TCC has had a great year and, last Thursday, we held our first Cobden Centre Christmas reception in celebration at the National Liberal Club.
In 2010, we have raised our profile and we are now well on our way to being the scholarly, effective and powerful educational charity that our founder and Chairman Toby Baxendale always intended. Today, we are increasingly respected by scholars, students and opinion formers alike.
Already, TCC teachings are starting to change the parameters of debate concerning money and banking.
Organisationally, it is a slick, professional and cutting edge organisation.
At the beginning of the year, the Chief Executive, Dr. Tim Evans, started to pull together a unique Network of Voices (Senior Fellows), a high quality Academic Advisory Council, and a small number of core staff.
With a web site initially developed by yours truly and, more recently, by Mark Goodhand, the organisation’s web content and visitor numbers have grown spectacularly over the course of the year, as you can see below :
In the Spring, the organisation held a colloquium, its first annual lecture and it launched its Education Network – the latter being made possible with the appointment of its Executive Director of the Education Network, Sam Bowman.
In the summer, the Chief Executive, Dr Tim Evans, launched TCC’s bi-monthly speaker dinners.
With my election to Parliament, the autumn saw the launch of an All Party Parliamentary Group on Economics, Money and Banking, not to mention a Private Members Bill concerned with bank reform, championed by my friend Douglas Carswell MP.
Throughout 2010, TCC Directors, Fellows and Supporters have spoken at many scholarly and educational meetings including Warwick University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, London University, a Conservative Party Conference Fringe Meeting and countless others.
Today, the organisation has a database with many, many hundreds of people on it.
It uses Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to multiply its impact.
And through use of videos and the recent launch of Cobden Centre Radio – ably overseen by Andy Duncan and Brian Micklethwait – the TCC is also becoming a past master at on-line outreach and communications.
Finally, in recent times all of this has started to bear fruit in terms of the organisation’s broader media successes.
Having been recently promoted in newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph, the Wall Street Journal and across a host of blogs and other web sites, we end this year not only established with a good reputation and visibility, but with a firm foundation upon which to prioritise a step change in our fundraising during 2011.
The Cobden Centre is now an active presence in the world of ideas and practical action and we look forward to the years ahead.
Merry Christmas!
