Five key takeaways from Foundation Week

Last week, thousands of colleagues from across Thomson Reuters (TR) joined us for #FoundationWeek to learn more about our vital work.

The week kicked off with a Town Hall opened by Thomson Reuters CEO and President, Steve Hasker , and featuring a Q&A with Antonio Zappulla, OMRI , CEO of the Foundation, and Laura A. Clayton McDonnell , President, Corporates, discussing the Foundation’s mission to build free, fair and informed societies. This was followed by three webinars covering our key areas of work: promoting responsible business, enabling access to the law and strengthening independent media.

Here are our key takeaways from the week.

"The work of both organisations has never been more aligned” – Steve Hasker?

Steve Hasker commenced the week by highlighting that, although an independent charity, the Foundation shares the same values and stakeholders as that of Thomson Reuters, with both organisations working to inform and empower professionals to have a positive impact on the world. Steve noted that he is “very proud of the Foundation’s contributions to TR’s purpose” and that “the work has never been more important”.?

“Our mission is to foster free, fair, and informed societies - you cannot have these societies if the legal system is not just, and if the media system is not independent.”? – Antonio Zappulla?

Antonio spoke about the Foundation’s unique approach of combining legal and media expertise with data intelligence. This approach is reflected in the themes explored at the Foundation’s annual global forum, Trust Conference.

Promoting responsible business

“If we can shape corporate behaviour and influence business decision-making, we’ll be able to have a systemic impact on society that benefits everyone.” – Nicholas Glicher?

Our responsible business webinar heard from our COO, Nick Glicher , and Vanessa Kilian , HR Reporting & Insights Manager at Burberry , who discussed the benefits of participating in the Workforce Disclosure Initiative (WDI).??

Powered by the Foundation, WDI is a world-leading initiative that collates voluntarily disclosed data on businesses’ people operations to improve corporate accountability and transparency. Around 170 of the world’s largest companies disclose their data to WDI, representing over 10 million workers.?

Vanessa summed up the value that Burberry has gained from disclosing to WDI, saying "What [WDI] does is enhance our credibility when it comes to investors and stakeholders who prioritise sustainable and responsible businesses practices."?

Enabling access to the law

“With freedoms being eroded across the globe, it's been heartening to see the relevance of our work and to enable lawyers to deploy legal support to make a difference in people’s lives.” – Carolina Henriquez-Schmitz??

Our second webinar saw Carolina Henriquez-Schmitz , Director of TrustLaw, and Kathryn Beck , Head of Legal, deep dive into the Foundation’s work to enable access to the law.??

As legal services can be scarce and expensive, individuals and groups, especially vulnerable and marginalised communities, often face challenges in understanding and implementing the law without expertise or support. Our legal pro bono service, TrustLaw , aims to expand access to free legal support by working with law firms and in-house legal departments to develop and strengthen their pro bono practices.

Carolina shared that, through TrustLaw, leading legal teams across the globe have contributed the equivalent of more than $271M of legal expertise, with tangible impact across the globe.

Strengthening independent media

“There is no doubt in our minds that the services and support we provide to the industry are needed now more than ever.” – Will Church?

For our final webinar, Will Church , Director of Media Freedom, and Heba Kandil , Head of Media Initiatives, discussed the Foundation’s approach to strengthening the resilience of independent media, helping to safeguard the sustainability of newsrooms and empower journalists to report freely and hold power to account.

Will noted that the Foundation’s blend of media and legal expertise, combined with its own newsroom, makes it a truly unique actor in the space. Heba then shared findings from our Weaponizing the Law report, produced with Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism , which found that nearly 50% of journalists reported that they or their media organisation were receiving legal threats.

For more information about our work, visit www.trust.org/ .