Why did you embark on this project?

David Clarke, a 34 year old Liverpool resident decided to set up the project with money he inherited. He says he has enough money to live on and wants there to be less inequality.

You can read a post from David here.

How did it work?

We sent several hundred letters to random addresses in Liverpool inviting people to register their interest. We selected 12 participants at random from those who responded. The participants met for a series of weekly discussion sessions, supported by a facilitator. After a lot of intense and passionate discussion, they came to an agreement about what should happen. The money was then transferred in accordance with their wishes.

Were the participants able to give the money to themselves?

The participants were not able to give the money to themselves or have any continuing involvement with it beyond the conclusion of the project. They were asked to choose on a maximum of four individuals or organisations to receive the money.

However, they were offered £200 as a "thank you" for their time.

Has anything like this been tried before?

The exercise has some similarity to participatory grant-making. This involves funders handing over decision-making power to communities impacted by their funding decisions.

However, whereas participatory grant-making is usually deployed when funds have been allocated for a particular purpose, we left it up to the participants to determine what purpose the funds should be used for.

The project draws inspiration from citizens assemblies, where random citizens are brought together to consider a question about public policy.

An initiative called the Good Council for Redistribution is currently underway in Austria, where 50 randomly-selected citizens are being asked to decide the future of activist Marlene Engelhorn's €25m inheritance.

What will you do next?

The 12 participants made a decision and the money has been transferred. This marks the conclusion of the exercise. However, we are interested in how this idea might be taken forward. For now we are telling the story of what happened and supporting people who might consider doing a similar thing.

If you're thinking about giving money away and would like a free briefing on the project, please get in touch at hello@wealthshared.co.uk.