Research conducted January 2022-November 2023
The diversity data gap in charitable funding and governance
Introduction
In 2020, as the covid-19 pandemic began to hit communities of colour and community organisations disproportionally hard, Money4YOU received more and more calls for help. As we expanded our services, we began to wonder: How many organisations could we reach? Or, a more basic question: How many non-profits led by people of colour sustainably operate in the UK? We quickly discovered there was little relevant data. The same data gap inhibits a range of questions, including evaluations of important board diversity initiatives. So, in January 2022, we launched #OperationTransparency: a call to the Charity Commission to make diversity and equalities data part of the Register of Charities.
Campaign Focus
Alongside our campaigning work, this report asks a set of specific questions, targeted at various aspects of discrimination in the sector, with a particular focus on racism. We focused on several specific modes: representation and transparency around diversity in the Charity Commission’s workforce and senior leadership; funding parity for organisations led by people of colour; the inclusion of lived experience in senior leadership at the UK’s largest and most influential charities; and the regulation and enforcement of equality duties.
This report attempts to go some way to furthering transparency, but the rest of the journey is yet to come.
