A New Type of Foundation

The problem

COVID-19 did not create health inequalities, but rather the pandemic exposed and exacerbated long standing inequalities affecting Black and Ethnic Minority communities in the UK. Whilst many parts of civil society can reasonably lay claim to problems of being poorly funded, there is longstanding — though often ignored — evidence that Black and Ethnic Minority community organisations are poorly funded and not empowered to be at the forefront of change. As communities start to rebuild and regenerate their economic and social infrastructure, the work of Black and Ethnic Minority -led Community Organisations has perhaps never been more vital.

Many existing funders struggle to address this issue because; their leadership isn’t representative of Black and Ethnic Minority communities; their decision making processes don’t sufficiently value lived experience; their attempts to address these problems are often extractive and place increased burden on communities; funding is usually short term; funders claim they don’t have adequate data to understand inequity. Some funders have made progressive moves to work through intermediaries and/or ring fence funds for Black and Ethnic Minority Community organisations. However, this work is still limited by the factors mentioned above and can only ever be a small , time limited, part of that funder’s mandate.

The solution

We are creating a new type of foundation that will support, grow and strengthen Black and Ethnic Minority communities and community organisations who are led by Black and Ethnic Minority people. This Foundation will be unique because it will be led by the community organisations it supports.

Some key characteristics of this new foundation which make it unique and will ensure it adds value to the funding ecosystem;

· The foundation will have a natural network across all Black and Ethnic Minority Community Organisations because it will be governed by these organisations.

· The Foundation will be long term and sustainable; mechanisms including endowment will be explored through the research and development phase (more on that in a minute).

· A unique alliance of community organisations, private sector organisations, private philanthropists, foundations, government and experts will lend influence, authority and profile.

· As a new Foundation, all funding products and support will be considered and will be shaped by the needs of Community Organisations. Options to be scoped during the research and development phase include innovative products/support such as repayable grants, social investments, microfinance, pooling reserves, merging back-end systems, connecting grant holders with Black and Ethnic Minority-led Research, Communications and Fundraising agencies,

· Decisions on allocating funding will be led by community organisations with input from donors.

· As well as providing funding, the foundation will add value by sharing learning and encouraging better practice among other funders and policy makers.

· It will compete to distribute government and other sources of funding (private philanthropists, corporate foundations etc.)

· In the long term, the foundation will have the potential to leverage entirely new funds into the sector through high net worth individuals, corporate partnerships and public fundraising.

How will we get there?

Research and Development Phase (from January 2021)

Delivered by a small project team, overseen by a steering group and our 50+ members, we will:

Write a strategy focusing on where we can add the greatest value, this will set out the priority themes for grants/investment in communities, priorities for influencing change in funding sector, priority products and services to community organisations.

Set out our decision making processes.

Sign up Founding Donors to initial amounts on grant funds.

Establish a legal entity to provide oversight and robust, ethical ownership.

Produce financial modelling and fundraising strategy.

What have we achieved so far?

· over 40 Black and Ethnic Minority-led organisations have agreed to be members of the new Foundation and have reviewed and endorsed the development plans.

· An expert steering group has been established.

· 20 multinational corporate donors have attended workshops and are in active dialogue about both short and long term giving options.

· We have agreed a project plan for the 6 month Research and Development phase.

· We have agreed the Governance for our work with our Membership and the Steering Group.

· We have been kindly given a total of £15,000 by Lankelly Chase, NCVO and East London Business Alliance in order to develop our ideas to this point

·By the end of December 2020 we will have the funds we require to start the Research and Development Phase

Our approach to the Research and Development Phase:

We’ve set out to deliver this work in a collaborative way. That means the outputs will be delivered by a diverse range of people and organisations from across the UK and coordinated by a small central Project Team. Our Steering group will provide oversight and guidance with our wider membership making the big decisions and signing off critical elements such as the future strategy.

An important feature of the Research and Development Phase is that we’re asking Members to deliver the workshops where we will build our strategy and funding priorities. These workshops will enable us to get local/regional insights and will be deliberately open in tone so that we are able to build a picture of the issues common across communities. We believe this organic approach to understanding the issues will give us a unique and valuable data. We aim to run around 20 events with 20 participants in each. This would mean in addition to our membership, we reach around 400 local Black and Ethnic Minority community organisations. The aim will be to create one or two virtual conference days so there is an opportunity for break out sessions, creativity/networking between participants, a record of the events and the ability to utilise innovative tools such as snapshot voting and delegate collaboration on key documents/language. This method is an important step in working across themes and geography in a participative way and using deliberative techniques remotely. We’ll be paying the organisations delivering workshops for their time because we know this approach will mean we can activate diverse networks and have a reach that is truly unique. We will also be paying the attendees of these workshops for their time. Such an approach does add to our costs but we know that an initiative which is deliberately additive (rather than extractive) will build trust, add value and in the long term be a very good investment.

