The Jimmy Reid Foundation is delighted to announce that today, 8 October 2021, the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator (OSCR) granted Scottish Charitable Incorporated Status (SCIO) to the Jimmy Reid Foundation for the purpose of the advancement of education. The Jimmy Reid Foundation is now to be known as the Jimmy Reid Foundation (SCIO) and its SCIO number is SC051331. The vesting day for becoming a SCIO will be announced in due course. The activities of the JRF (SCIO) include the Jimmy Reid Foundation and the Scottish Left Review magazine. In due course, we shall shortly amend the websites of both the Jimmy Reid Foundation and the Scottish Left Review to reflect this. We shall also explain the benefits of SCIO status for the work of JRF (SCIO).
Below is the full text of the ‘Object’ (i.e., purpose of the JRF SCIO) and its guiding principles:
Object
To advance education by raising the critical understanding and analytical and intellectual skills amongst the general public on key contemporary issues in Scottish society through conducting structured and well-balanced research and writing, based upon evidence, analysis and reasoning, and disseminated through online and in print publications and public events. The publications are primarily written by academics and for public consumption, being almost all freely available, written in an accessible style and on topical matters. Crucially, the publications concern not only diagnosis through critique (evaluation, assessment, scrutiny) but also prognosis, in terms of proffering an array of progressive options for ameliorating economic, environmental, human rights and social issues. These options themselves are evaluated and assessed and this includes critiques of those options proffered by other policy analysts and thinkers from across the political spectrum. The publications do not engage in outlining any political strategies for achieving the attainment of the options, and do not support any particular political party (or parties) or particular causes like independence for Scotland. In toto, publications are able to facilitate and enable readers to receive systematic intellectual instruction which is the key component of advancing education. This provides the basis for increased public engagement and enhanced quality of public debate, leading to better informed societal choices. The agenda of the structured work programme is determined by high-ranking academics, union officers, writers, and informed public commentators. They also act as the quality controllers by reviewing the publications prior to publication. As a result of these publications, we believe readers will, therefore, be in a strong position to independently and critically assess salient problematic contemporary issues and then generate rigorously and robustly informed perspectives on what the likely solutions are to them.
Guiding principles
All the work of The Jimmy Reid Foundation in advancing education will be based on a series of principles drawn from Jimmy Reid’s own thinking:
That society should be based on equality and social justice for all.
That people should have the democratic power to influence and control their workplace, community, and wider social institutions.
That the quality of life (including environmental protection and improvement and sustainable development) should be at the forefront of political debate and not an afterthought.
That justice can only come from peace and support for human rights.
That ideas, learning, arts, and culture have the power to transform society and individuals.
That all these principles are underpinned by the importance of a progressive, radical national identity and a vision for Scotland.
Thus, the Jimmy Reid Foundation is a think tank and advocacy group focussed upon practical, progressive policy proposals for transforming Scotland which are based on analysis and investigation of the current Scottish and global political, cultural, economic and social situations. This will underlie all its published output (including Scottish Left Review) and any public activities such as meetings.