Salt of the Earth was founded by Murray Frankland, following his visit to southern India in 1988. He had been recommended to visit to Social Change and Development (SCAD) where he witnessed the enormous need of the poor low-caste rural people and was deeply impressed with the quality of the work that SCAD achieved with these people. On his return to England, he established Salt of the Earth, which has been providing core funding for SCAD to continue with its essential work ever since.

Salt of the Earth is a network charity that relies on word of mouth as its primary means of raising awareness and raising money. Money for the charity is raised mainly from covenants and donations from our supporters in the UK and over a million pounds has been raised in this way. We also encourage our supporters to organise fund-raising events – and have fun in the process! Social events such as go-karting, white water rafting, dancing etc. are always popular, however some of our supporters choose individual challenges as fundraisers, such as marathon running or sponsored bike rides.

Jeremy Irons with Murray at the recording of the video

A video, depicting the work of SCAD and Salt of the Earth, was produced in 2003 by David Friese-Greene with narration by Jeremy Irons. This is a particularly well-crafted promotional film and is very useful introductory tool at fundraising events. Jeremy Irons has since agreed to become our patron.

Salt of the Earth and SCAD have developed a very close relationship over the years and many of the Trustees and supporters have visited SCAD, travelling at their own expense. Murray and his partner Janet Elisita go every year, monitoring the work and discussing future plans and funding.

In December 2004, during Murray’s annual visit to SCAD, the Tsunami struck the southern tip of Tamil Nadu, where much of SCAD’s work is based. Within days, Salt of the Earth supporters had swung into action to raise an Emergency Relief Fund for SCAD with an initial target of £50,000. By May 2005 we had reached our revised target of £180,000 which provided emergency relief supplies of bedding, food, shelter etc. and also longer-term rehabilitation resources which paid for repairs to housing and schools, repair and replacement of fishing boats and nets as well as much needed counselling services. This work is continuing and updates are posted on the News Page.