Futures for Kids: Raising Funds and Having Fun

Usually, when guests on this show discuss forwards, futures and options, we're talking about financial derivatives products. But for this episode, we are shifting gears to spread the word about an organization that is helping young people around the world look forward to brighter futures with more options.

Futures for Kids is a charitable foundation that raises funds to support the lives of disadvantaged children and young people. Emma Davey is the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Futures for Kids and if her name is familiar to you, that’s because before her recent retirement, Emma was the Chief Commercial Officer at the Futures Industry Association (FIA). 

Emma is here to tell us more about the history of Future for Kids and share details about the important work the organization does around the world. She is also here to help promote a black-tie Gala Dinner to benefit Futures For Kids that the FIA is hosting at the conclusion of the International Derivatives Expo in London.

More resources

Futures For Kids

The Mission (Im)Possible Kilt Challenge

International Derivative Expo

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Transcript

Note: This transcript was created using AI. It has not been edited verbatim.)

Sean McMahon  0:08  

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Modern Money SmartPod. I'm your host, Sean McMahon, and usually this podcast focuses on the people, technologies and trends that are shaping today's financial markets, and if you listen to this podcast often enough, you know that the derivatives world of products like futures and options, is often a hot topic. But today, we're shifting gears a little bit to spread the word about an organization that is helping young people around the world have brighter futures with more options. You see what I did there. 

Futures for Kids is a charitable foundation that raises funds to support the lives of disadvantaged children and young people. And in a minute, I'm going to be joined by Emma. Davey. Emma is the chair of the Board of Trustees at Futures for Kids, and if her name rings a bell, that's because before her recent retirement, Emma was the Chief Commercial Officer at the futures Industry Association, aka the FIA. The reason Emma is appearing on the show today is because coming up soon, the FIA will be hosting the International derivatives Expo in London, and the conclusion of that event each year is marked by a black tie gala dinner that benefits Futures for Kids. It's a tremendous event that even features a kilt challenge. Yes, you heard me right, a Kilt Challenge. So if you're headed to that conference, which is also known as IDX, and want to attend the event, check out the link in today's show notes to see how you can support this great cause. And speaking of IDX, the modern money, smart pod is going on another road trip to bring you episodes from that event, just as we do at FIA Boca each year, we'll keep you in the loop and let you hear from industry leaders about all the derivatives news that's creating the biggest buzz in London. I'm certainly looking forward to that gathering. But for right now, let's bring on, Emma. Davey, Emma, welcome to the show.

Emma Davey  2:13  

Thank you. Thank you very much for having me. 

Sean McMahon  2:17  

It's a pleasure to have you on. Obviously, there's a big event coming up in a couple of weeks in London. But I want to back up a bit and talk about Futures for Kids and the origins of this organization. So what can you tell me?