To get in touch, email us on info@baobabfoundation.org.uk

Steering Group

David Weaver, Co-Chair

A former social worker, senior manager within local government, university lecturer and political advisor to two senior government ministers. David is currently President of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Chair of the Coalition of Racial Equality Organisations and Senior Partner of DWC Consulting.

Jake Ferguson, Co-Chair

Jake is CEO at Hackney CVS, one of the biggest local infrastructure charities in London. He has overseen the delivery of partnership and grant programmes worth over £20m. Jake is currently chair of the London CVS Directors Network, a member of; the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit Partnership Reference Group; The London Recovery Board; The Integrated Commissioning Board for City & Hackney; A Trustee of NCVO, a member of NCVO’s Rebalancing Relationships Steering Group and co-founder of the band The Helocentrics.

Derek Bardowell

Derek is a writer, philanthropy adviser, and former director of programmes at the Stephen Lawrence Trust and Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. He’s written for The Times, The Guardian, British GQ and The Source, and contributed to BBC World Service and MTV. He is the host of the podcast Just Cause, a founding member of Future Foundations UK and a trustee of Thirty Percy Foundation. His first book, No Win Race, was a Sunday Times and Financial Times Book of the Year and shortlisted for Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the Indie Book Awards.

Dilhani Wijeyesekera

Dilhani has held a range of senior roles working with charities, government, UN agencies, foundations and corporates in the UK and around the world shaping strategy, investing, and institutional practice. In Tanzania, Dilhani led the country’s first at scale out of school programme for Adolescent Girls Mabinti Tushike Hatamu. She has held a leadership role at Comic Relief and has advised bi-lateral agencies and corporate foundations, on strategy in the areas of young people, gender, economic empowerment, and inclusive supply chain management

Jenny Oppenheimer

Jenny is Inquiry Manager at Lankelly Chase, a co-founder of Future Foundations UK and sits on the European Steering Group for the Edge Funders Alliance. Jenny was previously the UK Programme Manager for the Ariadne network of European Funders for Social Change and Human Rights. She was Grants Manager at the Pilgrim Trust and Chair of the Corston Independent Funders Coalition, a coalition of donors who work on issues that relate to women and girls with complex and multiple needs. She also co-founded the Grant Funders Network, an informal association of staff from grant making organisations.

Joe Ferns, Interim Project Director

Joe worked in mental health and suicide prevention for almost 20 years, starting with frontline roles and moving on to research at the Institute of Psychiatry and then developing services and strategy at local, regional, national and international level. He was Executive Director of Policy Research and Development at Samaritans before moving on to become the UK Knowledge and Portfolio Director at the National Lottery Community Fund, where he led on a £50m grants programme, research, knowledge, customer insight and organisational strategy.

Julie Hutchinson

Julie Hutchinson is the Deputy Chief Executive of ELBA, a multi-award-winning socio-economic regeneration charity established in 1989. ELBA is backed by a business network of over 100 organisations from the private and public sector committed to reducing disadvantage, poverty and inequality. She is also the Managing Director of London Works, the charity’s specialist diversity & inclusion solutions agency. Across her 20-year career in regeneration she has pressed for the economic and social value of equity and inclusion to be recognised. She is the driving force behind ELBA’s programmes that improve dialogue and deliver demonstrable impact in the context of race in the workplace.

Jeremy Crook

Jeremy is the Chief Executive of the Black Training and Enterprise Group, a national charity that works to improve outcomes for black, Asian and minority ethnic children and young people in education, employment and the criminal justice system. Jeremy is Co-Chair of the Department for Education’s Apprenticeships Equality and Diversity Advisory Group, a member of the Apprenticeships Stakeholder Board, a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Reference Group, a member of the Metropolitan Police Strategic Inclusion, Diversity and Equalities Board, a Trustee of West Ham United Foundation, Chair of HMPPS External Advice and Scrutiny Panel and Vice Chair of EQUAL National Independent Advisory Group

Jermain Jackman

Jermain Jackman is a successful singer who rose to fame on the popular BBC singing competition The Voice UK. Since then Jermain chaired the Islington Fair Futures Commission from 2017 to 2018, and has chaired the Hackney Young Futures Commission since 2019. He has also been a Youth Advisor for the NCS Trust since 2019.He founded the 1987 Caucus in April 2020, a organisation for young black men in Labour, and is a member of Socialists of Colour. In February 2020, Jackman announced his bid for BAME Representative on the Labour Party NEC. He later ran Youth Representative in July before switching his campaign to Constituency Labour Party (CLP) Representative. His bid has been endorsed by Open Labour.

