Kindness is the glue that holds every human community together. We have all been touched by simple, often unexpected, acts of kindness from friends and strangers alike. Kindness is certainly in the human psyche and soul.
But what is kindness? Are we all genetically programmed to be kind? Or do we learn its importance through our upbringing? Acts of kindness, self-sacrifice and altruism have historically been the bedrock of religious, spiritual and ethical teaching.
The KRF was set up by Bob Duffield and Nigel Nicholson to fund new scientific research into human kindness. They wanted an answer to this key question – is it possible to devise an empirical measure of individual kindness? They commissioned eminent psychologists Professor David Canter and Dr. Donna Youngs design a comprehensive research programme to find out.
The results are groundbreaking. They discovered that every human being on the planet has a measurable Kindness Quotient – or KQ. The discovery of KQ – like its forebear IQ – will reshape the scientific landscape especially in the fields of human development, education, psychometric testing, employment, psychotherapy and offender rehabilitation.
The KRF’s Mission is to promote and commission new research into how KQ influences our social interactions at home, at work and at play. Our No.1 research priority among many is to devise and extend the KQ Test for children. We believe this research will provide powerful scientific insights into the teaching of kindness in schools.
In order to accelerate fundraising, particularly from the corporate sector, and broaden its scope of operations, the KRF is restructuring itself into three divisions as from 1 February, 2026:
- Research, which will focus on maintaining, updating and developing the KQ Index across all age groups and organising and piloting education, teaching and assessment modules to enable results to be turned into real world applications.
- Funding, which will devise and manage fundraising initiatives from individuals and the corporate and public sectors to generate resources to fund the KRF’s research activities and a range of compatible charity projects.
- Investigation, which will deploy the expertise and industry and media connections of the KRF’s principals to expose and rectify discrimination, corruption and fraud that disadvantage the most vulnerable members of society.