Emma Davey  2:28  

So Futures for Kids was founded back in 2008 and it was actually the brainchild of Bill Templer, who used to be on the FIA and the futures and options Association board, you know, long track record in the industry, and he had been made aware of a couple of charities that he was interested in. And I think it just sort of struck him that people who work in the futures industry generally have very privileged lives, and suddenly their children have very privileged lives in most cases. And he just thought, wouldn't it be great to do something to help support those who don't have that kind of access and that kind of advantage? And it played on the name Futures for Kids. It's the futures industry, and it's all about providing a better future for children and and young people. So that was back in, as I say, 2008 he approached, because he was, he was London based, he approached the CEO and some of the other members of the Futures and Options Association, as it was, then the forerunner to FIA Europe, and then which subsequently merged with FIA. And he approached, as I say, the CEO and some people, and said, You know, I'd really like to do this. What do you all think? And he was generally met with very enthusiastic support. And I've been a trustee of the organization since that time. I was working at the London Metal Exchange at the time, and he approached me and said, you know, how would you like to to be a trustee? And I said, Sure, that sounds like a great thing. The first thing, the very first thing that we did was to do some fundraising around a gala dinner, so that ties in with IDX, and I know we're going to talk about this a little bit later, so I won't go into too much detail, but the sort of essence, as I say, of the foundation, it's, you know, so it's a charity, but it's more of a charitable foundation, because FFK itself doesn't do the work, But what it does is identify charities that meet with our mission and the ethos of Futures for Kids and reflect those kind of values, and then we make donations to those charities. So the charities that we generally support are ones where our contribution really will make a. Difference, and we can actually see that impact as well. So rather than supporting some of the many charities that do fantastic work in this space, but are considerably bigger, if they're making annual revenue 50 million, and we give them 50,000 it doesn't make a huge difference. But from for some of the smaller charities that that we support even 5000 pounds can make a significant difference to them. So that that's one of the things that we wanted to do. The second approach that we thought was quite important also was to give longer term support. Because again, as I've got to know, a lot of these charities, you know, over the years, obviously any donation is welcomed, but what they really like is to be able to say we can rely we know we are going to get a certain revenue from whether it's Futures for Kids or any other organization, and so we can plan our work. Because a lot of the work that these charities do is not, you know, it's not short term, it's not it's not a kind of one and done, and you move on to the next thing, it's longer term. So it's longer term training, it's longer term education, it's longer term support for communities. And so where we have been able to support some of those charities, in some cases, for very many years. So one of the charities, for example, we see hope, which works in Sub Saharan Africa, we have been supporting them from from day one, and they constantly tell us what a difference that support has made to them over the years. We do also support other charities with one off requests. Sometimes we get an approach from a charity that will say, you know, we're trying to raise funds to I remember one organization a few years back. They were a charity that mainly worked in the music space with young people, and they needed funding for some new equipment, and we were able to do a one off donation that supported that. But as I say, that the focus really is on future lives and future opportunities for young people.

Sean McMahon  7:11  

Okay, now you mentioned how you try to identify charities that are, you know, perhaps a little smaller, you know, where the funds raised by future for kids can can go farther. How do you identify those like, what's the process? Is it? Are they nominated by members of the FIA? Can charities apply?

Emma Davey  7:28  

It's been a combination of things. So we see hope, as I say, that we've been supporting, you know, since the start. They used to be called Hope HIV. That was one that had been identified by Bill Templer when he founded a charity. But in other cases, we have had organizations suggested to us. So another one, another example is a charity called LTSB, and they work in the UK with young people, providing training and support in terms of apprenticeships and so on, to young people who, in many cases, are, you know, the first people in their their families who have gone on to further education or or their income is actually the major sort of support for those families. And that was a charity that has worked historically, very closely with the financial services sector, with icap and other brokers in the space, and that was recommended to us by somebody who had come across them through that work. So it's a range of things we you know, we're very open to supporting new charities as we're made aware of them. And another example, more recent example, actually, is a charity that they're a French based organization called Passerelles Numériques, and they provide training for young people in the technology space. So programming. You know that that kind of thing in Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines and Madagascar. And they came to our attention because Rama Pillai, who did our Kilt Challenge, which I think we'll talk about shortly, he was actually approached by somebody in Singapore who supports that charity in the APAC region. And so Rama said, Well, you know, I'm getting a lot of money from this region. Is there anything you can do to support this charity? And we were more than happy to do it. I mean, they, they ticked all of the boxes in terms of the kind of work that we we are happy to support, you know, really impacting the lives of young people. I mean, I was looking at some of the stats recently, and in some cases, you know, the entry level salary for for some of these young people in these countries, you know, as a skilled kind of IT person is something like $350 and the average for their families in unskilled work is like $50 you know, it's making a really. Significant impact to not just the young people, but to their families as well. 

Sean McMahon  10:04  

Okay, then you mentioned a few examples of organizations that Futures for Kids supports. Can you share a few more?

