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Eight principles to address the diversity deficit in charity leadership

To create stronger, more resilient charities we are asking charity leaders, and leaders from wider civil society organisations that want to tackle racism in the sector, to sign up to eight leadership principles that address equity, diversity and inclusion.

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?

https://www.acevo.org.uk/advocacy/diversity-in-the-charity-sector/

Last updated: 18/01/2022

Also read: https://www.turn2us.org.uk/About-Us/workplace-diversity

We know there is a problem with race in the economy. We know that there is a problem with racial diversity and inclusion within the social sector. We also know that the boards at the top 100 UK charities are less diverse than the companies listed on the FTSE 100.

As a sector that is trying to achieve social change, this lack of diversity undermines our credibility in our work to bring about fairness and equity within society. If we do not hold ourselves to account, we are in no position to challenge society to improve.

The leaders within our sector have a duty to lead the charge and model both positive behaviour and the establishment of tangible action plans. At Turn2us, both our Board of Trustees and wider management team are committed to working with our colleagues throughout the charity – and the partners we collaborate with – to do just that.

From my part, I believe that when I catch myself acting out unconscious biases, I should call myself out. I should hold myself to account with regards to learning about racial bias; and ensure there are champions and leadership for equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) throughout our organisation.

How we measure these action plans, and measure their effectiveness, is a contentious issue. Targets can be useful, but they also tokenistic. What we want to do is ensure we represent the people for whom we exist. We know that a disproportionate numbers of people from minoritised ethnic communities face financial insecurity and that they make up a large number of the people who come to us for support. It makes sense that our staff team should be representative.  The same applies to our Board; and accountability for this should always start with the organisation’s leadership.

Our Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging committee, to help shift Turn2us culture, alongside any EDI goals will embrace EDI in all teams and in all aspects of our work. The committee succeeds because it represents different levels from Officer level to Trustee , different directorates, and different personal experiences.

An intersectional approach to tackling diversity

One of the things I’ve noticed when talking to others about race, is that people often want to steer away from the conversation. This is often done in one of two ways: by doubting the experiences of people of colour; or find ways to detract from the issue or conversation.

At Turn2us, we are committed to building diversity and inclusion at every level and have adopted an intersectional approach to tackling racism. If we look at racism in isolation, then we ignore the intersectional nature of exclusion in relation to other characteristics.

We are working to tackle diversity and inclusion through human resources and recruitment. We practice blind recruitment without CVs, where we interview candidates on their answers to specific questions related to the job they are applying for.

Language plays an important role in ensuring our services and organisational culture is accessible and impactful. We also apply a number of key principles: 

  • Recruit for potential not perfection
  • Recruit to complement the team
  • Recruitment practice should always itself be diverse

If you recruit for perfection, there’s a greater risk that the teams will be a cohort of people with privileged backgrounds and career paths. If you go for potential, there’s a greater chance we will find teams with more varied and richer life experiences.

We want to view our staff as the sum of many parts rather than a single entity and we want to recruit to build a diverse group of talented people, collectively working towards a shared vision; and this comes back to our main purpose as a charity. To achieve our purpose and the social impact for which our organisation is designed, we need to be an inclusive organisation, with an inclusive culture.

The value and success of our services are dependent upon the people for whom we exist. It’s for this reason that co-design is such a fundamental part of our purpose and strategy. We value the ability to draw from one’s lived experience so we can develop our work: how can I, from a position of relative affluence, have the insight into what is needed for our programme development? Everything we do needs to be contextualised in terms of our programming and purpose. This includes collaboration with partners who have expertise in those fields we do not.

A diverse staff team that is representative of the people for whom we exist is a good start. But diversity in itself, and in isolation, is not enough. If you only achieve diversity and don’t pay attention to inclusion and physiological safety, things will be worse, not improved. People need a safe environment in which to work; to have uncomfortable yet constructive conversations; to challenge ideas, and to feel safe and validated in taking the risk to share something. Culture and leadership are crucial to this.

Last updated: 08/09/2021

In line with our public DEI Statement and my personal commitment to this agenda, over the last year we have:

  • Completed a review of our grant-making, with support from independent consultants, of our grant-making across our small grants to check (a) whether there were any biases in respect of grant award decision-making and (b) in the rates of applications in respect of DEI issues.
  • Undertaken joint trustees and staff unconscious bias training.
  • Commissioned a review of our website’s accessibility compliance with W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
  • Introduced alternative staff recruitment application processes, as well as advertising in a wider range of media channels, to encourage greater diversity of applicants.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

As a leader in the charity sector and CEO of the British Red Cross, I am personally committed to increasing diversity. While action-based strategies and solutions are crucial to enable change, it is vital that we all understand our own unconscious bias that may be impacting our decisions and behaviour. I’m always telling my team to bring their whole selves to work – that means I must do it too.

I recently went to see The Book of Mormon, the long-running comedy musical, where ‘all American’ white Mormon missionaries go to Uganda to try to convert black Africans to their cause. I found the portrayal of the incompetent, proselytising Mormons belly-achingly funny and the ‘ironic’ portrayal of the FGM-practicing, disease-ridden Africans offensive. When I shared this perspective with friends, they said: “so you don’t mind being disparaging about Mormons, but you do about Africans?” Ouch! Does that mean I am not fully inclusive or am I just lacking a sense of humour? I don’t know.

All around us, the interpretation of our personal values are being tested. Cultural appropriation, power imbalance, structural inequalities. These are complex issues that are in part about understanding who you are, the privilege you may unknowingly hold and the power or opportunity this may give you. It’s about understanding personal responsibility, making a difference and taking action as an ally in the workplace. It can be exhausting for people of colour to continually have to share their experiences of racial injustice, only for it to be disregarded.

This and more is explored in the brilliant Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race by Reni Eddo-Lodge. It captures the way the playing field is tilted at each stage of the educational and career development ladder against people of colour, meaning that the pool of people at each step is smaller than it should be. We need to understand what this means and be prepared to drive the change that tilts the playing field back again.

Over the last five years at the British Red Cross, we have been working systematically to try to make our organisation both more diverse and more inclusive. Not only does this make our workplace a better place to be – we know a more inclusive team brings diversity of thinking, enabling us to make smarter decisions, bring about more positive change in society and, crucially, be better equipped to support people in crisis

We started by commissioning research with our own staff and volunteers to understand their experience at the British Red Cross. This enabled us to develop a meaningful inclusion and diversity strategy. It flagged to us some things we wanted to change.

We invested in internal diversity networks and are developing a new mentoring programme. We trained managers to spot unconscious bias and to challenge this behaviour in yourself and others. We introduced a name-blind application process and are adopting equality impact assessments across our work. We have seen some success in meeting our internal target of increasing the number of BAME staff from 8% (2016) to 12% (2019). There is still much to do.

The real test is creating a culture of inclusion in which everyone feels they belong and that their ideas are valued. Where a diverse group of people are able to bring their whole selves to work, not just the bits you think people want to see. And it’s not just about race, it’s gender and disability, introversion and extroversion. It’s all the parts of a person that make their contribution in the workplace unique. Do they all get an equal chance to contribute in this noisy world? I doubt it.

Last updated 14/09/2021

Since 21.1.2020 we have:

  • Added new members from other diverse organisations, representing a broader range of communities
  • Taken part in activities such as wind rush day
  • Reached out to our local interfaith forums and other groups
  • Recruited new trustees from other ethnic backgrounds to make a more diverse board
  • Personally undertaken a range of training to broaden my understanding of racism and how it impacts in our organisation
  • Worked with a small internal EDI group to look at training – ongoing
  • Presented the Home Truths report to the board and agreed to undertake three of the recommendations from the report.
  • Updated our EDI action plan and discussed with our board how to make this more meaningful
  • Shared the Home Truths report with our local VCSA to influence them to consider EDI issues in more depth
  • Agreed with the board to put some resources into having outside expertise to advise us.
  • Raised the lack of Diversity in Age UK with the national charity and lobbied for diversity to have a higher priority in the new emerging Age UK strategy
  • Reviewed our communication plans and tried to identify better ways to communicate with and reached out to diverse communities.

Going forward from Oct 2021 we are:

  • Revisiting our EDI group to expand the membership and give it a stronger role and focus
  • Revised the terms of reference for this group and asking them to work with us to develop an EDI strategy &n advise the board directly
  • Undertaking a confidential survey of all our staff re EDI issues.
  • Using the expertise of our new trustees to assist us in this work
  • Developing a strategy for the next ¾ years on EDI highlighting these pledges and the Home Truths report, and seeking outside help and advice to do this.
  • Continuing to seek training which may help expand all our staff knowledge in this area.
  • Continue to work with the national charity on this agenda.
  • Review our recruitment processes and development opportunities for BAME staff.
  • Consider opportunities for BAME staff at a senior management level.

Last updated 21/01/2020

Since signing up to the principles Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin has undertaken unconscious bias training for staff and trustees. We have also reviewed our membership and directly written to a number of BME and other minority organisations, who we wish to engage with, to invite them to join us as members. We believe it is important to start with our grass roots membership and build from there. We are currently following this up with direct contact.

We have also written a new communications plan which has within it a clear priority for communication and engagement with BME and other minority groups. As part of the plan we will be looking at the images we use in our comms to ensure they reflect the individuals we want to attract into the organisation.

We have reviewed all our recruitment processes to ensure they are as accessible and welcoming as possible

https://www.daat.org/blog/how-we-have-applied-acevos-diversity-principles

Last updated 15/04/2020

ACOSVO is fully committed to the ACEVO and Institute of Fundraising’s diversity leadership principles. As leaders in this sector it is our responsibility to embrace and prioritise increasing diversity at every level and create a more equitable and inclusive workplace that values diversity of thought and experience.

Since signing up to the principles ACOSVO has set up an Equalities Advisory Group to consider and advise on how we might improve diversity and accessibility for all sector leaders (and future leaders). We have made specific reference to diversity and inclusion in our strategy and values, and have set up a number of special interest groups including women & young leaders to allow members to connect and provide opportunities for peer to peer networking and best practice sharing.

Going forward we are committed to embracing change, learning, and while we appreciate this may challenge us and not always be comfortable, we look forward to helping create a more inclusive and innovative voluntary sector.

At Barrow Cadbury Trust we take diversity seriously.  The Trust has a long history of campaigning for equalities, focussing primarily but not exclusively on gender and racial justice.  We ‘equalities lens’ everything we do, at times of course imperfectly.  Our board has committed the Trust to the new foundations’ 3 year DEI initiative which began work this month.

We are one of the founding members of the Funders for Race Equality Alliance, a network of some 25 foundations that are working together with three objectives: to increase understanding of and focus on race equality by funders; provide more and better funding to address race inequality; and increase minority representation in foundation leadership and governance.  The network meets regularly to hear from experts from the sector, and to learn about new developments among its members.  It works closely with the Coalition for Race Equality, its sister network of race equality organisations, and is currently developing an audit tool which its members will be using to analyse the amount of funding going to the BAME sector as a baseline for action.  It will shortly be carrying out a mapping exercise to better understand the size, shape and needs of the sector.

In a separate initiative we have been working with AB Charitable Trust to convene funders wishing to work together to reduce disproportionality in the criminal justice system.  We have been encouraged by the appetite of our colleagues for this work and with them are exploring a number of areas for action.  It’s early days, and we know how challenging joint working can be, but from the workshops we’ve held its clear there is a desire to tackle the structural injustices which put barriers in the way of too many people from minority backgrounds.

Another area where we’re seeking to improve diversity is in the social investment sector.  The Connect Fund, which we deliver on behalf of the Access Foundation, provides funding to strengthen the social investment market so it better meets the needs of charities and social enterprises.  Some years ago, before the Connect Fund was established, we funded a report from the Young Foundation “The Sky’s the Limit”, which explored the potential for, and barriers to, a gender lens approach to social investment. We’re pleased to have been able to draw a direct line from that report to discussions about gender diversity in the social investment sector, to pledges on female representation. 

And the Connect Fund hasn’t just been focussing on gender diversity: improving diversity in the sector is one of its eight themes. In their recent interim report, our evaluators npc noted that “there is greater awareness of the need for increased diversity in the social investment sector… the Connect Fund has increased the profile of diversity as an important issue for the sector, and got more people talking”.  Grants to Disability Rights UK, to the LGBT Consortium and to Black South West Network, among others, have ensured that the needs of particular sectors and those they seek to support are better understood. And the recently published Young Foundation report “Nothing About Us Without Us”, co-funded by us and Big Society Capital, explores how to ensure insights from lived experience are considered in social investment.

So what about our own house?  Although the Trust falls far below the threshold at which organisations must publish their pay gaps, we think we all should.  Our most recent figures (March 2019 annual report) demonstrate the diversity within our team: women make up 13 of our 18 staff, while 8 people have a BAME background.  Women are on average paid marginally more than men (by 3.6% mean, 0% median), though there is a greater disparity when we look at ethnicity, with BAME staff being paid 14.7% less (mean) but 4.6% higher (median) than their white counterparts.  This is because BAME staff are concentrated in the middle pay bands which we hope makes a contribution to the sector’s leadership pipeline. Nevertheless, there is clearly more work to be done for continuous improvement.  

While we’re pleased with the level of diversity in the Trust staff team, we are not complacent. Diversity means much more than recruiting a mixed workforce; it must inform every aspect of our work.  We aim to create a working culture in which every single trustee and member of staff buys into our shared value base and is able to relate it directly to their own life as well as their work. This means ‘walking our talk’, particularly as a leadership team and as custodians of valuable social justice resources.

There is much to be done to improve diversity and inclusion in the charity sector – the place in our society where it should be strongest.  Through using all our assets – our team, our funding and our investments as active shareholders – we aim to continually improve our own practice and extend the influence we have to improve diversity and equality.

[1] We recognise the inadequacies of the phraseology of “Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic” sector but use it here in the absence of agreed alternative terminology. The alliance uses the term in its broad sense, to include people with shared minority cultures, religions and lived realities (for example Muslims and Jewish people, Gypsy, Roma and Travellers etc.)

BCT Executive Team

Feb 2020

Updated 11/02/2022

About Us – Touchstone (touchstonesupport.org.uk)

Touchstone (@Touchstone_Spt) / Twitter

Touchstone is a very diverse and inclusive employer and service provider. We have an intelligence led approach to inclusion and this is built into all aspects of business planning and decision making.

We believe developing a positive and sustainable inclusive culture starts from being a representative employer and service provider reflecting the diverse local communities we serve. A starting point is to ensure that at decision making level there is senior leadership representation. The CEO Arfan Hanif is of Muslim Pakistani heritage with a lived experience of mental health.  Touchstone’s Senior Leadership profile is; two thirds women, half LGB, third BME and a third indicating a disability.  In terms of the wider organisation (250+ staff) the profile is; two thirds women, over a third BME, over a quarter LGB, 14% indicated a disability, 6% of staff indicated they are trans/non-binary and over a quarter indicating a community/diverse faith belief e.g. 14% Muslim.

Tangible actions:

  • Touchstone currently as LGBTQ+, BME, Neuro Diversity and Menopause staff support/networks groups. Plans are being proposed to develop staff Inter-faith/belief group. Touchstone also as a long standing ‘Pink Pals’ ally staff LGBTQ+ group which we plan to extend to all protected characteristics groups and will be led by the CEO.
  • Dedicated Management Development Programme developed in 2021 targeting under-represented staff to develop into management positions
  • Offer diverse training programmes including, anti-discrimination, Islamophobia, antisemitism, gender identity, LGB awareness, Learning Disability, HIV Awareness and domestic abuse. Plans in 2022 to develop Hate Awareness and Sensory Impairment Awareness training courses
  • All Touchstone sites have faith/prayer/meditation rooms or spaces for staff and service users to have space to observe their faith obligations.
  • Services are adapted to better meet the needs of our diverse service users. Examples include; adaptation of CBT therapy for Muslim communities, working with Black Led Churches to address mental health stigma, maximising the power of ‘Seva’ in our Dementia and Sikh Elder Services, Men’s unlocked project working with vulnerable men, offer of LGBTQ+ therapists to LGBTQ+ service users and FGM clinical and community support targeting African and Middle Eastern Communities. 

Touchstone uses its influence to support and enable smaller organisations that represent different protected characteristics/communities to be better profiled and resourced.  E.g. Touchstone is the Lead Provider for the city wide ‘Live Well Leeds’ service which compromises of over a dozen smaller community based organisations.  Includes organisations delivering services to Asian women, sex workers, Gypsy/Traveller communities, Irish Community, sensory impaired service users and working with African communities with HIV.  Touchstone plays an advocacy role promoting the vibrant and diverse community organisations across Yorkshire. 

Last updated 16/09/2021

Age UK Lancashire values diversity and is committed to promoting equality of opportunity and to tackling all forms of discrimination through our role as a service provider and as an employer.

We are committed to providing and promoting opportunities for staff, volunteers job/role applicants, and in creating a working environment which enables everyone to work to the best of their skills and abilities and without the threat of discrimination or harassment arising.  As a company, we pride ourselves on treating all members of staff, volunteers and customers equally.

I’m personally committed to making Age UK Lancashire a more diverse organisation and we recognise that we do need to do better to ensure that our workforce and customers are fully representative of the population of the area in which we serve.

We commissioned our local BME Network to carry out some research in 2020 to improve our understanding from the perspectives of people who we would like to come and work for us and potential customers who could benefit from our services.  We continue to work with this network, who are supporting the development of our new Inclusivity & Diversity strategy. We are providing diversity training for our staff, which we have called “working towards inclusivity” in recognition that we are on a journey and not near the destination yet.

Our Trustees recently undertook a governance audit and identified diversity as a priority for the 21/22 year as we are keen to make our Trustee Board and organisation as diverse and inclusive as we possibly can.

One of our Values highlights our commitment to diversity and inclusivity;

  • We care – we are inclusive, we support each other, treat everyone with respect, are accessible and listen & act in the best interests of all

I am a member of the Lancashire Race & Equality Panel as a representative with responsibility for the age characteristic, but with a clear commitment to challenging all forms of inequality and addressing diversity problems across Lancashire.

In 2018 the Recording Clerk signed up to Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) and Institute of Fundraising (IoF)’s eight leadership principles to improve diversity and inclusion in the charity sector. The Recording Clerk is the Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)’s equivalent of a CEO.

The Recording Clerk and senior leadership team received unconscious bias training and championed the introduction of inclusive workplace training for all staff in 2018. Working with our staff representative body, inclusive workplace training was developed and rolled out over 2019. 86% of staff have completed the training and we will achieve 100% over 2020. Staff were invited to provide feedback during training, which the provider collated. We are currently reviewing the feedback and recommendations in order to implement an action plan during 2020 to address the issues raised. During 2019 we have looked at other organisational learning opportunities, and partnered with British Dyslexia Association to run lunch and learn session for managers on dyslexia and neurodiversity. We are developing an equality and inclusion page on our staff intranet, on which BYM’s equality data will be placed and relevant documents on inclusion. We are researching courses on unconscious bias recruitment for managers, with the aim of delivering this training in 2021. We continue our rolling programme of disability awareness training.

In order to set meaningful targets for diversity that reflect the participants, donors, beneficiaries and the population of the areas that BYM operates in, we  have worked to understand how our stakeholder groups are constituted. In 2018, we survey Friends serving on committees or groups that oversee central work. These surveys will be carried out at periodic intervals going forward. We also started a Diversity and Inclusion Project to learn more about diversity and inclusion among Quaker communities in Britain with the aim of informing BYM’s work towards further development in terms of structures and membership. We also looked at our nominations processes to increase diversity among Friends serving on committees or groups. In 2019, we started reporting on the diversity of our Trustees, complementing the reporting on diversity among staff and volunteers. BYM’s Diversity and Inclusion Project conducted a survey between November 2018 and March 2019 as a means of gathering information on how diverse Quakers are at this point in time. We are currently consulting on an inclusion and diversity strategy with staff; it sets targets for staff diversity and includes the commitment of resources.

We supported staff to set up BAME and Neurodiversity Networks in 2018. The BAME group ran a programme of activities for colleagues during Black History month in 2019. As part of tour decentralisation organisational change strand, a cross-organisational group is taking forward work on how BYM can improve on inclusion of staff regardless of where they are based. In 2020, our representative staff group is also planning to engage colleagues on the topic of inclusion. We are also initiating a project to articulate our culture, commitments and behaviours, so the diverse and talent group that makes up our staff work collectively towards a shared vision.

We have been reviewing our recruitment practices. In 2019 we tackled unconscious bias in recruitment by removing names from application forms. We are developing reports to show diversity and inclusion at recruitment, during employment and at leaving, so that trends are visible and action taken. We plan to review the language used in our recruitment materials and job descriptions, so that we are recruiting for potential, rather than perfection.

In terms of our programme work, we value lived experience and seek opportunities for people to draw on their lived experience and to bring insights to our organisation that can develop the work, for example in our work alongside refugees, in East Africa and with younger people.

Last updated 08/09/2021

OCAY signed up to ACEVO Institute of Fundraising’s diversity leadership principles because we recognised that we needed to ensure that our organisation reflected the growing diversity of the residents of the city in which we operated. As an organisation, we are now collecting diversity monitoring data for clients, volunteers, trustees and staff. This is reported quarterly to Trustees and is helping us to understand the groups that are underrepresented in our service and informing our outreach work.

We have started to work with other charities in the area to share our data and look at how we can work together to ensure that we reach out to diverse groups of people living in York. We have also had joint training with staff and trustees to ensure that we understand what we mean by diversity and inclusion.

The diversity leadership principles continue to give us a framework within which we can work to improve our diversity and make our service more accessible to all sections of the community.

Last updated 26/02/2020

1. Vision

We envisage that by attracting, developing and retaining the broadest group of talented people that not only will we secure the very best advantage through our people to create the world for which we strive but RNIB itself will be a place where all can strive.

2. Purpose and position statement

  • To ensure that all staff and volunteers feel that they are able to be their authentic selves at work and contribute to their fullest extent.
  • To celebrate the value of diversity and difference in organisational culture, decision making and in increasing the impact and reach of our strategy.
  • To be a leader in this field and to be externally respected and looked to for leadership in this area.
  • To build on our internal representation and diversity of thought to better deliver on our strategy externally.

3. Objectives

Objective 1: To promote the strategy and increase awareness, engagement and leadership in this area.

A D&I strategy comes down to people. Having senior and governance level buy-in and visible support and leadership is therefore critical to achieving all other objectives. It is underpinned by a positive working culture and behaviours.

Staff engagement will be delivered in collaboration with the brand and marketing team. This will be to ensure that internal messaging is heavily aligned to our external messaging around seeing differently and seeing the person rather than the sight loss.

