{{Short description|British charity worker}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
'''Jane Tewson''' {{Post-nominals|country=AUS|AO}} {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE}} (born 9 January 1958) is a British charity worker and the originator of several charitable organisations and ideas for community strengthening in the UK and Australia.
==Early life and education== Tewson is the daughter of Edward Tewson and Jocelyn (née Johnston), a doctor in rural South East England.<ref name="Corporation">{{Cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/10/29/3052034.htm|title=Jane Tewson brings together the very rich and the very poor|last=Corporation|first=Australian Broadcasting|date=2010-10-29|website=Conversations with Richard Fidler|language=en-au|access-date=2019-01-22}}</ref> With dyslexia, she left Lord Williams's Grammar School in Thame without qualifications, but later attended lectures at Oxford while working as a cleaner in the city.<ref name="ABC">[http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/10/29/3052034.htm ABC local conversations with Richard Fidler: Jane Tewson] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050534/http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/10/29/3052034.htm |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://maverickwisdom.com/jane-tewson/|title=Jane Tewson|date=2013-10-05|website=Maverick Wisdom|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-17}}</ref>
==Career== In 1981, aged 23, Tewson founded Charity Projects in London, with funding from Lord (Tim) Bell and numerous other donations. Its initial focus was tackling homelessness in Soho.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}
Tewson worked in a refugee camp in Sudan in 1985, where she was pronounced clinically dead after contracting cerebral malaria.<ref name="ABC"/> She recounts the sensation of looking down on her own body and but then returning to it and surviving – there were no drugs left in the camp. Her response to the African famine, Comic Relief was launched on Christmas Day 1985 from the refugee camp in Safawa, Sudan. By 2005 Comic Relief had raised £337 million for famine relief and community development, notably for Africa and disadvantaged areas of the UK.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}
In 2000, Tewson moved to Melbourne, Australia, when her husband, Charles Lane, became CEO of the Myer Foundation, a philanthropic organization<ref name="go">{{cite web|title=The go-between|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/30/1033283424949.html|website=The Age|accessdate=18 December 2017|date=30 September 2002}}</ref> and then a lead civil servant at the Dept. of Victorian Communities. At the time she was suffering from ovarian cancer but survived after operations in Melbourne.<ref name="Corporation"/>
Tewson works on some inner city Melbourne projects, and elsewhere, through Igniting Change<ref>https://www.ignitingchange.org.au/</ref> (formerly Pilotlight Australia). The book ''Change the World for Ten Bucks'' was published and German and British editions have also been released.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2005/08/change-the-world-for-ten-bucks/ | title=Change the World for Ten Bucks }}</ref> The ''Dying to Know'' project and book (2009) is about coming to terms with death, and negotiating grief.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/dying-to-know-by-andrew-anastasios/9781740665537 | title=Dying to Know by Andrew Anastasios | Hardie Grant Publishing }}</ref>
===Approach=== Tewson is known for her approach to charitable works and giving - she believes in making charity "active, emotional, involving and fun", by building connections between people of different backgrounds, cultures, wealth, and social positions.<ref name="Jane Tewson">{{Cite web|url=https://salamandertrust.net/team-member/jane-tewson/|title=Jane Tewson|website=Salamander Trust|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-12-17}}</ref> Her approach argues for "people getting directly involved and giving themselves.....", as with the Timebank concept, rather than giving money for charitable works. This "embraces human connection as a vital part of social change".<ref name="Jane Tewson"/>
Concepts she pioneered include:
*Comic Relief (1985). Tewson left to form Pilotlight in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/profile-jane-tewson-20100531-woz5.html|title=Profile: Jane Tewson|last=Schmidt|first=Lucinda|date=2010-05-25|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2018-12-17}}</ref> *Timebank (1999). Otherwise known as ONE20, encourages people from all walks of life to give time to community projects, with beneficiaries 'passing on' a similar dedication of time and effort to others. TimeBank has featured on BBC TV several times.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://timebank.org.uk/sites/timebank.org.uk/files/TimeBank%20Final%20full%20accounts%202014_0.pdf|title=One20 (trading as TimeBank) Report and Financial Statements March 31, 2014|date=2014-03-31|website=TimeBank|access-date=2019-01-22|archive-date=23 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123010214/http://timebank.org.uk/sites/timebank.org.uk/files/TimeBank%20Final%20full%20accounts%202014_0.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> *The Corporate Responsibility Index in Australia, that benchmarks companies against their corporate responsibility performance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/|title=Our Community|last=Ltd|first=Our Community Pty|website=www.ourcommunity.com.au|language=en|access-date=2018-12-17}}</ref> *Melbourne Cares – promoting corporate support to disadvantaged people. *Charitable Projects ran the Holborn Great Investment Race – which challenged investment companies in the City of London to accrue maximum returns (within ethical guidelines) on 'seed money' donated by Prudential Holborn Trust. In two years, over £1.5 million was raised and donated to charity.