Futurebuilders was one of the recommendations in the Treasury’s Cross Cutting Review into the role of the voluntary and community sector in public service delivery (Sept. 2002). 

In the autumn of 2003 the Government ran an open, competitive tendering process, managed by the Treasury, to find an organisation to run the Futurebuilders England Fund. 

This was won in December 2003 by a consortium led by Charity Bank and including the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the Northern Rock Foundation and Unity Trust Bank.  The consortium then set up a non-profit company, Futurebuilders England Ltd (FBE), to manage the fund.

FBE's Chief Executive took up his post in February 2004, and the first Application Window opened in July 2004. We made our first full investment offer, to Pecan Ltd, in November 2004.

FBE's decision-making is independent of Government, but it has a three-year contract with the Home Office that sets out the parameters within which Futurebuilders is required to operate.  FBE has an independent chair, selected by the consortium through an open advertisement process in the summer of 2004.