1. Addressing racism requires sustained, long-term investment.

Funders should demonstrate commitment to Black and minoritised communities in the following ways:

- Funding structures and systems should be set up to ensure funders are moving from the performative short-term allocation of funds, to long-term sustainable investment in recognised Black and minoritised-led community organisations, that also represent community assets for Black and minoritised people developed under a social justice approach.
- Consider establishing fund intermediaries with recognised Black and minoritised infrastructure bodies to support them through formal partnership arrangements in the allocation of funds. This will help to shift funding structures to more participatory systems that work closely with communities that funding is designed to benefit. In this way, direct beneficiaries through their representative bodies, are involved in the allocation of funds.
- Publicly commit to protecting the social value of grassroots community organisations within this overall commitment, ensuring that all voluntary work responding to basic needs failed by government, is paid salaried work.

2. In light of the recent report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, funders should now recognise that putting Black and minoritised people in positions doesn’t automatically equate to being anti-racist. Despite the higher likelihood of a shared lived experience; that alone is not assurance individuals (including those in leadership) will act in the interest of Black and minoritised communities. In fact, the strength of institutional racism is such, they may knowingly go against the interests of their community, in an effort to sustain their own livelihood as an individual by a system that actively supports and rewards them for doing so.

Funders should demonstrate anti-racist practice through considering the following questions:

- How much money, time and energy are you focussing on Diversity and Inclusion? This measure should not outweigh the proportionality of funding that goes into Black and minoritised community led infrastructure organisations to reach communities on the ground.
- Are you committed to resourcing Black and minority-led community organisations to deliver vital services to the communities they serve, long-term?
- Are resources for this work being facilitated in a consistent and sustainable manner?
- Are you asking with Black and minoritised group leaders to talk about their trauma, sit on panels, come and talk, deliver seminars or provide education about diversity and anti-racism without paying them? If you do offer payment, are you ensuring their organisations are being funded sustainably as a priority before you ask?
- Does your board look like, represent, and reflect the communities they serve?
- Would you be happy to publicly publish the proportion of Black and minoritised organisations you fund, or would you be fearful of that information being released?

3. Intersectionality has to be taken into account if you want to reach Black and minoritised women, LGBTQI people, disabled people and those who face additional structural oppression including institutional racism. Ring-fenced funding for Black and minoritised people led organisations is a positive start, however it heightens competition within that group without the criteria being made any lower for the more marginalised.

Funders considering ring-fencing funding for those facing structural oppression should also include grant programmes which:
- Ring-fenced funding for Black and minoritised women and girls that is centred and inclusive of Black and minoritised led organisations.
- Ring fenced funding for organisations with protected characteristics that is centred and inclusive of Black and minoritised people (e.g disability-led or LGBTQI-led)

4. If funders rely only on insights from academic and white-led research, they fail to see the full and true picture.Whilst academic research has a place in knowledge generation, such research should consider decolonising methodologies and approaches. Building sustainable research capacity in the sector in this way, builds capacity for funding decisions to be made with appropriate knowledge and context.

Funders should check that research to inform their funding decisions is from a decolonised perspective through:
- Use of Black feminist / critical race theory analysis in understanding the lived experience
- Inclusion of the lived experience in understanding how strategies should be formed and resourcing decisions made
- Placing appropriate weighting on qualitative research to inform the knowledge base
- Diversify the knowledge base by identifying the role of infrastructure bodies in producing meaningful knowledge about the communities they serve, call upon existing research they have done to be used as evidence

5. Exclusion takes many forms, and a harmful experience for Black and minoritised people to go through in social and professional networks that eventually erodes their health, wellbeing and eventually life expectancy. Funders building their own networks and relationships with more people in the sector to build and nurture trusting relationships, fosters a much more open dialogue.

