The Young Foundation is a

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

organisation An organization or organisation ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is an entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution ( formal organization), or an association—comprising one or more people and having a pa ...

driving community research and social innovation. It is named after Michael Young, the British sociologist and social activist who created over 60 organisations including the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a 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 undergraduate ...

Which? ''Which?'' is a United Kingdom brand name that promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights, and offering indepen ...

Economic and Social Research Council The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fundi ...

, the

School for Social Entrepreneurs A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of fo ...

, and

Language Line Telephone interpreting connects human interpreters via telephone to individuals who wish to speak to each other but do not share a common language. The telephone interpreter converts the spoken language from one language to another, enabling li ...

History

The Institute of Community Studies (ICS) was set up by Michael Young in 1953. The ICS is a research institute which combined academic research and practical social innovation. In 2005, it merged with the Mutual Aid Centre and was renamed The Young Foundation, in honour of its founder, Michael Young. In both current and previous incarnations, The Young Foundation has been instrumental in leading research, driving public debate, and implementing social innovation in the UK and abroad, with an emphasis on combining research and practical application. During the second half of the 20th century Michael Young was one of the world’s most creative and influential social thinkers and doers. After 1945 he helped shape the UK’s new welfare state. In the early 1950s he set up the

Institute of Community Studies The Institute for Community Studies at The Young Foundation is a United Kingdom, British non-profit research institute that works with communities, organisations, and policymakers to effect social change. It was founded in 1953 and is based in ...

and used it as a base for research and action. Together with collaborators including Peter Willmott, Peter Townsend and many others, he wrote a series of bestsellers which changed attitudes to a host of social issues, including urban planning (leading the movement away from tower blocks), education (leading thinking about how to radically widen access) and poverty. Young pioneered ideas of public and consumer empowerment both in private markets and in public services, some of which are only now becoming mainstream (for example NHS Direct, the spread of after-school clubs and neighbourhood councils can all be traced to his work). Young publicized the word "

meritocracy Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods or political power are vested in individual people based on ability and talent, rather than ...

", first used by Alan Fox in 1956., and published the satire

The Rise of the Meritocracy ''The Rise of the Meritocracy'' is a book by British sociologist and politician Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington, Michael Dunlop Young which was first published in 1958. It describes a dystopian society in a future United Kingdom in whic ...

in 1958.

Family and Kinship in East London ''Family and Kinship in East London'' was a 1957 sociological study of an urban working class tight-knit community, and the effects of the post-war governments' social housing policy leading to their rehousing. Many East Londoners by rigid slum ...

shone light the role of the family in working class communities. Young's greatest legacy was institution building. He initiated, and in some cases directly created, dozens of new institutions including:

International Alert International Alert is a global peacebuilding charity established in 1986. It aims to promote dialogue, training, research, policy analysis, advocacy, and outreach activities. The organization addresses the root causes of conflict by working wi ...

University of the Third Age The University of the Third Age (U3A), is an international movement whose aims are the education and stimulation of mainly retired members of the community — those in their third 'age' of life. There is no universally accepted model for the U ...

, National Extension College,

National Consumer Council National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, Open College of the Arts,

and

. It was the commercial sale of

to a venture capital company that provided most of the funding for the establishment of the

. Other organisations Young created pioneered new approaches to funerals and baby-naming, neighbourhood democracy and the arts. He was described by

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

’s

Daniel Bell Daniel Bell (May 10, 1919 – January 25, 2011) was an American sociologist, writer, editor, and professor at Harvard University, best known for his contributions to the study of post-industrialism. He has been described as "one of the leading ...

as ‘the world’s most successful entrepreneur of social enterprises’.

Program

The Young Foundation has continued to incubate new social enterprises. For example it established the Social Innovation Exchange in 2007 which spun out as a separate organization in 2013. The Young Foundation is currently involved in different areas including health and well-being, place-based work, inequality and support for young people.

Notable former employees

* Michael Young * Peter Hall *

Geoff Mulgan Sir Geoffrey John Mulgan CBE (born 1961) is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). From 2011 to 2019 he was chief executive of the National Endowment for Science Technolo ...

Rushanara Ali Rushanara Ali (; born 14 March 1975) is a British politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2010 and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping since July 2024. A member of the Labour Par ...

Charlotte Leslie Charlotte Leslie (born 11 August 1978) is a British Conservative Party politician who is the current Director of the Conservative Middle East Council. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bristol North West constituency, losing he ...

* Peter Townsend *

Yvonne Roberts Yvonne Roberts is a freelance English writer and journalist. She was born in 1948 in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire and has worked in newspaper and television journalism. She has published sixteen books, including novels and discussions of hu ...

* Peter Willmott * Ann Cartwright *

Karen Dunnell Dame Karen Hope Dunnell, DCB, FAcSS (''née'' Williamson; born 16 June 1946) is an American-born British medical sociologist and civil servant. She was National Statistician and Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics of the U ...

References

External links

Young Foundation
{{Authority control Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Political and economic research foundations Innovation organizations Research and development in the United Kingdom

History

Program

Notable former employees

See also

References

External links