Objective 2: To inform Equality, Diversity & Inclusion interventions and priorities through an on-going data-led approach and staff and volunteer engagement.

This work has been informed by the information currently available to us. To increase our confidence in the priorities for this work, we need a greater level of data collection to inform action planning. To improve levels of disclosure, we need to build trust and confidence through objective 1 and for people to understand how valuable the data is in enabling us to drive this work forwards and to prioritise the right areas. This also includes qualitative feedback on level of trust and people feeling able to disclose.

Objective 3: To be trusted by our staff and volunteers in providing good practice in accessibility as well as being able to provide positive examples to other organisations to redress discrimination due to disability from sight loss

Objective 4: To redress the gender, sight loss and racial or ethnic under representation in senior leadership and governance roles.

Given compelling data, and significant feedback received on this through staff and volunteer focus groups, we are clear that work on this area needs to be prioritised.

Objective 5: To achieve D&I training compliance at or near 100% across RNIB.

Whilst this is more of enabler, given our starting point, this has been set as an explicit objective in the short term. Currently, there is no training on Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at RNIB whereas

ordinarily it is a mandatory course and often required early during induction in view of its aim to pre-empt discrimination, including through calling out or avoiding altogether micro-aggression and other inappropriate behaviour. Given that this drives the delivery of many other objectives, it should remain an explicit objective at this time.

Last updated 07/09/2021

Getting on Board has been working hard to develop practical approaches which can improve the diversity of boards of trustees. In our 2017 research, 90% of charities reported that they recruited most of their trustees through word-of-mouth and existing networks. This leads directly to chronic board diversity problems with men outnumbering women 2:1; the average trustee being 57; people of colour representing just 8% of trustees (against 14% of the wider population); 75% of trustees from households above the national median for household income and 59% of charities saying that their boards do not reflect the communities they serve. It is of course inevitable that if you recruit by “asking around” from a trustee base which is less diverse than wider society, those that are recruited are most likely to be from similar groups.

Our solution is to promote trusteeship to people who may not have considered it before, and to teach charities how to recruit trustees openly and professionally based on expertise developed and tested with our charity partners. We offer: two free guides – How to recruit trustees for your charity and How to become a charity trustee; low cost monthly webinars in becoming a trustee, recruiting trustees and diversifying charity boards; and flagship programmes for aspiring trustees and charities which want to diversify their boards. www.gettingonboard.org

Last updated 09/02/2022

Diversity drives creativity

Cockpit’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statements is at: https://cockpitstudios.org/careers/diversity-and-inclusion/

As the leader of Cockpit, I am committed to inclusion, diversity and equity in all our activities, recognising that creativity and innovation are fuelled by diversity.

I strive to foster an inclusive culture where we celebrate aspects of diversity as key to our – and everyone’s – success and flourishing.

I am committed to building a more diverse community – makers, team, Board, and partners – and creating an environment where anyone, from any background, can develop their talents, do their best work and realise their full potential.

I take personal responsibility for leading our work in diversity, equity and inclusion and in empowering my team to rise to the highest standards.

Aims

The overarching aims of Cockpit’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan are to:

  • Open up access to starting a successful professional career in craft to everyone with talent
  • Actively address structural barriers, including systemic racism, inequality of access to education and training, and socio-economic barriers
  • Promote and celebrate the diversity of the community of makers at Cockpit
  • Continually deepen our learning and evolve our understanding of diversity and inclusion
  • Build a more diverse, inclusive and cohesive community: makers, team, Trustees, partners

Each year we set measurable objectives towards achieving these aims.

Since April 2020 Cockpit has:

  • Launched a new three-year, £30,000 Award programme for three makers from currently underrepresented backgrounds.
  • Provided Awards and Bursaries for 29 studio holders facing socio-economic barriers to starting in practice.
  • Recruited five makers to Make It, our programme for under- or unemployed makers aged 26 years
  • Introduced video applications for those who face barriers using written forms.
  • Conducted an access audit of our Deptford building and incorporated its findings into our redevelopment plans
  • Ensured diversity and representation in all our communications and events: We Celebrate and actively raise the profile of the diversity of Cockpit makers
  • Hosted talks on diversity in contemporary craft as part of our Summer Festival, 2020 and 2021
  • Committed resources and time for each member of staff to deepen their learning in diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism
  • Run a dedicated diversity, equity and inclusion workshop with Trustees, led by our Trustee Nishita Dewan
  • Continued to ensure that all recruitment removes unnecessary criteria, is promoted widely
  • Established a People Committee – a sub-committee of the Board with responsibility for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Over the past 18 months, School-Home Support has been working hard to look at how we can further embed the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion throughout our working culture, recruitment processes, policies, communications and service delivery. We are proud of our achievements so far but still have a lot of work to do.  

  • We have invested significantly in EDI including the appointment of a part-time EDI project manager and full-time project coordinator to support our EDI work, We now also have a dedicated budget for our EDI work.
  • We have set up an EDI working group which represents all of the teams and regions that School-Home Support operates in, including at a senior (CEO) and trustee level.
  • A full review of our internal staff policies has been completed to ensure that they reflect EDI best practice wherever possible.
  • All new starters are now required to complete introductory EDI training and we have also been providing continuous learning and development opportunities for all staff and trustees on important diversity and inclusion topics – this will continue.
  • We run EDI network sessions for staff and trustees enabling both groups to come together informally to discuss EDI in different contexts. Sessions included, Transgender Awareness, Mental Health and Intersecting Identities and a Black Lives Matters termly book club,
  • The Board of Trustees have attended EDI training and have completed an EDI action planning session with The Diversity Trust which is now being reviewed for next steps.
  • We are currently working to improve the diversity of the board, through a targeted recruitment campaign; one area of focus will be younger trustees with lived experience of disadvantage and/or as an School-Home Support service user. We hope to have two new young trustees in post by the end of this year.
  • Our dedicated user voice group has been looking into how we can draw on our service user’s lived experience and bring their insights into our planning and decision making processes. To date, we have implemented an end of support survey for parents that we work with and piloted a parent focus group to get feedback on different areas of our work that we would like to develop.
  • We have actively encouraged and supported colleagues to use gender pronouns in all of our external and internal communications

At GSU race matters and race equity is a priority; both as an organisation and employer to our staff as well as in our service to students. GSU is proud to have a diverse staff team however, GSU also acknowledges that there is more to do in terms of race equity.

The full-time elected Officer Team have made it clear that equality, diversity, and inclusivity. They have made it a priority not only for GSU as an institution but also for the University of Greenwich through their ‘Decolonising Greenwich’ in which they call on the institution to work on the following areas:

  1. Closing of the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) awarding gap.
  2. Diverse leadership across Greenwich, including development schemes to allow progression across all levels. 
  3. Culturally competent student support which helps students succeed equitably. 
  4. Leading in diverse knowledge exchange in research, innovation, and industry as well as platforming a range of scholars from different backgrounds 
  5. Exploration of Greenwich and acknowledge all aspects of its history.

The University has embedded these priorities into their new Strategy – This is our Time and investing in their own Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Race Action Plan

GSU student leaders and staff have committed to integrating explicit race equity goals into our charitable work. GSU will be following guidance of the NUS Race Matters findings and the recommendations for the charitable sector outlined in the Voice for Change and ACEVO Home Truths report.

We have a work Race Equity working group and Senior Coordinator Esther Olorunsomo has been seconded to the support this project as part of her personal and professional development.

Our actions include:

  • Reporting publicly on internal EDI targets,
  • Publishing ethnicity pay gap data,
  • Review and change recruitment criteria, e.g., value attributes differently, including lived experience and alignment with institutional vision,
  • Invest in supporting and safeguarding BAME charity people, including proper complaints procedures,
  • Work with and pay BAME DEI specialists to improve practice.

As CEO, my leadership team and trustees are learning to ensure GSU:

  • Learns more about racism and current anti-racist thinking,
  • Takes responsibility for learning how racism can manifest in our organisation,
  • Leading on and being held responsible and accountable for our progress on EDI targets,
  • Takes positive steps to ensure GSU enhances our working practices and procedures in relation to EDI.

Following a extensive listening and learning exercise, from October 2021 all GSU staff will be taking part in  Leadership on Race Equity Training as part of our Race Equity Action Plan, to provide our employees with the knowledge and tools to contribute to creating an equitable and inclusive workplace environment.

I am immensely proud that we have developed an environment where we can have positive discussions about race, ethnicity and identity. As a result of our 2019, 2020 and 2021 staff survey, 98% of staff told us they feel that they are treated equally irrespective of gender, disability, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation or religion. This for us is a huge testament to our work. Consistent and sustained support for the future of the organisation in ensuring that inclusivity is at the heart of everything we do.

Last updated 08/02/2022

Despite the last few years being intensely difficult with the loss of a large contract and management of our specialist domestic abuse services throughout the Covid 19 pandemic RISE has stayed focussed on addressing anti-racism in our organisation, across our sector and in society.

For me, as CEO, I have recognised the need to listen, reflect and learn together with others to see where we may have gone wrong in the past and where we can focus on being and doing better. This has included participation in two intensive training programmes on anti-racism. One led by the Kings Fund for CEO winners of the GSK Impact Award and the other as a trustee of Women’s Aid. Both required an action learning style approach. In addition I have taken an active role in promoting and participating in the ‘Anti-Racism in Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)’, launched March 2021, on a local and national level.

We have so far:

  • Signed-up to the Anti-Racism in VAWG Charter https://www.endingracisminvawg.org/
  • CEO has attended the ‘white women leaders in VAWG Workshop’ and enabled staff to attend the ‘Black and minoritised women in VAWG session’.
  • Delivered all RISE mandatory basic Equal Opps Training and Unconscious Bias and Inclusive Practice training
  • As co-chair on the local VAWG Forum arranged for Black Girls in CSE speaker Jahnine Davis – Listen Up (listenupresearch.org) to present to a multi-agency audience
  • Linked with HOPE Training About – H.O.P.E Training & Consultancy (hopetraining.co.uk) on Forced Marriages, Honour Abuse & Female Genital Mutilation with RISE staff attending webinars and workshops
  • Encouraged RISE black women leaders to join the Women’s Resource Network for Black Women Leaders
  • Improved the content of our website – languages, images, information as well as our social media content with a focus on representing those that we have not reached well enough
  • Reviewed our recruitment practice and policy to build in the guidance from ACEVO eight principles
  • Established closer links with ‘by and for’ black and minoritised groups locally and joined the Racial Harassment Forum
  • Developed guidance on ‘Spiritual Abuse’ in partnership with Jewish Women’s Aid
  • Improved our representation of Black and minoritised women in leadership positions through recruitment of potential
  • Recruited two Black and minoritised women focussed workers to deliver community work and therapeutic wellbeing work to better reach those from Black and minority communities
  • Updated our Trustee recruitment process and monitoring for equality and diversity

Plans

  • Analyse EO data linked to recent Trustee recruitment to identify and address gaps
  • Induction and training for trustees to include anti-racism charter
  • Induction and training for staff to include anti-racism charter
  • Explore the set-up of a BAMER Workers group
  • Re-establish the Equalities Working Group
  • Review and update anti-racism plan
  • Reviewing and updating our access statement and values to include an anti-racism stance

https://leapconfrontingconflict.org.uk/Leap-commitment-to-equality-inclusion-and-equity

Last updated 01/02/2022

  • We engaged some consultants to support our work and have held an all-leaders virtual workshop which is detailed in our report – leadership accountability in Inspire North’s (I.N.) journey to becoming a more anti-racist organisation
  • This last year we have engaged consultants in a six-month piece of work (completed) recruited a part-time EDI co-ordinator (permanent) and had a consultant review our HR policies for any biases
  • We are monitoring our employees by seniority level so we can measure change/progress and we are undertaking an internal ethnicity pay gap ahead of our having to publish one, so we are aware of our situation
  • We have introduced a pilot to reward BAME employees for their time spent on recruitment panels to measure the impact of having more diverse panels on our recruitment outcomes

Community Links ranked No 9 on the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers List

ACEVO Eight Leadership Principles Statement

October 2021

Dingley’s Promise is an organisation that strives to bring about inclusion for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities wherever it is possible. When we talked about Equity Diversity and Inclusion in the past, our teams mainly thought about our children, and the way in which our mission is to give them the best start in life.

In 2020, we began to think about inclusion more deeply and created our first Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, which we now review every term. We recognised there is a problem with racial diversity in the charity sector, and also in our own organisation. Our key priority as we started to use our Action Plan was to improve representation of people from diverse ethnic communities in our staff and leadership teams – ideally to better align with the third of our families who are from these communities.

Our actions have been as follows:

Knowing ourselves

Added diversity data to our systems including staff and family surveys, recruitment data, and our main Key Performance Indicators.

Embedding staff understanding of EDI

Undertaken ongoing anti racism training programme for all Centre teams

Awareness sessions with Trustees and staff, led by our EDI Trustee

Improve representation in our teams

Reviewed promotional materials and website to ensure diverse representation.

Recruited Trustee lead for EDI with lived experience of racism and more staff and volunteers from diverse ethnic communities through targeted advertising.

Ensure all children and families feel welcome and celebrated

Created and purchased diverse materials for the Centres

Engaged with families to understand their stories, music, food and cultures, and bring those into the playroom wherever possible.

Establish systems for translation to ensure families for whom English is not their first language feel understood and can have important conversations about their children.

We will continue to focus on EDI at all levels of the organisation, from the Board, through senior management, Centre management, staff and volunteer teams. We recognise that we must be actively anti racist in all aspects of our work. Our focus for the coming year will be to embed the use of EDI data in evaluating our work and impact, on ongoing training and awareness raising at all levels of the organisation including inductions, and on actively engaging with families from diverse ethnic communities to influence our practice and feedback on progress.

Catherine McLeod MBE, Chief Executive

Our Strategy

Black Lives Matter – One Year On – CEO Blog

Last updated 16/09/2021

At GFS we have a long history in recognising and addressing gender inequalities that exist and persist for girls and women. We feel confident to talk about this, develop our thinking, policy and practice. However as a third sector organisation, we felt we had so much more to do to ensure our approach was intersectional.

After making the ACEVO commitment to learn more we set about making that a reality as a team before embedding all we learned into policy and practice. On a personal note, I was determined for us to be authentic and honest and true.

Since June 2020 when we established the EDI Team we have achieved so much. This team worked together across all departments before handing over the keys to a new EDI team. We wanted to remain fresh and vibrant with conversations happening across the organisation. So we change the team once a year.

  • The EDI team developed our plan that we check in on together every month.
  • The plan had team targets and departmental targets and we support each other on achieving these.
  • A key focus was our new Day of Learning that was rooted in EDI and brought the entire team together to learn and reflect
  • This learning took us from ‘equality’ to ‘equity’
  • We worked with the Board to recruit a more diverse set of trustees and with dramatic results.
  • We recruited an EDI Trustee to lead our thinking from the very top.
  • Finally we worked through the Charity Governance Code and refreshed our thinking around EDI.

This has been an important piece of work and every time we meet we think of more we need and want to do. I hope that our learning never stops.

We wanted to sign up to ACEVO’s diversity leadership principles both in recognition of our part in the third sector’s collective responsibility to encourage and improve leadership diversity, as well as the need for our own organisation to reflect the differences in, and diversity of, the girls we support in West Sussex.

When we first formed as a charity, we had a very diverse board of trustees, highly representative of the young women on our programmes. Of course, as trustees outside responsibilities change, they move on, so when we start the board recruitment process again in the summer, ensuring that we keep to the high standard we set right at the beginning will be one of our key aims.

We work with a wide range of vulnerable girls, from all backgrounds and ethnicities, although this has not always been explicit in our reporting. We will commit to making this implicit from now on by collecting additional monitoring data regarding the girls, our volunteers, and our staff to demonstrate how inclusive we are currently, and identify areas in which we can do better.  

The mission of The Juno Project is to improve the welfare and world opportunities for vulnerable young women in our county. We role model. If we don’t reflect that in our own organisation, it is difficult to see how the girls would recognise that potential in themselves.

We pledge to change this today, and to carry on improving and encouraging, so that we have an even more diverse board, team, and volunteer base.

https://amrefuk.org/uk/en/who-we-are

Last updated 20/01/2022

Dementia UK believes passionately in everyone receiving excellent dementia care, and that ethnicity should not be a barrier to this. We are committed to providing an inclusive, welcoming workplace for our volunteers and staff and ensuring that the voices of people who are Black, Asian and of all ethnicities and backgrounds play a central role in our organisation. Our plans for promoting and further developing diversity, equality and inclusion in our charity are as follows:

  • We will ensure that we consider Sexual Orientation, Age, Gender, Disability and Marital Status in our employees and volunteers so that we look at diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) in a holistic way
  • We completed a DEI audit and from this we set up a working group within the charity to ensure DEI principles are embedded within in everything we do
  • We are working with an external organisation to further develop DEI within the charity and they commenced their work in January 2022.
  • We now have a dedicated Consultant Admiral Nurse (specialist dementia nurse) who is working nationally to develop additional Admiral Nurse posts in diverse and underserved communities, including people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups within the UK
  • We are developing further Admiral Nurse posts in diverse and underserved communities during 2022/23.

As a charity our lived values are:

We listen, learn and collaborate

We are empowering, supportive and respectful

We act with integrity, transparency and accountability

We encourage creativity and innovation

 Dr Hilda Hayo Chief Admiral Nurse and CEO of Dementia UK

Last updated 20/01/2022

A strategy of delivering activities and events specifically aimed at under-represented client groups within our overall client makeup has been and will continue to be delivered. This has primarily focused on the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, work has been undertaken with a local LGBTQ+ charity to ensure a pathway to our services is defined, which has resulted in many new clients accessing our services. Additionally, the structure of advertising for Trustees and the specific organisation used for advertising have been enhanced to ensure under-represented groups are targeted e.g., female Trustees.” 

_____________________________________

We acknowledge that there is a deficit of ethnic minority representation within the overall structure of UK charities. On a local basis, specifically within the boroughs of Guildford and Waverley which we serve, our representative staff numbers are equal to the Guildford population and above those of Waverley. Likewise, within our Trustee group ethnic minority representation is above the local averages. However, within our client base we are slightly below the representative numbers of the Guildford population and further below those in Waverley. However, access is open to everyone, with the only criteria being the presence of a mental health problem.

Within all levels of recruitment, we look to match the individual against the needs of the role as reflected within the job description, this being the primary criteria. Hereafter, we will look to increase applications by advertising through local journals and medial which is specifically aimed at people from an ethnically diverse background.

Staff cohesion is key and any prejudice whilst not tolerated, would always be approached through a method of education and align with our discrimination policies.

Moving forward more work will be undertaken, specifically with those members of staff who are from an ethnically diverse group to understand what more can be achieved in order to address any imbalance in staffing levels. Also for the organisation not to rest there but to surpass representative numbers drawn from the local population.

Supporting ACEVO and Institute of Fundraising’s diversity leadership principles.

Since its inception in 2001, Ignite Trust has been committed to the principles of equality and diversity. As Executive Director, I am fully committed to promoting and delivering such values to best serve the organisation and the young people whom we work with.

Through our work we see how vital it is to have mentors and role models that young people can identify with, as well as learn from. We apply this principle to our recruitment practices and development opportunities, to ensure that our staff will be a diverse representation of our clients and community.

I am fully committed to equip all staff with the skills, resources and opportunities to grow and develop, to fulfil their full potential.

Ignite supports the ACEVO and Institute of Fundraising’s diversity leadership principles.

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2020/june/statement-black-lives-matter-dr-uk-ceo-kamran-mallick 

Last updated 16/09/2021

We believe in a fairer future for all, and we know that by working together we can do much, much more. We believe that everyone has the right to live without fear or prejudice regardless of race, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, social class, religion and belief.

Everyone should be able to make a full contribution to society in their own unique way and live in a world which demonstrates respect and values diversity.

At GOSH Charity our approach will enable us to achieve a more equitable, diverse and inclusive workforce by ensuring EDI is reflected in our values and embedded in our practice and our individual behaviours.

We will drive change within our organisation and beyond, whilst always ensuring that our beneficiaries remain at the heart of our thinking and decision making.

We have set out our vision as to how we will progress towards being a more diverse and inclusive organisation please take a look at our EDI strategy which was launched in 2021.

As a charity leader, I am acutely aware of the lack of racial diversity at leadership and Board levels, and that this picture is replicated across all areas of the public sector. I am committed to addressing this through the adoption of the ACEVO Diversity Principles in my own organisation – Sheffield Futures – as well as actively supporting positive change in the wider sector.

In order to achieve this, we are currently reviewing our Equality & Diversity policies and procedures; we are consulting with staff; we are investing in further training and development for all staff; and we have agreed an organisational Cohesion Plan which aims to address diversity issues within our workforce, as well as ensuring that our services are easily accessible and appropriate for all.

On a personal level, I am committed to listening and learning, and then to action. I am taking up opportunities locally and nationally to take part in training, in discussions forums; and in positive activity

In recent weeks, the inequalities experienced by BAME people globally and in the UK have become more starkly apparent in both the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on BAME people in the UK; and in the shocking murder of George Floyd by a police officer in the US and the global response through the Black Lives Matters movement. This has highlighted deep issues of racism and inequality in the UK across a wide range of systems and institutions including the police; education; employment; and health. I am committed to addressing inequalities in our own services, and in supporting the wider call for change locally and nationally, and we will achieve this through the implementation of our Cohesion Plan with clear and stretching targets and timescales.

Updates will be published here:  https://maudsleycharity.org/about/diversity-equality-and-inclusion/

We wanted to sign up to ACEVO’s diversity leadership principles because recent events have challenged many of us to do more, to speak up, to challenge, to be more overt and active in naming racism where we see it. I can think of examples where I haven’t been brave or confident enough to do so in the past and am sure I’m not alone. 

Maudsley Charity is the largest NHS mental health charity in the UK. We support patients and carers, clinical care teams and scientists who are working towards the common goal of improving mental health. We fund the people and projects striving to improve care, support recovery and prevent mental illness.

When someone becomes ill, the effect on them, their friends and family can be life-changing. It can happen to any of us. The consequences of mental ill-health are far-reaching – affecting employment, relationships, finances and even life expectancy.

Communities experiencing social disadvantage and systematic racism suffer as a consequence higher rates of mental illness and are admitted in much higher numbers than white counterparts to inpatient facilities. This is a complex multi-faceted and intersectional issue but the stark reality is that while mental illness affects everyone, Black and other people of colour are often hit hardest.  