Karl Wilding

Karl is chief executive of NCVO . Previously he was NCVO’s director of public policy and volunteering, where he oversaw advocacy work on behalf of charities, community groups, social enterprises and volunteering. Karl completed a PhD which looked at the history of the relationship between charities and the state. Karl speaks and writes widely on issues facing the voluntary sector, including public trust, the role of modern charity, and the future of giving and social action. He is a trustee of Communities 1st in St Albans and of the American charity Creating The Future. He was until recently a non-exec director at Charity Bank, and is an honorary visiting fellow at Cass Business School

Marai Larasi

Marai is a Black, African-Caribbean-British feminist advocate, community organiser and consultant who has worked in social justice for over twenty-five years, with a specific focus on ending violence against Black / Global Majority women and girls. Previously Executive Director of Imkaan (UK), and Co-Chair of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (UK). Marai has contributed chapters and a foreword to four books; She was votes one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy (2019) and one of the 100 Most Influential LGBT people of the year on the World Pride Power List (2013), as well as recent inclusion in a book of 100 Great Black Britons (2020)

Nusrat Faizullah

Nusrat Faizullah works with emerging and established organisations to support them to tackle social issues and systemic injustice. Her work is concerned with: understanding and disrupting power; creating a more identity informed system; and nurturing leadership. She currently works with and advises many grantmakers including the Big Lottery, Lankelly Chase Foundation, Nike Sports for Good and Help Refugees. She has also worked with organisations across many areas including health, criminal justice, homelessness, LGBTQI+ rights, refugees and forced migration, and education.

Sado Jirde

Sado is the Director of Black South West Network (BSWN) and has worked for the organisation since 2007 when she was the Policy Officer, becoming Director in 2013. Sado is a member of Bristol’s Covid-19 Health Protection Committee, Bristol One City Economy board, Housing and Communities board, and Bristol University Court. She is also a trustee of Voice4Change England and Somali Resource Centre, the ministerial-led VCS BAME Stakeholder Group, chaired by Baroness Diana Barran. Sado was awarded The African Achievers Award in 2015, as well as the Most Inspirational Role Model award by the West Women of the Year Awards in 2019. She is a fellow of Royal Society of Arts and is proud to have been made a Visiting Fellow to University of Bath Spa in 2020.

Viv Ahmun

Viv has over 20 years successful consulting interventions in Europe the USA and more recently on the African continent (most notably in East Africa). As an entrepreneur he has scaled businesses and helped to build resilience into companies and people and is an avid believer in the notion of supporting social change through ethical leadership. Viv is highly regarded in the business development and coaching sectors and currently advises senior professionals in the public and corporate sectors, most recently including the Senior Management Team of the Royal Bank Scotland and senior professionals at Mckinsey & Company. Viv is also a qualified psychotherapist who has practiced in both the United States and UK.

Members

Croydon BME Forum

Barts Health NHS Trust

Black South West Network

Black Training & Enterprise Group

Blaksox/Black Men for Change

BRAP

British Asian Trust

British Red Cross

Charities Aid Foundation

CharitySoWhite

Church of England

City Bridge Trust

Coalition of Race Equality Organisations

Comic Relief

Council of Somali Organisations

East London Business Alliance

Hackney CVS/London CVS Directors

Imkaan

Kanlungan

Lancashire BME Network

LankellyChase Foundation

Future Foundations

London Funders

Manchester BME Network

Muslim Charities Forum

Naz Legacy Foundation

NCVO

Operation Black Vote

Oxfam

Patchwork Foundation

Power the Fight

Race Equality Foundation

Rekindle

Resourcing Racial Justice Fund

ROTA

Stephen Lawrence Trust

Study Group

The National Lottery Community Fund

Together in Action

Trust for London

Ubele

Voice4Change England

Youth Futures Foundation