Our work is guided by our charitable objects and a strategy agreed and reviewed in regular intervals by the Board of Trustees in consultation with staff, advisors and stakeholders. We are committed to conduct our research, advocacy and governance processes with transparency, in line with academic research ethics standards, and are open to critical and constructive comment from people and organisations we work with, and who we affect with our work.

We seek to realise the principles that we have identified as good practice in the work that we do, including on issues of accountability in research. Our staff and trustees are expected to conduct themselves and fulfil their roles with respect for those who they engage with, and in a spirit of constructive support should problems arise.The key means of ensuring our own accountability involve our governance structure and processes (which are in part subject to regulation by the Charity Commission for England and Wales), our information disclosure policy, and a complaints handling procedure for concerns about our substantive work and personal staff conduct.  These are described below.

Governance

The One World Trust is a UK registered charity (No 1134438) set up in 1951. It is governed by a Board of Trustees with currently ten members from different backgrounds of society and professional sectors.  Trustees are recruited through a regular open process of advertisement and recommendation. The Board Recruitment Policy sets out the criteria and process for our search, and the terms of office.

In our work we are also supported by a group of Vice-Presidents and International Advisors.  The One World Trust is a grant funded organisation which also draws a limited amount of income from supporters and consultancy services. Projects and services that we work on are identified and agreed in line with our values, mission and strategy. An overview of our main sources of funding can be found on our funders page or in our public annual reports. 

Our charitable objects, set out in the Articles and Memorandum of Association of 2 July 2008 are

To advance the education of the public in the purpose, theory and practice of effective, accountable global governance, in particular by undertaking research into the role that institutions, citizens, and regulatory frameworks play in the development of processes and principles of governance at every level, including local, national and world, and disseminating the useful results of such research.

(These objects were revised from those outlined in the original Trust Deed of 23 February 1951)

Key additional policies include our:

• Policy of Delegation establishing the main areas of responsibility of the Board of Trustees and the Director vis-à-vis each other;

• Information Disclosure Policy regulating what we make public, how the public can request access to information, and how we deal with such requests;

• complaints procedure, detailed at the bottom of this page

• Three year strategy 2008-2010 which guides the substantive work of the Trust and its organisational development.

Requests for Information

In line with the provisions of our Information Disclosure Policy, minutes of Board of Trustees Meetings, our annual reports to the Charity Commission as the UK regulator, our annual externally audited accounts, and our public annual reports are posted on this website. All available Trust documents can be accessed by clicking here.

Requests for information may be directed by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   or by post to Prince Consort House 109-111 Farringdon Road, Suite 301, 3rd Floor, London, EC1R 3BW, UK. The staff member responsible for taking up information requests is Jonathan Butcher, and the Trustee responsible for oversight of the policy is Robert Whitfield.  These people may be contacted using the email or postal addresses supplied.

Addressing a Complaint to the Trust

Should you have a concern about the substantive work of the Trust or the personal conduct of a staff member, intern or member of our governance structure, you can address a formal complaint to the Trust.

• If you have a complaint for concern about the substantive work of the Trust, please contact the relevant staff member. The project and staff pages provide insight on who is working on what issues and how to contact the individual concerned.

• If you have a concern about the personal conduct of a staff member or intern, please address your correspondence to one of the project managers, or if they are concerned, to the Director. Concerns about the conduct of the Director should be addressed directly to the Chair of the Board of Trustees who can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

• We will acknowledge your complaint within a week of receipt and seek to respond substantively within two weeks of our acknowledgement.

• Staff, managers and Trustees are committed to responding constructively with the aim of resolving your complaint at all stages of the process. We will treat your details with confidentiality. If we are unable to do so in order to address the complaint effectively, i.e. if it is necessary for reviewers of the case to know who you are to find a solution to the problem, we will contact you to discuss how to proceed.

• In case the initial response to your complaint does not resolve the problem, you should write to the Director who will acknowledge your complaint within a week of receipt and seek to respond substantively within two weeks of his acknowledgement.

• You can appeal decisions by the Director to the Chair of the Board who can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The Chair of the Board of Trustees will acknowledge your correspondence within two weeks, and respond to you after consultation with other Trustees within a maximum of six weeks following his first correspondence to you. The Chair’s decision on all complaints will be final.

• As the One World Trust is a registered Charity, No 1134438, regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, should you have an issue that cannot be addressed by first working through the One World Trust’s own information disclosure policy or complaints handling procedure, the Charity Commission can be reached at PO Box 1227, Liverpool L69 3UG, UK, Tel +44 (0) 845 3000 218, or Fax +44 (0) 151 7031 555.