We have done some important work in supporting teams and organisations who want to shift some of the health inequalities in our local communities. Our community and connection programme is explicit in its intent to specifically support communities who face marginalization and disadvantage. 

But I know we can and should do more – this will be particularly important given the additional disproportionate impact COVID19 is having on Black and people of colour. We intend to have conversations with our partners with a shared ambition for change. 

Within our Charity, I want to ensure we have both the structural system and processes and the culture that will allow all our staff now and in the future to talk about issues of race and inequality, to challenge ignorance or racism and to have recourse to address it formally. We will have this firmly in mind as we formalise our HR policies. We are working to tackle diversity and inclusion through human resources and recruitment of our staff and trustees. We will revisit our charity values and what they mean in practice. We will monitor ourselves to ensure that how we allocate funding and support reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We will seek new ways to be openly informed by a range of voices and perspectives, including those of our beneficiaries, on what we do and how.

At The Children’s Trust we believe in the power of difference. We aim to foster a culture where individuals of all backgrounds feel confident to be themselves, are included and empowered. Creating an inclusive and supportive culture is not only the right thing to do, but also what is best for the children, young people and families we support. Many of our beneficiaries live with significant disabilities, and some call The Children’s Trust their home. We believe their home, and our workplace, should be a place where we celebrate and embrace differences. 

We know we need to continue to make positive changes to enhance our diversity and ensure inclusion for all. We will make certain that this commitment is not just words. We have set ourselves the goal to become a more equitable, diverse and inclusive workforce that embraces and drives change within the charity sector. To do this we will continue to place equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at the forefront of our conversations and decision-making, and develop an EDI strategy in line with our ‘building excellence’ strategic period (2020 -2025).  

In June 2020, following the murder of George Floyd in the US, and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, The Children’s Trust committed to ACEVO’s ‘Eight principles to address the diversity deficit in charity leadership.’ Since then we have appointed an Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Officer to help progress our EDI journey. 

“We have made some great first steps, but I know there is much more work to be done. I am committed to continuing to create an inclusive work environment in which everyone who steps foot on our site – irrespective of their age, sex, race, gender identity and expression, ethnic origin, religious belief, sexual orientation, disability, social background or civil status – feels included and can thrive. I recognise that, in my position, I have a personal responsibility to be an agent of change across the charity sector as a whole. As such, I also chair the Surrey EDI Steering Group which is dedicated to promoting ambitions for an equitable Surrey.” 

Dalton Leong
Chief Executive

Following the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis a few weeks ago and the Black Lives Matter movement that ensued, I felt it was important for Mary Frances Trust (MFT) to show and reiterate our full support to the black community worldwide, and in our community of Surrey in particular.

We understand and share their anxiety, anger and pain, and our thoughts go to the families of all victims of racism. As the CEO of Mary Frances Trust, I wanted to take this opportunity to review and express our public and personal positions on this issue.

As a mental health and emotional wellbeing charity in Surrey, our purpose is to serve and support our local community to the highest standards, so everyone receiving our support can lead a fulfilling emotional life regardless of their background, wealth or mental health history. We encourage everyone – our staff, volunteers and clients alike – to actively support each other through difficult times by showing compassion and kindness to each other. We passionately believe in our core values of inclusion, mutual respect, equality, diversity and connection. We take time and care to educate our staff, Trustees and volunteers by regularly providing Equality & Diversity training to discuss, challenge and address any un-equality issues, secret biases and systemic racism we encounter within ourselves, our charity or externally.

We believe that a community is stronger and richer when all of its members can find a place and happiness within it. We want to keep playing an active part in ensuring that all people in Surrey are treated equally and fairly in terms of opportunities and inclusion, as we can all benefit from a multi-cultural society. Racism and prejudice have no place within our organisation.

At Mary Frances Trust, it has been part of our strategy for a few years to reach out to the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community so they can be better served by and represented within our organisation. While we have made some progress, we know we have much more to do to become a truly representative organisation where all communities can truly see themselves reflected in us at every level, from the clients we support, to our staff, volunteers and Board of Trustees.

As a charity leader, I have recently signed up to the ACEVO principles to address the diversity deficit in charity leadership as I believe part of my role is also to challenge the status quo and lead by example inside and outside the organisation I manage.

This is what I am committing to. 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.

I know this is just the beginning of the transformational journey I am willing to take on behalf of my organisation. I invite all of you to help me achieve these goals by challenging me and MFT when we are not truly diverse and inclusive.

Since our original statement (see below) much has changed. We now have a dedicated Equalities Committee as part of our Trade Union structure with wide representation from amongst our membership: to lead on strategy, policy and provide guidance on where we need to improve as an organisation.

We plan comprehensive training for all staff on equalities in the next few months and will train managers on how to undertake Equalities Impact Assessments: to ensure our policies and procedures are fair and accessible.

We were delighted to lead a boycott of social media in the wake of the BLM campaign and we were joined in this by sister associations. We aim to repeat our activity and include a wider representation from the association sector in the coming months.

Our leadership development programme now includes a dedicated module on equalities for leaders. This programme has now been taken up by 8 other professional associations with more to follow: creating a diverse network or learning across the association sector. We also provided funding in 2021 for a dedicated cohort of future leaders from BAME backgrounds, something we aim to repeat in 2022 to include other groups who find it hard to access leadership roles.

While we have continued to grow as an office and staff group during COVID we are committed to supporting flexibility in the workplace and have updated our policies and procedures to allow staff to return to the office in ways they feel best fit their working pattern and to accommodate their domestic commitments.

The British Dietetic Association is the professional body and trade union for over 10,000 dietitians, nutritionists and students working in the UK. It is the only professional body and trade union for registered healthcare professionals working in the food, nutrition and related clinical fields.

As a Trade Union we are affiliated with the TUC and work with our sister unions on challenging inequality and promoting diversity. As part of our Trade Union activity we have an executive committee to run the union which has reserved places for BAME and LGBT+ members, as well as members with disabilities. Representation that reflects our membership and the community we serve is important to us. We also commit to working on equalities as part of a recent restructure of our executive committee. More about our Trade Union can be found here

In response to the recent news concerning the Black Lives Matter movement, the BDA issued this statement. However the recent news has sparked a growing interest in our work as a professional body and trade union to be more inclusive and many members from BAME communities have come forward to ask the BDA how they can help influence strategy and policy. We are creating a network of all interested members to gather ideas and views over the next few months which will:

  • Address the lack of diversity within the profession
  • Address how the BDA can do more to campaign on equalities issues
  • Address how the BDA takes into account diversity and equality within our own leadership structure and strategy

We also have two innovative programmes of leadership development for members interested in taking on leadership roles as clinicians as well as within the profession, but who do not have previous leadership roles or who would like to develop further. We will be engaging with members on those programmes to ask for their ideas and input into how we can be more inclusive and also how we can support them as Future Leaders to be more empowered and aware about the need for inclusivity. Our aim in the long term is to create group of members, as leaders, who better represent the diversity of both the profession and our community.

As an employer we are proud of the diversity of our workforce. However we could do more. We continue to monitor recruitment strategies to ensure we do not discriminate and we plan to promote ourselves to all members of the community by offering an increasingly flexible work place and staff benefits which support anyone who faces challenges in the work place, such as through disability, parenting responsibilities or health needs. We commit to staff retention and development by supporting staff to grow personally and professionally, delivering a wide range of educational resources on discrimination and inequality as well as ensuring staff have a safe space to raise any issue of concern.

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/about-us/our-commitments-race-diversity

Last updated 01/03/2022

At Cancer Research UK, we all share a common mission of beating cancer, and beating cancer means beating it for everyone. The past few years have underlined how issues of inequality affect society and we know that we have a responsibility to act and help change this.

In June 2020, we published our initial commitments to address equality, diversity and inclusion at Cancer Research UK. This is what we have done to address each of those commitments:

To be an organisation committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

In January 2021, Cancer Research UK launched its first cross-organisational EDI strategy, with a vision to create a charity where everyone benefits from, and participates in the work we do, and feels like they belong. While there is still a long way to go, we are pleased to have made progress over the past 12 months.

We believe by putting equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our charity, and setting ourselves ambitious targets, that we will become the best charity that we can be, a leader in diversity and inclusion, and make the greatest progress in our collective fight against cancer.

To work with our partners to ensure research progress is shared among all groups in society.

Two of our key priorities outlined in our EDI strategy were to reduce cancer inequalities through our work and in partnership with others, and to develop a more diverse and inclusive research community through the research we fund.

We produced a specific EDI in research action plan to demonstrate our commitment for change and published diversity data on our grant funding. We’ve reached over 50,000 people through our Health Community Engagement team, with a focus on people with the poorest outcomes living in the most deprived areas of the UK. In addition to this, we published a tobacco and inequalities report ‘Making conversations count for all’ which outlined best practices for delivering smoking cessation guidance to different socioeconomic groups.

To make Cancer Research UK more representative of the communities we serve.

The introduction of anonymous CVs, online inclusive recruitment training and a new recruitment process for head and director roles has enabled us to make progress in building an inclusive and diverse culture for all our people. We’ve also announced changes to our trustees, members and committees as we look to achieve increased diversity across our governance, advisory and leadership structures.

In 2022, we will be reviewing our recruitment and induction processes with a specific lens on disability, including reasonable adjustments during interviews, and workplace adjustments upon joining. We will also be taking steps – based on feedback – to improve the diversity of our volunteers.

To find ways to address bias in research and make it more inclusive for Black people and other ethnic minority groups.

We’ve made progress in diversifying our Involvement Network, with 27% of new members from a Black or ethnic minority background. In addition to this, we’ve partnered with new career mentoring schemes to increase the representation of people from Black and disadvantaged backgrounds in cancer research related fields.

In 2022, we will be scaling up our ambitions to diversify our research careers pipeline, expanding our partnership programmes to ensure more young people from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds can enter academia, and helping support and retain diverse researchers.

To draw up a short-, medium- and long-term plan of change for how we will get there.

The EDI strategy that we launched in January 2021, six months after publishing these initial commitments, was created to set out the actions that we will take to improve and accelerate progress and change. We have shown that we are committed to being open and transparent, reporting on our progress and challenges, and setting ourselves ambitious targets, as shown by the publication of our ethnicity pay gap report and annual update one year on from the launch of the EDI strategy.

In our annual progress update, we outlined the key priorities that Cancer Research UK will be focussing on in 2022. As well as giving us a key focus and underlining how we will implement changes across the charity, the publication of this annual article will help ensure that we remain accountable across the short-, medium- and long-term.

To listen to all of our staff and to make sure we act on what they tell us.

We invite all staff to participate in engagement surveys three times per year, where we cover a wide range of ongoing and in-the-moment topics, measuring and reporting on the results each time. In 2021 we introduced a new inclusion measure based on responses to three key questions on this important topic, in order to gauge staff sentiment. After each set of results, we analyse feedback themes by demographic group and have followed up with members of our EDI staff networks to discuss any findings which are specific to each protected characteristic group. Follow-up communication after each survey focusses on what we’ve heard from staff and what action we’re taking to address issues or opportunities raised.

As a direct result of our 2021 survey feedback, we’re developing a new leadership behaviour framework and development programme, and we will continue to enhance our learning and development offer for all staff, including the roll out of ‘let’s talk about race’ workshops. We also launched our new Valuing Difference campaign in the autumn to celebrate the different perspectives that can enrich our workplace culture.

In addition to staff surveys, in 2021 our Chief Executive Officer held two listening sessions with members of our Race Equality & Equity Network, to directly hear about the day-to-day experiences of our staff from ethnic minority backgrounds – this has informed our thinking on setting EDI objectives for senior leaders.

Addressing inequality is at the heart of my leadership with Action for M.E. People with M.E. face significant ignorance, injustice and neglect and our purpose is to end this. At a very personal level, a commitment to addressing equalities and increasing diversity has been central to my career including delivering training for a number of organisations and local authorities. However, there is so much more that I should, and can, do, and this is why I signed up to ACEVO’s Diversity Principles.

I know, from my own experience, what impact racism can have; of how women are treated differently; and of the challenges of being a younger female leader. But these experiences are amplified in so many ways for many others and it is incumbent on us all to take action. Every year, we support thousands of children and adults with M.E. and yet, I am ashamed to say that we have failed to challenge the reasons why people from BAME communities are not accessing healthcare services, and our own. I can give lots of reasons why we haven’t done this but that simply is not good enough. As we reach the end of our current organisational strategy, it is essential that I, as CEO, and we, as Action for M.E., do more. We will work together to develop an Inclusion and Diversity Strategy that goes beyond the achievements we have made in other areas of increasing diversity and really start to tackle some of the barriers that exist, not just ‘out there’ but ‘in here’ too.

We are a small charity with big ambition and now is the time to apply that ambition more effectively. One of my colleagues emailed me recently to say: “With racial inequalities (and race and health inequalities in particular) in the news at the moment, this has caused me to reflect and look at organisations that I’m part of which may be in a position to effect change. So I’m taking you up on the invite you made in a team meeting about sending you ideas and comments.” I am lucky to have such committed, passionate colleagues to work alongside and I welcome the opportunity to gain insight and wisdom from them and from the children, adults and families with M.E. that we are here to support. We’ve gone a long way to create a culture of inclusion but we still have further to go.

I am very pleased to sign up to the ACEVO & Institute of Fundraising Diversity Leadership Principles. As a leader of a small charity, you can feel very ‘close to the action’ and it can be easy to become complacent and believe your organisation is diverse and inclusive. I think we are an inclusive organisation and I think we are a diverse organisation, but how do I know that for sure? This is a great opportunity for me to question myself and I hope that through these commitments I will be able to say with much more confidence that we are an inclusive and diverse organisation.

What are we going to do?

  • Over the next 12 months, Emmaus Oxford will review diversity & inclusion in the workplace and carry out a survey of all our employees, volunteers & beneficiaries.
  • We will engage with minority groups within the organisation to learn what it really feels like to be involved in Emmaus Oxford and find out if we actually are as inclusive & diverse as I like to think we are.
  • We will ensure that Diversity and Inclusion are included in our Strategic plan
  • We recognise that our board is not as diverse we would like and are already working on this and this work will continue over the next 12 months
  • We will report on diversity within the staff team
  • We will ensure that inclusion and diversity are included in staff development plans and training needs

Last updated 01/02/2022

United Response: Action on Diversity

The following actions have been taken by United Response over the past 12 months to strengthen the outcomes arising from our commitment to embed equality, diversity and inclusion in all that we do.

  • Diversity Forum open to all staff launched & active, discussion groups established to focus on specific equality strands including race.
  • Online Diversity ‘hub’ launched with materials, stories and updates to support promotion of key messages and action on diversity.
  • 11 Diversity ambassadors appointed from within our existing staff to promote diversity initiatives within wider staff teams.
  • We have conducted an analysis of staff to produce a diversity profile, including analysis of diversity pay gap.
  • Acting on the findings of the diversity profile we have committed to running two leadership development courses for BAME staff aspiring to go into management – up to 24 delegates.
  • A commitment has been made to run unconscious bias training for leaders.
  • We have instituted a diversity calendar to facilitate celebration of cultural and religious events.
  • We have restated a clear statement of our values including equality & diversity within our recruitment packs ‘ We are a value led service’.
  • We are assessing how/when to introduce a Race pledge.

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https://www.unitedresponse.org.uk/news-item/all-equal-now-some-more-than-others-impact-of-coronavirus-pandemic-and-black-lives-matter/

Last updated 08/02/2022

At Guide Dogs’ we have done much to improve our position as a Charity that values diversity and strives to achieve equity and inclusion for our staff, volunteers and the communities we work with. We recognise there is still much to do, and we remain committed to driving forward our agenda, at pace, over the next three years.  To help us achieve this we have:

  • Appointed a dedicated Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Team which is accountable to our executive directors and Trustees
  • We have given people a platform on which to bring their whole selves to work through the creation of affinity groups for staff and volunteers which reflect the diverse range of people in the Guide Dogs family
  • Listened to the views of our staff who are Blind and Partially Sighted, created and implemented an action plan based on their feedback
  • Delivered Racial Cultural Awareness Training to our Senior Leadership Team and wider organisation, together with Disability Cultural Awareness Training, Disability Self Advocacy Training and Allyship Training through Stonewall
  • Run a number of sessions to raise awareness of neurodiversity and encourage people to recognise the value of difference
  • Delivered lunch and learn sessions with an expert to increase awareness of LGBTQI+ within the workplace
  • Created a dedicated pillar in our 2022 action plan which ensures the whole organisation recognises and actions our commitment to creating a culture where everyone is welcome, included and encouraged to thrive at Guide Dogs.

As we have reached the end of our first DEI action plan, we are developing a co-produced strategy which will be the road map to achieving the next phase of our commitment over the next three years.

Last updated 15/09/2021

Throughout the second half of 2020 and during 2021, MAG has redefined what Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) means to us.

Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and that people may be treated differently to get them to the same starting point in order to be able to provide equal opportunities.

Diversity is about recognising, respecting and valuing people’s differences, enabling all to contribute and realise their full potential within an inclusive culture.

Inclusion enables a workplace environment that is collaborative, supportive, and respectful of all individuals to ensure that everyone feels valued.

MAG’s Board of Trustees has held two discussions on EDI at MAG facilitated by external speakers who have helped to reshape our thinking. As a result of this, the Board has committed to making the following changes – equal balance of women and men; be more representative of the ethnic and racial diversity of the UK where we are registered; having at least one (but preferably more) Trustees who have lived experience of the communities in which we are working; and to reflect the voices and experiences of different generations. These changes have been reflected in the latest recruitment round of trustees. The Board also has representation on the organisation’s EDI steering group which has provided valuable insights in steering the work. EDI remains on the agenda at Board and Committee meetings, so that regular updates on progress can be shared.

MAG’s Leadership Team has actively participated in sector networks and fora; approved allocation of resources to recruit an EDI Manager; supported the introduction of EDI initiatives across organisation by supporting discussion and participation in pilot programmes and the ongoing work of MAG’s Gender and Inclusion Adviser. EDI remains on the agenda at LT meetings and whilst we shape our strategy and long term action plan.

MAG’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Steering Group has:

  • played a key role in shaping the strategy on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in line with MAG’s Strategic Plan and in the reshaping of MAG’s Values
  • set an initial focus for the EDI review – being to improve racial diversity at leadership and middle management level – including the Board, the LT, GLT membership; improve female representation across our technical roles and to look at whether we are sufficiently engaging with local communities and how representative we are of the communities that we work in
  • supported the ongoing organisational review on EDI and in particular taking part in the pilot programme that supports discussions around race and gender
  • monitored the progress of the action plan
  • acted as ambassadors within their teams and programmes for championing E, D and I initiatives
  • ensured that organisational communication about EDI is effective and raises awareness about progress at all levels

Our response to Black Lives Matter can be found here: https://www.maginternational.org/whats-happening/MAGs-response-black-lives-matter/

https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/media-centre/black-lives-matter-black-childhoods-matter/

nia aims to recruit the best possible women to provide, manage and administer our services. We ensure that the Board of Trustees, staff and volunteers reflect the range of skills and experience required and the diversity of the communities in which we work. We believe that our service benefits from diversity and that this allows the contribution of the broadest possible range of ideas and experiences.

nia recognises that a diverse staff and leadership team, is an essential foundation for delivering services that promote equality and inclusion. Our website includes information about and photos of our board and senior leadership team , providing an immediate and tangible visual statement out our commitment to diversity and inclusion in leadership.

nia sets diversity targets on representation in terms of race, sexuality, age ranges and disability; our targets are based on the diversity of London’s population to ensure that diversity does not fall below the average for London and the communities that we serve. We have set the following targets

  • Ethnicity: Asian, not less than 18%; Black, not less than 13%; Mixed/other, not less than 9%; white, not more than 60 %.
  • Age: 18 – 29 years-old, approximately 32%; 30-44 years-old, approximately 38%; 45-59 years-old, 24%; 60-64 years-old approximately 6%.
  • Sexuality: Lesbian/bi-sexual not less than 5%
  • Disability: not less than 2% of employees with a disability that does not prevent them from being able to work.

The composition of service users, staff, applicants for employment and trustees is monitored. A report of the findings is presented to the Board of Trustees annually and an action plan is developed to address any areas of under-representation or other issues identified.

We recognise that in working with women from marginalised communities, our reputation can be one of our greatest assets. Women recommend our services to other family members and friends because they know we provide a good quality and fair service and critically, that they can trust us.  At the same time, no one agency can deal effectively and safely with all the effects of violence against women and girls and we are proud to work in partnership with specialist Black and minoritized led and for women’s organisation.

We test for a good understanding of equality and diversity issues through recruitment at application and interview stages and address equality and diversity in every new employee’s induction.  Equality and diversity issues are addressed in all supervisions and team and full-staff meetings. The organisation provides equality and diversity training for all staff, which includes addressing unconscious bias.  

nia recognises that discrimination can affect every area of a woman’s life including safety, access to money, housing, justice, education, employment; and rights to care for children, remain in the country, to be believed and not judged when abuse is disclosed.  In addition, some women face additional discrimination and disadvantage by belonging to certain groups and/or communities.  We design services with inclusivity as a central feature, as provision of services from an ‘us and them’ position can only reinforce disadvantage and distance. For example, we ensure that we do not consider some of the women who access our services ‘mainstream’ and others ‘other’ and thereby inadvertently create a service that does not feel equally welcoming to all. We work to address harmful practices and rather than harmful cultural practices whilst training staff about harmful practices in a cultural context and working with difference without judgment, both within and outside so-called majority experiences. We make sure staff know what to ask and are confident in their use of appropriate language. We provide support to those who do not understand written or spoken English, using interpretation services when required. We will not focus our attention on those who may be considered community leaders as this could reinforce other forms of discrimination and disadvantage, especially to women.

Through service delivery we

  • Challenge all incidents of discriminatory and oppressive behaviour or practices to promote equality in service delivery.
  • Ensure that services are made available to and accessible by all women and children approaching the organisation.
  • Offer support, advice and advocacy to women and children that is relevant, tailored and appropriate to the specific needs of the individual.
  • Ensure regular consultation with women and children service users to review service delivery and other organisational practices
  • Develop an ethos of continual improvement where through training, discussion and reflective practice we learn and develop services to meet the needs of the women we serve.