Funders should change transactional relationships with the community, to relational:
- Take steps to reach out, nurture and foster authentic relationships with Black and minoritised people in a community that takes into account the power dynamics at play from the offset. Listen to them, learn from them.
- Understand that the structures of oppression we exist in has lowered confidence in Black and minoritised people to apply for large amounts of funding as it is. Especially when they have been repeatedly told they are not good enough by Funders, even if funding is available.
- Share your networks and your contacts, with community groups. Give your recommendations of Black and minoritised people led organisations you have come into contact with to others you know, who wouldn’t come into contact with them otherwise.
- Participate and resource roundtables with and for Black and minoritised people, organisations and recognised infrastructure bodies- reflecting the principle that nothing about us is without us, ensuring that we have space to speak and represent ourselves.

6. We hear of rejections more than we do of successes with achieving funding, from our community. This has a devastating effect on confidence for community groups to go back and re-apply. Publishing data about the application processes is just one aspect, we need to understand who is being turned down and for what reasons; for Funders to demonstrate accountability.

Once funding has been allocated, Funders should publish their outcomes in an accountable way that includes the following information:
- Number of applications received with clear information on how many applications came from Black and minoritised-led organisations.
- Number of applications that passed the assessment stage with clear information on how many applications came from Black and minoritised-led organisations.
- Number of applications that received a positive outcome with clear information on how many applications came from Black and minoritised-led organisations. In relation to successful outcomes, clear information on amounts requested and awarded.
- Number of applications that were not successful at each stage with clear information on how many applications came from Black and minorities-led organisations and the reason why they were refused.

7. Gaslighting of Black and minoritised people has been intensified to an even stronger degree by the recent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities by the UK Government. In the sector, too many Black and minoritised community organisations are receiving feedback that the reason they are not getting funding they need is because their applications are just not good enough.

Funders must shift the narrative, culture and view of their role to play- to more substantively challenge the failures to recognise institutional racism that affects Black and minoritised people and organisations. They can address structural inequality with these actions:
- Apart from some smaller organisations with less infrastructure support; we know that applications simply not being good enough is not true, to the degree it is being used to justify the inequality.
- Racial gaslighting across all institutions in society means Black and minoritised people are already suffering a crisis of confidence from being made to feel that they do not deserve funding, even when they need it. Validate their needs and respond to the value of social good they address that have fallen through structures that should have been there for them in the first place.
- Create a framework for resubmission where Black and minoritised organisations do not receive a successful outcome.
- Commit to a genuine outcome-based approach to support unsuccessful organisations with concrete guidance in preparation for re-submission.
- Use Black and minoritised people led infrastructure bodies more effectively in building such capacity.
- Challenge your own perception of what is ‘good enough’ taking into account your unconscious bias that takes regular practice to unlearn.

8.  Despite the common experience of racism of all Black and minoritised communities; the same mindset that regards everyone as “BAME” means people are often pitted against one another in competition for the limited ring-fenced resources available. London-centric narratives mean even fewer resources are available for communities outside of London to share between them. This fuels toxic competition.

Funders should foster collaboration over competition by engaging with strategic mechanisms that are growing between Black and minoritised infrastructure groups to ensure funds are distributed across ethnicities and geographies, taking the following as examples:
- Mechanisms like The National Strategic Alliance convened by The Ubele Initiative, are key to building capacity and relationships between groups who are making a conscious effort to unlearn competition and relearn trust.
- The Phoenix Way, working in a way that convenes an intergenerational group of Black and Minoritised national and regional leaders of organisations at every stage; from initial strategy through to co-design and funding decision making in the allocation of funding process.
- It is not helpful to make assumptions about the relationships between Black and minoritised people led groups, without understanding the context in which they are expected to relate to each other.
- It is not helpful to compare Black and minoritised people led groups to one another when they exist for different purposes with different missions.
- Refrain from ‘cherry-picking’ organisations that are the least risk, the most popular brand or the ones that are the most comfortable. In order to reach those who need funding the most, you must tackle assumptions or perceptions about types of organisations which are viewed as high risk and bring up feelings of discomfort.

9. Prove your legitimacy by publishing and demonstrating how you are taking accountability for where your money comes from.

- Funders should clearly publish the sources of their funds demonstrating commitment to ethical practices which require full transparency of the source of finances. These practices will instill confidence in funders and their code of ethics as consistent with building a fair, just and equal society.
- Funders should provide clear information about their board of governance and their positions including any conflict of interest, staffing, donors, sources of revenue and any other governance and income-related information.
- Funders should publish a list of all donors to them, as public acknowledgement of the receipt of funds.



