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:
- Acknowledge that there is a problem with racial diversity in the charity sector and commit to working to change that.
- Recognise the important role leaders have in creating change by modelling positive behaviour and taking action.
- Learn about racial bias and how it impacts leadership decisions.
- 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.
- Commit to action and invest resources, where necessary, in order to improve racial diversity in my charity.
- 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.
- Recruit for potential, not perfection.
- 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.
- Vicky Browning, CEO, ACEVO
- Thomas Lawson, CEO, Turn2Us
- Jonathan Freeman, CEO, CareTech Foundation
- Beth Upton, CEO, Money Tree Fundraising
- Michael Adamson, chief executive, British Red Cross
- Heather Osborne, chief executive, Age UK Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin
- Girish Menon, CEO, ActionAid UK
- Howard Sinclair, chief executive, St. Mungo’s
- Helena Holt, chief executive, Devon Air Ambulance
- Alison Lowe, chief executive, Touchstone
- Patricia Armstrong OBE, chief executive, ACOSVO
- Sara Llewellin, chief executive, Barrow Cadbury Trust
- Menai Owen-Jones, CEO, The Pituitary Foundation
- Teri Stephenson, CEO, Age UK Lancashire
- Paul Parker, recording clerk, Quakers
- Ruth Potter, charity manager, OCAY
- Matt Stringer, CEO, RNIB
- Penny Wilson, chief executive, Gettting on Board
- Annie Warburton, chief executive, Cockpit Arts
- Jaine Stannard, chief executive, School-Home Support
- John Schless, chief executive, Greenwich Students’ Union
- Jo Gough, chief executive, RISE UK
- Ben Kernighan, CEO, Leap Confronting Conflict
- Ruth Kettle, CEO, Community Links
- Catherine McLeod MBE, CEO, Dingley’s Promise
- Sherrylyn Peck, chief executive, Safer London
- Tom Clarke-Forrest, founder & chief executive, Sport 4 Life UK
- Peter Lewis, CEO, Institute of Fundraising
- Laura Sercombe, CEO, Girls Friendly Society
- Ali Golds, CEO, The Juno Project
- Camilla Knox-Peebles, CEO, AMREF Health Africa UK
- Hilda Hayo, Chief Admiral Nurse, Dementia UK
- Clive Stone, CEO, Oakleaf Enterprise
- Donna John, executive director, Ignite
- Kamran Mallick, CEO, Disability Rights UK
- Louise Parkes, CEO, Great Ormond Street Hospital
- Gail Gibbons, CEO, Sheffield Futures
- Jane Ide, CEO, NAVCA
- Rebecca Gray, CEO, Maudsley Charity
- Dalton Leong, CEO, The Children’s Trust
- Patrick Wolter, CEO, Mary Frances Trust
- Josh Macalister, CEO, Frontline
- Andy Burman, CEO, British Dieticians Association
- Mark Rowland, CEO, Mental Health Foundation
- Michelle Mitchell, CEO, Cancer Research UK
- Sonya Chowdhury, CEO, Action for M.E.
- Eddie Blaze, CEO, Emmaus Oxford
- Tim Cooper, CEO, United Response
- Tom Wright, CEO, Guide Dogs for the blind association
- Darren Cormack, CEO, MAG International
- Melanie Armstrong, CEO, Action for Children
- Karen Ingala Smith, CEO, nia
- Matthew Reed, chief executive, Marie Curie
- James Blake, CEO YHA England and Wales
- Sonia Mangan, CEO Carer’s Support West Sussex
- Karl Wilding, CEO, NCVO
- Javed Khan, CEO Barnardos
- Liam O’Toole, CEO, Versus Arthritis
- Nik Peasgood, chief executive, Leeds Women’s Aid
- Sarah Hughes, CEO, Centre for Mental Health
- Simon Blake, CEO, Mental Health First Aid England
- Robin Osterley, CEO, Charity Retail Association
- Kate Lee, CEO, Alzheimer’s Society
- Jackie O’Sullivan, Executive Director. Royal Mencap Society
- Derek Walker, CEO, Wales Co-Operative Centre
- John Herriman, CEO, National Emergencies Trust
- Derri Burdon, CEO, Curious Minds
- Natasha Porter, CEO, Unlocked Graduates
- Jonathan Barnard, CEO, World Land Trust
- Ingrid Tennessee, CEO, Quo Vadis Trust
- Jenni Wiggle, CEO, Living Streets
- Philip Goodwin, CEO, VSO International
- James Campbell, CEO, Garden Organic Ryton
- Maryanne Matthews, CEO, EY Foundation
- Graeme Hodge, CEO, All We Can
- Jolanta Lasota, CEO, Ambitious about Autism
- Alan Markey, director of services, Covadvice
- Zoe Richards, CEO Learning Disability Wales
- Ginny Brown, CEO Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
- Rosie Ferguson, CEO House of St Barnabas
- Gemma Peters, CEO, Blood Cancer UK
- Dan Corry, CEO, NPC
- Emma Abbott, CEO, Young Minds
- Paul Snell, CEO, Walsingham Support
- Anne Fox, CEO, and Jess Mullen, head of policy and communications, Clinks
- Paul Roberts, CEO, Aspire Oxford
- John Poyton, CEO, Redthread
- Ricard Kramer, CEO, Sense and Sense International
- Jamie Gaul, CEO, Action for Carers Surrey
- Sarah Hill, CEO, IDAS
- Mark Devlin, CEO, Young Epilepsy
- Katharine Sacks-Jones, CEO, Become
- Jules Hillier, CEO, Pause
- Emma Colyer, director, Body and Soul
- Carol Mack, CEO, ACF
- Catherine Roche, CEO, Place2Be
- Niki Mardas, executive director, Global Canopy
- Louise Macdonald, CEO, Young Scot
- Polly Neate, CEO, Shelter
- Darren Knight, CEO, George House Trust
- Angela McConville, CEO, National Childbirth Trust
- Mark Simms, CEO, P3
- Mark Lee, CEO, The Together Trust
- Lynda Thomas, CEO, Macmillan Cancer Support
- Amanda Batten, CEO, Contact
- Emma Gibson, CEO, London Travel Watch
- Elaine Tierney, chair, The Tin Music and Arts Coventry
- Kate Allen, CEO, Autism at Kingwood
- Michelle Hill, CEO, TLC
- Dr Greg Ussher, CEO, Metro