Click to access Matthew-Reed-EDI-Overview-ACEVO.pdf

Blog by James Blake: All means all: access, inclusion and the power of community

Click to access Making_access_for_all_a_reality-PDF.pdf

Click to access Sonia-Mangan-Update-1.07.20-CSWS-Carer-Engagement-Plan-14.01.2020-.pdf

Last updated 13/04/22

Our vision is a world that no longer tolerates the impact of arthritis. We refuse to accept arthritis insidiously stealing life from people. Our goal is together, with and for people with arthritis, to demand and deliver better answers. We know that diversity and inclusion principles need to be embedded in our work if we are to reach the broadest range of people, addressing health inequities and defying arthritis together. Promoting inclusivity and calling out the intersectional disadvantages experienced by some people with arthritis is also something we will prioritise through our campaigning work, including our policy reports and lobbying, and our new Research Strategy.

We have been working closely with our Race Equity Network over the past year, so that we can truly understand the issues facing people of colour within Versus Arthritis and we have learnt a lot. All our staff have attended anti-racism training which is also mandatory for all new starters and we have hosted anti-racism focus groups, heard from expert speakers and co-produced an anti-racism action plan that we are now beginning to implement.

At Versus Arthritis, we are a values-based charity and we commit to tackling racism in our sector, and role model ACEVO’s eight leadership principles that address equity, diversity and inclusion.

Click to access Nik-Peasgood-As-a-leader-I-will-updated-June-2020.pdf

Last update: 11/02/2022

We continue to work on our action plan and have an internal workshop next week to review our progress. We have made changes to our recruitment approach although much could still be improved. We have also appointed our first Policy Intern which is open for young people from racialised communities who want to develop their policy experience. I am also part of two leadership peer groups focusing on anti racism practice.

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The Centre for Mental Health is a values led organization and in my role as Chief Executive I have and will continue to herald a focus on equality and justice. You can find out more about our commitment to Equality on our website here: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/commission-equality-mental-health

We also host the Equally Well UK Collaborative which is focused on creating parity between physical and Mental Health. https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/equally-well

Since June 2020 we have also initiated an internal Equality Task Group. Our first workstreams include, an organisation wide review of governance, systems, policies through an anti racism lens. The development of a co-produced Anti-Racism statement. This will be available at the beginning of August 2020.

https://mhfaengland.org/mhfa-centre/research-and-evaluation/mhfa-england-race-equity-impact-report-2021/

Click to access Robin-Osterley-Draft-equalities-plan-v2.pdf

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-us/equality-diversity-inclusion

Last updated 01/02/2022

In response to meeting these principles Mencap has

Acknowledged that there is a problem of racial diversity in the charity sector and commit to working to change that.   As part of our anti-racist plan, we have accepted that Mencap is reflective of the wider world, and therefore racism is present both systemically and within individual attitudes in our workplace.  To become an anti-racist organisation, we have acknowledged the permanence of racism is constantly at play and recognise that racism is a system of disproportionate opportunity and penalties based on skin colour.​ 

To addressing racism and intersectionality, anti-racism practices are integrated in our EDI Strategy and underpin all EDI activities  

Signed up to Business in the Community’s (BITC) Race at Work charter

Committed to improving representation of B.A.M.E. colleagues in leadership roles.

Recognise the important role leaders have in creating change by modelling positive behaviour and taking action.

  • One of our EDI objectives and commitment is to develop inclusive leaders who will proactively champion inclusion and build diverse teams who respect each other.  Subsequently we have developed and are currently delivering an EDI Leadership learning and development programme – mandatory for all members of our leadership team.  This is an 8 month programme with actionable outcomes to ensure learning is transferred into practice.
  • An anti-racist practices module is a specific and essential part of the Leadership learning and development programme. This is focused on understanding racism, bias, anti-blackness and anti-racist practices, leadership responsibility and accountability to identify, confront and root out racism in practices and behaviours.     
  • You are also the Executive Sponsor for the Women’s EDI network subgroup with a focus on inequalities affecting Black Women
  • There is also a B.A.M.E. EDI subgroup that provides a safe space for B.A.M.E. colleagues to share their experience and support each other but with the support and sponsorship of an Executive Director. 

Learn about racial bias and how it impacts leadership decisions

  • An Anti-racist practices module is a specific and essential part of the Leadership learning and development programme. This is focused on understanding racism, bias, anti-blackness and anti-racist practices.  
  • All leaders are required to set EDI objectives for their respective business areas, including anti-racist practices

The Principle of our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy are underpinned by our EDI values; 

  • Kind: all colleagues promote psychological safety at work. Leaders acknowledge and empathise with the trauma of discrimination.
  • Inclusive: active and deliberate engagement to enable people with different identities to feel valued, welcomed and included.
  • Positive: to seek positive outcomes for our colleagues and the people we support.
  • Brave: honesty, bold action and courageous leadership accountabilities.
  • Passionate: about making the world a better place (for everyone).

Commit to setting permanent and minimum targets for diversity that reflect the participants, donors, beneficiaries and the population of the area that my charity operates in

  • Mencap has committed to increase B.A.M.E. representation in leaderships and an equitable recruitment programme has seen a 2% increase of B.A.M.E. representation in the last 12 months.
  • A component of the External Engagement workstream involves reaching and engaging with people with learning disabilities and their families from B.A.M.E. communities. We facilitated a number of focus group sessions with these groups who were willing to share their experiences/journey.  Mencap will review feedback to identify themes to inform future strategies and action plans and have committed to maintaining continuous engagement to build trust and positive relationships

Commit to action and invest resources, where necessary, in order to improve racial diversity in my charity

We have continued to work on the delivery of our specific anti-racism commitments

  • To understand and remove the barriers to racial equality.
  • Use positive action to improve B.A.M.E. representation in senior roles and develop leaders of the future.
  • Develop a new group in the EDI network to represent the views of Black, Asian and other colleagues from ethnic minorities.
  • We have invested in the development and delivery of the EDI Leadership Development programme,
  • Developed and launched mandatory anti-racist training – “Let’s Talk About Racism”.
  • Developed and launched mutual mentoring and leadership sponsorship programme to be launched – breaking down barriers and connecting voices from different backgrounds and races

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

Our EDI vision, shared across the organisation, is for Mencap to be a place where all people thrive because:

Equity is experienced, Diversity is evident and celebrated and Inclusion feels  like really belonging. We have committed to better understanding the experiences of people with a learning disability in the UK who are further marginalised as a result of their ethnicity, sexuality, poverty or other status, using this to inform our future work. 

As part of the ‘Let’s talk about racism’ training all colleagues are required to ‘sign’ a declaration of commitment to anti-racist practices.

Recruit for potential, not perfection

In contrast to the concept of equality where we assume that all candidates benefit from the same support, our Equitable recruitment acknowledges that this is not the reality and the candidates from marginalised groups are faced with numerous barriers whilst seeking employment.  Taking an equitable approach, we seek to remove inbuilt systems of bias, making adjustments and support to improve access to opportunities for all marginalised groups.

The recruitment and selection requires hiring managers to adopt an equitable mindset and consider the impact of historical and ongoing exclusion, oppression and inequality and how that might affect individual confidence, self-esteem and ability.  Applicants and candidates are offered flexible formats and methods to demonstrate their skills, aptitude, potential, experience and values in different ways.  This could include one or a combination of the following:

  • General Aptitude Test (GAT) – measures logical, verbal, and numerical reasoning.
  • Job knowledge tests measure a candidate’s technical or theoretical expertise in a particular area of the role
  • Situational Judgement Tests- determine behaviour tendencies, assessing how an individual will behave in a certain situation. 
  • Unpaid Pre-employment trials – on the job assessment to determine whether an employee is suitable for the job.
  • Value the Journey interview – Inviting candidates to tell their stories to fit the job – identifying potential and values.
  • Video interview – pre-set questions, answered by the candidates via video.

As part of the process , interview panels, using a ‘Likeability Scoring Template, are encouraged to reflect and explore their own bias in making their decisions.

Value lived experience, the ability to draw from one’s lived experience and to bring insights to an organisation that can develop its work

Through the Wider EDI Network and Subgroups, colleagues are provided a safe place and forum to share lived experiences to raise awareness, educate colleagues, and inform EDI activities.  Respective Subgroup chairs are able to record issues and priorities directly to the Executive Team and the EDI Team who will ensure a collective understanding of actions to take forward.

https://www.mencap.org.uk/blog/edel-harris-speaks-about-black-lives-matter-and-bame-report

Last updated 20/01/2022

We have revised our strategy and have put equality and diversity at the heart of it. As part of the strategy we have agreed new targets relating to race equality. For example, we are committed to helping to increase the number of social businesses in Wales that are led by Black, Asian or ethnic minority so that the sector reflects the diversity of Wales. This would be an increase of 2% to 6% for social enterprises led by Black, Asian and ethnic minority people.

To deliver on this target we have submitted a project proposal to Welsh Government that proposes a one-year social entrepreneurship project to develop the capacity of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic social entrepreneurs, and to enhance enterprise knowledge, skills, networks, and new business start-ups in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

We have worked with an expert advisor to advise the organisation on race. Usha Ladwa Thomas has already provided helpful advice in a number of areas, including about what changes we can make to our recruitment processes. She is going to provide us with more detailed advice in the new year.

We have employed an intern during the last year to help us to improve our reach within minority ethnic communities when seeking to reduce digital exclusion. That internship was specifically for Black, Asian and minority ethnic people. We are planning to do the same next year and may be able to offer two opportunities.

We have reviewed our communications and improved the diversity of representation on our channels.

We have committed to undertaking an equity audit early next year after looking at what has been achieved by UnLtd. This was the subject of an all-staff meeting earlier this month.

The very first words of our mission statement are ‘Our vision is for an equal society . . .’. Tackling unequal access to, and through, arts and culture are right at the heart of why Curious Minds exists. We recognise that our work is far from done, and acknowledge we have a long way to go with specific regards to ethnic and racial diversity.  Until the day comes when the wonderfully diverse communities of the North West are representatively embedded in our workforce, our programmes and our sector, we will continue our effort to do more and better.

We know that our sector, and the sectors we work with and alongside are not representatively ethnically diverse. We acknowledge that, whilst our programmes reach far and wide, our own permanent staff team is not ethnically diverse. Whilst we have taken positive actions and reviewed procedures to address this, we know that we haven’t done enough until our staff team reflects the ethnicity of the area we serve. 

We also know that children and young people’s access to arts and culture remains unequal. The urgent need to address systemic wrongs that cause inequality and lack of opportunity drives all our work, both as a charity and the NW Bridge organisation. We recognise that, whilst many opportunities are technically available to all, perception is a powerful barrier, which requires pro-activity to overcome.

We know we have a unique ability to lead and influence change across the arts and culture sector and take that responsibility seriously.  Our aim is to achieve justice through creative practice.

Curious Minds’ staff and Trustees recognise and accept a dual role:

  1. Internally:

a. by creating, implementing and monitoring organisational policies and procedures that promote equality, diversity and inclusion, enabling us to engage deeply in anti-racist work, and

b. by doing more to be a visibly anti-racist organisation, ensuring those who work with us and for us are in no doubt about our values and expectations, and

c. by examining our organisational structure, our work environment and the ways we may be inadvertently perpetuating problems through who we represent, who we invite to the table, who we partner with and where our resources and energy is directed.

2. Externally:

a. by working in partnership with others to remove the barriers that prevent some CYP from experiencing the joy arts, culture and creativity bring, and

b. by championing diverse practice in cultural and creative education as integral to creating a better, richer and more dynamic arts and cultural offer for children and young people which, in turn, creates a more tolerant, accepting and understanding society, and

c. by harnessing the power of arts and culture as a vehicle to enable children and young people to create change in their lives, and in society.

In order to address ethnic and racial diversity specifically, our Anti-Racism Task Group is assembling, setting a brief for and facilitating an external team who will be 80% BAME. They will challenge us, hold us to account, and support us to continually work towards becoming the representative organisation we strive to be.

https://unlockedgrads.org.uk/news-item/real-action-what-next-in-responding-to-the-black-lives-matter-movement/

A New Compass to Steer World Land Trust’s Journey to Addressing Our Diversity Challenge

Now more than ever organisations, not only charities, need to be acutely aware of the lack of EDI in most facets of our societies across the world. Globally, daily, we are made increasingly aware of the many injustices either brushed under the carpet, negated or simply not understood.

As CEO of QVT, a Disability Confident Committed and Mindful Employer, my role is to be led by my team in establishing an environment of inclusion, diversity & equality for all. Our aim is to ensure that the services QVT provide are of high quality and that they are delivered in a comfortable, caring, compassionate and safe environment not only for the people who use our services but crucially, for those who provide the services. QVT recognises that learning from the experiences of our Staff and Clients is essential, if we are to deliver on our aspirations.

My commitment to the equality agenda has promoted cultural and ethnicity diversity amongst staffing at Quo Vadis Trust that reflect our Client base who we provide supported housing for. More so, it is the promotion of Community Sustainment and working with our Clients to reintegrate them into their local communities on their journey to independence that delivers on the equality agenda. All too often our Clients at QVT have to face stigma and judgement regarding their mental health. Such lack of equality and opportunity impede on our Clients’ wellbeing and will have been a factor as to why they entered our services for supported housing in the first place.

Our staff and clients originate from every walk of life; ethnically, culturally, in age, gender and personal circumstances too. Our supported services will continue to ensure that those who are isolated and ostracised from our communities, have a chance to be reintegrated and to feel a sense of pride in that belonging. We are passionate about restoring our clients’ integrity, work hard to ensure that their needs are met, extend their boundaries, raise their standards, strengthen their family connections and engagement, and deepen their community, while also facilitating them to feel well protected. It is through the dedication and commitment of QVT’s Staff, Volunteers & indeed Clients, that we are able to sustain our business. I am enormously grateful to our people and pledge to embed, develop and sustain equity, diversity and inclusion into the fabric of our strategy.

QVT is:

  1. A Disability Confident Committed Employer
  2. A Mindful Employer
  3. Initiating blind recruitment with all personal details redacted
  4. Researching an EDI professional to undertake an independent review of EDI at QVT
  5. Having an EDI keynote speaker for our annual all-staff meet up in early August
  6. In the process of reviewing our EDI P&P and undertook a staff EDI analysis for our July 2020 board meetup
  7. Committed to ensuring we have work-life balance. We send out a medical questionnaire to staff twice a year to establish any new / worsened disabilities or medical conditions so that we can consider reasonable adjustments.
  8. Committed to tackling systemic inequalities in recruitment by being proactive in creating opportunities for people from under-represented groups. With this in mind, we welcome applications from all ethnic backgrounds, religions, gender identifications, and sexual orientations, and from anyone who considers themselves to have a disability.

Last updated 01/02/2022

VSO supports the initiative by ACEVO to challenge the UK charity sector on diversity in leadership and to promote change. Our work globally addresses issues of diversity, inclusion, equality, and anti-discrimination to create a fair world for everyone. VSO recognises the intersectionality of vulnerability and that race cuts across class, caste, gender, disability, age and other vulnerabilities. It is complex and we are aware that it has a different connotation in different contexts.

VSO’s Social Inclusion and Gender model is to dismantle this ideology of superiority and inferiority, and the power dynamics that lie behind it. This has been at the core of our internal social inclusion and gender training, to challenge assumptions and prejudices to bring about a transformative change within our organisation. It provides an opportunity for all of us at VSO, and our partners, to reflect and acknowledge that we all have power and privileges, and then to take affirmative action to change this disparity, injustice, and inequality.

We address diversity, inclusion, and anti-discrimination through:

  • our programming: the introduction of our core approachesof social inclusion and gender, social accountability and resilience, which examine at the systemic causes of marginalisation and injustice, has been a fundamental shift in our work
  • our leadership: challenging power and hierarchy by adopting a distributed leadership model and shifting the balance of VSO leadership and most of the staffing to the Global South. All our programmatic leadership now sits with colleagues from the Global South.
  • our governance: ensuring our Board better reflects the diversity of our stakeholders and brings deeper insight and experience to bear in delivering our mission.

Whilst we continue to challenge discrimination, we need to be honest that this is a journey, and there is always more we can do, and must continue to pay attention to this fundamental aspect. Over the past 18 months:

  • We have highlighted the effects of racism and its implications as we continue to build and roll out our online training curriculum on social inclusion and gender
  • Used our Social Exclusion and Gender Analysis (SEGA) and other contextual analyses to better inform our programming, the selection of partners and communities in which to work
  • Reviewed our global Code of Conduct to ensure that it reflects current thinking on diversity, inclusion and anti-discrimination
  • Continued to hold a zero-tolerance approach to racism
  • Reviewed our recruitment practice to ensure we are identifying and removing barriers to inclusion and gender equality our People Resourcing Policy has been updated
  • We have explicitly included our commitment to challenging systems and structures that perpetuate inequalities of power and privilege in our new strategy and our operating plan is being developing with actions to reflect that commitment
  • We have created platforms for people, particularly youth, to speak out so that they can lead and tackle systemic barriers and discriminatory practices, including our internal practice, through our Monitoring Impact for Learning and Empowerment methodology.

As an organisation, one of our key principles is to be reflective in our practice. This means challenging ourselves on discrimination and constantly looking for ways to meet our vision of a fair world for everyone. We remain committed to the ACEVO racial diversity principles for civil society leaders.

All We Can is proud to be signatory of the ACEVO Diversity Principles – and as Chief Executive, I will be assessed against these principles by our Board of Trustees. Alongside these principles, All We Can has taken significant additional steps towards greater equality, diversity and inclusion within the charity – to ensure that we continue to improve, and are a fair and inclusive movement for all. We recognise that ensuring diversity, inclusion and anti-racism is embedded throughout all aspects of our movement is not a conclusive process. Rather, it is an ongoing journey of improvement and we remain committed to this process of learning, awareness and action. We recognise our important role as an international development charity, in challenging and in halting the perpetuation of colonial, racist, and unjust culture and practice in development and humanitarian aid. Below are key highlights of All We Can’s equality, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism progress so far:
  • All We Can continues to pioneer the localisation development agenda within its work – ensuring programs and crises responses are lead, owned and championed by local organisations and communities. We are also involved in helping to shape and set new standards for our sector through our involvement in sector networks and special working groups, including work with BOND.
  • All We Can altered its approach to recruitment (including language and imagery used) to ensure that diverse audiences are more intentionally reached by recruitment processes for staff, trustees and volunteers. Interview panels are selected from a group of managers & employee representatives who are trained in effective interview skills including ensuring an anti-bias approach to selection. Interview panels include these staff in all interviews and where possible, always aim to include a Black, Indigenous or person of colour on the panel and/or another person able to represent an aspect of diversity or who has personal insight of protected characteristics.
  • Having altered our recruitment processes, reflection led to an examination of our organisational policies on Equality and Diversity, and the development of a more enhanced ‘umbrella’ policy on Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, setting new, higher standards and accountability for our work in this area and further enhancing and challenging an already acknowledged, positive culture of inclusion within the organisation.
  • Staff and Trustees received expert Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training in 2020, which is now established as a regular part of our ongoing development and training.
  • In its new 5 year strategy, All We Can has firmly established inclusion, equality and diversity as a key focus and commitment in our vision and redefined mission, values, beliefs and goals.
  • All We Can has established an internal diversity, inclusion and anti-racism working group, to champion and pioneer issues within the staff team. A learning portal on the staff intranet site has been created to support this working group’s vital work and facilitation of regular team events focusing on various aspects of diversity and inclusion.
  • Two diversity and inclusion champions have been appointed at Board level, ensuring that an inclusive approach to governance and strategy remains front of mind in all conversations at Board and executive level.
  • All We Can has signed the ‘Show The Salary’ pledge, to help tackle pay inequality within the sector.
  • All We Can is a member of Equality republic – a network aiming to ensure ongoing reflection and challenge leading to greater culture, policy and practice in the areas of equality, diversity and inclusion.
  • All We Can are working towards accreditation and awards, which include externally audited reviews of our culture and practice to ensure that we continually improve our way of working and that this is recognised by objective, external assessors.
  •  The Board of Trustees and staff now have tangible targets for inclusion which will be reviewed and updated annually.
  • Data monitoring is being introduced to help identify areas within the organisation where further diversity, inclusion and/or anti-racism work is required.

ACEVO statement update: November 2021

From Jolanta Lasota, Chief Executive of Ambitious about Autism

Ambitious about Autism is a charity that values and embraces difference and we aim, and work hard to ensure, that our work is inclusive and that we champion diversity.

We work with people from all backgrounds and are motivated and energised by the opportunity to improve outcomes for everybody we serve, work with and wider society..

We understand that to achieve meaningful and lasting change around equality, diversity and inclusion, we need a proactive and comprehensive approach.

Since my last update in 2020, we have published our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy, setting out the high-level action we will take to make our organisation the best it can be. Inclusion is also at the heart of our new three-year organisational strategy and it is something that I, our Board and leadership team are taking responsibility for.

Our strategy was informed by an independent audit of our organisation’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work by diversity consultants EW Group. This included input from focus groups with staff.

The audit and feedback we received helped us to develop four priorities and overarching goals, which are set out in our EDI strategy. These are:

Courageous governance and leadership

A key reflection from our audit was the need for courageous governance and leadership that demonstrably and actively leads on EDI. As Chief Executive, I am the charity’s overall EDI champion and I have set myself pledges to champion inclusion, which I have shared with the whole organisation. Our governance and leadership will become increasingly diverse and inclusive over time.

Inclusive workplace

We are committed to ensuring Ambitious about Autism is a place where people feel a strong sense of belonging and can bring their whole selves to work. We want to create an environment that celebrates diversity; to understand more about the profile, needs and views of our people; and to ensure leadership and management is driven by the principles of inclusion.

High quality and inclusive education and services

We run education and other services for autistic children and young people. We will ensure the curriculum and content within our services reflects the diverse histories, interests and experiences of the communities we serve. We will also ensure all our plans, processes, policies and systems for our services take a holistic approach to EDI.

Influencing national work

On a national scale, we will continue to stand with autistic children and young people from diverse communities, researching and highlighting their views and experiences and investigating the barriers they face.

Monitoring, evaluating and reporting

We will monitor, evaluate and report our progress against our aims. Following the publication of our EDI strategy, we have now developed a detailed action plan in each area to ensure we achieve our goals.

Jolanta Lasota, Chief Executive of Ambitious about Autism

November 2021

Last updated 02/03/2022

Background

In 2018, the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) published the report Racial Diversity in the Charity Sector, which gave eight principles for charity organisations to consider signing up to.

As a charity Coventry Independent Advice Service (CIAS) have discussed the principles of the document to consider how as an organisation CIAS can assure that diversity is developed and implemented within their recruitment processes.

The eight principles will be reviewed, and an initial scoping exercise undertaken, whereby a draft plan will be created and shared with the board for further review and comment.

