Changing the world isn't about money. Our charity and aid system falls short because it's built on control. Systems don't change the world, people do. It starts with us. It starts with you.
We see this Why? series as a journey. A journey of how One World Together came to be. It’s the story of how our Co-Founders’ experiences researching and working in the charity and aid sectors led them to care deeply, and believe wholeheartedly, that a better way is possible. That a better future is possible.
And in that future, there’s you.
If we’ve learned one thing – and this may sound surprising – it’s this: Changing the world isn’t actually about money.
For decades, more and more money has poured into the charity and development sectors, full of good intentions. And yes, money matters. It funds vital work, it supports the people and organisations doing that work and it creates opportunities where there may otherwise be none.The real problem isn’t the amount of money. It’s the system that controls how that money flows.
We’ve built a system – a charity and aid finance system – that too often blocks funds from reaching the communities that need it the most. A system that ties money up in red tape, bureaucracy, and layers of control. Even when the funds arrive, they’re so entangled in conditions, reporting and restricting that they rarely fuel the lasting change they were meant to spark.
There are many good people working hard to fix this system. (In fact, that’s how our Co-Founders met – trying to make the system fairer, more efficient, more human). But here’s the hard truth. The system keeps falling short because it’s built on fear – the fear of risk. And because we don’t like risk we try to control it. We create rules, conditions, paperwork, reporting. We design entire systems to make sure things don’t go ‘wrong’.
But in trying to control risk, we end up controlling people. And when we do that – when we pull decision-making power away from the very communities we say we want to help – we stop real change from taking root.
What if, instead of fear, we led with our values, including trust? Because trust is powerful. Trust recognises that people – especially the people closest to the challenges – are not the problem. They are the solution.
When we centre trust over control, we open the door to something bigger than any single system or organisation. We unlock the ingenuity, resilience, and brilliance that already exists in communities around the world. We begin to build a world where money flows differently. Where it moves through people, not over them.
Because the truth is: systems don’t change the world. People do.
When people come together – ordinary people who believe in something better, who give a little regularly, who lift up the leadership of communities and stand in solidarity with their visions – extraordinary things happen.
That’s what One World Together is all about. It’s about the people who refuse to settle or give up. The people who believe that generosity can be transformative, not transactional. Who know that relationships matter more than metrics.
With The New 1% we are building a values-centred, people-powered movement where giving is transformed, where generosity fuels justice and where solidarity – not charity – leads the way.
It starts with us.
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