Emma Davey  10:12  

So, in addition to Passerelles Numériques, we have another charity that we've supported for quite a long time. Is an education charity based in Sierra Leone, and it's called Educate. And again, as a as an organization, they're working in a in a country, you know, this is one of the poorest countries in the world. I mean, it's got very low, low rates of income, very low rates of education. And they have made such a big difference by providing free education to young people in communities that are often completely deprived of that kind of education, and it becomes a virtuous circle where they are educating young people who then themselves become educators, who then educate the next generation. And again, you can see the the impact. It's not just, you know, a young person going to school, it's a young person getting going to school, getting an education, getting a job, who then is able to afford to support other people in their community. So that that's another example. And then we also support another education charity in Nepal called Kids in Kathmandu. A lot of these young people are orphaned or come from families with very, very little income, who are barely able to afford to kind of feed their families, let alone educate them. And again, they provide the kind of training to young people that then sees them not just progress through school, but then progress through, you know, kind of graduate school, post graduate do a lot of good that then has a knock on effect, you know, benefit to the wider community. So those are, those are some of the other charities. So it's a range, and we're happy to consider others. You know, if people would like to suggest them, one factor that we historically have stuck to, just because it's easier for us, as much as anything else, is we have tended to support charities that are registered as charities in the UK. It makes our due diligence, if you like, a lot easier. We can go to the charities commission in the UK, and we can kind of look and you know, is this a sort of credible organization? So that's really been purely for ease. We've changed that in a few cases. We have supported other charities, and now we're supporting passfail numeric, that I mentioned earlier, which is based in France, but we're able to do the due diligence. We're able to look at, you know, their reports, check them out, make sure that they're a legitimate organization. So that's the main thing. You know, if anybody were to come to us and ask for support for a charity in the US, for example, we just need to know that there was a process for us to be able to do that level of due diligence. 

Sean McMahon  13:04  

Yeah, of course, everyone wants to know that the money's going to, you know, worthy causes that are well run and, you know, transparent Exactly. So we've both alluded to it. You know, part of the reason I'm talking today is to help promote a big event that's coming up. The International Derivatives Expo has taken place in London, and one evening of that gathering is dedicated to this organization. So tell me more about that. 

Emma Davey  13:26  

Yes, so as I mentioned at the beginning, the first fundraising that we did for Futures for Kids was at this gala dinner, and at the time it was it was run by FOA. Thankfully, FIA has continued to support that initiative over the years, and the gala dinner has become a sort of staple, a kind of an item in the futures industry, sort of social calendar, certainly in the UK, where people come together. It's a nice way to wrap up a two day event, but it's all in a good cause. I think that the British maybe have a bit of a kind of track record and a bit of a reputation for enjoying sort of social occasions and getting dressed up in black tie and suit and evening gowns and that kind of thing. So this is just an excuse to do that, but as I say, doing so in a good cause. And we're incredibly grateful to Fia, as I say, for its continued support. And then also, obviously, all of the firms that support the dinner, you know, they're sponsoring the dinner, they're taking tables, and then they're supporting the fundraising that goes around the dinner now, whether it's raffle or auction items. And then there's the kilt challenge. Now you're probably going to want to know, what is the guilt challenge? Why do we do this? So it has its roots back some I guess. I'm trying to think how many years now? 15 years maybe. And it was a bit of a kind of a bit of a whim. There was a journalist called. Jeremy Grant, who used to work for the Financial Times, who is Scottish, so it's legitimate that he should turn up to a gala dinner in a kilt. He told a member of the press corps or one of the PRs that he was going to wear a kilt, and they said, Oh, if you wear a kilt, you know, I'll sponsor you. I'll pay some money to Futures for Kids if you wear the kilt. So sure enough, he turned up in a kilt. And, you know, few people gave him some money, and then he dared the next person. And I believe the next person was John Lothian. He may have been the year after, but he dared John.

