We spoke with Anneka Deva, Money Movers director, to find out more about the initiative, its achievements and aims for the future. 

How did Money Movers come about?

Friends of the Earth, a longstanding Triodos charity partner, came up with the idea via their experiments team. They recognised the potential our money has for climate action – globally, mainstream banks have invested $4.6 trillion in fossil fuel expansion since the 2016 Paris Agreement. Yet, research found a striking gender gap with 83% of women wanting to do good with their money, but only 17% feeling confident in accessing financial products to help.

The team recognised that this wasn't just an information gap but required social support for women to make changes with their finances. They ran their first kitchen table prototypes in 2018 and then brought in peer-learning specialists Huddlecraft to design and pilot the project (originally called OwnIt 1.5).

These pilots found that the peer-to-peer programme worked, with 140 women moving £1.2million for the planet after just three sessions. Now we're scaling our programmes to reach 1000's of women (and allies of other genders) to move our money so that we can create secure futures for ourselves, our families, and the planet.

How does Money Movers work?

Women sign up to volunteer to become a Money Movers host, and first they get trained by the Money Movers team and equipped with a toolkit of resources. The host then recruits women from their network – friends, family, neighbours, or colleagues – to come together for a three-session peer learning programme.

These groups meet in person or online for conversations about their values, climate action and money – mapping out where their money is, what they know about it, identifying areas for change and supporting each other to take action. The group can discuss questions that they might never have considered before, giving them an opportunity to go deeper into their relationship with money.

There's increasing awareness about the power of our money, but for many of us, turning good intention into action can be off-putting as these topics can be abstract, boring and complex. But peer support helps us translate those intentions into concrete action.

The pilot programmes saw over 140 women move £1.2 million for climate action – 28% of the women in the pilots switched their bank account, 20% switched their pension and 20% made a sustainable investment. What’s more, every single woman has said that she feels more confident in aligning her financial choices with her values as a result of Money Movers, and that’s crucial in ensuring women can continue to be conscious about these choices throughout their lifetimes.

Why do you think women have traditionally been less financially confident?

There are many reasons for this. 62% of married women in a survey by UBS admitted leaving management of long-term finances to a spouse. Whilst women tend to manage everyday finances, long-term finances often get left to men.

Therefore, there are lots of inequities when looking at the impact of that lack of long-term financial decision making. For example, a woman now in her 30s is likely to be £145,000 worse off than a man of the same age by retirement.

Women are typically disengaged from these bigger financial systems and can feel patronised when trying to engage. When you look at who is representing them, only 17% of independent financial advisors are women and you won't find many people of colour or people who are marginalised with other types of identity.

Historically, there's also been lots of systemic barriers. Before 1974, a woman in the US couldn’t apply for a credit card, mortgage or open a bank account without their husband's permission. Which is a huge indication of culturally what was acceptable, and allowed systemically, in terms of women making long-term financial decisions.

How important was it for you to create a space where everyone feels comfortable and included as part of these sessions?

This is an essential part of what makes Money Movers work, as we know the barriers people are facing. It's important we create spaces where people feel welcome, included, and able to show up as their whole selves. That's what creates a learning environment, and enables people to be curious, ask questions, and share knowledge.

More widely, I think it's important for any women's movement to be intersectional rather than focus on one particular subsection or demographic.

Starting conversations about money in social settings is key, because if we don't share what we're learning then we can’t make this topic mainstream. We're excited people are using this as a starting point for their journey – there are lots of ripple actions that can follow for the women who take part in Money Movers, such as joining ShareAction or lobbying their employer for their default pension to be switched.

What are your hopes for the future of Money Movers?

There's a real appetite for women to take part in the initiative and the model is scalable, so can be rolled out across the country and further afield. Our ambition is to reach 30,000 women and move £1 billion for climate action. The support of values-aligned organisations like Triodos is invaluable at this stage of scaling. In the financial world £1 billion isn't that much, but for individuals to feel like their money can make a difference, it's a really galvanising goal to be part of, and helps people feel part of a wider movement of collective action.

Together with our partners we want to send a message to institutions and governments that the current financial system isn’t working for people and planet and that everyday women want their money used in ways that help. Organisations like Make My Money Matter are brilliantly raising awareness about this issue and we see our role as providing women with a tangible way of turning that awareness into action, voting with their money for the kind of future they want.

How can people get involved?

Women can sign up for more information on the Money Movers website, and we’re planning to open for our next programme in spring 2023. The programme is open to cis or trans women, or non-binary people who feel more comfortable in women-centred spaces.

We’re also keen to hear from organisations that are interested in bringing this programme to their employees in 2023.

How important was it for you to create a space where everyone feels comfortable and included as part of these sessions?

This is an essential part of what makes Money Movers work, as we know the barriers people are facing. It's important we create spaces where people feel welcome, included, and able to show up as their whole selves. That's what creates a learning environment, and enables people to be curious, ask questions, and share knowledge.

More widely, I think it's important for any women's movement to be intersectional rather than focus on one particular subsection or demographic.

Starting conversations about money in social settings is key, because if we don't share what we're learning then we can’t make this topic mainstream. We're excited people are using this as a starting point for their journey – there are lots of ripple actions that can follow, such as joining ShareAction or lobbying their employer for their default pension to be switched.

What are your hopes for the future of Money Movers?

There's a real appetite for women to take part in the initiative and the model is scalable, so can be rolled out across the country and further afield. Our ambition is to reach 30,000 women and move £1 billion for climate action and the support of values-aligned organisations like Triodos is invaluable at this stage of scaling. In the financial world £1 billion isn't that much, but for individuals to feel like their money can make a difference, it's a really galvanising goal to be part of, and helps people feel part of a wider movement of collective action.

Together with our partners we want to send a message to institutions and governments that the current financial system isn’t working for people and planet and that everyday women want their money used in ways that help. Organisations like Make My Money Matter are brilliantly raising awareness about this issue and we see our role as providing women with a tangible way of turning that awareness into action, voting with their money for the kind of future they want.

How can people get involved?

Women can sign up for more information on the Money Movers website, and we’re planning toopen for our next programme in spring 2023. The programme is open to cis or trans women, or non-binary people who feel more comfortable in women-centred spaces.

We’re also keen to hear from organisations that are interested in bringing this programme to their employees in 2023.