Inertia – a timeline: Updated

This is an update of a post from March 2018 – to which I have added further evidence of how the voluntary and community sector in general – and the trust and foundation sector in particular – continues to have a problem with diversity and, in particular, race. Outlined below is a non-thorough but fairly […]

Put A Number To It

One of the things that prevents meaningful action on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is to treat it as just a theoretical concept. For as long as it remains just a principle, something to be discussed and debated, or something to be avoided as difficult, or something which can only be done by experts, little […]

The Company We Keep

Membership organisations and trade bodies in the voluntary sector have a problem when it comes to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) – some more than others. The Institute of Fundraising (@IoFTweets) seems to be leading the field currently (interestingly, an organisation which is 50% core funded by individual rather than organisational subscriptions) http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/championing-fundraising/equality-diversity-and-inclusion/ Other bodies […]

Custodians of Foundation Values

Along with Melanie Griffiths (Director of Cloudesley) and Fozia Irfan (CEO of Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation) I co-facilitated a session on Trust and Foundation Values at the 2018 annual conference of the Association of Charitable Foundations. We wrote the following article to capture and share some of the issues that the session raised – […]

Trusts and foundations have a diversity deficit. Is it time for regulation to fix it?

As a member of the Association of Charitable Foundation’s working group on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (part of ACF’s Stronger Foundations programme[1]) I was invited by ACF to write a “provocation” on the topic. I am no longer a member of the working group. This is what I wrote: As recent reports show[2], most trusts […]

“Talent is everywhere: Opportunity isn’t.”

Diversity isn’t just about who you employ or who sits round your board table. It’s also about how you invest your endowment, who does and doesn’t get your grants, where you choose to locate your office, which suppliers you use. Amongst many reports and toolkits on promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, perhaps two are key […]

Magic Wand Not Required

To increase diversity in the governance and management of trusts and foundations there are many actions that we as individuals, organisations and networks can take. Some of them require significant investment of time and/or money – but most of them just require the will of individuals to invest their own time – and share or […]