The island’s only independent think tank – created to bring facts, research and proper debate to Jersey’s most pressing issues – could be forced to shut down within months due to a lack of financial support.
Policy Centre Jersey, which has published dozens of research papers and hosted discussion events since launching two years ago, says it is now running on empty – and may have to stop producing work entirely unless urgent funding is found.
Chair Alan Merry, the former head of Jersey Post, told Express the centre needs at least £50,000 a year to survive.
Launched in March 2023, the charity’s main aims included “improving civic engagement” – with Jersey’s current political engagement levels among the lowest in the world.
“It’s about bringing facts and research to the people and policy-makers of Jersey, of the issues that are really important to the island,” Mr Merry explained.
“Whether it be the ageing population, healthcare, education, social mobility, housing – it’s about trying to raise that debate and get people engaged.”
In addition to running discussion sessions, Policy Centre Jersey has dozens of short papers published on its website covering a range of topics.
But the charity is running out of funding.
“Most of the work is done on a voluntary basis, but we do employ one person and we need to keep the website going as well as marketing, social media etcetera,” Mr Merry said.
“We have spoken to quite a lot of corporates with very little response.”
He acknowledged that “times are tough” across the charitable sector and that there were many “absolutely fantastic charities” also seeking funds.
“We have, hopefully, one initiative coming up quite soon with a group of high-net-worth [individuals].
“If that comes off, then great – we may have a solution. But if it doesn’t, we can’t seriously keep on doing this because the quality is bound to drop and that’s wrong.”
He explained Policy Centre Jersey would have to enter “maintenance mode”, which would see it keep some papers up to date – but not produce any more, or run any discussion sessions.
“We have gone to government but it’s difficult for government to fund us – they could fund us for individual projects which would be great, but individual projects don’t keep the wheels turning.”
He added that he felt the charity was starting to become “as well established as we thought it would be” in terms of the work it was doing and that “it would be a shame for that not to exist, develop and prosper into the future”.
“We are making progress on the content…but we don’t have any money in the bank.”
Anyone interested in supporting the Policy Centre can contact the charity via email at info@policy.je
