Million pound fund aims to create the next generation of BAME charity sector leaders

The National Lottery Community Fund will commit £1.4 million to achieve the goal

DEVELOPING LEADERS: Yvonne Field, founder of The Ubele Initiative is a convening partner of the new fund

THE NATIONAL Lottery Community Fund has announced that it is committing a £1.4 million investment to support efforts to creation of more black and minority ethnic leaders in the charity sector. 

The money will be shared with the Global Fund for Children and will support the co-creation of the Phoenix Fund, a new black and ethnic minority-led fund, that will support emerging  BAME charity leaders.

Partnership

The partnership came about following a meeting between black and ethnic minority civil society leaders and The National Lottery Community Fund, where it was recognised that more needed to be done to support black and ethnic minority-led infrastructure, nurture and develop new leaders and enhance reach and practice. 

Young people from the National Lottery Community Fund’s advisory group will also be involved to help lay strong foundations for future BAME leadership in the sector. 

The move comes at a time when the spotlight is on funders and employers to review their practices through an equality, diversity and inclusion lens. 

Prejudice

John Hecklinger, President and CEO of Global Fund for Children, said: “We recognise that systemic racism and prejudice impact children and families from BAME communities on a daily basis.

“At Global Fund for Children, we believe that local organisations – with people from the community in the lead – are best positioned to drive social change.

“The Phoenix Fund will help shift power to these community leaders to build a brighter future for young people through the lens of racial justice.”

A convening partner of the Phoenix Fund, Yvonne Field, CEO and Founder, the Ubele Initiative said: “Our communities have been severely impacted by COVID-19 and there is an urgent need to get funds to frontline organisations. 

“I am pleased that we are using a participatory approach as we are often excluded from grant making and are unable to influence the design and/or decision-making processes. We need to begin to shift these deep-rooted power dynamics and by distilling the learning, we will begin to create systems change longer term.”

Comments Form

1 Comment

  1. | Chaka Artwell

    Greatly required to redress skin-colour disparity in the Charity sector against African-heritage men and women.

    Reply

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