As I’ve argued elsewhere (‘Trusts and foundations have a diversity deficit. Is it time for regulation to fix it?’), the charity and not-for profit sector is running out of time to get our own house in order in relation to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) – particularly in relation to the leadership and funding decisions in our sector. We can’t continue to let change happen … Continue reading Our Collective Conflict of Interest

There are 6 main reasons why we should apply Diversity, Equity and Inclusion principles in everything we do.  But there are many more reasons – personal, organisational and systemic – why we don’t.  The reasons we should are: Fairness and Engagement: Embracing diversity and practising inclusion is part of our commitment to social justice and equity. As a values-based sector, no other reasons should be … Continue reading What’s the Point of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? Updated

I believe the charity and not-for-profit sector’s membership and trade bodies have a key role to play in changing the norms and defaults that currently cause our sector to talk a lot about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion without necessarily doing very much to change. As an example of what I think membership bodies can do, I recently suggested to Charity Finance Group how they could … Continue reading Valuing the Right Things

In this blogpost I have listed some of the resources I have found useful when thinking about how we might specifically progress issues of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the trust and foundation sector in the UK – with a particular emphasis on race.  Many are from UK sources and those from the US are ones which I think are particularly “transferable” to the UK … Continue reading Philanthropy Reading List Part 2 – UK

Deborah Elizabeth Finn (@Deborah909) recently published a reading list on some of the current key issues in philanthropy – eg power, diversity, equity and inclusion: https://deborahelizabethfinn.wordpress.com/2019/11/25/the-ongoing-revolution-in-philanthropy-an-open-ended-reading-list/ Almost all the resources are from the US – which is an indication of how far ahead the US is on most of these issues in comparison to the UK.  And the US context has many social, political, historical … Continue reading Philanthropy Reading List Part 1 – USA

This is a selection of programmes, initiatives and organisations that are aimed at increasing the number of people from under-represented groups in leadership positions (trustees and directors) in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector – with a particular emphasis on people from black and minority ethnic communities. These organisations can provide ideas and assistance for voluntary and other not-for-profit organisations that are looking to understand: more … Continue reading Welcome Aboard

This week’s Association of Charitable Foundations conference on the role every funder has in tackling the Climate Crisis, whether or not our foundation happens to prioritise climate issues, is important and @TenYearsTimeLtd report is helpful in setting out what each of us can do right now: https://tenyearstime.com/climate-change/ But we all have a tendency to allow important issues like this to be crowded out by the … Continue reading People in Glass Houses