IN 1904, Joseph Rowntree transferred a substantial part of his wealth, acquired from his famous confectionery company, into three trusts bearing his name. He wanted his money to be used to tackle the root causes of social evils, rather than treating their symptoms.

He was clear that he did not want the trusts to focus only on those problems that preoccupied him in 1904: he wanted them to move with the times and keep up to date with the pressing problems of the day.

We want to fulfil our founder's wishes by finding out what people consider to be a social evil today. We would like to hear from people about what they believe to be the social problems that cause the most damage to British society as a whole or the most misery to its people.

I encourage your readers to spare a few moments of their time to visit our website - www.socialevils.org.uk - and leave us their views.

We will be analysing the responses we receive and publishing a summary of the evils identified on our website in the autumn. Next year, we will publish a report on the nature of some of the social evils in contemporary Britain.

Julia Unwin, Director, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York.