The Balanced Economy Project is an international organisation founded in the UK in 2021. Our goal is to hold powerful corporations to account and to reclaim the ability of present and future generations to continually restructure our economies, by collectively constraining corporate power. We focus on countries outside the United States. We are not allied to (and we do not endorse) any political party, and we do not accept corporate funding.

Team

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Michelle Meagher

Co-founder

I’m a recovering competition lawyer who has worked in private practice, for regulators, and for international institutions. Senior Policy Fellow at UCL Centre for Law, Economics and Society. My first book, Competition is Killing Us, is out now. I am Executive Director, currently on maternity leave. I am based in London.

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Nicholas Shaxson

Co-founder

I write on international finance, corruption and power. I have written for the Financial Times, New York Times, Guardian, Economist, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, Times, Foreign Affairs, IMF, and many others. I am author of Poisoned Wells (2008,) a book about oil and politics in West Africa;  Treasure Islands (2011,) a book about tax havens, and The Finance Curse (2018,) about oversized financial centres. I am acting Executive Director, during Michelle’s maternity leave. I am based in Berlin.

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Claire Godfrey

Network Co-Ordinator

I am a public policy specialist and campaign strategist with over 25 years’ experience working in international sustainable development, including roles with Oxfam and Bond UK, as Director of Policy and Advocacy. I am also a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity hosted by the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute.

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Hannah Leyro Diaz

Finance & Operations Manager

I am an experienced finance and operations specialist with over 11 years of national and international NGO experience, in a wide range of roles up to executive level.

supporter

Our supporters

We are grateful for significant pro bono support from Catriona MacLay, an experienced former CEO and founder of a successful UK charity; John Christensen, the main founder of the Tax Justice Network (and a co-founder and a director of the Balanced Economy Project;) Vivek Kotecha, a forensic accountant and investigator, as well as Laurel Kilgour, who is advising us on competition and legal matters.

We are grateful for pro bono support from many others behind the scenes, and we are currently building a stable of Senior Advisers.

Our funding

Balanced Economy Project has been certified by NGO Source as equivalent to a Certified Public Charity. We accept funding from public-interest grantmaking bodies, and individual donations. Our confirmed sources of funding are, beyond small individual funders:

You can find our annual accounts here.

Balanced Economy Project has also benefited from significant pro bono contributions in the start-up phase from Michelle Meagher and Nicholas Shaxson.