We are delighted that people across the country are furthering the campaign for greater income equality by forming local groups - we believe this is crucial to the success of our campaign. Thank you all very much for your past, present and future enthusiasm, commitment and support.

The Equality Trust believes that we have to create a vision of a better society - one that is achievable - in order to engage and inspire the necessary number of people to really make a difference. As set out in The Spirit Level, the benefits of greater income equality go right across society and do not just benefit poorer people. Therefore we feel it is important that local groups attempt to:

* engage with, and seek to influence, all sections of society in their area

* base their arguments on dispassionate objective evidence, for example the peer-reviewed research set out in The Spirit Level

* avoid angry or overtly ideological language that can alienate people and potentially detract from the message

* campaign positively! Not so much against income inequality, but for greater income equality

* stress that even small reductions in inequality will yield great benefits

HOWEVER, it is not the role of The Equality Trust to dictate to local groups how and why they should go about campaigning for greater income equality. In fact, we believe that it is necessary to avoid this type of top-down hierarchical approach if we are to build a dynamic and strong campaign capable of successfully halving income inequality. Although the national office tends to focus on educational and awareness-raising work, local groups have great flexibility to undertake diverse political activities, as can be seen from pages 10-11 of this guide. This guide is intended to offer support and advice to local campaigners, not rules and warnings.

Use of local data

We ask that when using local data - for example comparing health statistics between local wards - local groups ensure they adopt high standards of research and analysis. The data of statistics presented should be easily verifiable and the methods used made transparent and understandable to the general public (this explains why The Spirit Level has proved so popular).

Promoting the sustainability angle

As well as the social arguments for greater equality the links between equality and environmental sustainability are just as important. Greater equality fosters the necessary community-mindedness to tackle environmental problems and also reduces status competition which is a main driver of unsustainable consumerism. We encourage local groups to make these points at every opportunity; this should also help in building links with environmental organisations in your area (see page six).

"Branding" and description

Local groups are autonomous, self-funded organisations which are affiliated to The Equality Trust but not managed by the national office. Therefore, our suggestion when naming your group is to adapt our logo:

including the additional description "an autonomous group affiliated to The Equality Trust"

We would kindly request that descriptions such as "branch of The Equality Trust" be avoided as they are potentially misleading - The Equality Trust is not a membership organisation.

We welcome the use of our logo so that we can help build awareness of the egalitarian symbol and the work of The Equality Trust. However please feel free to design a different logo or description depending on your local group.

Termination of relationship with a local group

In the very unlikely event of a local group causing what we consider to be reputational damage to the Trust, and if reasonable discussions to resolve this between the group and the national office have failed, The Equality Trust reserves the right to immediately and publicly dissociate the Trust from the local group.

Thank you once again and welcome to the campaign. We look forward to working with you in building a more equal society and we hope that this guide is useful. For any comments or suggestions please get in touch with craig.griffiths@equalitytrust.org.uk or ring us on 020 7922 7927.