Shining a light on financial literacy

In September 2021, the Financial Times launched its own charity, The Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign (FLIC). FT FLIC is an educational and lobbying initiative which aims to democratise financial education, particularly for young people, women and disenfranchised groups. The charity is working at the grassroots level, but is also seeking to influence macro policy while building a platform of homegrown and partner content, initially with a focus on the UK, but with an aim to expand globally over time.

Just over a year in, and at a time when the issue of financial literacy seems more critical than ever, the campaign has made significant strides. FT FLIC has created and launched a Learning Hub aimed at educators of 14-18 year olds, hosting three modules currently on budgeting, understanding crypto, and getting paid. The charity is also working with the City of London Corporation and their multi-academy trust of schools to upskill teachers in the delivery of a 6-week whole school financial curriculum, helping build pupils’ ability to look after their money, and inspire them to embark on their financial lives with ambition.

Moreover, it is collaborating with a broad range of online content creators from TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, with influencers using their own voice and style to talk about a piece of financial education. In its first year, FT FLIC commissioned 10 videos, which were viewed by just over one million people.

It also launched a popular event for women entitled ‘Four Things Every Woman Needs to Know About Money’, which has been viewed by over 140,000 people online, and a further event titled ‘Young, Gifted and Broke: Navigating the cost of living crisis’.

It is also running a unique project focused on adult hospitality workers and those with variably or precariously employed, to offer bespoke skills to help them manage their money. Additionally, FT FLIC is partnering with major food delivery companies, hospitality employers, unions and community groups to develop bespoke projects for their stakeholders. 

Looking Ahead

Now, FT FLIC is looking to expand on these key milestones. It plans to build up the beneficiary-facing section of its Learning Hub, so that individual users can access longer form video content to gain the skills they need to take control of their finances. It will also be using data and feedback from its whole school curriculum pilot to inform what it hopes will be the gold standard of financial education in the future. It plans to roll out the initiative nationwide, hopefully with the endorsement of the government, which it will continue to lobby. Moreover, it is partnering  with a later life care charity and additional commercial partners to offer a range of money saving and income boosting tips for retirement age individuals

“FT FLIC is always happy to hear from people who have strong links into communities to help with tailoring and distributing our content to those groups most in need of our help, whether young people, women or marginalised communities.

We would also welcome support from those with links into government in order to help lobby for our goal to embed financial literacy within the national curriculum. Finally, in order to build our funding base we would also love to hear from grant making organisations and individuals interested in becoming part of our major donor programme. All of this will help FT FLIC empower those in society who are most in need of financial education in order to make the most of money and life’s opportunities,” says Neal Fuller, head of fundraising.

If you would like to support FT FLIC and its work, you can donate here, using the reference ‘CFA UK’. 

For more information on FT FLIC’s activities and ways to get involved, please contact Neal at neal.fuller@ftflic.com