|
Ethic of Accountability
This page is provided for public accountability in how my work is funded - see
Table below.
Some of my activist work has been controversial, so I think it important to be transparent
about income and the larger or potentially controversial sources of my funding. The table below covers the period 1998 to
present. Further information on some of this work is on the full or short
versions of my CV. My work is entirely self-employed and resourced from
writing, speaking and contract teaching. Much of what I do is unfunded and it
can therefore help greatly to hear from potential benefactors or be pointed
towards new funding sources. The Centre for Human Ecology (which has registered
charitable status) is particularly in need of funding to sustain the
independence of its radical teaching programme in partnership with Strathclyde
University. If anybody reading this has suggestions to make, I can be contacted
on mail@AlastairMcIntosh.com.
How I Do or Don't Charge for Doing Events People often ask what I charge for
giving presentations. I have no fixed fee as I try to do what seems
important rather than merely what pays well. As such, I ask groups to pay
what they can afford, if they can afford it. This varies from the going
commercial rate, down to zero.
I do ask groups to factor in travel time and to remember, for example,
that a train journey to the far south of England involves the best part of 2
day's energy to/from Scotland. Also, to remember that being self-employed, I
have to cover all my own overheads and that for each day's work that I do
for an organisation there may be several days that go in to the research,
preparation and background that make for a distinctive contribution. As
such, with commercial and governmental organisations I have no compunction
about requesting top "going rates". These cross-subsidise the ones that
can't pay. I do fly where I consider it
necessary, but for obvious environmental reasons I try to avoid it.
However, in working often with international issues it does entail some long
distance travel. My first question to organisations inviting me from far away
has to be, "Can you justify the carbon footprint?" I don't want to discourage
invitations, but i do invite discernment over them. I'm also aware that the
primary focus of my work needs to remain locally based. As will be clear from
my itinerary, my schedule is demanding, and to
reduce wear-and-tear and to be on good form on arrival and departure, I am no longer as
willing to rough it as was once the case! That doesn't mean first class or
4-star, but it does mean that when I go places I need somewhere with
reasonable peace and quiet to relax and keep going with my other work, and, preferably, free wireless internet
access.
Groups
that want me to speak to them should make contact by email in the first
instance - but do telephone if you get tangled in my spam checker and haven't
had a reply within reasonable time. My itinerary gives approximate dates when I'm otherwise engaged,
but as this does not include most personal events it should be taken as a
rough guide only. My contact details are
here.
| |
Table of Financial Accountablity |
| |
1998 - March 2007 |
| April 2007 to March 2008 |
This will be updated properly when I do my annual accounts
over the summer. But gross taxable turnover is higher than in the
previous year, with work including consultancy and training for WWF UK
and International, the Scottish Government, the ESRC and, interestingly,
a lecture to managers at Shell on a no-holds-barred basis about
corporate responsibility, that
paid a commercial rate of €2,000. |
| |
|
| April 2006 to March 2007 |
Gross taxable turnover this year was only £12,007 due to
not taking on engagements in the New Year because of Ossian's loss, and
to working on climate change book. Business expenses allowable by the
Inland Revenue were £5,875, leaving a net taxable income for the year of
£6,132. This included:
 | £4,635 from Strathclyde University / Centre for Human Ecology
for teaching. |
 | £1,200 teaching fees from Gibson Institute, University of
Belfast. |
 | £100 expenses from Lafarge for service on their Sustainability
Stakeholders' Panel. No fee was received for this work which
continues as aftermath of the Harris superquarry campaign. |
|
| April 2005 to March 2006 |
My gross turnover was £18,664, with business
expenses allowable by the Inland Revenue of £8,385, leaving a net
taxable income for the year of £10,280. This included:
 | £5,600 for consultancy with the GalGael Trust beyond the remit of
normal voluntary Board duties, in accordance with Article 30 of the
constitution. This was for management and accountancy
services. |
 | £5342 for teaching from the Centre for Human Ecology /
Strathclyde University. |
 | £385 was received from Lafarge as expenses reimbursement for
service on their Sustainability Stakeholders' Panel. No fee was
received for this work which continues as aftermath of the Harris
superquarry campaign. |
 | £900 in speaking fees plus travel expenses were received from the Ministry for
Defence for lecturing on nonviolence at ATR Bassingbourne, and twice
at the Joint Services Command & Staff College (see note below). |
 | $1,000 from the Garrison Institute in the USA, £500 from the
Russell Trust and £400 from Pollard & Dickson Trust for N.
America lectures as part of bringing back the summit
of Mt. Roineabhal. |
|
| April 2004 to March 2005 |
My gross turnover (before deduction of expenses allowable
by the Inland Revenue) for this year has been £14,575.70, the main
components of which were £3023 in speaking fees, £6,000 in
consultancy, £4450 in teaching fees, and the rest for writing,
royalties, etc.. After deduction of £8,997.77 of expenses for running
my office, travel, etc., my net income for the past year was £4,314.82.