A RAG (Red, Amber, Green) traffic light system will be used to identify the urgency and suggested timing to the outcome of meeting and evidencing the principles. This will enable progress to be monitored accordingly. Red being urgent, Amber, to be completed by, and Green, an action completed or with no immediate timescale for completion.

The scope of this document is to consider the working practices of CIAS in the main.

Download document

Last updated: 25/01/2022

Since signing up to the eight principles over 8 months ago, our organisation has gone through a period of learning and change.

Firstly, we looked towards the community of people that our organisation exists for. People with a learning disability. We partnered with a local advocacy group – Cardiff People First to understand people’s lived experience and intersectionality. They presented a series of 4 workshops in which they shared stories of their lives and how their intersectionality changes their experiences of everyday life.

For our next session of learning we partnered with Diverse Cymru who led of in 4 workshops that set real challenge for our teams around unconscious bias, the workplace, and policies, and supporting our membership. The whole team took part in these workshops, and we are now working with them to identify key areas for change. Diverse Cymru have provided a toolkit for this and a point of check in at different stages of our progression. We have identified key areas for work and established a working group to install and support these changes.

Increasing racial diversity and inclusion in Learning Disability Wales

Last updated 13/04/22

We’re an educational charity whose mission is to educate the public in the art of dancing in all its forms. Like all dance teachers, we have seen first-hand the transformational power of dance – its ability to unlock a child’s creative, expressive potential; to provide opportunities for embodied learning and to transcend social and cultural divides.

At the Society we all share a passion for teaching dance, yet we must acknowledge that our organisation is neither representatively diverse nor inclusive. Without providing sustained opportunity to access dance classes for all, we cannot deliver our charitable purpose, so we are fully committed to promoting and achieving Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) across all levels of the Society. 

We aim to have an inclusive organisational culture, that values merit, openness, fairness and transparency.  We want everyone we have contact with to feel valued and respected and our ways of working demonstrate our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. We will work energetically toward this vision through embedding diversity and inclusion into our behaviours and all that we do. We will highlight the importance of equity for all individuals and partner organisations and promote its positive contribution. We will draw on the rich variety of our dance genres and harness the diverse contributions and considerable talents of our staff, members and partners to achieve our vision in line with our organisational values and EDI principles.

We adopt the practice recommended by the Charity Governance Code: https://www.charitygovernancecode.org/en/6-diversity:

  • Assess
  • Plan
  • Act
  • Report

Below are our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Plans for 2022 across these four key focus areas.

Assess

  • During 2022 we will continue to engage with three Think Tanks focusing on Racial Diversity, Disability Inclusion and LGBTQI+ and gender to assess and better understand barriers to the Society. Each Think Tank is formed of stakeholders drawn from across and beyond the Society and recommends strategies for overcoming barriers and improving access.
  • We strive to listen, to be open to feedback and responsive to challenges and questions. We want to work with diverse communities to improve our delivery, reach and engagement. If you would like to discuss this policy, please contact us at: governance@istd.org
  • EDI is also a standing agenda item at all Leadership and Trustee meetings, so that we always assess the broader impact of our actions and decisions.

Plan

  • To affect meaningful change, we will continue to upskill staff, examiners, members and trustees. We have committed to an annual training programme, including a series of free member events designed to raise awareness of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. From April 2021 until March 2022, we ran 41 courses relating to EDI which were attended by 1,458 delegates.
  • Our dance faculty specialists are reviewing our syllabus specifications to ensure that any unintentional barriers are removed, and that contextual information acknowledges the diverse roots and modern-day application of each genre.
  • Inclusive assessment processes will be improved by launching a new Application for Reasonable Adjustment process and we will provide EDI training for Examiners, Lecturers and Assessors.
  • We will then seek funding for a research project exploring accessible approaches to examinations for disabled learners.
  • To ensure we achieve best practice, we will benchmark ourselves against leading EDI organisations including adopting ACEVO’s Eight Principles to Address the Diversity Deficit in Charity Leadership.
  • Similarly, members will be required to sign up to our published EDI policy when they join or renew their membership.
  • And our Trustees will set permanent and minimum targets for diversity that reflect the participants, beneficiaries and the population of the areas that the charity operates in.

Act

  • We will continue to offer CPD to build confidence and increase awareness in EDI topics and approaches to broadening access.
  • We will continue to embed skills and knowledge into teacher training qualifications.
  • We will endeavour to provide practical advice to teachers to enable them to demonstrate positive behaviours and, ideally, a contact person available to answer specific questions.
  • We will actively showcase a range of people and perspectives in our magazine, newsletters, social media content and website – keeping in mind the range of ages, ethnicity, gender, geographic locations and social backgrounds of those we feature.
  • Our public commitment is also supported by Patrons who reflect our EDI goals.
  • We have embedded our EDI commitment in new codes of conduct for Members, Staff and Trustees.
  • Each year we provide £100,000 in bursaries to remove economic barriers to dance teacher training, so that access to the Society is as broad as possible and we have recently added bursaries to support teachers with improving access to their schools.
  • Our redesigned Affiliate Membership category welcomes teachers who do not hold our qualifications to join the Society so they can benefit from our support and guidance.
  • We also work in partnership with other organisations who share our EDI goals and will seek funding for a research project that engages members with opening up access to new markets.

Report

  • We will gather data on protected characteristics of our staff to understand the demographics of those who work with us and then use this data to set meaningful improvement targets.
  • We will also ask our members to provide similar data for their pupils and to share this with us in an anonymised form.
  • We will report on training undertaken by Staff, Examiners, Members and Trustees and the numbers that have completed it.
  • Our Annual Report and Accounts will then include summary of the actions we have taken and their impact. We will also report plans that we have yet to implement.

Click to access Values-Inclusion-strategy-review-House-of-St-Barnabas-2021-1.pdf

https://bloodcancer.org.uk/about-us/equality-diversity-commitment/

Embedding diversity, equity and inclusion into everything we do

Click to access Emma-Abbott-CEO-Young-Minds.pdf

Last updated 23/02/2022

Everybody is different. We don’t just acknowledge that – we celebrate it and that means offering more than a standard, one-size-fits-approach for the people we support and the extraordinary people we employ.

Everybody is unique and has the right to make their valuable contributions to society without fear of prejudice or discrimination. Walsingham Support will not shy away from the inequalities within our society and we are committed to challenging inequalities of any kind experienced by the people we support and our colleagues.

Everybody regardless of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation/identity and age is a citizen in their own right, entitled to be happy, valued members of society with the equal opportunity to reach their full potential.

As part of our statement of intent:

  • Our leadership group continue to examine what we do, both within ourselves and the organisation through dedicated training and other means, to ensure that we role model inclusivity. We are committed to building diverse teams that work towards a shared vision and are truly reflective of the world we live in. We have recently appointed a member to our Board of Trustees with a strong background in diversity and inclusion and are currently developing our redefined People Strategy, which will outline permanent and minimum targets for diversity that reflects our participants, donors, beneficiaries and the population of the areas we operate in.
  • We ensure that the principles of diversity and inclusion are embedded in our everyday work through our mandatory training and management development programmes, co-producing with colleagues, a behaviours framework aligned with our core values to be the best we possibly can.
  • We continue to look for collaborative routes with the people we support and our colleagues through our new EDI lead promoting inclusion across gender, race, disability, sexual orientation/identity and age through special interest groups and forums, surveys and Director led sessions across the organisation.

https://www.clinks.org/community/blog-posts/tackling-racism-and-inequality-what-does-clinks-think-and-more-importantly

https://www.aspireoxfordshire.org/our-commitment-to-inclusion-and-diversity

https://www.redthread.org.uk/redthreads-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-statement/

Redthread’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

https://www.sense.org.uk/about/our-equality-and-diversity-group/

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI)

Definitions

Regarding diversity, we use the term Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, but take this in its broadest sense, including shared (minority) cultures, and religions, for example, Muslims, or GRT (Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities) – both significant groups in Surrey.

Under equality, we naturally look to support all the groups as defined in the Equalities Act, with disability and age being of particular note as regards the carers we support.

Carers are a disadvantaged group in society, taking on a huge burden of responsibility, which affects their lives in many ways, including emotionally, financially, and practically, and including their mental and physical health. We naturally view carers as a priority disadvantaged group.

Statement of current actions and future intent

Surrey is a diverse county. Nearly 17% of Surrey’s population describe themselves as being from a minority ethnic group, with particularly large South East Asian, and Gypsy, Roma Traveller communities, as well as significant sub-groups, such as Nepali (owing to Surrey’s Armed Forces role).

Carers live in EVERY community, and are in themselves a disadvantaged, marginalised group, with their caring role affecting them emotionally, financially and practically, including their mental and physical health. So we see carers as a priority, disadvantaged group.

We provide information, advice and support for carers of all ages, right across Surrey. Our support includes benefits help, advocacy, guidance on moving and handling, workshops, events (by Zoom and face to face), support groups, free resources and more. We also help carers have their say on carer matters in Surrey, and nationally. And we have specialist support for younger carers, and people connected to the Armed Forces.

We have made progress towards being a diverse organisation, both internally with our staff and volunteers, and externally with the carers we support.  See our website for more details

https://www.actionforcarers.org.uk/about-us/diversity-equality-and-inclusion/

Internally, key aspects such as our recruitment and training promote diversity, but we know we need to do more. Externally, we work to ensure we offer appropriate and tailored support for every carer, acknowledging each one’s unique situation. Additionally, we have events, activities and information for specific groups and communities. And we work to ensure our offer reaches all carers in Surrey. However, again, we know we have more to do, and so are working to put in place a comprehensive Action Plan, and new processes, such as clearer pathways of support that fully recognise Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) issues.

We fully acknowledge that we have some way to go, and importantly this process should be continually addressed, assessed, and improved. However, we are committed to doing everything we can, to reach and appropriately support every carer in Surrey, working to become a better, stronger and more diverse organisation.

Jamie Gault, Chief Executive, Action for Carers Surrey

IDAS provides the highest quality services and support to all those impacted by domestic abuse and sexual violence across North and South Yorkshire.

We recognise that it is crucial to recruit the best people to provide, manage and lead our services.  A diverse staff and leadership team is an essential element for delivering services that truly meet the needs of anyone experiencing abuse, including women from marginalised communities, LGBT victims and disabled people. 

Our recruitment processes test candidates’ values and knowledge of intersecting oppression.   We want to know that candidates have a clear understanding of how oppression and prejudice can impact on individuals and communities and we want a clear commitment from them that they will help the organisation challenge inequality and fight for the rights of our service users.  Embedded in all our person specifications is the following statement:

You will be expected to work within policies and procedures of IDAS and be committed to its ethos and values.  This will include promoting and demonstrating the principles of equal opportunity including encouraging diversity and tackling discrimination.

IDAS values

We are: Compassionate, determined, inclusive, courageous and respectful.

This is a living statement and is revisited in staff supervision, team meetings and in our appraisals.  IDAS also values lived experience and many of our volunteers and paid staff are survivors of abuse. 

We have embedded equality and diversity training into our induction and workforce development programmes across all levels of the organisation.

Until April 2019, the majority of our services were delivered across North Yorkshire which is a largely rural area with a population that is 97% white. In April 2019, we won a large contract to deliver services across Sheffield, a much more ethnically diverse City with Black and Asian people comprising more than 20% of the population.  Each of our teams develop localised equalities action plans to help ensure that they are meeting the needs of local communities.

To meet the needs of the local population in Sheffield, we have developed specialist teams to specifically focus on the needs of people from Black and Asian communities and to raise awareness in these communities.  We have also developed a specialist LGBT team.

In our service delivery we:

  • Challenge incidents of discriminatory and oppressive behaviour.
  • Ensure that services are made available to and accessible by all anyone affected by domestic abuse and that they are well publicised to the most vulnerable groups.
  • Offer support, advice and advocacy that is relevant, tailored and appropriate to the specific needs of the individual.
  • Ensure regular consultation with our clients users to review service delivery, communication methods and operational practice.
  • Develop an ethos of continual improvement where through training, reflective practice and supervision we learn and develop services to meet the needs of the people we serve.

We recognise that we have to improve racial diversity within our staff team, particularly within the leadership team and at Board level. In response to this, in September 2020 we commissioned an independent Race Equality Review which specifically explores our employment practices and will help us track what we’re doing well and the improvements we need to make.  The result of this will help us develop a Race Equality Strategy which is planned for January 2021.   We look forward to moving this work forward and embedding best practice in the months and years to come.

At Young Epilepsy we remain committed to creating a culture in which; everyone is treated equally, dignity at work, mutual respect and inclusivity are valued and we embed diversity as a principle in all our activities and relationships.

As part of our ongoing commitment to the leadership principles and improving EDI activities within our organisation we are focusing on the following key areas:

  • Working collaboratively across the leadership team to understand how we can best embrace and deliver a diverse and inclusive culture
  • Developing an improved EDI strategy to focus on key areas of improvement focus in our work with children and young people
  • Ensuring an effective approach to measuring diversity within the workforce/prospective workforce to ensure we are continually reviewing and improving our approach to EDI
  • EDI training for all employees, with enhanced training for leadership
  • Developing a role for EDI champions across the organisation
  • Promotion of EDI information and case studies on our internal culture hub
  • Review of people processes (incl recruitment, development to identify opportunities to increase access to diverse and under-represented groups
  • Ensuring children and young people are involved in decision making processes and their views taken seriously

We know that currently the racial diversity of our workforce population reflects our local community but not necessarily our beneficiary population. We do not have sufficient understanding of other aspects of diversity. We will develop measures to improve our diversity across all under-represented groups at all levels within the organisation and its work.

As a leader, I commit to role modelling positive behaviour, taking improvement action and promoting greater awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion in Young Epilepsy and its work with children, young people and their families.

Mark Devlin, Chief Executive

As a leader in the charity sector, I am committed to increasing diversity and to creating a more inclusive organisation and sector.

This starts with recognising my own privilege and power, how my own unconscious bias may be impacting my behaviour and the learning I still have to do. It means acknowledging that societal structures have been built on and perpetuate inequalities that I am part of and as a white woman have benefitted from and that racial injustices and inequalities are systemic and pervasive in all parts of society and I personally need to do more to dismantle these.

Become, the national charity for children in care and young care leavers, recognises that young people’s experiences of care are very often shaped by their identities and backgrounds including the racism and other forms of discrimination they may experience in the care system and wider society.  We are committed to achieving greater social justice. To do this we need to acknowledge the widespread discrimination, unequal treatment and denial of opportunities to too many people based on their race as well as their gender, sexuality, gender identity, age, religion or disability and to understand how these identities and intersect for care-experienced young people. Recognising and taking steps to challenge and address inequalities and systems of oppression is critical to achieving our mission.

We also know that we all and, most importantly, the young people we serve benefit from a truly diverse, inclusive organisation that reflects the community we serve, where everyone is treated fairly and equitably and where we all feel valued, respected, heard and supported.

We are committed to becoming an anti-racist organisation and to actively improving equity, diversity and inclusion at all levels, in all areas of our work and in our organisational culture. 

We know that declaring these commitments is not enough. 

We need to be honest and open about our starting point and how racism manifests in our own organisation if we are to begin to tackle it. We have a long way to go. We have begun the process of reflecting honestly, critically and specifically on racism, as well as broader equity, diversity and inclusion within our charity.

We have developed an action plan with objectives and targets and will ensure full accountability for progress against this.

Some of the early steps we have taken are creating mechanisms to hear from all staff about their experiences, opening discussions across the organisation about where we are and the work we have to do, monitoring diversity amongst our staff team and board, reviewing our recruitment processes and we are recruiting new trustees to address the lack of diversity of our board.  

These are just the initial steps. We have committed to investing in this work. This is not something we will change overnight or on our own so we are making a long term commitment to do better.

Last updated 20/01/2022

In July 2020, Pause set its intention to become an anti-racist organisation and developed an action plan which provided the framework for moving towards achieving that goal. Monitored by the anti-racism group, the action plan has four key strands and this report provides an update on the progress against the plan over the last year and takes a look at what is still to be done and what the priorities of the next year should be.

Strand one: We acknowledge the structural racism that exists in Pause and commit to supporting those who experience it.

On the basis that it’s not possible to resolve a problem until you acknowledge it exists, this strand provides the vital foundations for change that underpins the rest of the work. There have been some important developments over the last year:

What have we done?

  • Set up a monthly anti racism group for all interested Pause people. The group meets to monitor progress against the plan, challenge the leadership team, make suggestions and recommendations advise on future activities.
  • Set up a reporting route for those experiencing racism at Pause (you can find it here) and this is regularly monitored. Kaye Savage is the named person to whom any reports should be made.
  • Agreed a common approach to language that is under constant review. In Pause, we have agreed to refer to those most likely to experience racism as ‘people from Black and brown communities’. We recognise this is not an ideal phrase and are committed to the further discussion required to resolve some of the problems that arise as a result of poor language.
  • Worked with an external consultant to launch the PACE Group – a network for Pause People from Black and brown communities to come together to discuss their experiences and influence change in the organisation. Creating a facilitated group for people for those who are subject to racism to share and discuss experiences and support each other
  • People have attended training and conferences and have drawn on informal networks to inform the work we do.

What next?

  • We need to focus on supporting people to report their experiences of racism through the email route, and reassure them that this is a safe place.
  • Roll out further training and development opportunities to the wider organisation, starting with the conference in September
  • Continued support of the PACE Network and plans that fall out of that group.
  • Consider more carefully the resources needed to support people to be involved in this work.

Strand two: We will make explicit and transparent our rejection of racism and challenge it wherever we find it

Whist Pause does not want to make claims of anti-racism that are premature, it is nevertheless important that we are open and public in our aims. This is part of developing a more diverse and inclusive workforce and is also important in making clear those things we will not tolerate and equipping the whole network to challenge racism wherever it is found.

What have we done?     

  • Published an anti-racism policy and incorporated our commitment to anti-racism into our new strategy.
  • Created an intranet section of information and resources for white people to educate themselves on racism and white privilege.
  • Reflected our commitment to diversity and anti-racism in our licence agreement, our framework and our quality assurance documentation.

What next?

  • Better support for those who want to challenge our partner Local Authorities
  • A framework of communications and support for everyone in the organisation to encourage conversations, challenge and communication about race and racism.
  • Better sharing of best Practice across the network, particularly with regard to existing work with women to discuss and challenge racism.
  • Use of our social media and other communications platforms to promote an anti-racist agenda.
  • Further consideration of the language of racism and anti racism and how to include those who experience racism but do not identify as from a Black or brown community.

Strand three: We will create a more diverse organisation and encourage black and brown people to become part of the Pause network

We recognise that, particularly at leadership level, Pause has ‘snowy peaks’. The leadership team is all-white and people from black and brown communities are under-represented across the organisation.

What have we done?

  • Introduced a new system for all national roles designed to eliminate unconscious bias
  • Ensured a more diverse range of panellists for all interviews
  • 2/3 of new trustees appointed are from Black or brown communities
  • Included anti-racism in our induction programme, the training programme and the conference.
  • Developed a wider range of speakers and trainers who are from Black and brown communities.

What next?

  • Improved support for Practitioners to develop and move into more senior roles either within or outside Pause.
  • A focus on opportunities for development, training and support for Pause People from Black and brown communities

Strand four: We will understand more about racism in Pause and the communities we support

There is still a huge amount we don’t know about Pause, racism, our people and the women we support. Understanding more about racism, barriers to accessing support or working for Pause and inequalities in people’s experience of Pause remains an important part of our plan.

What have we done?

  • Collected and shared data within the organisation about those working with and for Pause to understand if they are representative of the communities they are in
  • Gathered information the ethnicity of women reported through scoping
  • Started to look at the presenting issues and outcomes of women from Black and brown communities who are on the Pause programme
  • Focussed on ethnicity in a quarterly report deep dive

What next?

  • The continuation of the research work that we started in the first year, drawing more conclusions and influencing for better outcomes for women from Black and brown communities.

We have a variety of resources available for staff across Pause to think about race and racism, including an anti-racism group which meets monthly and our PACE Network.

Click to access Black-Lives-Matter-Organisational-Statement-24-6-20.pdf

https://acf.org.uk/ACF/Newsfeed/2020/November-20/Embedding-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-a-journey-that-demands-us-all-to-move-at-speed.aspx

https://www.place2be.org.uk/about-us/our-work/equality-diversity-and-inclusion/

Last updated 10/05/2022

Report on progress on D&I since 2020 Diversity Statement

Global Canopy published a Diversity Statement in November 2020 outlining our plans and intentions. This is available at www.globalcanopy.org/diversity.

We selected the following focus areas:

1. Recruitment and progression – we will ensure that our recruitment and progression processes remove systemic barriers wherever possible.
2. Programmatic work – we will review our programmatic work and content to identify where a sharper focus on social justice and inclusion is required, and where we can amplify the voices of partners in the Global South.
3. Culture – we will work with our team and partner organisations, setting the
expectation that diversity is prioritised, to consistently create an inclusive working environment. We want our culture and processes to empower our team and partners to talk about prejudice, privilege and bias, and to hold us to account.

Reporting Period January 2021 – March 2022

1. Recruitment and Progression

The focus for the 2021-22 year has been on recruitment.

Recruitment:
● Reviewed and updated recruitment pack job text and advert to emphasise
inclusiveness and encourage candidates to apply and not self-reject, proactively
offering to make any adjustments candidates might need in their recruitment
process (had one request). Each new ad text is checked on the Gender decoder.
● Standardised recruitment process and tracking with using Workable and Asana – multiple shortlisters review candidates, close attention paid to representation on interview panel and test task aspect of each recruitment process.
● Used Workable’s ‘anonymise feature’ (though noted its limitations and requested this is fixed by the company).
● Committed to sponsoring visas for successful candidates without the right to work in the UK (and their dependents) where possible (due to UK government
immigration requirements). This information is highlighted in the job packs and adverts for the roles it applies to. Standards and limits for this are detailed in an internal policy which is shared with a candidate when required.
● In some recruitment cases, we actively sought out different websites and places to advertise roles to encourage greater diversity of candidates.
● During the reporting period, we hired 31 new members of staff.
● Since May 2021, 362 / 1125 applicants completed an anonymous diversity
monitoring survey.
● The questions asked covered the following areas: ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion/faith/belief, disability and caring responsibilities.
● Some takeaways from the data collected:
○ Applicants came from all specified ethnic groups with just under half of
applicants identifying as White.
○ Almost two-thirds of the respondents were female.
○ There was a wider spread of responses to the religion/faith/belief questions
with one quarter identifying as atheist, one quarter as Christian and half of
respondents choosing not to state their religion or belief.

