Eight principles to address the diversity deficit in charity leadership

In order to create stronger, more resilient charities we are asking charity leaders, and leaders from wider civil society organisation that want to improve diversity and inclusion, to sign up to eight leadership principles to address the diversity deficit in charity leadership. These principles are part of the Racial Diversity in the Charity Sector report, done in collaboration with the Institute of Fundraising. 

As a leader I will:

1. Acknowledge that there is a problem with racial diversity in the charity sector and commit to working to change that.
2. Recognise the important role leaders have in creating change by modelling positive behaviour and taking action.
3. Learn about racial bias and how it impacts leadership decisions.
4. Commit to setting permanent and minimum targets for diversity that reflects the participants, donors, beneficiaries and the population of the area that my charity operates in.
5. Commit to action and invest resources, where necessary, in order to improve racial diversity in my charity.
6. View staff as the sum of many parts rather than a single entity and recruit to build a diverse group of talented people collectively working towards a shared vision.
7. Recruit for potential, not perfection.
8. Value lived experience, the ability to draw from one’s lived experience and to bring insights to an organisation that can develop its work.

Who has made the commitments?

Please click on the names to read more about the work each leader is doing regarding the principles.

1. Vicky Browning, CEO, ACEVO
2. Thomas Lawson, CEO, Turn2Us
3. Jonathan Freeman, CEO, CareTech Foundation
4. Beth Upton, CEO, Money Tree Fundraising
5. Michael Adamson, chief executive, British Red Cross
6. Heather Osborne, chief executive, Age UK Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin
7. Girish Menon, CEO, ActionAid UK
8. Howard Sinclair, chief executive, St. Mungo’s
9. Helena Holt, chief executive, Devon Air Ambulance
10. Alison Lowe, chief executive, Touchstone
11. Patricia Armstrong OBE, chief executive, ACOSVO
12. Sara Llewellin, chief executive, Barrow Cadbury Trust
13. Menai Owen-Jones, CEO, The Pituitary Foundation
14. Teri Stephenson, CEO, Age UK Lancashire
15. Paul Parker, recording clerk, Quakers
16. Ruth Potter, charity manager, OCAY
17. Matt Stringer, CEO, RNIB
18. Penny Wilson, chief executive, Gettting on Board
19. Annie Warburton, chief executive, Cockpit Arts
20. Jaine Stannard, chief executive, School-Home Support
21. John Schless, chief executive, Greenwich Students’ Union
22. Jo Gough, chief executive, RISE UK
23. Ben Kernighan, CEO, Leap Confronting Conflict
24. Ruth Kettle, CEO, Community Links
25. Catherine McLeod MBE, CEO, Dingley’s Promise
26. Sherrylyn Peck, chief executive, Safer London
27. Tom Clarke-Forrest, founder & chief executive, Sport 4 Life UK
28. Peter Lewis, CEO, Institute of Fundraising
29. Laura Sercombe, CEO, Girls Friendly Society
30. Ali Golds, CEO, The Juno Project
31. Camilla Knox-Peebles, CEO, AMREF Health Africa UK
32. Hilda Hayo, Chief Admiral Nurse, Dementia UK
33. Clive Stone, CEO, Oakleaf Enterprise
34. Donna John, executive director, Ignite
35. Kamran Mallick, CEO, Disability Rights UK
36. Louise Parkes, CEO, Great Ormond Street Hospital
37. Gail Gibbons, CEO, Sheffield Futures
38. Jane Ide, CEO, NAVCA
39. Rebecca Gray, CEO, Maudsley Charity
40. Dalton Leong, CEO, The Children’s Trust
41. Patrick Wolter, CEO, Mary Frances Trust
42. Josh Macalister, CEO, Frontline
43. Andy Burman, CEO, British Dieticians Association
44. Mark Rowland, CEO, Mental Health Foundation
45. Michelle Mitchell, CEO, Cancer Research UK
46. Sonya Chowdhury, CEO, Action for M.E.
47. Eddie Blaze, CEO, Emmaus Oxford
48. Tim Cooper, CEO, United Response
49. Tom Wright, CEO, Guide Dogs for the blind association
50. Darren Cormack, CEO, MAG International
51. Melanie Armstrong, CEO, Action for Children
52. Karen Ingala Smith, CEO, nia
53. Matthew Reed, chief executive, Marie Curie
54. James Blake, CEO YHA England and Wales
55. Sonia Mangan, CEO Carer’s Support West Sussex
56. Karl Wilding, CEO, NCVO
57. Javed Khan, CEO Barnardos
58. Liam O’Toole, CEO, Versus Arthritis
59. Nik Peasgood, chief executive, Leeds Women’s Aid
60. Sarah Hughes, CEO, Centre for Mental Health
61. Simon Blake, CEO, Mental Health First Aid England
62. Robin Osterley, CEO, Charity Retail Association
63. Kate Lee, CEO, Alzheimer’s Society
64. Jackie O’Sullivan, Executive Director. Royal Mencap Society
65. Derek Walker, CEO, Wales Co-Operative Centre
66. John Herriman, CEO, National Emergencies Trust
67. Derri Burdon, CEO, Curious Minds
68. Natasha Porter, CEO, Unlocked Graduates
69. Jonathan Barnard, CEO, World Land Trust
70. Ingrid Tennessee, CEO, Quo Vadis Trust
71. Jenni Wiggle, CEO, Living Streets
72. Philip Goodwin, CEO, VSO International
73. James Campbell, CEO, Garden Organic Ryton
74. Maryanne Matthews, CEO, EY Foundation
75. Graeme Hodge, CEO, All We Can
76. Jolanta Lasota, CEO, Ambitious about Autism
77. Alan Markey, director of services, Covadvice
78. Zoe Richards, CEO Learning Disability Wales
79. Ginny Brown, CEO Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
80. Rosie Ferguson, CEO House of St Barnabas
81. Gemma Peters, CEO, Blood Cancer UK
82. Dan Corry, CEO, NPC
83. Emma Abbott, CEO, Young Minds
84. Paul Snell, CEO, Walsingham Support
85. Anne Fox, CEO, and Jess Mullen, head of policy and communications, Clinks
86. Paul Roberts, CEO, Aspire Oxford
87. John Poyton, CEO, Redthread
88. Ricard Kramer, CEO, Sense and Sense International 
89. Jamie Gaul, CEO, Action for Carers Surrey
90. Sarah Hill, CEO, IDAS
91. Mark Devlin, CEO, Young Epilepsy
92. Katherine Sacks-Jones, CEO, Become
93. Jules Hillier, CEO, Pause
94. Emma Colyer, director, Body and Soul
95. Carol Mack, CEO, ACF