaigning and inspiring people to take action for the environment where they live. But often while we are working hard to challenge the fossil fuel industry or to improve the quality of our local environments with greening projects, our money is being used to undermine all our efforts. Globally, mainstream banks have invested a staggering $6.9 trillion in fossil fuel expansion since the 2015 Paris Agreement.

As co-lead of our Experiments team, my job is to come up with new solutions to some of our biggest climate and nature challenges. Back in 2018 the opening up of online banking services and the move to pensions auto-enrolment (turning millions of ordinary workers in the UK into investors for the first time) inspired us to try to take on the challenge of helping people to align their personal finance with their values.

When we started to explore the topic we learned about the big gender gap in attitudes towards personal finance, with 83% of women wanting to do good with their money, but many expressing a lack of confidence in accessing financial products and services to help. We thought if we could tackle this gap – drawing on learnings about the need for social support to help us take action (we all know we’re more likely to go out for a run if we’re meeting a friend, after all) – then we could start to mobilise women to put the mainstream providers under pressure. And so the idea of what’s now Money Movers was born.

Christiana Figueres, who chaired the Paris climate talks in 2015 has put it very simply: “Put your money where you want the world to go. It is a simple and as powerful as that.” We agree.

How has the programme evolved over time?

We ran our first kitchen table prototypes in 2018 and since then, over 375 women and allies have taken part, moving over £3.3million for the planet, with millions more in planned actions.

Huddlecraft ran the programme on our behalf from 2020 until earlier this year. We’ve learned so much from their ways of working, and I would like to recognise the role of Anneka Deva who led the programme for Huddlecraft.

Thanks to the generous support of Triodos Bank we have now been able to take the resources developed and tested by Huddlecraft and make them publicly and freely available on the Friends of the Earth website, via our new resource hub. You can start today!

And although we still believe that women are a core audience for Money Movers, the resources are now available to anyone who would benefit from a confidence boost when it comes to sustainable finance.

What are some of the key lessons you've learned through leading on Money Movers?

A key lesson has been the power of peer networks in turning intention into action. Many people know they want to align their finances with their values but often feel overwhelmed. Creating a structured, supportive environment helps bridge this "intention-action gap.” The ‘safe space’ matters too; we’d encourage anyone who wants to host a group to think about how they can make sure everyone feels able to participate.

We’ve also seen how moving money is a ‘gateway’ action, building participants’ confidence not just with their finances but also to get involved with other activities in their communities. Knowing that there is something meaningful you can do, even in the face of some of the most powerful corporate interests in the world, is very empowering. Sometimes the next step has been getting involved with community energy (which also needs investment), or urban greening projects. Some people may wish to extend their financial activism – and there are lots of organisations that can support that, such as UK Divest or  Mothers Rise Up. You can also join your local Friends of the Earth group, of course.

Finally, a constant surprise to me, has been how common it is in the financial sector for people to talk about investing or saving for the future without any vision of what that future could or should be. Wealth is just seen as an end in itself. But as Vandana Shiva famously said, “it’s not an investment if it’s destroying the planet.”

Can you share any success stories of people who have been empowered through your programme?

Every story is different. Emma Newman, the host of our Friends of the Earth podcast also hosted a Money Movers group, and she shares her story, alongside an interview with Anneka from Huddlecraft, on the podcast.

Some of our hosts have also written about their experience for Friends of the Earth, like Sarah Tulej. Another host, Sarah Mclaren, shared her experiences with Positive News.

What does the future of Money Movers look like?

The online open-access hub- making the resources available to anyone who would benefit from a confidence boost when it comes to sustainable finance-represents a new chapter for Money Movers. We’d love to see Money Movers groups taking off in more places: community hubs and halls, places of worship, parent-and-baby groups. Or supporting different life stages: students making some of their first independent financial decisions, or new parents, or people planning for retirement. 

Ultimately, we’d like to see Money Movers as part of a coalition of people and movements changing the conversation and the market around savings and investment, so that the ‘green’ option becomes the default.