2. Programmatic Work

Bringing Amazon Voices to COP26 in Glasgow:
● We worked with Indigenous peoples organisations in Brazil and with key
Indigenous leaders on the scoping of the event; and with an Indigenous designer on the visual identity of the event.
● Indigenous peoples were the lead voices driving the event.
● Having a Brazilian person on our Communications team, with experience of
working with Indigenous peoples, and who was well connected with relevant
actors, was key to the success of the event and its reach. This also enabled us to
highlight to our teams and external partners good practices and barriers we should take into account eg. There was an expectation by some that the Indigenous peoples would speak English.

Event at COP26 in the Green Zone: Fixing Finance from the Group Up:
● Joint event with Global Witness, bringing the finance sector, politicians, and
Indigenous leaders together.
● Event Overview: Our event brought policy makers, financial leaders and Indigenous communities together in one room, and explored problems and solutions around human rights and deforestation. This was unique in bringing together these groups of people who would not ordinarily be in the same room, and facilitating dialogue.

New social indicators in Forest 500 (forest500.org):
● New indicator added on land use conflict in forest-risk commodity supply chains and financial portfolios, although this indicator currently does not count towards a company or financial institution’s score.
● New indicator added on the implementation of social issues commitments,
incorporating a previous element of one indicator (reporting the number of
acquisitions and developments which required FPIC (Free and Prior Informed
Consent)) and adding a new element specifically on commitment to monitor
compliance with labour rights commitments.
● Stronger, clearer messaging on the importance of human rights and social issues and their connections to deforestation, including in the 2022 Forest 500 report.

Deforestation-free Finance:
● The Finance Sector Roadmap incorporated human rights as a key requirement of a strong deforestation policy for the finance sector.
● Provided guidance on how to set and implement strong commitments on human rights in financial portfolios, building off the Accountability Framework Initiative.
● Began actively seeking feedback from rightsholders, Indigenous peoples, and local communities although with no success on the first round.
● Began a consultation on pension fund guidance, actively seeking feedback from rightsholders, Indigenous peoples, and local communities in addition to other key stakeholders.

Website / content review / guidance on inclusivity:
● Included greater diversity of people in our imagery, with a focus on people from the Global South and the countries where our work is located.
● Created a “living” Style Guide to provide direction on how to be more inclusive in our external communications.
● Actively included representation from a range of people at our events.
● Improved our ability to build translations into our publication processes.

Human Rights Work:
We secured a small grant to drive forward the human rights focus within our
programmatic work in 2022. The grant period is December 2021 to June 2022 and has supported us to hire a consultant in early 2022. The purpose of the consultancy is to scope out the internal and external context to help identify ways in which we could incorporate more human rights and Indigenous rights elements into our work as well as how to frame this approach in our overall organisational strategy. There is room for increased awareness raising within the organisation on these key topics as well and
opportunities will be explored for this.

3. Culture

● Continued support to the Diversity & Inclusion working group, which meets
monthly to discuss work and drive priorities forward.
● The Global Canopy Trustees have prioritised diversity, with a Board diversity and skills audit carried out in November/December 2021. The results of the survey will be used to inform the trustee recruitment process. There is a move to increase diversity of the trustees including, where possible, representatives from forest nations.
● Unconscious Bias training sessions were held over autumn 2021 with the entire Global Canopy team and our colleagues at the Stockholm Environment Institute working on our joint initiative, Trase. This is a first step in increasing awareness of these important issues within the organisation and further opportunities to put this awareness and knowledge into action will be explored over the coming year.

https://youngscot.net/anti-racist

Draft: this plan is subject to change.

Objectives

The anti-racism change programme will support and deliver Shelter’s cross cutting strategic objective to become an actively anti-racist organisation. One that puts race equity at its core and is not fearful to identify, challenge and address interpersonal, institutional and systemic racism.

To do this we will work towards specific internal and external aims.

Internal

  • We want to be a leader in our sector and society for anti-racist policies and practices
  • Ensure we have policies, SLAs and processes in place to address racism and promote anti-racist practice
  • Create a culture where all staff feel comfortable and able to discuss race and racism within the organisation
  • Support all staff to identify and respond to racism at work and through their work
  • Provide all racially marginalised colleagues safe spaces within the organisation to share their lived experience and support their specific well-being needs
  • Deliver Shelter specific anti-racism training for all staff
  • Run an annual learning day, and programme of ongoing culture sharing and education, including the creation of a reciprocal mentoring programme
  • Zero tolerance of racist abuse directed at Shelter staff by the public (we will need to set out a new policy for what this means in practice in dealing with clients with complex and multiple needs where there is possible racism)

External

  • Identify and challenge the role of racism within housing inequality
  • Deliver real and measurable improvements in the housing issues faced by BAME communities across the UK
  • Ensure our services and advice is accessible to BAME communities and sensitive to racial diversity and need
  • Give Shelter colleagues confidence in identifying and responding to racist policy or action directed at clients
  • Use our resource to amplify racially marginalised and under-represented voices and causes
  • Influence our partners and others in our sector, including those in our supply chain, to sign up our anti-racism policy
  • Provide clear guidance and support from the Executive team when dealing with racism from Shelter delivery partners

1) Key work strands and timetable

The AR steering group has initiated six initial workstreams to identify the changes we want to make in pursuit of these goals. Each work strand is using the RAPID framework for decision making. In some cases, implementation will be possible by these work strands themselves (for example, the learning day and black history month content was organised by the steering group itself). However in other cases, recommendations will need to be implemented by other parts of Shelter, and this is where the governance processes will be particularly critical (for example, changes to the data collected will be implemented by TOAS and changes to recruitment best practice HR).

  • Staff and volunteer survey: As part of our analysis, we commissioned the unmistakables to design a staff survey to understand experiences, perceptions and knowledge about racism. The survey was sent to all staff and volunteers in October 2020. The data gathered will be used to inform the strategy and set kpis we can review. Initial insight is due back mid-November 2020.
  • Client research project: Originally intended to be delivered alongside the staff and volunteer survey. It became clear while scoping that understanding the impact of racism on our clients would be best delivered as a cross organisational research project. Work will commence from December 2020 when the Anti-Racism Project Manager is in post.
  • Theory of change: We are working on a theory of change to help develop our collective understanding of the race-related issues facing Shelter, prioritise this work and the solutions. We have appointed Adah Parris to facilitate sessions with representatives from all functions during November 2020.
  • Communications:
    • Communications audit: We are looking for a specialist agencies to review our existing approach to representation, specifically race. We have gathered a number of questions from across the organisation to form a brief for the review which aims to identify areas of improvement and ensure we’re representing and celebrating our clients and supporters appropriately in all marketing and communications. We aim to appoint an agency and commence the work by December 2020
    • Anti-Racism communications principles: We have drafted a set of principles for communicating our anti-racism work externally
    • Communications plan: We have drafted a plan of communications for the next few months
  • BAME data collection: We have been working on a review of the organisational statement (to make it more understandable for service users and staff), liaising with external SME’s and consultants regarding best practise data sets, researching monitoring guidance and developing a training brief for L&OD to source external support.  The group has also identified ‘pain points’ within the organisation where service users may be asked to answer protected characteristic questions on more than one occasion during their time with Shelter, as well as the need to use different data picklists based on different funding requirements.  This will be mitigated within the guidance, and has been raised as a risk to Shelter’s DPO.

The group is working with the LGBTQ+ Network to align the data collection tasks to make the transition easier for staff, with an expected data collection start date of January 2021.  Risks to the successful implementation of this timeline are currently due to capacity of staff to deliver this work alongside role objectives. There have also been some difficulties with engagement of relevant internal stakeholders in accessing information to support the work which have impacted so far. We are currently expecting to deliver to our original timeframe, though may need to separate from the gender data collection work.

2)Additional projects include

    • Review of recruitment and selection processes and specific quick wins to increase accessibility and response rates from underrepresented and racially marginalised groups
    • Creation of  specific wellbeing section on the intranet and guide
    • Drafting of a zero-tolerance statement for use in hubs and social channels
    • Development of a shared lexicon
    • Ongoing support of the ally and people of colour affinity groups as they move to become strategic as well as support networks
    • Scoping of a review of the client complaint process
    • Draft reciprocal mentoring and shadow board proposal
    • Delivery of an organisational wide anti-racism day of learning
    • Content and programme creation for Black History Month 2020
    • Creation of an organisational cultural calendar

George House Trust provides services, support and advocacy for people living with and affected by HIV. Our commitment to inclusion is why we exist.

At George House Trust we have a very clear vision:

for all people living with HIV in the North West to live happy and healthy lives and be free from stigma and discrimination. Our vision is for all people to know their HIV status and to be HIV aware.

Every day, as more and more people come through our doors accessing our support, guidance, advice and information, we hear the realities of their experiences in life as a person living with HIV. We then learn how some individuals face further disadvantage and discrimination because of their identity.

The structural inequality that exists means that people living with HIV face additional barriers in their daily lives. Everyone at George House Trust is committed to reviewing our practices, services and developing our people to be an inclusive organisation that challenges inequality and doesn’t accept discrimination in any form.

We also know that we need to learn as people and that we can and will do better.

The business case for developing the approach to equality, diversity and inclusion is robust and well established within the wider voluntary sector and the HIV sector too. As a voice for people and marginalised communities and a trail-blazer with over 35 years’ experience in the HIV sector, delivering campaigns, support and services for people who’ve faced significant barriers and stigma, it’s crucial that we respond to the current social, cultural and political challenge of equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in leadership in the charity sector. George House Trust’s own values highlight our organisational commitment to ‘Recognising Differences’ and outline embracing and celebrating diversity and difference. We aim to bring benefit to the work of the organisation, the people that access our services, all trustees, volunteers, staff and members through ensuring that we have a diverse workforce, volunteer-force and strategic leadership and always challenging ourselves to do better.

What are we doing?

 Phase 1

  • Reviewing what we know.

We are analysing our data to understand if there’s variations of experiences within different groups accessing our services or support. We will also review our approach to data collection and analysis. We will then look at how we can improve and strengthen our data collection and analysis for the future through co-designing with the people who are and who are not involved in our organisation.

  • Commissioning a diversity and inclusion partner.

We do not want us to mark our own homework on this agenda, so the board have agreed and allocated an investment from reserves to fund a specialist consultant to support our learning and development journey.

  • Listening to our people

The commissioned diversity and inclusion partner will lead a programme of engagement with stakeholders across the organisation to better understand the experiences, strengths and weaknesses of George House Trust’s approach.

  • Establish a ‘Doing Diversity Differently’ Working Group

It is important that stakeholders from across the organisation are involved in all aspects of this work, so the Board of Trustees have identified a ‘Board Champion’ to work with the Chief Executive to establish a dedicated working group to look at equality, diversity and inclusion across all aspects of the organisation.

  • Positive Action

We are keen to understand better what the organisation can do to build on our approach to positive action and so will review the current activities and develop a plan for future action.

Timeline

As an organisation, we see our development, learning and journey on this agenda as a continuous one. The Chief Executive will lead this work on behalf of the organisation and Phase 2 of our approach will be developed when these initial 4 actions are completed (by June 2021).

https://www.nct.org.uk/about-us/our-commitment-equity-diversity-and-inclusion

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We welcome all people at P3. Their uniqueness help make our organisation what it is, we are delighted that they are with us and we are committed to ensuring that everyone continue to feel part of our community throughout their time with us. We want this to be a place where you can bring your whole self, your identity, your character, your thoughts, ideas, worries, anxieties as well as expertise, skill and commitment. We learn from all of it, all of you and together that joint learning, disseminating it, confronting and challenging injustice and discrimination helps to change the things that stop people from living a life free of fear and one that celebrates and includes all people.

We strive to provide everyone with an inclusive, respectful and considerate environment where everyone can be themselves and are encouraged to perform to the best of their ability.

We recognise that there is urgent action required in all areas of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and our ambition is to engage with our people, local communities and beyond, to challenge existing practice, divisions and privilege, that stand in the way of any individual or group achieving their potential.

How we feel about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion hasn’t changed, what we do about it will: for the better.

There are four themes that will help to create the framework of our plan and ensure all the EDI activities we organise have these as their focus over the next 2 years.

Equity for all people

Will help our community to feel empowered to intervene when inequality is apparent, it will create an environment where we can listen to and share our experiences and help us work together to ensure inclusivity in everything we do.

Strengthen our diversity and improve inclusion

Will see us become more proactive in actively encouraging diversity.

Excellence and ambition in delivery of embedded Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

We want people to feel confident in embedding EDI in all that we do, through engagement programmes, using data and peoples own experiences to inform our priorities, having sound oversight of our activities, and evaluating our approaches in line with current research and the changing landscape.

Our Communities are P3

We represent much more than P3. We will collaborate with local, national and international partners to share our EDI learnings; we will celebrate the diversity of all of our people, and we will regularly meet to address issues that emerge across our entire community.

Why we are standing against racism

In the UK there has been strong critique of the voluntary and community sector. Charity So White have highlighted institutional racism and challenged the sector to question whether it can say it is demonstrating best practice.

The evidence is clear that much has yet to be done.

In July this year, following events occurring in America including the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, many organisations released statements about how they would address racial inequality.

We didn’t because we know we have not always got it right – we have not ensured inclusion is in our DNA in the same way we have with safeguarding. As a leadership team we felt there was a great deal for us to address at the Together Trust before we could issue a statement about our intent.

ACEVO’s Home Truth’s report revealed the depths of the things we didn’t know and it caused us as to reflect on what steps we needed take to see meaningful for change for the people we support and our colleagues.

We all agree that this change is a fundamental shift in the way we do things at the Together Trust and it must outlive us. We still have a profound sense that we are at the beginning of this journey and whilst there will not be an end to this work, we are at the start of a two-to-three-year programme of activity focused on three key areas.

Workforce

Core and central is our workforce. We are working with Purple Infusion to understand how our workforce feels by building safe spaces so for sharing and listening to lived experiences. We are being open, honest and venerable by admitting where we have got it wrong and educating ourselves, so we start to create equitable opportunities, celebrate diversity, and build an inclusive culture of togetherness at the Together Trust.

Governance

Our board of trustees will oversee the strategic approach to building a greater equitable and diverse organisational governance culture, ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) principles are embedded to help deliver the best possible outcomes for the people we support. They will review the composition of their board and governing bodies and address any countering imbalances of power, perspective and opportunity. As they assess their understanding of systems and culture at the Together Trust, they will be setting context-specific and realistic goals, taking action and monitoring EDI performance.

Service delivery

We will ensure our service delivery is inclusive and culturally sensitive.

Mark Lee, Jill Sheldrake, Julie Isted, Brian White

Six months ago, I made a statement in response to the Black Lives Matter movement and how we are committed to improving diversity and inclusion at Macmillan for our colleagues, volunteers and supporters to support our ultimate goal of reducing health inequalities for everyone living with cancer.

We are a major employer in the third sector and we acknowledge that more needs to be done in the sector, and at Macmillan, to ensure we are representative of our society, especially when it comes to racial diversity.

 As a well-known and trusted charity, and a provider of in-depth support to 1.9m people with cancer each year, we commit to doing everything we can to address health and social care inequalities related to cancer care, and to using our voice on behalf of those that are under-served and marginalised.

We know that change starts at home: we are better placed to take action when diversity and inclusion is part of who we are so we have spent the last six months listening to our employees to understand, as an organisation, what more we need to do. This work has allowed us to build foundation of our next steps, and the priorities our employees want to see.

Over the last six months we’ve increased the size of our diversity and inclusion team, who now report to our Strategy Director, to ensure we embed diversity and inclusion in everything we do. To ensure we are making impactful progress we have added a strategic objective to ensure being diverse and inclusive is a part of who we are and what we do. We have also formalised our governance on diversity and inclusion, with Board and colleague representation, to track our progress and hold ourselves to account for the change that needs to happen.

Looking forward to the new year ahead, we will continue listening to our employees and our teams who work closely with people living with cancer to understand where we need to improve to ensure everyone has their needs met on their cancer journey. We have begun evolving our employee network groups, so they are given the support they need and are equipped to champion their members and challenge the inequalities in our organisation. Early in 2021 we’ll be announcing our long-term Diversity and Inclusion strategy with tangible activities and goals.

We want to be a leader for the charity sector in diversity and inclusion, and will be transparent about our progress and share key learnings.

This is an urgent issue and one that we must get right. Changing Macmillan, to play our part in changing society, will need the active participation and involvement of everyone working at Macmillan — and I commit us to that today.

Lynda Thomas

Last updated 01/03/2022

In 2020 we at Contact, the charity for families with disabled children, made a commitment to become an anti-racist organisation. This is very much a work in progress, and we are committed to the process in the long term. As a first step we formed a Race Equality Group, and over the last 18 months this has been working to deliver the first steps as set out in a clear and public plan.

On a personal note, I remain fully committed to Contact becoming a truly inclusive organisation, able to effectively support families with disabled children from all communities. I have learnt a lot both from colleagues, and from the anti-racism resources we have read and discussed together as a Senior Management Team throughout the year.

Our approach has been to make a start on the more obvious first steps, so that we could begin to move forwards, and we will now recruit further support to help us move beyond these. Our original plan was set out in four sections, and a short update on our progress over the last 18 months is outlined below.

  • Leadership

We set out to work towards a more diverse Board of Trustees, setting a 25% Board diversity target to be achieved in 2023, and to work towards a more diverse Senior Management Team. We implemented more inclusive recruitment strategies, and as of Spring 2022 our Board is 80% white. 

“There is agreement amongst Trustees that we must challenge ourselves to really appreciate and value the potential impact and gains of having a more diverse board. This involves actively reaching out and listening to beneficiaries from a broad range of communities and cultures and working to ensure they are represented at Board level, thus having a more diverse range of thoughts on board.  As a constant check and balance, we need to ask ourselves ‘the so what question’ – looking for positive outcomes as a result of our actions.” (Trustee)

All staff and trustees completed anti-racism training. 71% felt they had a greater understanding of what anti-racism means and a desire for continued development with smaller and more tailored in-depth sessions.

  • Our staff team

We reviewed and expanded our Equality and Diversity Policy and refreshed our Recruitment policy to be more actively anti-racist.

We asked Black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues what would support them in Contact. As a result colleagues came together to set up ‘The Network’ which is an informal group welcoming Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic colleagues (including staff from mixed backgrounds featuring one of more of these groups). Over the last year the group have “met up for chats, guest speaker events and general breathers – we have laughed, cried, been shocked and surprised but never once missed a cuppa!”

  • External communications

We set out to ensure that the experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic families are reflected in our Campaigns. As part of this work we collated existing research evidence on the experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic families with disabled children, and explored potential funding and partners for further research into health inequalities.

We secured funding from NHS England to explore awareness of Annual Health Checks amongst Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic families, identifying the barriers to accessing the checks and exploring alternative approaches.

 We have taken steps to ensure our communications, imagery and case studies are more representative and reviewed our language guide.

  • Governance and accountability

We established policies and processes to collect ethnicity data for families and colleagues so that we can analyse trends to inform the next phase of our race equalities plan. This involved extending the points at which we collect ethnicity data, as well as analysing the data we hold in order to provide insight for service development.

We built race equality plan targets into our central strategy reporting processes, met regularly as a group with representation from trustee and family representation alongside employees, and reported regularly to our Board on progress.

Alongside our central Race Equality Plan individual teams and service have been working to progress race equality in their work. A highlight this year this has included co-producing a Diversity Toolkit to provide practical support to Parent Carer Forums to extend their reach and welcome parent carers from all their local communities.

Going forwards

Going forwards, to extend ownership for this agenda and recognise the wider work that is going on across the organisation, all teams have been invited to share actions that they will take to support race equality in their work in 2022-23.

Our Race Equality Group will review the team plan actions and put together a central plan to both support teams, and to take forward the actions arising from the work to date described above. We have identified a need to resource this work and our wider equality and diversity agenda in order to move beyond the first steps we have taken. To this end we are recruiting a Head of Inclusion and Organisational Development to support me as CEO as I continue to chair the group.

We understand that we have a long way to go and remain fully committed to making progress and building on the work we have started to develop a truly inclusive organisation.

Last updated 08/02/2022

In 2021 we held staff workshops on Recognising Racism and how to have courageous conversations with colleagues about Race. We also published our ethnicity pay gap and considered how the needs and views of BAME Londoners are at the forefront of our advocacy work. 

At the beginning of 2022 we built on this and the Board approved a new ED&I plan, which included a commitment to London TravelWatch becoming an anti-racist organisation. This committed us to:

  • Being an active advocate for racial justice. Looking at how we can deliver greater racial equity in our culture, values; structure, decisions, partnerships, campaigns, and the way all staff approach their roles
  • Addressing racism at a ‘systemic’ level. Look to see where bias and prejudice are built into our systems, policies, processes, customs and practices
  • Introduce a zero-tolerance position on racism. Clarify our position and policies on anti-racism and discrimination. Treat allegations of racism seriously and always take action. Build a culture of trust where employees feel empowered to come forward.
  • Commit to sustained action through visible leadership and willingness to change. Appoint a race champion in the management team to take responsibility for progress and focus attention on delivering change. Encourage leaders to educate themselves about race, to talk openly about race and encourage discussions internally and externally to support change.
  • Ensure that Diversity and Inclusion is a permanent item on the Board’s meeting agenda.
  • Review our people management approach from end to end, through multiple inclusion perspectives, including race, to address blockers and biases in hiring; performance management and career progression. Recruit for potential not perfection. Continue to publish our ethnicity pay gap data.
  • Continue the organisational conversation about race, creating an open and safe environment to do so.
  • Respond to diversity related events in the news, to help create a sense of psychological safety amongst employees.
  • Look at our portfolio of campaigns to see if we have missed opportunities to put the experiences of ethnic minority transport users in the foreground. Develop a framework for decision making in our policy and advocacy work, to make sure that we are fairly and equitably representing London’s diverse communities in our work, including the 40% of Londoners who are People of Colour.

We look forward to putting this all into action in the coming year.

Diversity is really important to our charity and Boudica (our festival which highlights the gender disparities in the music industry) is one of our responses to tackling some inequalities. Also, as part of our work on Coventry Music Education Hub, we are part of the Inclusion Subgroup. However, we are very much aware that we still fall short of reaching our ambitions of being an accessible and diverse organisation.