Yvonne Field, The Ubele Initiative
Kadra Abdinasir, #CharitySoWhite
Halima Begum, Runnymede Trust
Maurice McLeod, Race On The Agenda
Patrick Vernon OBE, Windrush Campaigner
Susan Cueva and Edwin Briones, Kanlungan Filipino Consortium
Baljit Banga, Imkaan
Sado Jirde, Black South West Network
Naz Zaman, Lancashire BME Network
Charles Kwaku-Odoi, Caribbean African Health Network
Kahiye Alim, The Council of Somali Organisations
Annette Morris, Voluntary Action Leeds
Barbara Gray, KINARAA: Lewisham Black Infrastructure
Kirit Mistry, South Asian Health Action
Sarah Mann, Friends, Families and Travellers
Tansy Hutchinson, Equally Ours
Dr Vivienne Lyfar-Cissé, NHS BME Network
David Weaver, CORE
Yvonne Blake, Migrant Organising for Rights and Empowerment (MORE)
Reach Out 2 Kids (ROK)
Milli Singh, Community Impact UK
Judy Wasige, Information and Learning for All Project
Julie Agbowu, All Inclusive Training
Greater Manchester BAME Network
Manchester BME Network CIC
Andrew Brown, Croydon BME Forum
Guppi Bola and Noni Makuyana, Decolonising Economics
Humma Nizami, Race Equality Network
Bishara Mohamud, Anti-Tribalism Movement
Bethel Cynthia Alloyda, Your HR Service
Adil Mohammed Javed, Alchemy Arts
Dr Addy Adelaine, Ladders4Action
Joy Warmington, brap
Gregory Ashby, Money A+E
Derek Bardowell, Ten Years’ Time
Shruti Jain, Saheliya
Dominique Walker, The Anthony Walker Foundation
Jacqueline Graham, The Point Trust CIO
Shirin Housee, Women Together
Shanelle Webb, The Soul Shack LDN CIC
Ayisatu Emore, Idaraya Life C.I.C
Sam Vacciana, Bermondsey Employment Skills & Training CIC
Zlakha Ahmed, Apna Haq
Adil Mohammed Javed, Alchemy Arts
Dorian Leatham, Migrants' Rights Network
Doreen Joseph, Wecoproduce COC
Michael Thakoordin, Working Well Matters Ltd
Ali Ahmed, Race on the Agenda
Lara Oyedele, Black on Board Ltd
Gyan Tamang, Greenwich Nepalese Gurkha Community
Mya-Rose Craig, Black2Nature
Anita Shervington, BLAST Fest Ltd
Hillna Fontaine, Mabadiliko CIC
Zoe Portlock and Safia Jama, Women's Inclusive Team
Ishah Jawaid, WOC Azadi Collective
Elsie Gayle, Midwifery Conversations
Evie Muir, SAYiT Sheffield
Ebi Sosseh, Umoja Arts Network
Bryn Price, Safer Kent
Khaleda Noon, Intercultural Youth Scotland
Uma Mishra, The Racial Equity Index
Karin Woodley, Cambridge House
Franc Kunda, BAMER Hub (Sheffield)
Nasreen Aziz, You Asked We Responded
Irshad Akbar, Asian Business Development Network
Raggi Kotak, JEDI Consultancy
Vanessa Thomas, Diasporic Development
Khaldha Manzoor, Rochdale women's welfare Association
Cherifa Atoussi, Account3
Ishita Ranjan, Spark and Co.
Nuala Riddell-Morales, Carnaval del Pueblo Asociación
Tanagra Jabu Nala-Hartley, Mothers 4 Justice Ubuntu
Naomi Donald, Protect Our Daughters & Sons (PODS) CIC
Rob Berkeley, BLKOUT_UK
Caroline Ada, Swallow's Wings Puppetry


*Black and minoritised community led organisations, are organisations that are made up of the community they exist to support. That includes, at a leadership level. This can and does include people of African, Caribbean, South Asian, East Asian, Latin, Middle Eastern, Eastern European and all mixed heritage that are regarded as a minority in this country.