Sean McMahon  15:36  

All those media guys are mixing things up 

Emma Davey  15:40  

Exactly! And it has just become this thing that has taken on a life of its own. I think people kind of have lost sight of, you know, why are they wearing a kilt? What is this all about? But it has become something that is a major, major fundraising initiative for futures, for kids, and certainly, you know, the gala dinner. And last year we had, as I mentioned earlier, Rama Pillai from Singapore exchange, who raised an amazing amount of money. It was around 60,000 pounds. And we, you know, we couldn't believe it, because the most we'd raised before, you know, for many years, we were lucky if we got sort of 567, maybe 10,000 pounds. So when Rama got to this level, we were We were stunned, and we just thought, oh, okay, what are we going to do next year? And luckily, we have got Alicia Creighton from Goldman Sachs the FIA chair, and Chris Edmonds from ICE who have come up with their own Kilt Challenge, which they have. They've coined the term Mission Impossible, the in being in brackets, so Mission Possible, and they are on course to raise probably over 100,000 pounds by the time that the event is done. I mean, the official number is already, you know, just just shy of 95,000 and I know that there are sums of money that are being donated offline that we will then include in that total. So that that's just amazing. I mean, that's that's that the difference that that money will make to so many children and young people around the world is is unimaginable, but it really will. It will be amazing. So, yeah, we can't thank them enough.

Sean McMahon  17:25  

Yeah. And I love the mission possible tie into the movie. Yes. And I will say that Jeremy Grant is on the he's going to be, I believe, moderating a couple of sessions

Emma Davey  17:36  

He is, yeah, yeah. As I said, He's Scottish, and He's based in Scotland, and he's actually coming down for the event, so he's helping us out with moderating a couple of things, providing some sort of general emceeing. So no, it's great to have him on board.

Sean McMahon  17:51  

 Gotcha? Okay, well, obviously we're gonna include a link to Futures for Kids in the show notes for this episode, but just take a second and tell our listeners. How can they get involved? 

Emma Davey  18:01  

There are a number of ways they can get involved. Futures for Kids really raises money by, generally speaking, by sort of holding events and having having a good time, whether it's a gala dinner or golf days. So there's the Fourth of July golf day that we do in London. We've been doing that for many years, because most people are, you know, markets in the US are closed, so most people have got a bit more time on their hands. So we do golf day that's actually sold out this year, which is great. FIA also supports Futures for Kids by holding charity golf days at Bucha and in Singapore, you know, we've really open to have people, and we've had this, you know, number of times in the past, less so since COVID. I think it's taken time for people to recover. But we've had people come along and say, Hey, we're holding a team quiz night. We'd like to is it okay if we raise some money for Futures for Kids? And absolutely, we're more than happy to do that. We've also had organizations who have had, generally speaking, they've got funds at their disposal. And, you know, they have just made one off donations to Futures for Kids, which is, which is also great. So in terms of fundraising, you know, we're open to anything, because the work that we do so the golf day and again, last year, we did a fun run that's all done by the trustees on a voluntary basis. So there's only so much any one of us can do on our own. So we're very happy if somebody comes along and says, you know, hey, can we do this? Can we help you by organizing this event? We're really up for that. The other thing I would also encourage people, anybody who's interested in is becoming a trustee. We have, I think, five trustees at the moment, and it would be great to have more people on board. And, you know, trustees bring a number of things to the organization. Obviously, they help with the running of it and making sure that we're adhering to proper governance and that kind of thing. But there. Also have new ideas for things that we can do, and they have different contacts, because this is an industry charity. So you're going, in many cases, you're going to the same organizations and asking for support. And if we get new blood, new trustees coming in, it could be that their networks are slightly different. So we're very happy for anybody to get in touch with us. You know, there are contact emails on the Futures for Kids website, and, yeah, just send an email to FFK.inquiries@gmail.com and we're very happy to work with with people in in any capacity, really. We're very open to ideas.

Sean McMahon  20:41  

Well, that sounds wonderful, like I mentioned. I'm looking forward to the event in London, and looking forward to seeing you there. And so Emma, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate all this information about this incredible charity.

Emma Davey  20:52  

Thank you. Thank you so much and, and I look forward to hopefully seeing you at the gala and and really just end up by saying, thank you to all of the individuals, all of the firms who support Futures for Kids, and to FIA for their ongoing support, because we couldn't do what we do without all of that support. So thank you.

Sean McMahon  21:13  

Well, that's our show for today. If you happen to be heading to the international derivatives Expo in London, I look forward to seeing you there. And of course, if you want to learn more about how you can support Futures for Kids, head on over to Futures for Kids.org or just click on the link in today's show notes.