At the Tin’s AGM earlier in January, the Board of Trustees unanimously backed the proposal to sign up to the More Than a Moment pledge, organised by Culture Central at the West Midlands Culture Response Unit (CRU). This means we have committed “to take radical, bold and immediate action, to dismantle the systems that have for too long kept Black artists and creatives from achieving their potential in the arts and cultural industries”. As part of our implementation and development we have:

  • rewritten our previous Equality and Diversity Policy as an Inclusion and Equity Policy ( copy attached) which will be reviewed during 2021 by staff and trustees, facilitated by our new trustee, for a new version to be ratified for 2022.
  • recruited a new trustee with extensive experience and considerable expertise in Diversity and Inclusion training. She will take a full part in the governance and leadership of the charity and will be delivering training to our furloughed staff and our trustees. This will all help us to start making good progress towards meeting the challenges set by the pledge.
  • Attending webinars and events to support my discussion of the issue, for example the Association of Chairs’ event An expert’s insight on helping Chairs talk about race
  • Making our spaces more accessible to people living with disabilities and continuing to challenge the gender gap in the music sector. We are also working to be more welcoming to people from other disadvantaged communities, for example LGBTQIA+, and ensuring our spaces are welcoming to people with mental health difficulties.

We are committed to implementing that pledge and this one and taking all steps possible to ensure that ALL disadvantaged groups feel included, safe and respected in any contact with our organisation, our trustees or our staff. We will work to ensure that our Board, our staff, and our activities are as inclusive as possible and seen to be so.

Autism at Kingwood has a solid reputation for being a kind and authentic support provider and employer.

I am proud to say, with confidence, that we welcome people from different backgrounds into our team and we don’t actively discriminate. We work hard to ensure that everyone we employ and everyone we support has access to the same opportunities, regardless to difference.  However, we also recognise that people from minority groups may benefit from additional measures to be, and feel, better included.

Autism is a lifelong condition that affects people differently therefore it is perhaps obvious that the best support would be provided by a workforce made up of different backgrounds with different experiences and viewpoints to share. Difference allows for innovation, ideas and expertise; all that bring benefits to people we support and the charity.

Standing alongside our values framework, my role as CEO is to look internally at our culture to ensure we are accessible for all groups and communities; that we are equitable in our all our practices and that we break down barriers where we can.

What is Autism at Kingwood going to do?

Autism at Kingwood has a comprehensive Equality Opportunities Policy that is extended further with clear guidance around the provision of a Positive Working Environment.

We provide training during our induction programme on discrimination, equality and diversity; discussing the significance of happiness and personal well-being in the workplace. The Senior Leadership and Management Teams have completed Equality & Diversity training within the last 12 months (2020) to ensure it remains at the forefront of practice.

Yet research, people’s experiences and data all evidence that there is room for improved diversity within the charitable sector.

Autism at Kingwood has joined the collaboration Racial Equality Matters to feed our learning and drive improvements not just across our organisation but all areas where we as a charity and/or individual can influence change.

Driving that change personally, I have signed up to the ACEVO (Assoc. of CEs of Voluntary Organisations) 8 principles on challenging and changing diversity in the charity sector. 

Actions

The actions identified in this statement are positive steps towards personal and organisation learning, listening and doing.

  • A programme of learning on unconscious bias will be rolled out across the organisation with all members of the Senior Leadership and Management teams achieved by the end of 2021
  • The charity’s existing Equal Opportunities Policy will be reviewed and extended by 31st March 2021 to support the movement for improvement in diversity and inclusion.
  • In order to make more positive steps towards improving our diversity and becoming more inclusive, we will actively seek the views of those groups who govern us, who we employ and who we support.
  • We will share the results of our diversity statistics on our website by 1st June 2021, and will agree 2 year targets with our HR Committee on 15th June 2021, presenting to our Board of Trustees on 1st July 202. Thereafter data will be reviewed annually.

Governance

Recruitment of trustees is by an open selection process and one where people from BAME backgrounds are encouraged to apply. However, there are some areas where the diversity make-up of the Board could be improved.

  • Our first step towards improving trustee diversity is the completion of an EDI audit in January 2021.
  • On the back of that audit the Chairman and CEO we will take a targeted recruitment approach to address identified gaps.

Staff

We are committed to ensuring that everyone is treated with dignity and respect; no person acting on our behalf shall discriminate in any situation against another individual or group, directly or indirectly. We actively encourage applications from individuals with diverse backgrounds.

During the latter half of 2020 we improved the data we collect on employees to better be able to audit our diversity. Against the trend for social care, our frontline workforce has a good gender balance and we can evidence diversity across ethnicity. We will build further on this good foundation.

  • We will analyse our diversity data and share transparently on our website. From this we can identify gaps and measures we might take to improve the diversity of our workforce across all levels.
  • This will include a review of where we currently advertise alongside the language and style of advertisement to better encourage a diverse range of applicants.
  • We will identify and remove any barriers that might prevent the progression of employees from a diverse range of backgrounds.
  • We will seek feedback and opinion from our BAME employees to guide our response.

People we support

Autism at Kingwood’s referral and assessment process does not discriminate against any autistic people regardless of their background, ethnicity or lifestyle. However, whilst we do provide support to some autistic people from BAME backgrounds, they are within the minority.

  • We will collate diversity data for the geographical areas in which we work and identify local targets on reaching BAME autistic people.
  • We will monitor the referrals received to explore how we might improve the reach and accessibility of our services.

TLC: Talk, Listen, Change has been working hard to improve and embed our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion. We completed a governance review of our board in 2019 and subsequently went to recruitment for new trustees specifically with the aim of creating a highly skilled and diverse Board. We have set up two staff networks, one for LGBTQ+ staff and one for staff who identify as People Of Colour which are facilitated by internal colleagues. We have set up a People Committee which reports in to our Board and are currently in the process of preparing our first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. This will be launched in April 2021 and include targets for both our leadership teams and workforce. We are working through ways of ensuring all our services reach the many different parts of the North West community and are just about to pilot a domestic abuse perpetrator programme for gay and bisexual men. We know we still have a long way to go but are pleased at how we have started and excited about the journey in front of us.

METRO Charity acknowledges diversity, celebrates difference and over its 35 years has championed equality. 

The charity’s history is largely LGBT, and after a series of mergers its present is diverse and avowedly intersectional.

Our Board of Trustees has acknowledged our imperative to now champion race equity and challenge race disparities.

As CEO, I am leading an embedded process to address structural race inequities with:

  • a Trustee approved Race Equality Action Plan
  • support of a self-organised Race Equality Advisory Group (REAG)
  • approving a constitutional change through our membership to empower both the Plan and the Advisory Group
  • appointing of a Resilience Project Manager to implement the Plan
  • delivering a mandatory race equity training program across our workforce of 200 through an outsourced, tendered process
  • providing restorative opportunities for staff and volunteers traumatised by stigma, discrimination and bullying based on race
  • developing a communications agenda which engages REAG to develop and disseminate positive imagery and narratives
  • measuring our performance against our Action Plan by including a specific outcome and indicator on the Board’s Balanced Scorecard.

https://www.the-sse.org/anti-racist-commitments/

Samaritans’ vision is that fewer people die by suicide, we are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year, the service is for all people. Yet we understand that as an organisation we still have much to do to be truly anti racist and fully inclusive. We spent last year having internal conversations about what real diversity and inclusion looks like in Samaritans and what that tells us about the work we need to do as an organisation. This led to the publishing of our organisational commitments; Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (samaritans.org) We are now developing the detailed plans to fully deliver on these commitments. We have an online Inclusion and Diversity group which, to date, has 400 members from across our staff and volunteer base, this is being built on with the establishment of specific affinity networks. We are establishing an Advisory Group from across the organisation, with external members, to hold us to account for the delivery of our diversity and inclusion work programme. This year we are developing our next strategy and a new Head of Diversity and Inclusion will work within the strategy team to ensure that as we develop our plans over the next months, at every level we will be working to understand the barrier to being fully anti-racist and inclusive, to ensure this is embedded in our future strategies. We have begun reviewing and implementing a new recruitment and selection policy and approach to support greater diversity, and we will continue to develop this work throughout 2021. We will now be prioritising the review of induction, performance development and talent management policies and processes to ensure they are inclusive and will support how we attract and retain staff from diverse backgrounds. We are also developing the mechanisms to gathering data to understand if we are attracting people from diversity of backgrounds, reflective of local communities, to volunteer and work with us.  We are being supported to finalise our detailed work programme by an external diversity consultancy and we will make our workplan public when completed and will report against our progress publicly.

31 March 2021

Equality, diversity and inclusion at Just for Kids Law

Like many organisations, Just for Kids Law recognises the reality of racism and inequalities in society and is addressing these in our work. Although JfKL has a strong track record working to address race discrimination and protecting and promoting the human rights of children and young people in our charitable activities, we recognise that we need to improve how we promote and value equality, diversity and inclusion within the organisation. 

Our new CEO has made equality, diversity and inclusion a priority for the organisation is taking steps to create a more open and inclusive culture within the organisation. We aim to be as strong on tackling racism and discrimination internally as we are in our external facing work.

We have conducted a thorough listening exercise with staff to understand their experiences and understand the need to make improvements including but not limited to:

  • An improvement action plan.
  • Equality and diversity training for all staff and Board members.
  • A review of recruitment practice and opportunities for progression.
  • Having in place an equality, diversity and inclusion policy and carrying out a review of all policies and procedures from the perspective of equality and diversity.

We aim to develop our work on equality, diversity and inclusion in a participative way with our staff, with assistance from an external consultant.

Our work is at an early stage. So far we have:

  • Conducted a listening exercise with staff to understand their experiences and fed these back to staff.
  • Recruited external expertise to support us in our work.
  • Established a new EDI Sub Committee of our Board.

Our next step is to enable staff to choose a representative from each of our directorates to sit on the EDI Sub-Committee alongside trustees, representatives from our senior management team and a representative of our trade union.

Once established, the new Sub-Committee will set out its ambitions and agree its action plan to address the areas where we need to do more work.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is a medium-sized conservation charity where big positive things happen. Our innovative events and activities, education offering and volunteering opportunities across all sectors of society help make a better world for us all by ensuring our wild pollinators – bumblebees – continue to flourish – and through our activity our food security safeguarded.

At the Trust we want to create experiences that change the way people see the world; to enhance wellbeing and make our communities everywhere proud. Our innovative approach to conservation and our focus on creating relevant and exciting projects ensure we deliver our aims. These drive us towards our vision ‘a world where bumblebees are thriving and valued’.

Everyone at the Trust is committed to being as inclusive as possible to ensure that everyone can benefit from the wide variety of work we do. No-one should ever feel as though this organisation is not “for them” and we actively work to remove barriers to ensure that we reach and engage the widest possible audience. The Trust is a national charity and reaches out across urban and rural communities.

We pride ourselves on being a warm, opening and inclusive organisation. Everyone is welcome to take part in our activities regardless of their background or any protected characteristics. We are working proactively to find people who haven’t engaged with our organisation before and actively work to remove barriers that could stop them from getting involved in our organisation, in whatever way they choose.

We have achieved a lot in recent years and in 2019 started to build on our EDI credentials.

 We have an agreed statement on our website setting out our policy:

Equality, diversity and inclusivity policy

At the Bumblebee Conservation Trust we are proud of our commitment to being fair and impartial ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents.

We are working hard to create a culture that celebrates diversity and welcomes difference; a place where everyone’s rights and dignity are respected.

We are continuing to provide a work and social environment free from discrimination, prejudice, intimidation, and all forms of harassment and bullying.

By demonstrating our commitment to equality and diversity through our day-to-day actions, we want Bumblebee Conservation Trust to be a welcoming environment where individual difference is celebrated in the places we live and work.

In 2020 the Trust reviewed and updated its EDI policy and developed an action plan. https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BBCT-EDI-Action-Plan-October-2020.pdf

  • A dedicated staff member leads on the EDI action plan supported by the CEO
  • Accessibility and inclusivity considered and incorporated in forming new recruitment policy and procedures
  • Kickstart placement approved; recruitment underway – due to start mid-April.
  • Staff and Trustees have a rolling training programme on inclusivity with feedback on what is learnt and how we can apply it.

The Trust has joined the Black Environment Network (BEN)

The Centre for Diversity have awarded us Investors in Diversity for Charities Award following our audit and assessment.

The Trustee Board is advertising for an ‘Inclusivity Champion’ Trustee

Rethink Nature: (CEO eNGO species group https://www.rethinknature.co.uk/ )

  • RN EDI Forum formed, a Trust staff member is the representative for the Trust and is the lead:

External research:

  • The CEO is mentoring a young Muslim executive through 2027 programme – a program where CEOs partner with talented 2027 associates – learning from each other on leadership.
  • The Trust has taken up the offer of a pro bono consultancy on supporting delivery of the survey outcomes from the NCfD and how our diversity work my impact on staff roles and working life.

As one of the leading youth charities in the United Kingdom, UK Youth acknowledges the issues with racial diversity within the charity sector. We support ACEVO and are actively working on making changes to show our commitment to building diversity and inclusion at every level.

Because of the dedication we have to diversity and inclusion within our charity, UK Youth has an already established EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) Taskforce made up of a diverse group of staff volunteers from every department who meet regularly.

Key actions that form part of our EDI action plan are:

Education and awareness – we are dedicated to informing and educating our own staff about these issues and are undertaking the following activities

  • Delivering Unconcious bias training for all staff
  • Delivering inclusive leadership training for staff, leaders and our trustee board
  • Space to talk/education sessions
  • We will deliver sessions on speaking up, giving feedback and psychological safety at work as part of our commitment to develop an inclusive culture

Monitoring, Policy and process: We will ensure that not only our staff, but our Board of Trustees, UK Youth Voice, and volunteers reflect the diverse communities in which we work

  • Targets: Going forward, we will also set targets around key equality, diversity, and inclusion metrics, with our targets being influenced by the makeup of the amazing young people we help support and the communities we serve.
  • Recruitment: we are rolling out the recruitment system applied a blind recruitment software for unbiased hiring
  • Reviewing our EDI Policy and developing training to improve staff engagement with this.

Organisational performance: we aim to be open and transparent on our learning journey and our approach to EDI.

  • We will share knowledge and publish data on our pay gaps for both ethnicity and gender and share updates on our progress.

Engaging our movement: We are looking at ways to enhance the progress of EDI issues with the young people we work worth ensuring there is a joined up approach across staff and our external stakeholders. Current actions include;

  • The development of a working group called TRIUMPH (Tackling, Racism and Inequality with Underrepresented and Marginalised People with Honesty) the group has 3 strands of work including conducting sector-wide listening and research, a roundtable with senior leaders and a racial equality campaign to draw attention to key issues/

Vision for this group:

  • To create a sector that is ambitious and strives towards creating a world without marginalisation to build better everyday lives for people, primarily, but not exclusively from Black, Asian and Minority   Ethnic communities.

Mission Statement

  • To ensure parity of service delivery in all areas of the Youth Sector and facilitate an equal positive life experience for all.

While UK Youth is proud of the measures that we have already taken to ensure racial diversity, we know that there is definite room for improvement. We are committed to making changes in all areas and look forward to being part of a sector that prioritises racial diversity and equality.

I am pleased and proud to support ACEVO’s eight diversity principles for civil society leadership. At the NSPCC we say we are here for every child, so we must constantly question our accessibility and our relevance to all those we are here to support and serve.

Following extensive and lively discussion across the NSPCC, our trustees were happy to approve the Society’s diversity charter: equality-diversity-inclusion-charter-2020.pdf (nspcc.org.uk). Like many others, we are actively interested in sharing our progress, knowing we have much to learn as we go.

We have prioritised work to diversify our workforce, our supporter base and our connections with the children and young people who reach out to and rely on us. But this is only one part of the picture.  We must also promote a culture of genuine inclusivity across the Society, so our people feel safe, respected and enjoy an authentic sense of belonging. An inclusivity audit completed by more than 1,000 of us was analysed, along with all our diversity data, by an independent expert organisation.  Their findings and recommendations are now helping inform the NSPCC’s  Equality, Diversity and Inclusion three-year action plan, which we will launch shortly.

To back all this up we are also building a programme of Inclusive Leadership. Inclusive Leaders set the climate and role model the behaviours that determine whether diverse or minority groups feel a sense of belonging. Over 50 of our leaders, including me, have conducted a full Inclusive Leadership 360-degree appraisal which will help us understand and strengthen our individual and collective capability here.

I am privileged to have the opportunity to lead the NSPCC at this time and feel an acute sense of responsibility to help us fight for every childhood. Our emphasis on diversity and the promises in our Charter will help us build an even bigger and better team to help meet the needs of many more children.

For too long the issue of racial diversity in the charity sector has been marginalised or completely ignored. In my leadership role at Yorkshire MESMAC I commit to working to change this, both internally and externally.

We follow the simply cycle of; review – plan – implement. We are undertaking a review of where we are in relation to racial diversity, developing an action plan to build on our strengths and address deficits then implement the plan with clear leadership and sufficient resources to ensure its success – then repeat.

I commit to driving change by personally modelling positive behaviours and when I fall short take responsibility and commit to take learning from this in an open way.

Collectively Yorkshire MESMAC will drive positive action by developing an action plan based on shared values, with clear goals, timelines and outcomes.  Yorkshire MESMAC’s Board of Trustees and Senior Management Team are committed to working with our staff, volunteers, service users, and partners to ensure that that the plan’s aims are embedded at every level of the organisation and are reflected in our interactions with others.

The action plan will establish permanent and minimum targets that reflects the communities we work with. 

 A named Trustee and the CEO will take responsibility for overseeing the implementation and future iteration of the plan with regular updates to the Board of Trustees

I commit myself and the Senior Management Team to attend relevant training to ensure that we understand how racial bias works and how it affects our individual and our collective leadership decisions.

Yorkshire MESMAC is proud of our diverse staff team, we believe that diversity is right morally, makes business sense and that services are better designed when they include people who will use them at every stage.

We recognise that more could be done to increase diverse participation at Board level. This is a priority for change in the organisation ensuring that there is diversity at all levels of leadership.

We value lived experience as a form of expertise. The ability to draw from one’s lived experience and to bring insights to an organisation that can develop and enrich our work. We will continue to give equal weight to experience and expertise gained in areas other than formal schooling or academia.

As the Chief Executive of The Conservation Volunteers, I’m incredibly proud of our work, which connects people and green spaces to deliver lasting outcomes for both, and our record of connecting and engaging a diverse range of people through our volunteering and other charitable activities.  At the same time, I know we can do more to address the diversity deficit in charity leadership, to ensure that our workforce is more representative of UK society, and to bring our work to more of the people and communities who – too often excluded from green spaces and the natural environment – stand to derive the greatest benefit from being outdoors, active and connected with others.

We are about to launch our strategy for 2021-25.  It will include a strategic goal to support more diverse audiences to connect with green spaces, committing us to: year-on-year improvement in the diversity of our volunteers and workforce; working with other partners that enable us to reach diverse audiences; and developing and delivering projects which address specific barriers and using that learning to influence all our projects.  We are investing in external expertise to support us with developing an implementation plan for this strategic goal.

I’m grateful to ACEVO for the leadership they are demonstrating in this field and we will work alongside ACEVO and those members who have signed up to their ‘Eight principles to address the diversity deficit in charity leadership’ to share learning and progress.  The Conservation Volunteers’ is also a member of the Diverse Sustainability Initiative, a new collaborative programme of work with the vision to transform diversity within the sustainability profession and wider environment sector.

https://www.make-a-wish.org.uk/news/equality-diversity-inclusion-make-a-wish/

Interim Statement of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

May 2021

Primary Care International is committed to providing equal opportunities for all, irrespective of age, disability, marital or partnership status, religion/belief, working pattern, caring responsibilities, gender and gender identity, race and sexual orientation. We recognise the value of diversity and seek to promote this in all aspects of our work.

PCI was originally founded by a group of medical doctors in partnership with experts in business management, marketing and talent. It has thus always been recognised that with diversity comes a wealth of different perspectives enabling us to tackle challenges from multiple angles. Indeed, we believe that diversity in all its forms (racial, ethnic, cognitive, gender, ability, sexuality, religious) is essential to high-performing teams.

Efforts have been underway over the past five years to develop a more diverse network of Clinical Associates, living in or from the countries where PCI works. This work continues.

Wider events in the external environment, including the Black Lives Matters movement which hit mainstream media last summer, have further shone a spotlight on systemic and institutional racism and the irrefutable need for meaningful inclusion and representation of people of colour in the workplace, from Board level downwards.

Given that PCI works so substantially in lower- and middle-income (LMIC) settings, it is particularly important that we bring into the organisation people with lived experience in such settings. Not only is this the right thing to do from an anti-racist perspective but is also critical to ensuring the organisation avoids the pitfalls of ‘groupthink’, instead benefitting from a diversity of perspectives and expertise which will enable us to better meet our goals as an organisation.

To create a diverse, inclusive and open organisational culture, PCI undertakes to:

• Conduct an organisation-wide survey to understand our current diversity and to gain insights into peoples’ experiences of working for PCI; and form a plan to tackle any issues raised;
• Reach a balance whereby at least 40% people of colour / people with lived experience in LMIC are serving on the PCI Board of Directors by the end of 2021;
• Establish a multi-disciplinary International Advisory Council to provide strategic insight and thought leadership to the Board of Directors;
• Continue to diversify the globally co-located PCI Clinical Associate network so as to be more representative of the places where PCI works;
• Develop an Alumni pathway for people who have participated in PCI learning programmes to support further diversifying of the PCI Associate network as well as to create professional development opportunities for emerging primary healthcare leaders;
• Review and revise the language used within PCI to avoid perpetuating colonial mindsets or actions in our programmes and in our organisation more widely.
This statement will be updated in mid-2022 when we expect a number of the above workstreams to be completed and tangible progress to be reported.

For more information www.pci-360.com

Our vision at York Museums Trust is: To work together with audiences and communities to inspire, to share and to care for cultural heritage. As part of this Vision we have a record of showcasing diverse and black artists since our temporary exhibition programme relaunched at York Art Gallery in 2015 and addressing aspects of diversity in our public programme at the Yorkshire Museum and York Castle Museum. However, the events of 2020 initiated a period of reflection and awareness that York and York Museums Trust need to improve in order effectively to combat racism and discrimination. We responded by recognising three strands of work we need to do: 

  • To challenge and change the way we think as an organisation. I am committed to driving the internal culture change that will make our workplace properly welcoming and inclusive. We have begun a process of all staff training which we will embed to ensure staff fully develop their knowledge and awareness. Training on its own is superficial: as CEO I commit to making this an authentic change to produce an organisation that is anti-racist and combats all forms of discrimination.
  • To rigorously examine the stories we tell. Working more deeply with communities and audiences, we will listen to diverse perspectives and lived experience. We have embarked on deeper research into our collections and the context of our local heritage so that we can tell stories from a wider range of perspectives. This includes a new research project with York Civic Trust and Ryedale Folk Museum addressing the representation of race and Empire in York and North Yorkshire. 
  • To give a voice to those which have been dismissed or hidden. I commit as CEO to respecting those whose voices have not yet been heard both within and beyond York Museums Trust. Internally, this means creating the space for safe conversations about lived experience. Externally, we have begun to enable communities to take over our social media to speak with their own voices about their heritage (Twitter Takeovers) and we will continue to tell a wide range of stories including those previously hidden or obscured by dominant narratives and cultural assumptions. 