This figure has been accepted by the Inland Revenue. Our family finances
balance because of gifts from benefactors, Verene's earnings and the
fact that we have no debts. Receipts exceeding £500 were:
 | £500 from the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool for Clergy training. |
 | £3,000 from the Centre for Human Ecology for teaching on the
Field Trip and Spiritual Activism module. |
 | £500 plus travel from WWF International for a lecture in
Switzerland. |
 | £600 plus travel expenses from the Ministry of Defence for lecturing
(on nonviolence) on the Intermediate and Advanced Command &
Staff Courses. |
 | £742.98 in expenses claimed against receipts from Lafarge for
work connected with their Sustainability
Stakeholders' Panel. I do not take payment for this work, which
is part of laying down the Harris superquarry campaign. However,
Lafarge staff did arrange for me to be a speaker at a conference on
CSR at the INSEAD European Business School, and I accepted a
speaking fee of €500 (£317) from the School for this, plus travel
expenses and accommodation. |
 | £777 from Jersey Education Dept & College for
speaking/travel. |
 | £6,000 from the GalGael Trust, Govan, for consultancy mainly on
establishing and fundraising for our new £400,000 premises at
Fairley Street. This work was in excess of normal unpaid Board
duties as the Treasurer, and was agreed in advance by the Board,
notified to our auditors, and paid in accordance with Article 30 of
our constitution, which the Inland Revenue have approved and which
permits such payments. |
|
| April 2003 - March 2004 |
Gross income for the financial year 2003-04 was
£10,212, expenses were £6,938, leaving a net taxable income as agreed
with the Inland Revenue of £3,274. My main work was preparing course materials for the Open
University accredited master's module in Spiritual
Activism that I am developing and teaching at the Centre
for Human Ecology in Edinburgh. This received full accreditation from the
Open University Validation Unit. I also undertook broadcasting work - especially the 4-part BBC
Radio Scotland "Voices for Peace" series. Payments received in excess
of £500 during the financial year were £591 from the BBC, £667 for management
training with Groupe Credit Mutuel, £700 for postgraduate thesis supervision
from the Faculty of Science & Engineering in the University of
Edinburgh, £2,800 for module teaching and field trip organisation with
the CHE, and a grant of £1,870 from the Network for Social Change to
help with the work being undertaken with Lafarge withdrawing from the
Harris superquarry. |
| 2002 to March 2003 |
Gross income for the financial year 2002-03 was £10,980,
expenses were £6,156, leaving a net taxable income of £4,824. Verene and I have got by mainly from bits of
consultancy work and earnings from writing, speaking, broadcasting teaching etc. - comprising
about £5,000 for each of us, our personal resources bolstered by friend and
family benefactors. Payments received in excess of £500 during the
financial year were £1,615 for thesis supervision and teaching at the CHE,
£600 for an article on St Andrew and feminism for the Daily Mail, and £1,765
remaining advance from Aurum Press on Soil and Soul. As of September 2002 Verene has procured 2 year's
funding for her work, now called the "Community Programme",
which she is managing at the CHE. This involves undertaking Training for Transformation
with black and minority ethnic communities in
Scotland. I advise on this programme, and help especially with fundraising for
it and with looking at aspects of Scottish identity vis-a-vis ethnicity, but I am not employed by it. Her
salary, however, helps to support the work of us both. Payments received by me
in excess of £500 during the financial year were £2,650 for thesis
supervision, module teaching and field trip organisation at the CHE, £2,500 for
senior management training at Groupe Credit Mutuel, and £500 from the Francis
Camfield Charitable Trust for community activism training. |
| April - Dec 2001 |
Gross income for the financial year 2001-02 was £8,752,
expenses were £4,372, leaving a net taxable income of £4,379. Verene and I were supported by funding from a private benefactor
for her work, and from a £5,000 transitional
grant that Rowntree gave to me and which the Inland Revenue kindly agreed could
be classed as a tax-free redundancy payment (Ah, that's what I like -
"redundant" social activists!). This indirectly, but crucially, enabled my primary
activity that year being to step back in temporarily and serve as Executive Director of the Centre for Human Ecology
in an unpaid capacity, whilst sorting out certain organisational problems and
procuring funding for the appointment of a permanent Executive Director. I did
not apply for this post, and for various reasons, I am delighted that Osbert
Lancaster has been appointed and is making such a good job of things on a
horribly tight budget - see www.che.ac.uk .
Payments received in excess of £500 during the financial year were
£1,000 for teaching at the CHE and £640 for teaching at Edinburgh
University. |
| The 3 years 1998 - March 2001 |
Action for Transformation is the name that my wife, Vérène
Nicolas, and I, gave to our work when I was funded with an annual grant of
£23,000 including expenses by the Quaker Concerns budget of the Joseph Rowntree
Charitable Trust for the three years ending March 2001. Over that period we both
lived mainly from this. Many of the outputs of
this programme will be found listed in the publications section of this website.
It involved community empowerment work with such issues as land
reform, environmental protection, urban deprivation and issues of identity,
belonging and ethnicity. Examples include:
 | Having co-founded the Isle of Eigg Trust, and followed this through with
action contributing to Scotland's land reform legislation in the new
Parliament. |
 | Playing a key role in blocking development in a National Scenic Area of
the proposed Isle of Harris superquarry. |
 | Working with Glasgow Mosque on combating Islamophobia, and other
anti-racism initiatives, particularly our Embracing Multicultural
Scotland project and follow-up studies. |
 | Working with the head of the Department of Economics in the Russian
Academy of Sciences and with the Russian Orthodox Church on the relationship
between religion and economics. |
 | Undertaking a national values discernment process - People and
Parliament.
|
 | Co-founding and providing regular management advice to the GalGael
Trust - a group of marginalised urban youth in Glasgow who are
reclaiming their culture and traditional boatbuilding skills as an antidote
to despair. |
 | Working for the removal of nuclear weapons from Scottish soil, including
addressing some 400 senior officers for each of the past 5 years at military
staff college, and being arrested (but found "not guilty") for
participating in a mass blockade at the Faslane submarine base. |
 | Writing Soil and Soul and other publications, to suggest where
wellsprings of hope can be found. |
Vérène's work, also based at the Centre for Human Ecology where she too is
a Fellow, has involved working with marginalised women in Scotland and
especially, introducing skills drawn from the Training for Transformation
programme. For information about her work, click www.VereneNicolas.org
. |
Last Updated:
20 June 2008
www.AlastairMcIntosh.com
|