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EqUS9r-x2h0C&q=Holborn+Great+Investment+Race&pg=PT233|title=Moving On Up: Inspirational advice to change lives|last=Brown|first=Sarah|date=2012-09-30|publisher=Random House|isbn=9781448148479|language=en}}</ref> *Feet First for Homeless People saw central London commuters walking home in the evening, and donate the money saved in fares to help young homeless people living in the West End. This raised £100,000 in four weeks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/5667732a09597|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507224654/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/5667732a09597|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 May 2018|title=Charity Projects Feet First Campaign: Taking Steps (Young Homeless In London) (1990)|website=BFI|language=en|access-date=2019-01-22}}</ref> *Pilotlight undertook further unconventional activities like Real Deal, which brought together homeless and disadvantaged young people with key policy-makers to speak about drugs, health, education and so-on. A "closed doors" workshop took place between young people and Cabinet Ministers at 11 Downing Street.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_C_PxRQc7SsC&q=Real+Deal+project+pilotlight&pg=PT20|title=The Real Deal: What Young People Really Think about Government, Politics and Social Exclusion|last1=Bentley|first1=Tom|last2=Oakley|first2=Kate|date=1999|publisher=Demos|isbn=9781898309833|language=en}}</ref> *With her husband, Tewson organised Whose land?, which funded exchange visits between East African Maasai pastoralists and Australian Aborigine communities, both fighting to regain land rights.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tear.org.au/resources/australia-whose-land/#relatedFiles |title=Resources by TEAR Australia |access-date=7 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507153707/https://www.tear.org.au/resources/australia-whose-land/#relatedFiles |archive-date=7 May 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Awards and honours == * In 1999 Tewson received a CBE from HM Queen Elizabeth II for her foundational work with Charity Projects and other projects.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/55354/supplement/9 | title=Page 9 | Supplement 55354, 31 December 1998 | London Gazette | the Gazette }}</ref> * In March 2000, she was named by ''The Times'' newspaper as one of the top ten innovators of the 1990s in the UK.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} * In 2007 she was named Social Entrepreneur of the year for VIC and TAS, by Ernst and Young.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ey.com/global/Content.nsf/Australia/EOY_2007_Southern_Region_Winners |title=2007 Southern Region Winners - Entrepreneur of the Year - Ernst & Young Australia |accessdate=2008-04-16 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220004542/http://www.ey.com/GLOBAL/content.nsf/Australia/EOY_2007_Southern_Region_winners |archivedate=20 February 2008 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> * Beacon Awards Winners 2010, Philanthropy Advocate Award, UK<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.philanthropyuk.org/Newsletter/Autumn2010Issue42/PhilanthropyAdvocateAward |title=Philanthropy Advocate Award | Philanthropy UK |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120915075522/http://www.philanthropyuk.org/Newsletter/Autumn2010Issue42/PhilanthropyAdvocateAward |archive-date=15 September 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> *Among numerous other roles, she has been Trustee of The Media Trust, The Camelot Foundation, Oxfam, and she served on the Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Committee. She sits on the boards of the Reichstein Foundation, the St James Ethics Centre and Talent.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.talentinternational.com/jane-tewson-appointed-to-talents-board/|title=Jane Tewson Appointed to Talent's Board|date=2015-10-08|website=Talent International|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-17}}</ref> * In 2020, Melbourne journalist and writer Martin Flanagan published ''The Art of Pollination: The Irrepressible Jane Tewson''. Hardie Grant Books. {{ISBN|9781743796689}}. It was discussed with Richard Branson in 2022.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcutKB-kEEc | title=Richard Branson interviews Martin Flanagan and Jane Tewson about 'The Art of Pollination' | website=YouTube }}</ref> * Tewson was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2024 King's Birthday Honours.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ms Jane Susan Tewson |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/3026703 |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=Australian Honours Search Facility}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.ignitingchange.org.au/ Igniting Change] * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2010_10_wed.shtml Jane Tewson] on ''Woman's Hour'', BBC Radio 4 2010 * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100318042311/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/7428351/We-prepare-for-birth-why-not-prepare-for-death.html We prepare for birth — why not prepare for death?] in ''The Daily Telegraph'' 15 March 2010 * [http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/Resources/Governance/Article/991554/Peter-Stanford-Trustees-moral-duty-charity-staff Peter Stanford] in ''The Third Sector'', 22 March 2010 * [http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/10/29/3052034.htm Interview] with Richard Fidler, ABC March 2009 * [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/30/1033283424949.html The go-between] Interview with Rod Myer in ''The Age'', 30 September 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tewson, Jane}} Category:British charity and campaign group workers Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Officers of the Order of Australia Category:Living people Category:1958 births