Who the Health Foundation works with

Principles to govern who the Foundation works with

The Foundation works with a wide range of organisations and individuals in order to further its objectives. This includes but is not limited to, making awards, entering into contracts, making social or financial investments, receiving awards or contracts, carrying out work in-house without making a charge (hereafter, ‘arrangements’).

These arrangements bring benefits to the Foundation but may also bring reputational or other risks. To manage the risks, the following principles are proposed in order to guide our decision as to whether to engage with another party or not. Any proposed piece of work would need to clear all of the principles.

Alignment with the Foundation’s charitable objectives

The work that results from any arrangement with another party must align with the Foundation’s charitable objectives, strategy and values.

Organisations whose work runs counter to the Foundation’s mission

The Foundation will not work with organisations whose work runs counter to the Foundation’s mission eg organisations whose business predominantly relates to the manufacture or sale of tobacco.

Independence

The Foundation will not enter into arrangements with organisations that compromise its ability to speak independently or may lead to a reasonable perception that its ability to speak independently is compromised, eg:

• the Foundation is politically neutral and will not enter into arrangements with political parties beyond attending party conferences and / or organising fringe events at these
• the Foundation will not become over-reliant on any source of advice or income from an organisation or individual.

The Foundation will not enter into arrangements as a result of an award or contract from other parties – or in any circumstances other than an award or contract (eg carrying out work in-house with no payment) – without having editorial control over the resulting work.

Conflicts of interest

The Foundation will ensure that all arrangements comply with the letter and spirit of its conflicts of interest policy. This will include but will not be limited to:

• arrangements with organisations in which governors or executive directors have significant share holdings as defined by our conflicts of interest policy
• arrangements in which a governor’s or executive director’s spouse, long-term partner, child, step-child or business partner (or business partner of any of spouse, long-term partner, child or step-child) would stand to gain or might reasonably be perceived to gain.

Subject to the above, the Foundation may enter into arrangements with government departments in the UK or with arm’s-length bodies.