Michael Norton is a social entrepreneur who creates projects
that provide innovative approaches to solving problems in society and the
world. His smallest project - developing a self-help group for homeless people
- was founded with a £2,000 innovation grant from Crisis in 1995. This started
with a Wednesday afternoon club for homeless people to work together on
projects that were important to them. This led to the creation of Groundswell,
a national federation of homeless self-help groups. His largest project was the
creation of UnLtd, the UK foundation for social entrepreneurs, which was set up
with a £100 million legacy fund from the UK lottery, which makes awards to
individuals with ideas. He has created street children's banks and village
libraries in Asia, helped develop an international network of crisis helplines
for children in need, developed projects which promote financial literacy for
young people, mental wellbeing of adolescents, collecting and cooking surplus
food, environmental awareness and action, community engagement and philanthropy
for young people and much more. He is a professor at the China Global
Philanthropy Institute in Shenzhen, winner of the 2014 UK Charity Award for
lifetime achievement and was awarded an OBE in 1998 for services to the
voluntary sector. His books include 365 Ways to Change the World, offering small ideas every
day to encourage people to address many of the world's big issues, The Everyday Activist and Click2Change.