David Robinson OBE is the co-founder of

Community Links Community Links is a multipurpose charity operating in the East London borough of Newham. It was established by David Robinson OBE and Kevin Jenkins OBE in 1977, and has grown to become one of the UK's largest local charities. In 2011 Community ...

, founder and co-leader of the Relationships Project, chair of the Early Action Task Force, and Honorary Practitioner in Residence at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

Marshall Institute, developing new work on tackling social isolation. Robinson co-founded east London charity

in 1977 while at school, and was Chief Executive for 25 years. When he stepped down to become Senior Advisor, Community Links was the UK's largest local voluntary organisation. He co-founded the Children’s Discovery Centre in 2002. It was the UK’s first Story Centre working with more than 100,000 children and their families every year on the development of literacy skills and a love of language and stories. From 2007 to 2010 he led the Prime Minister’s Council on Social Action for

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

. While there, he initiated and worked with others on the construction of the

Social impact bond A social impact bond, also known as pay-for-success financing, pay-for-success bond, social benefit bond or simply a social bond, is one form of outcomes-based contracting. Although there is no single agreed definition of social impact bonds, mo ...

and went on to chair the successful Peterborough project – the world’s first scheme funded by a

. The SIB was developed by

Social Finance Ltd. Social Finance is a not for profit consultancy organisation that partners with governments, service providers, the voluntary sector and the financial community to find better ways of tackling social problems in the UK and globally. Founded in 2 ...

where David became a director and where he now chairs the Impact Incubator developing new models in areas of acute social need. Robinson founded and now chairs Shift - the social enterprise developing products that change behaviour. It began with the million selling ''Change the world for a fiver'' series of books before moving on to a range of other products. He set up Changing London in 2013 to involve Londoners in an independent, three year programme developing ideas for London’s next mayor. Since the mayoral election he has advised on the Mayor's Citizenship and Integration programme. He has also chaired or been a non-executive director with many organisations including BASSAC,

Business in the Community Business in the Community (BITC) is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the Prince's Charities of King Charles III (formerly the Prince of Wales). BITC wo ...

and the Big Society Trust. David's books include

Britain's Everyday Heroes ''Britain's Everyday Heroes'' is a book by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown about thirty-three ordinary people whose willing commitment to a cause or a community has informed and inspired Brown. It was published by Mainstream Publishing ...

(with

), 'Changing London' (with Will Horowitz), 'Change the World for a Fiver' and Unconditional Leadership as well as numerous papers and reports. Other publications include multiple policy reports for the Council on Social Action, for the Early Action Task Force and now an ongoing series for the Relationships Project. He has delivered two TEDx talks. David was the first Practitioner in Residence at the LSE’s Marshall Institute. He delivered the first Practitioners public lecture for the Institute at the LSE in 2018 and is now an occasional lecturer at the LSE and elsewhere. David holds an honorary doctorate from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's underg ...

, is an Associate Fellow at the

University of East London , mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows , established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...

Institute for Connected Communities, an Ashoka Senior Fellow and chair of the Flying Seagulls. He was once described by the Guardian as “the godfather of the community sector, equally admired on the left and right”. He was awarded OBE in 1995, has three children and lives in East London.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people