Since I started as CEO, the MS Society has made some progress in embedding equality, diversity and inclusion in our work. We have undertaken new research to deepen our understanding of different groups of people within the MS community, centred different types of lived experience using external milestones like Pride marches and Black History Month, established an internal network of EDI champions, and taken steps to eliminate unconscious bias from our recruitment and management decisions. We are currently continuing this progress for example by rolling out new training and embedding equality in our decision-making and publishing our ethnicity pay gap.

However, I am the first to say that in some areas progress has been slower than we wanted – examples include the diversity of our leadership and ensuring inclusive experiences for volunteers. External events have caused us to take a hard look at ourselves and our uneven progress around EDI – most notably the conversation about systemic racism reignited by the murder of George Floyd in America and some very concerning behaviour being uncovered at major charities in the UK, demonstrating the scale of systemic problems within the UK charity sector itself.

In summary, we have much, much further to go and – as we made clear in our recent statement responding to the Sewell report – our work must be based on the clear evidence that both the MS Society and people with MS are affected by systemic racism.

We know some people with MS from ethnic minorities can have higher levels of disability earlier in life, yet have lower access to healthcare. We also know that research into multiple sclerosis in ethnic minorities has not kept pace with our changing understanding of its prevalence.

The Covid-19 pandemic has provided a searing reminder of the tragic consequences of these kinds of inequalities in UK society, as well as further clear evidence (for anyone who doubted it) that the MS community is as unequal as any other.  It has also highlighted the limits of our reach – during the pandemic we have had to confront the fact that we simply do not have as many tools to help a person affected by MS who has low digital access, lower social capital, and a legacy of exclusion and discrimination that has led to mistrust in UK institutions – despite the fact that in many ways these have been the people who have needed us the most.

This state of affairs is simply unacceptable and we believe a major reason for it is structural racism in the UK. Structural racism is where things like government policies, the education system and working culture continue to create inequalities in society based on a person’s ethnic background. We are not alone in this view.

A wide range of experts agree, including leading clinicians writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). More importantly, so do people affected by MS – such as Roxanne’s blog about being Black with MS and Karen’s blog on the importance of representation in service design.

Many of the reasons for systemic racism relate to much wider social issues rather than MS Society organisational behaviour alone, meaning we must work harder to counteract them. The wider makeup of UK society and culture is like a current that sweeps us towards the easier people to help – those who have higher social capital, stronger digital access and are comfortable with larger, traditional UK institutions.

It is tempting therefore to let ourselves off the hook. In the context of very busy jobs, it is natural for a given employee to go with this current in a particular project – to call the people we already know for a focus group, to use our own lived experience as a short-hand reference point even when it does not align with our intended audience, or to focus on changing Government policy in an area they are already looking at. As an organisation we naturally have to swim harder to go against the current than to go with it – yet we already feel like we are swimming as hard we can.

Letting this kind of thinking become an excuse for inaction is simply not an option.

History tells us clearly that we can only break this cycle if the people who make up our organisation – our employees and volunteers – look, think and feel like all of the people we try to represent. This is far from the case currently – in fact in many ways our organisational culture is right at the heart of the current. We need to change not only who makes up our employees and volunteers – but also challenge existing ones to look at where they may be perpetuating or even advancing systemic racism, however unconsciously.

Over 2021 we are supporting a searching conversation between staff, volunteers and people affected by MS seeking to answer a deceptively simple question – what would it take to truly change?

We have asked this question of ourselves and others, in many different forms in many different formations – formal focus groups, interviews, informal chats, team meetings, written comments and more. It has led us in many different directions – some predictable (more EDI training) and some much less so (a new international collaboration around MS and equality).

It is already clear that we will need to commit more resources to this to make the kind of step change that is long overdue – as CEO I commit to leading from the front on this, publishing an ambitious new organisational strategy for EDI in the Summer of 2021, with clear accountability for me and our senior team to make it a reality.  

Where injustice and oppression exist in the world, they always create inequality and poverty. As an organisation committed to ending poverty, and one working in a sector that still grapples with damaging practices and narratives of development, including that of the ‘white saviour’, RESULTS UK is committed and motivated to do more and better.

We know we are not perfect and recognise that we should be doing better, taking a deeper and more explicit look at how we address oppression and privilege in all their forms. Without this, we will be unable to truly deliver on our mission to ‘empower individuals to exercise their personal and political power for change’ and we will never achieve our goal of ending global poverty.

At RESULTS UK, we will do our part to bring about a ‘new normal’ where people from diverse communities feel safe, empowered and included. This is not something extra ‘on top’ of our mission: it is central to it.

This is a public commitment. We will listen, learn, and we will act.

For more details on what that action looks like in practice, we have highlighted some of our work on this here: https://www.results.org.uk/anti-oppression-work-0

Adoption Matters is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity and avoiding unlawful discrimination to all those who have contact with the organisation.

We are aiming to create a workplace that welcomes and promotes diversity and equality in and through relationships involving all staff and service users through all our activities and practices.

We want to create a working environment based on positive relations between members of different groups. We are committed to the promotion of diversity and equality and the elimination of discrimination in all its forms and are committed to engendering a workplace with a positive inclusive ethos where issues of discrimination and stereotyping can be discussed openly with a shared commitment to challenging and preventing discrimination, to respecting diversity and difference, and to encouraging good relations between people of different groups.

Our specific remit is within the Adoption sector and together with other Adoption Agencies through the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies we know from data that inequalities are also evident in the adoption system, with black, Asian and other ethnic children and adopters wait longer for matching, and a workforce which does not represent the full diversity of the communities with which we work. VAAs have a long and successful history of finding families for children from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and are fully committed to anti-discriminatory practice.

We are committed to building an Adoption system which recognises the intrinsic worth of every child, family member and colleague, and the validity of their experience. We are working to ensure these values are translated into action to give all black, Asian and other ethnic communities confidence in the respect, care and consideration they will receive from VAAs, to recognise the impact of racism on their lives and the validity of all the experiences and emotions they bring to adoption.

We are working with others across the Adoption system and beyond to tackle assumptions, bias and prejudice, celebrating and respecting the contributions that people from many different values, beliefs and ethnic backgrounds can contribute to a more open, equal and inclusive adoption service.

We are working together with our colleague VAAs across the UK to:

  • Regularly review the data on the adoption of Black, Asian and minority ethnic children, and the recruitment and support of adopters for those children, sharing this data to take joint action to improve waiting times and services.
  • Support the VAA workforce, increase our understanding of the impact of discrimination and address the lack of diversity in both the leadership and wider workforce so that adopters of all ethnicities can see their experiences reflected in those who support them through their adoption journey.
  • Celebrate the success of black, Asian and other ethnic adoptions and learn from the experience of birth families, children, young people and adopters to improve services and support.

In addition, we have reviewed and amended our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion polices to ensure they remain relevant and provide the right organisational challenge and protections for all who work for and with Adoption Matters.

We have benefitted from an Introduction to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Training being delivered across every level of the organisation.

We want to do better and we are developing our work with a third-party organisation to develop our strategy to the next stage, to extend our training around unconscious bias, good practice in Governance and Leadership and to improve the recruitment, support and advancement of people from Black Asian and other ethnic groups on our Trustee Board, Adoption Panels and Staff Group.

https://wearesettle.org/developing-settles-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-edi-strategy/

Developing Settle’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy

Last updated 6 October 2021

The Stroke Association is here to support people to rebuild their lives after stroke.  As the UK’s leading stroke charity, our ambition is to be a voice for every stroke survivor. We want to ensure that all stroke survivors and their carers can access high quality stroke prevention, treatment and care; whoever they are and wherever they live. We are committed to working in partnership with people affected by stroke to ensure that their voice and lived experience drives what we say and what we do.

We want to develop a strategic approach to tackling health inequalities for people affected by stroke. Strengthening diversity and inclusion in our staff and volunteers will position us as a more impactful and credible provider and partner to people and communities facing these health inequalities. This work, which commenced in 2021, will be evidence-led to help understand the issues before identifying, developing or deploying approaches that will have meaningful and sustainable impact. We are investing in a new Diversity and Inclusion role to lead this work, as well as a Health Inequalities Specialist.

Signing up to the ACEVO Leadership Diversity principles is a sign of our commitment alongside many other charities to changing the direction of employment in the charity sector.   We have always been committed to equal opportunities and non-discrimination in our employment practices and internal processes. We do, however, realise that there is much more to be done to become an organisation that is truly diverse and inclusive to all our stakeholders.  To achieve this, we need a variety of different of voices and perspectives within our own organisation.

 We want all our staff and volunteers to have opportunities to give genuine feedback and feel like their voice is heard.  We’re making positive changes to encourage more diverse applications for roles we are recruiting for externally. This includes reviewing our advertising channel choices and updating our equal opportunities statement.

We want to create greater diversity in all teams and at all levels, specifically increasing racial diversity within our senior leadership and ensuring that education and culture change is championed and role-modelled by our senior leaders.  We will promote EDI training and education for all our staff so they know how to support and foster an environment that builds diversity and so that we can be confident that everyone at the Stroke Association lives and breathes the ACEVO principles.

I look forward to working alongside the staff in our new roles tackling equality, diversity and health inequalities and also with our BAME Staff Network, our employee representative group ‘LINK’, and our other staff groups to set measurable ambitions to make our charity more diverse.  We want to be fully representative of the world we live in, moving towards full adherence to the ACEVO Leadership Diversity Principles.  We will share our progress and updated plans in due course.

https://www.pilotlight.org.uk/blog/what-is-pilotlight-doing-on-diversity 

Click to access A200-HDH-Annual-report-and-financial-statements-2021-SV-LLP.pdf

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-MuXuHQuV_fmcF5VVlt6d0R4cK2LvCy1ZdDn-Zd4cTE/edit

Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are at the heart of the Trussell Trust’s vision of a UK without the need for food banks. To reach our goal and ensure everyone can afford the essentials, we need to understand…the inequalities faced by so many people in the UK today.

In 2020, the Trussell Trust asked Cadence Partners to conduct an EDI audit of the organisation and co-develop an EDI strategy that could deliver cultural transformation within the organisation and strengthen our work towards our vision – enabling us to advocate for an equitable UK future, by attracting the best talent who can help to tackle the root causes poverty and who understands the part that they play. Since then, in co-production with staff across the organisation, we’ve created a strategy that reviews all areas of our work and tackles any under representation and structural discrimination and engaged staff with a strategy activity plan to begin embedding EDI across all functions in the organisation, but also day-to-day work to affect culture.

During 2021, we established a new Diversity and Inclusion team with Marcia Bluck, Director of People & Inclusion strategically leading this work within the wider People and Inclusion directorate. We have embarked on challenging conversations at all levels of our organisation around EDI. As a result of those conversations, along with the strategy, we’ve rolled out an EDI programme that includes reviewing our processes and practises, providing safe spaces for people of protected characteristics (where staff have expressed that they can feel heard and belong at the Trussell Trust), creating a learning calendar, reviewing projects against the impact of equity, setting EDI challenges (including specific topics on anti-racism) to both self-reflect and discuss as smaller teams, implementing of training knowledge hubs, establishing the beginning of a ‘Staff Lived Experience Library’, and launching a series of resources for all staff. We’ve also implemented training for our senior leadership team and begun a series of practical discussions around inclusive leadership for our board of trustees, culminating in some further work including EDI for our board of trustees.

We’ve changed the way we recruit by implementing an online platform that removes unconscious bias from our recruitment process and are supporting our managers with an inclusive toolkit and training to be diversity-confident in how they recruit along with identifying gaps in our teams and what we need to do to address them. We’ve always provided opportunities for disabled staff and volunteers, from our charity retail shops through to our head office, and we’ve made reasonable adjustments for staff and people applying to work for us. Our Senior Leadership Group are mental health first aiders and we work with our wellbeing champions and healthcare provider to provide our team with extra support.
As a participant in the Disability Confident Scheme, we’re doing further work towards challenging attitudes towards disability and increasing understanding, ensuring disabled people have the opportunities to fulfil their potential at the Trussell Trust, and removing barriers to disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.

For our network of food banks across the UK, we’ve supported them by providing translation and interpretation, focusing on translation of packing lists into a range of languages requested by our food banks who are engaging with a diverse group of people within their local communities. The Help through Hardship helpline (England and Wales) uses Language Line, and we’re working on a Welsh language policy in the Trussell Trust. We’ve also supported the network to build links with support groups for asylum seekers, refugees and the Roma community in the Glasgow area, while in Northern Ireland, food banks have been invited to sessions on building EDI into food bank activity run by the South Belfast Roundtable Against Racism. We will also continue to work in partnership with the food banks, supporting them with all they need to celebrate, implement and promote equity, diversity and inclusion good practice within their own local communities.

In our participation work, we engage with a diverse group of people with lived experience of using food banks. Our approach is to build relationships through advisory groups, co-design workshops and storytelling, as well as provide training, resources and funding for food banks to develop participatory approaches. We have already begun recruiting people with lived experience to be a part of a panel focused on the Trussell Trust’s overall strategy, Together for Change, and we are part of a project with BBC Children in Need, which involves diverse groups of young people.

We know that we are at the beginning of a long-term process of cultural transformation, working alongside communities and people with experience of poverty, but together, we can create real, lasting change. We can become a country where no one needs a food bank. We know that to be truly successful, we need to develop a deeper understanding of the people likely to use food banks and of how we can play our part in confronting and dismantling the structural discrimination and inequalities that cuts across our society and locks people in poverty. We’re committed to that challenge.

Last updated 12/01/2022

A core part of what we do at Governors for Schools is encouraging school governing boards to recognise the benefits of diversity and appoint governors from a variety of backgrounds in order to perform better in supporting their schools and pupils. We aim to recruit people of all backgrounds to help schools appoint those that can help them shape the diversity of the school as a whole.

We recognise however that as an organisation we need to do better, to benefit from the experiences and perspectives a more ethnically diverse workforce will bring.

Internally, we have reviewed our own practises over the last 12 months. We want a more diverse workforce, in order to best serve the communities we work with. In a step towards this goal, we have involved all employees in reviewing our recruitment practises to ensure we are reaching a diverse pool of applicants. We have run unconscious bias training for all members of staff, and additional DEI training for senior team members. All staff have also had the option to take an NVQ in Equality and Diversity.

We have reviewed the makeup of our board and when recruiting new trustees in the last 12 months have successfully appointed those who brought the experience and knowledge needed alongside the diversity we wanted.

As an organisation, 32% of the volunteers we place come from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background. We are committed to increasing the networks we engage with in order to build on this success. We have created resources for boards, to support them when recruiting new governors and continue the conversation to explore innovative ways in which all school governing boards can reflect the society of England and Wales today.

As Chief Executive of Governors for Schools, I commit to ACEVO’s eight principles to address the diversity deficit in charity leadership. I look forward to continuing my learning about racial bias and how this impacts on the decisions we make.

https://www.kidneyresearchuk.org/about-us/position-statements/statement-on-diversity-and-inclusion/ 

Last updated 03/03/2022

At Frontline, we are proactively tackling systems and structures that perpetuate and embed racism in our society. We are committed to supporting, championing, and creating changes in the social work system and improving outcomes for ethnic minority children and families.

Creating change starts with putting your own house in order. We are, for example, aiming to increase representation of ethnic minority people in leadership positions and improve our diversity and inclusion initiative for all employees, including affinity groups, mentoring, training and workshops. We are including more work by ethnic minority authors in our social work curricula and growing the proportion of participants on our programmes from ethnic minority backgrounds. We want to encourage, challenge and influence our partners and all those we work with to be actively anti-racist, and to support and empower our employees, participants and fellows from ethnic minority backgrounds.

We’re focusing on four areas for the next 12 months:

  • Policies and process – We will review all our policies to ensure they are welcoming of ethnic minority and particularly Black employees. We will implement a simple and transparent policy and process to report and investigate all forms of racist incidents, with appropriate consequences for those who do not meet our clearly outlined expectations.
  • Culture – Freedom and Responsibility has been a core part of life at Frontline for the past three years. However, we haven’t explicitly referenced anti-racism, or our commitment to overall diversity and inclusion. We’ll therefore be re-writing Freedom Responsibility to make this a core part of culture, because everyone who works at Frontline has an individual responsibility to dismantle discrimination in their work and area of influence, with an increased responsibility on our leaders.
  • Training and honest conversations – A key part of building an anti-racist culture is awareness, honest conversation and debate. We’ll continue running training on unconscious bias, privilege, microaggressions and allyship and we’ll also run bespoke sessions for all people managers. This is to upskill them in proactively creating inclusive cultures in their teams and responding appropriately when racism happens. We also know that we don’t have all the answers, so we’ll continue to work with experts to help us facilitate these conversations.
  • Recruitment and nurturing internal talent – our employees tell us that they want to see more ethnic diversity in the leadership team. We’ll continue mandating diverse shortlists for our most senior roles, explicitly messaging in job descriptions and adverts that we are looking for ethnically diverse candidates and advertising on targeted sites (such as BAME recruitment). We’ll continue running our internal mentoring scheme for ethnic minority colleagues and expand on this by setting up an explicit succession plan for ethnic minority employees.

Last updated 16/03/2022

At Garden Organic, we are proud of our inclusive and supportive working environment. However, we acknowledge that there is always more that can be done to increase diversity within our organisation, the horticulture industry and the wider charitable sector.

Our local city of Coventry is rich in cultural diversity, and it is important to us that our organisation is reflective of this.

We recently undertook a survey of our staff, volunteers and our members. This exercise gave useful insights and highlighted areas of focus to improve our diversity.

Over the last year, we have taken steps to promote diversity with our recruitment processes. This includes anonymising applications to remove protected characteristics before they are handed over to the hiring manager, allowing us to protect against unconscious bias from within the selection process. In addition we are choosing to recruit through a range of recruitment channels to reach a wider variety of applicants.

We recognise the importance of confronting the lack of diversity within our Trustee Board, and are currently reviewing our recruitment processes to proactively attract a more diverse and inclusive board of Trustees.

We have introduced a mandatory training module within our standard induction process focusing on how to identify and eliminate racism and discrimination from all groups within our organisation.

We run training and education workshops in line with our inclusivity calendar, and feature guest speakers in our staff updates focusing on promoting equality, diversity and inclusivity.

We recognise the importance of mental wellbeing, and towards the end of 2021 we offered employees the opportunity to attend Mental Health First Aid training. We now have a number of staff members who are trained to identify, listen and support individuals who may be experiencing mental health issues.

As organic gardeners, we know that a garden’s strength lies in its diversity of plants and the deep interdependence between all the different flora and fauna nurtured within it. The same applies to our community of employees, volunteers, members and supporters and we are committed to continual improvement in this area.

As a leader within the sector and as the Chief Executive of the Heart of England Forest, I am personally committed to improving Equality, Diversity and Inclusion(EDI).

Within the Heart of England Forest, we have committed to improving EDI as one of our core priorities. Whilst we are mindful that we cannot achieve everything overnight, and meaningful work on this area takes time and thought, we have made a number of commitments.

  • The Heart of England Forest Board of trustees has adopted the Charity Governance Code, and committed to EDI as one of its two priority areas of work this year, providing leadership to the charity. This has included Board training, and a commitment to engage external expertise to support the charity to develop an effective EDI strategy, linking directly to the charity’s mission and objectives.
  • All Senior Managers have committed to a series of training to understand further the impacts of unconscious bias on our work and the way we all operate as individuals, and to learn more about dignity in the workplace, to enable us to lead and model a positive and inclusive culture.
  • We have committed to roll out EDI training to all staff this year. As a provider of supported internships- year-long placements for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities – we have worked with charity partners Think Forward to deliver inclusion and respect training to enable us to further understand and support our young people on the programme.
  • We have commenced strategy planning for our key areas of work, looking at how we can focus on improving EDI and making the work of our charity more appealing and accessible to a wider range of audiences. We have undertaken this work in the area of communications, and are currently reviewing areas of fundraising, HR, volunteering and commercial development, with further work planned to widen this scope across the remainder of the charity’s work during the year.
  • We have set up our supported internship programme, a year-long placement for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities – to provide training and quality work experience placements to support young people to develop employability skills, with the aim of entering employment.
  • We have developed our new tree nursery as a social enterprise, which will be staffed by adults with SEND, providing a pipeline of real employment opportunities for our supported interns to consider.
  • We have developed an all access trail and car parking facility within the Forest, to allow better access to the natural world for people with limited mobility, parents and carers with prams, wheelchair users, etc.
  • We have set up a forestry internship programme – a year long, paid internship which allows young people, or people changing career, to gain training and experience in all aspects of social forestry. The internship covers external accredited training, such as chainsaw use and tractor driving, as well as a range of inhouse training spanning biodiversity surveying, tree identification, public access work, etc. The forestry industry is traditionally a male dominated, aging profession, and we are working hard to change the image and address the skills shortage for the sector. 100% of our forestry interns have moved into paid employment with the Heart of England Forest if they wanted to stay, and the remainder have gone on to successful paid employment elsewhere in the sector.
  • We are also one of the first organisations to deliver the forestry apprenticeship, again as an important mechanism to address the skills gap and improve diversity within the sector.
  • We have opened our first accessible holiday cottage, allowing people with limited mobility to stay in the Forest. The holiday cottage has disabled access including a bedroom and wetroom on the ground floor, and we are considering accessibility and EDI in the design of all new building projects.
  • We are a Living Wage Foundation accredited employer, meaning that all of our staff and contractors are paid at least the Real Living Wage. We feel that it is important to offer a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, and want to ensure that finance and background are not barriers to coming to work for us.
  • We have improved the monitoring process within our recruitment practices, using blind applications for shortlisting, and a multiple people recruitment panel.

Our initial actions have helped us to start on the journey, and have open and honest conversations about the subject of diversity and inclusion. We have much work still to do, and look forward to working with others to learn and progress.

Who do we think we are? Equality, diversity and inclusivity at HIS

Equality, diversity and inclusion and its role in our Governance

 

 

 

To commit to these principles

Email us at: policy@acevo.org.uk

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Registered address: 71-75 Shelton Street, London, WC2H 9JQ.

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