Steve Moore, the chief executive of Big Society Network, is setting up a new charity and last month invited the deputy chair of the Magna Carta Trust - the charity awarded £1m by the government in Wednesday’s Budget - to join its trustee board.

Last month Moore contacted Sir Robert Worcester to tell him he was setting up a new charity called the Great Charter Foundation, which aims to espouse the principles of the Magna Carta, and asked him to become a trustee. 

This week, the Magna Carta Trust where Sir Robert is deputy chair, won £1m from the government to commemorate next year’s 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta. It will distribute some of the funding to organisations staging commemorative events and projects.

There is no suggestion that Moore or anyone connected to the Great Charter Foundation knew that the Magna Carta Trust would win the grant when they approached Sir Robert, or that they discussed funding with him.

Moore told civilsociety.co.uk this morning that he was “completely unaware that any such announcement was being made” by the government on Wednesday.

He said in a statement: “No discussions have taken place with any other publicly-funded bodies in relation to funding linked to the Magna Carta anniversary celebrations.

“I have had no engagement whatsoever with any public bodies relating to the funding announced in the Budget – nor has anyone associated with the establishment of the Great Charter Foundation,” he said.

After the Chancellor's speech Moore tweeted:

 

 

Moore said the development of the Great Charter Foundation has been inspired by “the opportunities to use the 800th anniversary celebration of the signing of the Magna Carta to promote public engagement with democratic systems and support new approaches to empowering citizens”.

This will be delivered via an “innovative education and public engagement programme and the development of a new challenge prize to support democratic innovation”, he said.

No formal application for charitable status has yet been made to the Charity Commission.

Invited Sir Robert to join trustee board

Sir Robert Worcester, deputy chairman of the Magna Carta Trust, told civilsociety.co.uk yesterday that Moore had approached him last month to ask him to become a trustee of the Great Charter Foundation.

Sir Robert, who also chairs the Magna Carta 800th Committee which will decide how to spend the £1m grant, said Moore got in touch to tell him about his intention to set up the Great Charter Foundation and invite him to a meeting to tell him what the new charity was planning to do.

During the meeting, Sir Robert said, he explained to Moore that the 800th Committee planned to finish its work and disband at the end of 2015.  By the end of the meeting, Moore and his colleague had offered that the Great Charter Foundation would, at the end of next year, “pick up where the Committee leaves off and work to perpetuate the principles of the Magna Carta in co-operation with the Magna Carta Trust”, Sir Robert said.

Sir Robert – founder of the market research company Mori, later bought by Ipsos - said: “I went to the meeting very sceptical and I came away from it very enthusiastic that someone, on their own initiative, was stepping up to the plate.”

Sir Robert said that after the meeting, he was minded to join the Foundation’s trustee board but hadn’t yet formally agreed.

Sir Robert told civilsociety.co.uk he was not made aware that Moore’s previous projects – Big Society Network/Society Network Foundation and Britain’s Personal Best - were currently being scrutinised or reviewed by various public bodies.

Today Moore said that Sir Robert will not be serving as a trustee of the charity upon registration.